This week's New Statesman is a special issue on Afghanistan: Ten Years of War. Inside, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt presents the reasons why British troops remain in the country, Lucy Morgan Edwards exposes America's betrayal of the Afghan resistance leader Abdul Haq, and Mehdi Hasan speaks to Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan about Obama's "blunders" and the west's faulty perspective on Muslim societies.

Meanwhile, David Miliband reports on his time spent touring British universities at the request of his brother Ed, and shares his insights into the concerns of students today; from fees and Lib Dems to political Islam. Former press secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Pitcher, offers his opinion on the St. Paul's Occupation, and Nicholas Shaxson reveals the role and workings of the City of London Corporation, the covert governing body "[representing] insider capitalism like nothing else on earth".

Also this week, the NS launches a new front section of the magazine, the mini-essay Observations; as well as a new Drink column by Nina Caplan, alternating with a Food column courtesy of Felicity Cloake.

All this, plus Rafael Behr on the populist anger drowning out Ed Miliband, Joan Didion on her new memoir Blue Nights, Peter Wilby on the Desmond/Dacre showdown, and an interview with writer and film-maker Miranda July.