More fierce fighting in Afghanistan, as dozens die in clashes between the Taliban and NATO troops. It’s happening, of course, in the uncontrolled southern provinces to the west of Kandahar, where Karzai’s government was never able to exert control and where the drug lords have teamed up with the Taliban. It is a toxic combination, as the intensifying fighting dampens reconstructions efforts. Perhaps more importantly, most local villagers have, in response, essentially given up, utterly fatigued by three decades of war. It is a battle the West is slowly losing.
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Joshua Foust – author of 1771 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust