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NEWS ABOUT: Afghanistan

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Russia Agrees to Let US Use Airspace for Afghan War

Deal on supply lines forged ahead of Obama's Russian visit

(Newser) - Russia has agreed to let American planes transporting troops and equipment to Afghanistan fly over its airspace, the BBC reports. The deal will be officially announced next week when President Obama visits Moscow. Volatility affecting supply lines through Pakistan and Central Asia made securing such an agreement one of Obama's... More »

Taliban Captures Missing US Soldier

(Newser) - Military officials believe that a US soldier who’s been missing since Tuesday has been captured by the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. The soldier appears to have walked off base into an unsecured area for reasons that remain unclear. Today, the Taliban’s Haqqani faction claimed to have captured... More »

Marines Launch New Afghan Strategy

(Newser) - US Marines today launched a major offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan that will serve as the first big test of a new American strategy, reports the Washington Post. About 4,000 Marines descended on villages and towns in the remote Helmand province. Their goal, however, isn't to wage war... More »

Afghan Generals Want, But Won't Get, More Troops

(Newser) - President Obama has sent 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan so far, and he’s not sending more anytime soon, writes Bob Woodward, who accompanied national security adviser James Jones as he visited commanders last week, delivering the unwelcome news. They repeatedly told him their troops are spread too thin,... More »

US-Built Bridge Supports Afghan Drug Trade

$37M project facilitates opium smuggling into Tajikistan

(Newser) - A US-built bridge linking Afghanistan and Tajikistan that cost taxpayers $37 million has greatly benefited exporters of Afghan opium, McClatchy reports. The bridge over the Panj river was supposed to facilitate commerce between the two nations, but the surging flow of opium across Afghanistan’s northern border threatens to turn... More »

US to Change Tactics in Afghan Drug War

(Newser) - The US is changing tactics in its war against the Afghan opium trade, the AP reports. Rather than targeting crops for eradication, the US will focus on interdiction and alternative crop programs. A top administration official called eradication “a waste of money” that failed to divert “a single... More »

Karzai to Taliban: Please Vote

Afghan prez urges militants to participate in election, not attack it

(Newser) - The president of Afghanistan has urged members of the Taliban to vote at the polls instead of attacking them in the country’s upcoming election, AFP reports. Incumbent Hamid Karzai said in a press conference today the Taliban should "vote for the president they want" in the Aug. 20... More »

Afghan Prez Squeezes Out Opponents

Unpopular Karzai has horse-traded his way to likely reelection

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s president isn’t popular with his people—in a recent poll, just 31% said they would vote for him—but he’ll probably win an August election anyway, Dexter Filkins reports in the New York Times. Hamid Karzai, in power for 8 years, is blamed for widespread corruption... More »

US Cuts Deal on Central Asia Military Base

Troops must leave, but base will help Afghanistan mission

(AP) - The US has agreed to more than triple the rent it pays for use of a key air base in Kyrgyzstan to ship non-lethal military supplies to Afghanistan under a deal approved today, reports the AP. The accord over the Manas Air Base comes four months after the Central Asian... More »

US to Cut Down on Afghan Airstrikes

(Newser) - The US military is tightening its rules regarding airstrikes in Afghanistan, in the face of mounting civilian casualties, the New York Times reports. Airstrikes will now be used mostly to prevent coalition forces from being overrun, new Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal announced. “Air power contains the seeds of our... More »

Times Reporter Planned Escape for Weeks

Newspaper was prepared to pay $5M ransom to Taliban

(Newser) - David Rohde escaped from the Taliban only after weeks of planning, taking advantage of a length of rope to aid his descent down a 20-foot wall, the New York Times reports. The journalist and his Afghan colleague waited until a night when the city had electrical power, so the sound... More »

Pilots Say DEA Bullies Them Into Afghan Tours

(Newser) - Some special-agent pilots for the Drug Enforcement Administration say the agency is illegally coercing them to work in Afghanistan, McClatchy reports. In interviews, more than a dozen agents said superiors were punishing agents with 2-month Afghan tours, or threatening demotions if they refused to go. "What's going to happen... More »

2 US Troops Killed in Attack on Afghan Base

Taliban claims responsibility for strike that wounded 6

(Newser) - Two US troops were killed and six more Americans were injured early this morning in a rocket strike on a US air base in Afghanistan, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the 2 a.m. strike on the heavily fortified compound, which brings the American death... More »

NYT Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months

(Newser) - A reporter for the New York Times held by the Taliban for 7 months in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan has escaped, the paper says. The Times kept David Rohde’s abduction secret out of concern for his safety and had been in sporadic contact with him and... More »

Blackwater Bilked US Out of $55M for Iraq Security: Audit

Company didn't provide enough workers

(Newser) - The US overpaid Blackwater by $55 million for its security work in Iraq, a government audit has found. The company, since renamed Xe, didn't employ enough guards, medics, and other personnel to protect high-level officials but still collected full payment from the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. "... More »

Pakistan Launches Operation to Kill Taliban Leader

Baitullah Mehsud blamed for several recent attacks

(Newser) - Pakistan is launching a manhunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—branded "the root cause of all evils," by one official—in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan officials blame Mehsud's group for a string of recent attacks, the BBC reports. The heavy military offensive is expected to please... More »

Economic Crisis Hits Al Qaeda, Too

Terrorist activities must wait as fundraising falters

(Newser) - Al Qaeda operations are struggling due to a lack of capital brought on in part by the global economic downturn, the New York Post reports. “In Afghanistan, we have a severe supply deficit,” the group said in a plea for donations. “Mujahideen sit and wait and cannot... More »

New US Afghanistan Chief: Convince, Don't Kill

Sketches strategy to mix troops with population

(Newser) - The new US commander in Afghanistan says his experiences there and in Iraq have changed his perspective on an effective counterinsurgency: “You're going to have to convince people, not kill them,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal tells the Wall Street Journal. “Since 9/11, I have watched as America tried... More »

Afghanistan Attacks at Record High

(Newser) - Violence in Afghanistan is the worst it’s been since 2001, the US commander of forces in the region announced today. Insurgents staged more than 400 attacks during the past week, compared to less than 50 per week in January 2004, the BBC reports. Gen David Petraeus said allied forces... More »

Youngest Gitmo Detainee, Captured at 14, Goes Free

(Newser) - The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been freed to his native Chad, Reuters reports. Mohammed El Gharani was seized in Pakistan in 2001 at 14, and accused variously of being an al-Qaeda operative, messenger, and combatant. Five months ago a judge found the evidence against him insufficient. “That... More »

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