Biography
Khalil Nouri was born in an Afghan political family. His father, uncles, and cousins were all career diplomats in the Afghan government. His father was also amongst the very first in 1944 to open and work in the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C., and subsequently his diplomatic career was in Moscow, Pakistan, London and Indonesia. Throughout all this time, since 1960’s, Khalil grew to be exposed in Afghan politics and foreign policy. During the past 35 years he has been closely following the dreadful situation in Afghanistan. His years of self- contemplation of complex Afghan political strife and also his recognized tribal roots gave him the upper edge to understand the exact symptoms of the grim situation in Afghanistan. In that regards, he sees himself being part of the solution for a stable and a prosperous Afghanistan, similar to the one he once knew. One of his major duties at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2002 was advisory role to LTG Franklin Hegenbeck. He has worked closely with the Afghan tribes and his tribal exposure is well tailored for unobstructed cross-cultural boundaries within all Afghan ethnicities. He takes pride in his family lineage specifically with the last name “Nouri” surnamed from his great-grandfather “Nour Mohammad Khan” uncle to King Nader-Shah and governor of Kandahar in 1830, who signed the British defeat and exit conformity leaving the last Afghan territory in second Anglo-Afghan war. Khalil is a guest columnist for Seattle Times, McClatchy News Tribune, Laguna Journal, Canada Free Press, Salem News, Opinion Maker and a staff writer for Veterans Today. He is the cofounder of NWSC Inc. (New World Strategies Coalition Inc.) a center for Integrative-Studies and a center for Integrative-Action that consists of 24- nonmilitary solution for Afghanistan. The function of the Integrative-Studies division (a native Afghan think tank) is to create ideas and then evolve them into concepts that can be turned over to the Integrative-Action division for implementation. Khalil has been a Boeing Engineer in Commercial Airplane Group since 1990, he moved to the United States in 1974. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, and currently enrolled in Masters of Science program in Diplomacy / Foreign Policy.
Taliban and “peace mission” — these words do not fit together in the minds of Afghans who know the Taliban’s history.
January 11th, 2012 | Posted in AfPak,Drug War | Read More »
Kandahar, a conservative and sacred Pashtun heartland, the epicenter of complex Afghan tribal politics where Prophet Muhammad’s cloak has resided for over half a millennium.
September 7th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,Drug War | Read More »
It seems, by all appearances, that this quartet is attempting to make strides towards an effort to introduce a model initiative initially engineered by Pakistan’s craving for a prime leadership status in Afghanistan’s forth coming endgame.
May 17th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,Editors Picks,WarZone | Read More »
It is typical to scoff at David Miliband’s position for his post-political career. But in a recent New York Times article the former U.K Foreign Secretary showed that his intellect and judgment on a number of key issues, including how to bring the Afghan War to an end, was and remains almost finely honed; but it lacks an indigenous solution to be airborne:
April 20th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,Drug War,WarZone | Read More »
The Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, at the beginning of the 20th century aptly described Afghanistan as “a piece on the chessboard on which is being played out the game for domination of the world.”
March 16th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,Drug War,WarZone | Read More »
The success of scientific methodology is due primarily to its objectivity. In politics, unfortunately, there is little objectivity and a lot of emotion that makes visibility of reality on-the-ground very difficult. The unprecedented terrorist act of 9/11 by al-Qaida, Fascist Islamic Fundamentalists under the auspices of the Taliban, against the United States, miscalculated the Western response. They were naïve enough not to know that their terrorist acts were a declaration of war against the entire Western World.
February 16th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
The Palace hosted many glittering assemblies, including the coronation of the Kings of Afghanistan
February 3rd, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,Drug War,WarZone | Read More »
AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIAN ROULETTE RETURNS By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent trip to Moscow marks an unprecedented state level rendezvous by an Afghanistan Head of State. The first since the Soviet backed President Najibullah’s trip; whose term ended shortly after the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. It is [...]
January 25th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri Staff Writter / Editor As C.S. Lewis says, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” The Obama administration has found “fragile” but “reversible” [...]
January 12th, 2011 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
NATO’s meeting to build political consensus across the alliance for the post-2011 phase of “gradually” handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan forces will be on the table in Lisbon this week. According to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, “The aim is for Afghan forces to be in the lead, countrywide, of security operations by the end of 2014.”
November 19th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR Afghanistan: The destroyer of communism, defender of Western interests against the Soviets, a crossfire victim of the cold war; did serve for over a century as a buffer zone between British colonial India and Russian czarist regimes. It was the superpowers contentious great games that empowered the Jihadist; [...]
October 1st, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri Staff Writer / Editor There has recently been a call for the establishment of an Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group (APSG) that will be modeled off the Iraq Study Group (ISG) of the Baker-Hamilton Commission. The project is driven by the realization that this regional dilemma cannot be resolved militarily – it requires a [...]
September 8th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR The southern city of Kandahar, the last Afghan territory to be handed over by the British in 1830, was also known as the center of greatest resistance to the Russian occupation in the 1980’s. Today it measures as the epicenter of intense political competition, drug trafficking and an [...]
July 17th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR Observers were split over the insubordination and mocking comments by General McChrystal and his staff towards the Vice President, senior Whitehouse officials, and Mr. Obama that was recently published in an article by a Rolling Stones Magazine writer. Some viewed this as an unimportant matter and thus we [...]
June 24th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR It is obvious that there is no military solution to the struggle in Afghanistan; therefore a political solution could be on the horizon. So far that too has proven to be a failing effort when the Taliban, who were supposedly partaking in the recent consultative Loya-Jirgah gathering in [...]
June 21st, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR What some Afghan natives and analysts call the most dangerous part of the world has reached a critical juncture, “a tipping point”. Per Guardian and New York Times reports, “President Hamid Karzai has lost faith in the US strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly looking to Pakistan to [...]
June 13th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR It’s ludicrous that in a matter of weeks Mr. Karzai has gone from being a frail, faltering, unqualified leader hampered by a deceitful family, to the man who will magically bring together the disparate welfare of Afghans with his commendable leadership. The boosting of President Hamid Karzai’s credibility [...]
June 6th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri Staff Writer–Editor The United States is on a trajectory to lose the war in Afghanistan because its foreign policy has become entangled with President Hamid Karzai’s reprobate regime. Now, U.S. objectives are contingent upon Karzai’s willingness and ability to rid the endemic corruption within his administration, and – more importantly – within [...]
May 21st, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri Staff Writer / Editor Op-Ed Mr. Khalilzad! I don’t get it! Why should anyone on earth page you? Except for Kathleen Parker, a writer for Washington Post, who says, “Paging Mr. Khalilzad! That is, Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and now a wandering consultant on all things Afghan and Middle [...]
May 5th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri Staff Writer / Editor Op-Ed Views in this article are mostly my own, few have been in conjunction with other Afghans mainly Kandaharis living inside and outside Afghanistan. As the U.S. gears up for the operation in Kandahar the plans have hit a bit of a snag. There’s a dispute raging between [...]
April 29th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER / EDITOR Afghanistan is to convene a grand tribal convention for a consensus with the Taliban—ones who can peel away from the organization—to relinquish the status-quo and accept the terms and conditions set by regional countries including US, UK and Saudi Arabia to end the War in Afghanistan. This could [...]
April 21st, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER During the last few days, President Karzai has thrown the “kitchen sink” at his allies, and his own people. Did the American’s rig the election? Is Karzai joining the Taliban or retiring to the south of France? Some say it is drug use, some say simply stress, depression or Napoleonic [...]
April 13th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri, STAFF WRITER Last week, president Karzai met with tribal leaders hoping for their support in his rift with Washington. Instead, his meetings were a total disaster with tribal leaders demonstrating a clear lack of confidence in, not only his policies but his personal leadership as well. With accusations of personal failings, from [...]
April 6th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER/EDITOR VETERANS TODAY “All a man can betray is his conscience,” says Joseph Conrad, and there is no doubt the betrayal of trust carries a heavy taboo when the Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday blamed foreigners, including UN and EU officials, for “very widespread” fraud during presidential and provincial elections [...]
April 2nd, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER VETERANS TODAY Democracies make elections, elections don’t make democracies, and as Winston Churchill pointed out, “democracy can easily become just another way of selecting bad or ineffective governments.” Democratic elections usually rest on a few basic principles—a free and fair vote, an un-coerced selection of candidates, and an agreement by [...]
March 29th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER VETERANS TODAY Major Jim Gant, an Army silver star Green Beret hero, considered the best field grade officer for the “AfPak Hands” program. He is also the author of “One Tribe at a Time” and an outspoken advocate of Afghan tribal engagement strategy (TES), who lived and breathed the notion [...]
March 13th, 2010 | Posted in 9/11,AfPak,WarZone | Read More »
By: Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER FOR VETERANS TODAY AN INEVITABLE KARZAI DYNASTY RULING Subsequent to Hamed Karzai shamelessly stealing the Afghan re-election; he agreed that his achievements and standards would be higher – and the Obama administration vowed that he will honorably and ethically keep his word, but the Afghan president once again deceitfully proved [...]
February 25th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak,Foreign Relations,Top 10 | Read More »
BY KHALIL NOURI STAFF WRITER FOR VETERANS TODAY “We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in.” said triumphantly General Stanley McChrystal as the NATO operation spearheaded by British troops towards Marjah and Nad-Ali districts in Helmand Province last weekend. It is measured to be the mother of all the tests, using millions [...]
February 18th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak | Read More »
AFGHANISTAN: The Flawed Operation “Mushtarak” BY KHALIL NOURI STAFF WRITER FOR VETERANS TODAY “If “Success” is the word labeled for Operation “Mushtarak” when that outcome means agony, death, disfigurement and disablement for life for mostly young men, who were children just a few short years ago, then how can the definition of winning hearts and [...]
February 15th, 2010 | Posted in AfPak | Read More »
Day by day a growing chorus of voices is heard saying that the tribes are the solution in Afghanistan. This very powerful grassroots movement is blossoming; and it can give the Afghan people new hope, self-esteem and a sense of belonging. As Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told the news media Russia Today; “For about one billion dollars we could…(obtain)… the good will of all the tribal leaders and all the ethnic leaders in Afghanistan, and for another billion dollars, we could put nice projects in local villages.” But, to make sure that there is success to this notion, an effective bottom-up approach tool is required to match the existing top-down approach so that jointly both approaches can rescue the nation.
February 2nd, 2010 | Posted in AfPak | Read More »
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