Pakistan’s long road to the Lahore bombing

The Easter Sunday suicide bombing in Lahore is a gruesome metaphor for the religious madness that has consumed Pakistan   JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs April 2, 2016 The Easter Sunday suicide bombing in Lahore, which was aimed at Christians but killed and

What to make of Bowe Bergdahl?

Two events in Afghanistan recently seem to be at odds with each other: the Tabliban’s release of American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for a prisoner swap, and the attempted killing of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah.”Yet these two pictures are not mutually

Afghanistan’s unsavoury presidential choices

 Who will be Afghanistan’s next elected leader? International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe considers the options – and finds all of the candidates wanting. Excerpt: The world will soon discover whether 13 years of war in Afghanistan at a cost of the lives

Polio and progress

In most of the world polio is a mere bogeyman, a shadow that drifts through our awareness every October 24, the day global health agencies call World Polio Day. Few suffered, or now recall, the polio epidemics that menaced cities from the