Reflection on the Murder of Former Female Parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada
On January 16, news broke of the murder of Mursal Nabizada, a former female parliamentarian in Afghanistan. Gunmen stormed into her house the previous morning, killing Ms. Nabizada and her bodyguard. (1) The local police chief confirmed that Ms. Nabizada’s brother and another security guard were injured in the attack…
One Year Later: Reflections from Afghan Women
It’s been twelve months since Taliban fighters marched into the Afghan capital of Kabul, marking the end of a takeover that gripped the nation for several months. As foreign troops left, a new regime took power, forever changing the trajectory of not only Afghanistan, but the lives of millions of women living there…
The Rise of the New Sunni Elite in Iraq: Fallujah
In August 2019, Iraqi Federal Police showed up at the mayor’s office in Fallujah to expel ʿAissa al-Sayir, the mayor, who had long been a key player in the city’s politics. Citing voting irregularities, the Anbar Governorate deployed the police after Sayir refused to give up his post. The event attracted little notice in the international press, but within Iraq many observers believed that the ultimate mover in this drama was not the local government at all, but Muhammad al-Halbusi, the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, and one of the wealthiest businessmen in Anbar…
American Withdrawal: The View from Manbij
Earlier this month, as the Trump Administration announced that the United States would withdraw its troops from northern Syria, Turkey and Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions launched an assault on the area, attacking the border towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ein. Subsequently, the Syrian Democratic Forces, the predominantly Kurdish militia that had been backed by the U.S. since 2015, looked to an alternative partner that would protect them from Turkish forces…
ISIS and Syria’s Urban—Rural Divide
Since 2011, followers of the Syrian conflict have usually portrayed divisions in the country’s myriad opposition groups along ideological lines or according to the identity of their foreign sponsors. Such analyses usually attempt to make sense of local rivalries and opposition infighting by identifying conflicts between “moderates” or “Islamists” or due to the differing patronage networks of outside forces...
Al-Shabab Governance
In late June 2018 the Somali insurgent movement Al-Shabaab announced a ban on plastic bags, citing environmental concerns and impact on livestock. The few international media outlets that reported on this development, as well as most social media commentary, immediately ridiculed the decision. Rukmini Callimachi of the New York Times, for example, cited mocking tweets calling al-Shabaab the world’s “first eco-friendly terrorist group…”