November, 2008

Karin von Hippel was interviewed yesterday on Radio WTOP about President Karzai’s recent offer of safety to Mullah Omar.  While the Taliban has rejected the offer, the stance Mullah Omar will take leading up to elections remains somewhat unclear.  Karzai’s statement represents recognition that Mullah Omar has a following i

We hosted an event last July on the writings of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, with Carnegie scholar Karim Sadjadpour underscoring the power held by the Supreme Leader (in contrast to that of President Ahmadinejad).

Terrific article in the latest Foreign Affairs from three former USAID Administrators.

Flikr photo by Maverick Dal used under Creative Commons license. The UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC, 2006) has been tasked with developing integrated strategies for dealing with post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery in order to create sustainable ways of transferring relief to development assistance. It is an advisory body with strong ties to the Security Council through membership and receives support from the secretariat through the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO). In the interim for states emerging from armed conflict, the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF, 2006) supports emergency stabilization initiatives to prevent relapse into conflict. In partnership with the PBSO and other actors, the Peacebuilding Initiative offers access to knowledge and resources to practitioners across the peacebuilding spectrum.

The Peacebuilding and Development Institute at American University in Washington, DC offers a Humanitarian Practice Training Series to improve the skill set of professionals and practitioners in humanitarian assistance and development: 

The Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) aims to improve the impact of humanitarian response to conflict by rating country response based on 5 pillars: responding to humanitarian needs; integrating relief and development; working with humanitarian partners; implementing international guiding principles; promoting learning and accountabil

A suicide bomber struck again outside a packed sports stadium in Peshawar, killing 4 people and injuring dozens. The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the incident and identified Bashir Bilour, a senior ANP official as the target of the attack. Bilour, along with the provincial governor, Owais Ahmed Ghani, had left the stadium minutes before the attack took place.

The bombing occurred a day after 12 U.S. trucks were hijacked by the TTP as they travelled along the Peshawar-Torkham border - a major supply route to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The stolen trucks were then paraded in front of television cameras as the 'Baitullah Caravan' with the Taliban posing for pictures.

What some found particularly disturbing was the fact that security officials who man numerous check-posts along this highway stood by and watched while the looting took place. A main concern as expressed in one Pakistani editorial was that"incidents such as the one on Monday can reinforce the impression in certain quarters that our security forces cannot by themselves stamp out militancy and enforce the rule of law."

Karin von Hippel was interviewed by Lara Logan on the CBS Evening News tonight. She said the United States "dropped the ball for a long time" in Afghanistan and emphasized the importance of a regional approach that includes not only Pakistan, but also China, India, and Iran.

Full details after the jump.

Edited by the Institute for Theology and Peace, this online bibliography contains over 168,000 titles for those searching for resources on faith and conflict resolution.

Rick Barton appeared on CBS Evening News last night to discuss the situation facing President-elect Barack Obama. The combination of major challenges, he said, "makes this moment fraught with opportunities."

Full details after the jump.

 Flickr photo, used under the Creative Commons license.

Gordon Adams, a professor at American University, wrote a great piece in the October issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, titled "Stabilizing U.S. stabilization and reconstruction efforts abroad."

I encourage everyone to check out the blog called Military Watch, created by David Wood, national security correspondent for The Baltimore Sun.