The U.S. war in Afghanistan is one of three U.S. wars against low-income countries (Vietnam war and Iraq war) which posed no security threat to the U.S. All parties sustained enormous damages in blood and wealth. In retrospect, the projection of U.S power and influence was superfluous and had no...

Brazil has joined China and India among middle income countries to forge ahead towards closing the income gap between the North-South disparities and take advantage of the shift in the distribution of economic growth in favor of middle income countries. With annual per capita income growth rate three times faster...

Does the great recession of 2007- 2008 signal the beginning of the decline of Western powers and its domination of the global economy which began 500 years ago?

Probably not, because the factors that contributed to the dominance of the West beginning in the 16th century are still valid;...

Last week President Hamid Karzai called on the Grand Assembly or Loya Jirga of Afghanistan seeking consultation, advice and recommendation concerning strategic agreement with the United States. The Grand Assembly readily recommended that the government may sign the strategic agreement with the United States. It signifies that the people of...

China's 12th five-year plan (2012-2017) has a targeted annual GDP growth rate of 7% and the development of renewable energy with an investment of $640 billion to constitute 15% of China's energy needs by the year 2020, building housing for 36 million families and the promotion of social equity and...

President Obama's recent announcement of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq was welcomed news. The Iraq war is the second longest American war in history after Afghanistan. The U.S. has been at this war for 102 months thus far; longer than the war time span of Vietnam, Korean, World War II,...

Since the introduction of the Euro in 1999, the twin pillars, Germany and France, the largest and healthiest economies with current shares of 27.1% and 21.2% of total gross domestic product respectively, have been successfully leading the Eurozone. Now, it looks as if Germany might have to be the sole...

The devastating and tragic event of 9/11 landed American forces in Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al Qaeda who had taken shelter there. The intrigue has lasted more than a decade and continuing, although Osama bin Laden and his cronies slipped into Pakistan in October of 2001...

The recent news that no jobs were added to the U.S. economy in August indicates the depth of the current recession. Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market and economy have been sustaining major gyrations and uncertainty due to an uninformed and misguided battle over the budget deficit and national debt among...

The demise of Osama Bin Laden, the longest American war in history (10 years and continuing) and President Barack Obama's military draw-down schedule -- it seems that this is an appropriate time for the U.S., the Afghan leaders and international community to launch a program in Afghanistan that would leave...

It is axiomatic that the congressional debate over the current budget gridlock was disingenuous and a partisan game on the American people. Because the politicians know, or should have known, the following facts about the annual budget and the national debt and not cause consternation of an impending decline in...

This is the right time for the United States to seriously consider embarking on a bold investment of creating technology in energy that would reduce the cost of energy, create energy independence via renewable sources and attendant benefits of favorable trade balance, employment, higher GDP growth, deficit reduction and national...

Recently, a global transition to a more diffuse distribution of economic power is broadly recognized, pointing to a shift in the balance of global growth from rich to low- and middle- income economies. Colombia may be a prime example as its recent rapid per capita income growth of 8.8% per...

Just at about the time of industrial revolution and the advent of renaissance, the United Kingdom led a pack of European countries, the United States and Japan towards higher stages of economic growth, creating a dichotomy of rich countries and poor countries. For a long time, development economists held the...

The United States Navy SEALs' triumph with two significant feats for the world community may cause an end to international terrorism.

First, Osama bin Laden was killed in his compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2. Second and equally significant was the Navy Seals' exposure of Pakistan's duplicity in...

The Obama administration must heed to Democratic National Committee's (DNC') resolution of last Saturday in favor of domestic job creation and speeding up substantial troop withdrawal from the Afghanistan war by or before July of 2011. This is a remarkable prescription at this time of high unemployment and Afghanistan's quagmire....

It is axiomatic that an employed person in the labor force receives compensation and dispenses his earnings for his family's consumption, housing, transportation, medical, education, entertainment, savings and other necessities and luxuries of life. The sum of these expenditures and savings create the cash flow for banks, corporations, markets, investment...

During the recession of 2007-2009 China's exports dropped 15-18 percent causing 23 million workers to be laid off, but 98% readily found jobs as the economy bounced back and the unemployment rate dropped to 4% with a $586 billion stimulus package. The strategy was to create employment directly through fiscal...

Co-authored with Ved Pratap Vaidik and Abdul Ghaffar Mogul

The late ambassador Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, had identified the connection of the Afghanistan's war with Pakistan and referred to the issue Afghan-Pak issue. However, he realized that the connection is rooted in India and...

In several studies, estimates of Iraq war damages sustained by the United States have ranged around $1-$3 trillion. In this current study, measure of war damages sustained by the people and country of Iraq is estimated at $394.4 billion. This figure consists of 66,081 individuals who lost their lives. The...