Afghanistan as Iraq?

Juan Cole lists ten ways he thinks Afghanistan is turning into Iraq. It's a pretty dismal prospect. And the question remains: why?

Here are two of Juan's concerns:

...The US has actually only managed to install a fundamentalist government in Afghanistan, which is rolling back rights of women and prosecuting blasphemy cases. In a play for the Shiite vote (22% or so of the population), President Hamid Karzai put through civilly legislated Shiite personal status law, which affects Shiite women in that country. The wife will need the husband's permission to go out of the house, and can't refuse a demand for sex...

While militaries spend tens of billions on fighting disgruntled Pashtun tribesmen, a fifth of pregnant women or women with newborns are malnourished in Afghanistan. In Iraq, as well, public health crises took a back seat while hundreds of billions were spent on weapons and warfare.

Plus, here's a "philosophical analysis" of Obama's Af-Pak strategy (more like an analysis that happens to be by a philosopher).

Plus, a strong piece in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine on the governability of Pakistan.

Plus, more from Seymour Hersh on the Bush administration's global assassination squads.

Is the truth commission idea dead in the water?

A federal judge rules out the Obama administration's request to continue Bush's policy of indefinite detention in a "war zone."

Nevertheless... the Obama administration seeks a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the US.