CrisisWatch N°100

2 December 2011: In a few days, hundreds of officials from more than 50 countries will descend on Bonn, Germany, for what has been billed as one of the most significant turning points in Afghanistan's ten-year dance with the international community. The conference planners hope to set out their vision for a reset of international engagement in Afghanistan in a move that will mark the beginning of the end of the decade-long Western military presence. Candace Rondeaux, Crisis Group's Senior Analyst in Afghanistan, distinguishes ambition from the reality on the ground.

24 November 2011: Last night, northern Kosovo saw public protests take another dark turn, with a potent mix of tear gas, rocks and batons, earth-moving equipment and armed soldiers, leaving scores injured, counting twenty-one NATO (KFOR) troops, now added to recent casualties that include two dead, one Serb and one Kosovo Albanian. Without concerted effort and political courage this situation is only set to get worse.

3 November 2011: Syria’s acceptance of the Arab League proposal to defuse the crisis presents an eleventh-hour opportunity to seek a negotiated transition before the conflict takes an even uglier turn. Despite understandable scepticism, both the protest movement and the international community ought to give this initiative a fair chance; for either one to dismiss or undermine it would be to offer the regime justification for rejecting both the deal and responsibility for its failure. The regime’s intentions soon will be put to the test. In coming days, protesters will take to the streets with renewed energy, probing President Bashar al Assad’s sincerity after months of rising repression; they cannot be expected to show patience for protracted political talks devoid of swift, tangible results on the ground.