MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan – A Chronicle Foretold
by Tariq Ali
Verso £10.99
THE return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, amid a chaotic US military evacuation, constitutes the greatest humiliation imperialism has suffered in the 21st century.
One need be no friend of the social agenda of the Taliban — and few are — to recognise the enormity of its achievement and the reverse for the Nato powers, headed by the US.
Even in the bloody debacle of Iraq, the aggressors in the 2003 war have been able to organise something like a fighting retreat and retain the capacity for direct interference.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
Washington’s response to a downed jet shows a superpower still reaching for overwhelming force even as its wars repeatedly fail, says NICK WRIGHT
Modi has rolled out the carpet for the Taliban in New Delhi — and we shouldn’t be surprised. They have more in common than you might think, argues Bhabani Shankar Nayak
In an address to the Communist Party’s executive at the weekend international secretary KEVAN NELSON explained why the communists’ watchwords must be Jobs not Bombs and Welfare not Warfare


