New report shows UK corruption ‘has increased’

An index showing the relative levels of perceived corruption in over 150 countries has been released today. The index shows that people in the UK believe that corruption in the country is getting worse.

By Emily Jupp | Eagle Eye, Notebook | Thursday, 1 December 2011 at 12:01 am

The real story in Afghanistan

Yesterday, Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, signed a “strategic partnership” between Afghanistan and India. The agreement between Karzai and Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, is the first of its kind between the two countries.

By Rizwan Syed | The Foreign Desk | Wednesday, 5 October 2011 at 4:04 pm

Obama’s surge

He’s back! President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan last night could well mark the moment that he got his presidency back, and smooth his path towards a second term.

By Anne Penketh | Notebook | Thursday, 23 June 2011 at 10:11 am

Military “Failure” in Helmand and Basra

I’ve had an interesting response to my post on the recent lack of British military success in Afghanistan, which sought to summarise a thesis propounded by Matt Cavanagh, Denis MacShane, Anthony King and Lieutenant General Chris Brown.
Gavin Bailey, lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Dundee University, emailed to say that the buck passing from the [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 15 May 2011 at 9:44 pm

America’s Death at the O.K. Corral

Last week, for the first time in a long time, reality approached the realm of the great westerns. Our old-time hero tracked down the enemy to a dusty village amongst the mountains of some foreign land. After years of searching, turned bitter by constant evasion, he’d found his man.

By Oliver Duggan | Notebook, The Foreign Desk | Thursday, 12 May 2011 at 10:33 am

Learn-and-Forget in Afghanistan

How to explain Britain’s lack of success in Afghanistan? Matt Cavanagh, who was special adviser at the Ministry of Defence 2006-07 and then in No 10 for Gordon Brown 2007-10, has an important article in this week’s Spectator.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 9 April 2011 at 11:18 am

Is the public bored of Af-Pak coverage?

When I was speaking to the award-winning Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford for an interview published today in the i newspaper, she told me she would miss covering Afghanistan and Pakistan when she redeploys to Africa in the summer.
She admitted she was “disappointed” to be leaving behind a subject that she has covered so extensively, [...]

By Ian Burrell | Notebook | Monday, 7 March 2011 at 11:49 am

How The Heroin Drought Will Affect The UK

The UK is currently in the midst of a well documented heroin drought after a fungus dramatically reduced the most recent opium crop in Afghanistan. The drug has traditionally been widely available on the black market here but illicitly imported supplies are slowly starting to dry up.

By James Goyder | Notebook | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 1:51 pm

Military decision-making: the Afghan case study

Terrific long article about policy-making on Afghanistan in next month’s Prospect, by Matt Cavanagh, who was special adviser to Des Browne, Defence Secretary, 2006-7, and to Gordon Brown 2007-10. It is subscription only, so pay up. It takes the form of a book review of Obama’s Wars, by Bob Woodward, but offers a comparative analysis of policy-making in the US and the UK.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 19 November 2010 at 2:03 pm

The Right Direction

Compare and contrast:

47 per cent of Afghans say their country is headed in the right direction;

31 per cent of Americans say their country is headed in the right direction.

Thank you to Matt.
Photograph: UPI

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 10 November 2010 at 4:10 pm