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Ghani went to China because he wants a direct land trade route which will be of immense strategic and economic value.

More than half of the money "donated" to Afghanistan made its way back to the donor countries through foreign contractors. Only an idiot would think the US gained nothing.

Although it is true that Ghani is more pro-China than his predecessor, NATO and the US will stay the major ally of Afghanistan till at least 2024-25. Chinese help is peanuts compared to the billions the US pours in annually.

Taliban have hundreds of so-called "leaders." Doesn't matter who dies, gets killed or captured as long as they are under ISI's nose. For all we know the real Mullah Omar may have been dead for years.

Honestly it is too early to form an educated opinion. I will give the new government till the end of the year before I start praising/bashing it. Ghani is too much of a Karzai clone, so I don't have huge expectations. One thing is for sure: this deal is political suicide for Abdullah. Not...

Current defence minister. You are right. The situation has been too muddied for now. In my opinion the best thing to do would be to join a unity government composed of 50/50 in terms of cabinet positions and give it a year to either work out or go another avenue. Personally I favour this as...

Anything can happen, doesn't mean it will happen ;) I will say that Abdullah's soft stance is not supported by the majority of his supporters, which can lead to a powder keg situation when it comes to the armed forces. In that case the most important man is Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. There is...

Pretty much. Whatever happens next depends on Abdullah. Anything from him joining the government to him declaring a parallel government and even breaking away the north is possible.

Indian FM on a visit has dedicated a big-ass 30x68m flag.

A total of 138 insurgents were killed in the past 24 hours of anti-terror operations conducted in different provinces of the country, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, as Afghans are expected to go to the presidential polls on coming Saturday. The statement said the...

This is just the internet reaction, so take it with a grain of salt, but the number of butthurt people who fear the Pashtuns will be losing their centuries-old grip on power is growing. Funnily enough, Abdullah's dad is Kandahari.

The amount of racist comment by so called "pashtunist" types has been shocking. Hopefully it doesn't translate to any post-election violence.

Let's first understand what Iran's primary goal is in relation to Afghanistan: WATER. Iran wants more and more of the Helmand River and others to flow unimpeded into it and have caused problems for companies making dams (see: Salma Dam built by India). Obviously this is a zero-sum game for...

I would share your optimism but the way the constitution is set up right now, parliament barely has any power. The president elects all governors, district heads, police chiefs, any position of public power has to go through him. Parliament at most gets to vote on the nominated ministers and...

It is sort of on the edge of Kabul, but the whole land surrounding it belongs to the government, which is why it looks so desolate. Still within the city. We already have a parliament building down the road from the new one. I guess this is better security-wise since it escapes the hectic...

India should give us some choppers and artillery guns instead of building a ridiculously extravagant parliament building which we don't need:

Exactly why I don't comprehend the Indian members' doomsday attitude towards a potential Taliban invasion of Kashmir. You got multiple fences and detection systems as well as half a million soldiers, not to mention abundant airpower. If the ANA can kill 50+ Taliban every day using M16s while...

A few reasons: - The West is funding most of the elections, so they have to be shown that progress has been made. - It will take a few months for the ballots to be printed and distributed all over the country. - Snowfall starts in November and lasts into March, making it impossible to reach...

He is 70 and has the charisma of a rock. Also very weak politically, essentially a Karzai clone (which is very bad). I think it is still too early to tell who is going to emerge as a serious candidate. One of the prerequisites is getting the signatures and voter ID numbers of 100k people, so...

This is a week old news but still important. Largest independent operation by Afghans thus far: ANSF Successfully Clears Azra of Insurgents The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on Friday that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) conducted a successful military operation...