TSR Foreign Affairs Hub

Yes. I have a bad feeling Karzai will just be a sitting target if U.S withdraws, let's face it, he's a puppet of the West and India, who have been trying to ally with Afghanistan for a long time by investing in that country, to the disgust of the Pakistanis.

A very interesting article from the British Embassy in Tehran:

http://ukiniran.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=613748582

Makes me sick and even more angry to see people defending Iran as some champion against "Zionism" in another thread tonight when looking at these figures.

But what do I know, apparently I'm "not the news"

Sickening indeed.

Some of the threads in the forum make me want to bash my head with a rock anyways.

France is getting ready to pull out of Afgan as is the UK and US

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13887033

Well done Obama despite being told this was the wrong move you went and did it anyway. As if it will make people forget the **** economy

It's a good short term move for Obama politically but I think it will result in Afghanistan being occupied for longer meaning more cost and potentially more lives lost. It's a very risky move, the likelihood of Afghan forces being able to do the job the ISAF have been doing all this time is pretty low. If the Taliban strengthen or even regain control of some areas then it will be a disastrous move.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13898232

One of the president of Iran's allies has been arrested on corruption charges. I can only speculate there is some kind of power struggle on?

Nothing more than an extension of the show the clerical regime has been putting on for the world for the past 32 years.

If the word "corruption" actually meant anything to them, the entirety of the regime would have to be arrested.

How do you hear about whats going on in Iran?

It will have been a huge loss for the US if the Taliban regain control of Afghanistan and there's no way it can be twisted to appear like a victory. I'd imagine the death of OBL will act as a springboard to get troops to withdraw but that didn't even happen in Afghanistan so it had nothing to do with it. The war cost trillions of dollars, thousands of lives and they still failed in their basic objective: get rid of the Taliban and turn Afghanistan into a democratic state. Iraq was a phantom victory, in the sense the danger was non-existent in the first place and the atrocities of the war turned it into an ideological cancer for America - particularly in the Middle East. I'd imagine the Americans will now force Karzai to negotiate with the Taliban and create some sort of deal where the Taliban still retain power, then they'll pretend they have succeeded and bail out of there asap.

The only hope I can see is if Imran Khan runs for office and gets elected in Pakistan. He's hugely popular over there and has highlighted two of Pakistan's biggest problems: corruption and terrorism. He said he wants to stop military aid which they receive from the US and deal with the problems themselves rather than rent their army out for American interests, which is completely undemocratic and has cost Pakistan 37,000 lives since this began after 9/11. The Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved preferably with UN help and strict anti-corruption policies introduced. Pakistan's economy has been doing surprisingly well despite these severe problems, over 7% growth up until the GFC and this year expected to be 5%. China is very much interested in investing in Pakistan as well as other countries in the ME and Asia so if they can resolve these two problems and eventually normalise relations with India things can be improved - in fact they could quite easily become the fastest growing economy in Asia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13898232

One of the president of Iran's allies has been arrested on corruption charges. I can only speculate there is some kind of power struggle on?

Hmm.. maybe Democracy can confirm but the impression I have always gotten from the Iranians I have met is that quite a lot of people- a large minority- are quite liberal in terms of their clothing, praying, alcohol etc. which would obviously put them in a collision course with the Ayatollahs. Although admittedly a couple of Iranians who influence my views had family which fled the revolution back in 1979...