FINALLY, THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME LIGHT at the end of the long, dark tunnel in Afghanistan. The United States and the Taliban signed a pact on February 29, called “the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan”, after nearly two decades of continuous fighting and bloodshed.
The agreement, in which the U.S. made most of the concessions and the Taliban hardly any, is being interpreted by experts as the prelude to a military defeat on the scale suffered by the U.S. in Vietnam. Most observers of the region say it is only a matter of time before regime change happens in Kabul.
The Taliban has already started celebrating. Its media spokesman said the agreement was a historic landmark symbolising the “defeat of the arrogance of the White House”. The signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, was attended by representatives from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Turkey, India, Indonesia, and Tajikistan.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama, while raising troop strength in Afghanistan to over 100,000, had described the war there as the “good war” that his country could not afford to lose. The U.S. spent $2 trillion in Afghanistan in the pursuit of the “good war”, in which some 3,550 soldiers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) died, 2,400 of them from the U.S. More than 50,000 Afghan soldiers and 100,000 civilians also perished after the U.S. invasion two decades ago. Meanwhile, most Afghans continue to live in poverty. Pakistan played an important role in bringing all the factions of the Taliban to the negotiating table. Its role has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. and the Taliban. Pakistani Foreign Minister ShahMahmoodQureshi was present in Doha for the signing ceremony.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
