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NEWS ABOUT: Afghanistan war

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Afghans: NATO Strike Targeted Civilians

Villagers: 52 civilians killed in Helmand skirmish

(Newser) - Amidst the flood of leaked news of previously unreported civilian casualties in Afghanistan, angry Afghans say a NATO rocket attack on their Helmand province town on Friday deliberately targeted civilians, killing 52. "The foreign forces could see us," a villager who claims 17 members of his extended family... More »

Obama's Afghan Troop Surge Clears Congress

He gets money for increase of 30,000

(AP) - The House today sent President Obama a major war-funding increase of $33 billion to pay for his troop surge in Afghanistan, unmoved by the leaking of classified documents that portray a struggling military effort. The House voted 308-114 to approve the spending boost for the additional 30,000 US troops... More »

WikiLeaks Revelations: Don't Hate, Congratulate

Website's motivations don't matter; full disclosure does

(Newser) - The inevitable backlash over the information in the WikiLeaks documents completely misses the point, writes the LA Times editorial board. "WikiLeaks and its media colleagues appear to have behaved thoughtfully," and "what motivates WikiLeaks to post classified material is barely even interesting, much less important." In... More »

White House Scrambles to Downplay Afghan Leak

Administration stresses files date to Bush era

(Newser) - White House officials on damage control after the massive leak of Afghan war records on Wikileaks are stressing that most of the records date from the Bush administration, and all of them predate President Obama's December 2009 shift in strategy. The leaked records back up Obama's decision to boost troop... More »

Pentagon Looks at Army Intel Analyst's Role in Afghan Leak

Bradley Manning only worked on Iraq war

(Newser) - Who could've given nearly 1 million classified Afghanistan war documents to WikiLeaks? The military is taking a close look at Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst already charged with leaking documents to the site. Manning would be a perfect suspect, except for one fact: He was stationed in Iraq and had... More »

WikiLeaks Documents Are Not the Pentagon Papers

War logs don't match revelations of Vietnam skullduggery

(Newser) - The release of 92,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war has prompted many comparisons to the Pentagon Papers. But that's a bit superficial, writes Richard Tofel for ProPublica . "In terms of important disclosures, it's not even close." The biggest WikiLeaks revelations involve Taliban fighters' use of... More »

Wikileaks Boss: Afghan Log Like 'Opening the Stasi Archives'

Assange accuses US of 'war crimes'

(Newser) - Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gave an hour-long press conference at the Frontline club in London today, holding forth in front of an iconic Vietnam-era photo of a haunted-looking US solider, the Guardian reports. He defended his group’s decision to leak the documents, calling it “the equivalent of opening... More »

Eight Died Defending Obsolete Outpost

The sad story of Combat Outpost Keating

(Newser) - In the beginning, soldiers at Combat Outpost Keating were upbeat. They’d distributed lots of clothing, first aid, and school supplies to the local villagers. “Our friendship grows every day,” reads one dispatch found in the Wikileaks document trove. But as time goes on, documents pieced together by... More »

Top 9 Revelations From Leaked Afghan Reports

Biggest military leak in history underscores grim realities

(Newser) - Wikileaks has unveiled 92,000 secret documents about the Afghan war, which, in the New York Times ' words, "illustrate in mosaic detail why ... the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001." Don't have time to scan through 92,000 documents? Here are what appear to... More »

Taliban Says It Captured 2 US Troops

No confirmation yet from American authorities

(Newser) - The Taliban says it has captured two American soldiers in Afghanistan, Reuters reports. No official confirmation has come from NATO or US forces, but a Reuters correspondent heard a local radio broadcast offering a $20,000 reward for information about their whereabouts. A Taliban spokesman said three servicemen from NATO's... More »

Support Crumbling for Afghan War

Congressional Dems near open revolt as initiative fails to show progress

(Newser) - The July 2011 deadline Barack Obama set to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan was supposed to put pressure on Hamid Karzai’s government to step up its efforts to take over security duties. But it's wound up putting at least as much pressure on Obama, according to a harsh front-page... More »

Afghanistan Victory a 'Romantic Wish'

It's time to stop asking people to die, host argues

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow fired one across the administration's bow last night in a lengthy piece breaking down its strategy behind the war in Afghanistan. She acknowledges that setting up an Afghan government is a vital US interest. "The administration's argument for staying in Afghanistan and what to do there is... More »

Karzai Concedes, Backs US Plan for Local Forces

Villagers will be trained to fight the Taliban

(Newser) - With US deaths rising by the day, Hamid Karzai gave up his long-held objections today to a central part of Gen. David Petraeus' strategy. The Afghan president agreed to allow the training of local defense forces—"community watch on steroids," says one US official—so villagers can defend... More »

8 US Troops Killed in Taliban Attacks

Taliban claims responsibility for car bomb, gun, grenade attack

(AP) - Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, including a car bombing and gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar. In that attack, a suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police.... More »

Troops Forced to Play Diplomat in Kandahar

Forces represent Afghan government where it fears to go

(Newser) - After the less-than-successful military offensive in Marjah, NATO forces are taking a different tack in the villages surrounding Kandahar: They’re acting as representatives of the distant, oft-distrusted government. In “Operation Hamkari” (“cooperation”), soldiers are attempting to drive out the Taliban simply by improving government services and... More »

Petraeus, Karzai Clash on Strategy

Elsewhere, six American troops are killed

(Newser) - Bleak news all around today from Afghanistan: Gen. David Petraeus has barely settled in, but he's already running into resistance from President Hamid Karzai on strategy, reports the Washington Post . Meanwhile, six American service members were killed, bringing the total to 23 this month, reports AP . That follows last month's... More »

NATO Strike Kills 5 Afghan Troops

Allies 'weren't clear' Afghans were in the area

(AP) - NATO mistakenly killed five of its Afghan army allies in an airstrike today while the Afghans were attacking insurgents in the country's east. The Afghan soldiers were launching an ambush before dawn against insurgents in Ghazni province when NATO aircraft began firing on them without warning, the AP reports. An... More »

We Need Afghan Debate, But Neither Party Allows It

Michael Steele is a victim of this narrow-minded atmosphere

(Newser) - Joke all you want about Michael Steele's new troubles , but one part of this mess isn't so funny, Ned Resnikoff writes for Salon . It's the depressing—and dangerous—political reality that neither Republicans nor Democrats will tolerate debate of the Afghanistan war. "The leadership of both major parties concludes... More »

Lay Off Michael Steele: Ron Paul

Texan defends RNC chair's Afghanistan remarks

(Newser) - Michael Steele is under fire from politicians and pundits alike for saying the Afghanistan war is unwinnable, but he has at least one Republican on his side: Ron Paul. "Michael Steele has it right and Republicans should stick by him," the Texas congressman said in a statement. He... More »

McCain, Graham, Et Al. Pile on 'Unwise' Steele

GOP chair needs to make 'appropriate decision' about his future

(Newser) - If Michael Steele was hoping his GOP pals on the Sunday airwaves today has his back, let's hope his cable went out. John McCain called Steele's comments about the Afghan war "wildly inaccurate," while Lindsey Graham slammed them as "uninformed, unnecessary, unwise." The Maverick further suggested... More »

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