Details are beginning to emerge in the death of an Afghan prisoner on Sunday night. According to ISAF, a US soldier is in custody and a criminal investigation is underway. Hamid Karzai issued a short statement calling the death a killing by coalition forces. The New York Times recounts that one version of the story suggests the prisoner may have been trying to escape, but other Afghans who were present at the prison disagree on that point.

Sometimes you need a Rosetta Stone to translate the New York Times when it tries to unravel the moral muddle of the Obama Administration’s Afghanistan policy. Today’s example shows the Times hopelessly mired in doublespeak from the very first paragraph.

As President Obama’s strategy review for Afghanistan commences, let’s hope he’s balancing the information coming to him from his happy-talking generals with some independent news reading of his own.

The current run on the Kabul Bank exposes the rot at the top…

War is not politics, it is violence – murder – on an enormous scale. It does not lead to democracy, security, or good governance, it leads to anger, humiliation, and above all else, more violence.

A response to Spencer Ackerman’s opening gambit on Pakistan diplomacy

In a Reuters article on Sunday, we see yet another call from Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan for the disbanding of US private security firms. It is undisputed that these firms represent a huge destabilizing presence, as seen by the small riot that ensued in Kabul on July 30 when a vehicle driven by DynCorp personnel was responsible for the deaths of four Afghans in a traffic accident. But in calling for the disbanding of US security contractors, is Karzai promoting peace or simply consolidating businesses controlled by his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai?

How DARE the Belgian police act like the Church was full of bankers?

The real endgame Karzai is working toward is that of a nominal, Pashtun-nationalist government in Kabul overlaying a Taliban-dominated countryside. Together they function not only as a crime family capable of exploiting Afghanistan’s resources but also as a highly effective proxy for Pakistan’s interminable battle against Indian influence.

As the US campaign in Helmand and Kandahar expands, blame has increasingly shifted toward allies like NATO, Karzai, and Pakistan. The US wants them to “do more.” But they are doing more. The problem is not our allies, but the war itself.