ISAF – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Book Review: Afghanistan Post–2014—Misreading Afghanistan’s Crypto-coloniality

Review of: Afghanistan Post-2014: Power Configurations and Evolving Tragectories. Edited by Rajen Harshe’ and Dhananjay Tripathi. (New Delhi: Routledge), 2016, pp. xix+248. The colonial and postcolonial writings about of Afghanistan are marked by the absence of a systematic and critical awareness about the country as an offspring and dependency of Western colonialism. The ethnographic, historic […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Empire’s “Mimic Men”

Imperialism by Invitation or Imitation? US efforts in remaking the international system according to an image reflecting the US are not usually in complete vain since the track has already has already been cut. To continue with the analogy, US policy planners and military analysts are concerned about widening and then paving the track so […]

by John Stanton

U.S. Army Female Engagement Teams Expand: King Xerxes’ Queen Esther Cited

[In connection with this article, please see the associated file uploads: COMISAF ppt or COMISAF pdf; FET pptx or FET pdf; ISAF Engagement with Females PDF; and the previous post: “Recommended ISAF Guidance for Female Engagement Teams“] “In the time of Xerxes, it is documented that the King took advice from his Queen which significantly […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Recommended ISAF Guidance for Female Engagement Teams

[The following consists of the speaking notes for a presentation delivered by Major Maria Vedder of the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System, from 23 February 2010, as a “strategic intelligence update.” The original file can be accessed here as a PPT file and here as a PDF.] SPEAKING NOTES: OPTION 1 Good Morning Sir, It’s […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Afghan Vignette 3: Protecting Civilians, Winning Hearts and Minds

Speaking of cowards and animals, not to mention “terrorists,” NATO has just delivered a mighty blow to its much vaunted claims to be “protecting civilians” and winning “hearts and minds,” by burning alive as many as 90 of these hearts and minds in an air strike that took place within the past 12 hours. Faced […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Afghan Vignette 2: They Are Animals!

Major Martin O’Donnell is a spokesman for NATO, a “media operations officer” in Afghanistan, who posted the following item on his Twitter page: “Once again they’ve killed children, women, innocent #Afghans. They are not human. They are animal,” said police chief http://tiny.cc/58DCV They are not his words, as it states, and they come from a […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Afghanistan Elections 2009: Updated

Voting is now over for this year’s national elections in Afghanistan. To cover the voting, and the run up to the election, I have collected a list of media reports focused on Afghanistan’s 2009 election, along with relevant extracts from most of the items. Please see: Afghanistan Elections 2009 In addition, at different points during […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Political Economy of the Bullet in Afghanistan

“Tactics or Strategy?“ is an article by Francis J. “Bing” West (referred to me by a correspondent in Twitter — apologies for not noting the name for the appropriate thanks). In that piece, West makes a series of critical points that deserve wider, and focused, attention. The first point he makes is that there is […]