US President Joe Biden’s April 14 announcement of the withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan caught many observers by surprise. The Pakistan Army was not one of them. It has insisted for two decades that foreign military victory over the Taliban was impossible, and that the western presence was as unsustainable as was the Soviets before them. Although US forces have now been in-country for twice as long as the Soviets, the latter’s experience and the Pakistani response are useful guides for what lies ahead.
The Soviets in 1979, like the Americans in 2001, had never intended to linger in Afghanistan. But year after year, their friends in Kabul pleaded for just a little more time to turn the corner. The result was that they found themselves stuck, trapped by the inability of their new client regimes to contain the insurgencies that bloomed in the countryside.
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The numbers are grim. In the 24 hours to Sunday morning, India reported almost 350,000 new coronavirus cases, setting a record for the most Covid-19 infections for a fourth consecutive day. More 2,000 lives were lost during this time, bringing the total national death toll to 190,000. As of Sunday, nearly 17 million residents have reportedly contracted the virus.
Behind these cold statistics are individual human beings, as is often pointed out. And it is impossible not to be moved by any of their stories: of those who suffer, have suffered or died; of their near and dear ones who have tried to get them much-needed medical attention; of medical professionals and other frontline workers who have risked their own lives in order to save those of others.
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As warmer weather takes hold, the developed world has in recent days begun to relax public health restrictions and ease into a more comfortable, if still anxious, post-pandemic reality.
“Spring blossoms and vaccinations are bringing the city out of hibernation,”
The New York Times said last week, suggesting more than a dozen local restaurants where residents might catch up on their socialising and dining out.
The UAE is continuing to reopen after achieving a vaccination rate of more than one per resident last week. British pubs and restaurants are reopening, as the UK sees just 2,000 new cases per day, a sliver of its January peak. Then there’s Israel, which achieved herd immunity weeks ago and is “partying like it’s 2019”, says
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Last week s attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, which the regime blames Israel for carrying out, has cast a cloud over the fate of the ongoing nuclear negotiations in Vienna. The talks, being held with the purpose of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the world’s major powers, could end either in a peaceful breakthrough or military confrontation.
Tehran’s response so far – including from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – suggests that its need for international sanctions to be lifted is of higher priority than its temptation to retaliate. This is not the first time Iran has swallowed its pride and delayed its own calls for a proportionate response, as was evidenced following the US assassination of Qassem Suleimani, one of its military commanders, last year. However, it isn t just the negotiations to revive the nuclear deal – called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA – that eventually hangs in the balance. The nature, exe