US Weighs Talks With Taliban

Al-Qaeda bosses living comfortably in Pakistan, says NATO insider

(NEWSER) - “Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave”—instead, Osama bin Laden and other top figures are likely to be living rather comfortably in houses in Pakistan, under the protection of locals and some Pakistani intelligence, a NATO official tells CNN . Bin Laden has likely been roaming from Pakistan’s far northwest to the Kurram Valley near Tora Bora in Afghanistan in recent years. More»

Mullah Omar's lieutenant may be really running the insurgency

(NEWSER) - Though most Americans know of Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban’s insurgency in Afghanistan, few know his capable lieutenant, Mullah Baradar. As a high-profile US target, Omar has kept a low profile over the last 3 years—while Baradar commands day-to-day operations, Newsweek reports. But Baradar’s cunning leadership may be behind the improved tactics that have made July the deadliest month for coalition troops since the initial 2001 invasion. More»

(NEWSER) - The American offensive in southern Afghanistan is sparking serious tensions with Pakistan, the New York Times reports. Pakistani officials fear that the surge will push Taliban militants into its border region, triggering a rise in militancy that it will be ill-equipped to tackle without shifting troops from the Indian border. That's a move totally out of the question for officials who view India as Pakistan's main foe and the Taliban as an enemy who authorities can negotiate with. More»

Petraeus says US routing al-Qaeda; Gingrich likens torture talk to McCarthyism

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney says he’s been outspoken because the Obama administration has “moved to take down a lot of those policies we put in place to keep the nation safe for 8 years.” On CBS’ Face the Nation, Cheney denied the Bush administration was in the “torture business” and said he’d choose Rush Limbaugh’s version of the GOP over Colin Powell’s. More»

(AP) - Gen. David Petraeus said today that militant insurgents in Afghanistan are growing in strength but will be fought "relentlessly and aggressively" by bolstered American troops. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan said the United States would take the fight to the Taliban and insurgent forces in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. More»