PukhtoonistanGazette

 Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero To A New Vision Of Islam In America

Excerpt from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America (Free Press, May 2012)I am an American citizen born in Kuwait of Egyptian parents. I grew up in Great Britain, Malaysia, and Egypt and have lived in the United States since 1965, when I ...

 Colorado Wildfire: Our Scorching Future?

As residents flee 40-foot flames in the mountain west, scientists see climate change altering fire patterns around the globe.For the past 30 years, residents of tiny Laporte, Colorado, near the Wyoming border, have gathered inside Bob’s Coffee Shop to swap gossip over coffee and Danishes near the de...

 Obama's Drone Wars and the Normalisation of Extrajudicial Murder

Executive privilege has seduced the president into a reckless 'kill first, ask questions later' policy that explodes the US constitutionIn his first campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama promised to reverse the worst excesses of the Bush administration's approach to terrorism – such as the use o...

 Guru Nanak, One of the Greatest Symbols of Pluralism and Tolerance in the World

Happy 542nd Birthday!This week millions of Sikhs and their friends around the world are celebrating Gurpurab, but few outside India know the significance of this day or its history.It's the 542nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith and one of the greatest symbols of plural...

 Does nation-building work?

The term "nation-building" smacks of colonialism. But when war has broken a country, nation-building is a moral duty -- and the best way to build is with equal parts outside and inside effort. Nation-building has a can-do ring to it. You can build a highway, a skyscraper, a Fortune 500 company. Wh...

 Afghan doctor's death leaves a hole

Aqilah Hikmat, head of obstetrics and mother of four, was shot dead by a U.S. soldier on her way to Kabul. 'No one in our family can ever forget,' her husband says. KABUL, Afghanistan: For much of her life, Aqilah Hikmat had beaten the odds. In a country where women struggle to get educations and f...

 Afghanistan tunnel carries risks for NATO

SALANG, Afghanistan: Since Pakistan closed the Khyber Pass border-crossing late last year, NATO has had to supply its forces through the Salang Tunnel, a 1.6-mile longs Soviet-era relic with unforgiving dimensions and a deadly history. With only inches to spare, a huge tanker squeezed past a bus a...

 Afghanistan's 'graveyard of foreigners'

There is an odd kink in Martyrs Road in the Sherpur district of Kabul. It forces the traffic - from cyclists to rattling yellow taxis - to slow down suddenly, in what looks almost like a mark of respect. But no-one looks up at the weathered metal sign on the wall on the bend which reads "British C...

 Parting Gift for Afghans: A Military McMansion

Three Years Late, an $89 Million Base for Afghan Troops May Be Too Complicated for Them to Operate; 'Deep Fryers? Really?' ZARGHUN SHAHR, Afghanistan: In a dusty valley here, construction workers are racing to finish a fiber-optic-equipped military base for a wood-burning army. The $89 million U....

 Politics by Other Means

Last week, on the eve of publication of David E. Sanger's "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power," the New York Times ran an excerpt that detailed secret American cyber attacks on Iran. Sens. John McCain and Saxby Chambliss promptly demanded an investigation,...