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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Afghanistan war

Afghanistan war stories: 311 news summaries

61 - 80 of 311 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 16 Next >>

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

White House denies a decision has made, but UK's move would make more sense

(Newser) - President Obama will announce a troop surge in Afghanistan next week, sources tell the BBC, with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US saying Obama will commit as many as 45,000. The White House says there’s been no decision, with spokesman Robert Gibbs sniffing that the BBC wouldn’t... More »

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Afghanistan troop surge BBC Afghanistan war Obama administration Robert Gibbs President Obama Stanley McChrystal Said Jawad

opinion

Arianna: Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan

If Obama ramps up troops, the VP should quit on principle

(Newser) - Joe Biden should resign on principle if President Obama sends more troops to Afghanistan, writes Arianna Huffington. It's no secret Biden has "deep reservations" about ramping up the war effort there. "So if the president does decide to escalate, Biden, for the good of the country, should escalate... More »

 Britain to Send 500 More 
 Troops to Afghanistan 

Expects other NATO countries to follow suit

(Newser) - Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,”... More »

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Afghanistan Gordon Brown Britain troop levels Helmand province Afghanistan war

ANALYSIS

Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies

VP's calls for a narrowed mission echo increasing pessimism on war

(Newser) - Joe Biden was a lone voice of skepticism on Afghanistan strategy after his fact-finding tour there earlier this year, but many in the White House have gradually swung to his point of view. Biden's perspective that the mission should be narrowed is now favored by administration liberals. The position reflects... More »

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Afghanistan Joe Biden vice president Afghanistan war Obama administration Afghanistan exit strategy

OPINION

Karzai's Government
Too Rotten to Back

Sending more troops won't work if they're protecting a tainted government

(Newser) - No counterinsurgency campaign can succeed without a good government to work with, and Hamid Karzai's operation is nowhere near good enough, writes Thomas L. Friedman. Karzai's government is thoroughly corrupt and his election victory deeply tainted, Friedman notes in the New York Times. Much of the insurgency is now fueled... More »

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Taliban Hamid Karzai corruption disputed election Afghanistan war counterinsurgency Afghanistan election

OPINION

Hey, Right Wingers: You're Hanoi Jane Now

Folks attacking Obama over Peace Prize are the America haters

(Newser) - “Why, oh why, do conservatives hate America so?” One might get that idea, Eugene Robinson writes, when the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the RNC rush to join the Taliban in denouncing President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. These people are “exhibiting what they, in a... More »

UPDATED

 Pentagon Downplays 
 13K Surge in Afghan 
 Support Troops 

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have... More »

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Afghanistan Pentagon troop surge Robert Gates US military troop levels Afghanistan war Stanley McChrystal

INTERVIEW



 I'm Not 
 Marginalized, 
 I Delegate: 
 Clinton 

Obama's Peace Prize is deserved, but won't sway war policy, she says

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton would rather you view her apparent absence from big foreign policy issues like Iran and Afghanistan as an example of “delegating power” and not marginalization. Ann Curry used a variant of that word in an interview on MSNBC, which Clinton finds "absurd." “I would... More »

PROFILE

 Joe Biden 
 Is Obama's 
 Best Gadfly, 
 'Truth-Teller' 


Hardly a joke, veep doesn't mind stirring the pot

(Newser) - Barack Obama's suave, controlled campaign may have winced when gaffe-prone Joe Biden came aboard, but the vice president has proven himself to be a necessary straight-shooter time and again in the administration's tumultuous first nine months. From Afghanistan to health care, Biden has become Obama's most reliable "truth teller,... More »

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NEW REPORT

 Guns Failed 
 US Troops in 
 Afghan Firefight 

M-4, built for extreme conditions, jammed repeatedly in heavy fire

(AP) - As militants surrounded the remote Afghanistan base of Wanat on July 13, 2008, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M-4 carbine quit firing. The machine gun he grabbed in desperation didn't work, either. When the battle ended, nine US soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the... More »

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Frank Rich

 Iraq Hawks Are 
 Just as Wrong 
 on Afghanistan 

Why is anyone still listening to McCain, Lieberman, and Graham?

(Newser) - The Three Amigos who pushed the invasion of Iraq are at it again, now claiming that we must escalate the war in Afghanistan if we want to avoid another 9/11—the same claim they used before to urge us to take on Iraq in 2003, Frank Rich writes. Rich finds... More »

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 Taliban Claim Victory 
 as US Quits Base 

Insurgents take control of remote outpost where 8 troops were killed last week

(Newser) - The Taliban claimed to have won a major victory over the US yesterday as American troops abandoned a remote base in eastern Afghanistan where eight soldiers were killed in a firefight last weekend. "The white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh," crowed a Taliban spokesman. NATO ... More »

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OPINION

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in
His Troops

Krauthammer: Dems have to get serious about Afghanistan

(Newser) - It’s time for Democrats, particularly President Obama, to get serious about the war in Afghanistan, writes Charles Krauthammer. From John Kerry on, Democrats have campaigned on the cynical political calculation that Afghanistan was the “good war.” But now that it’s time to send troops into that... More »

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Top Afghan Troop Request
Is 60K—Not 40K

Obama and team meet again today on strategy

(Newser) - The troop requests on the table as President Obama meets with his security team again today are even higher than has been reported: The top option is 60,000, not 40,000, the Wall Street Journal reports, though Gen. McChrystal is backing the middle figure, 40,000. The third and... More »

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peggy noonan

 Let McChrystal 
 Make His Case 
 to Congress 

National debate is needed to build consensus

(Newser) - President Obama may not want to hear from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but Congress certainly does, writes Peggy Noonan, and he should let them. Staying on in Afghanistan and withdrawing are both unappealing options that could have dire consequences, and even though the Pentagon doesn't want to do it, the country... More »

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Taliban to West: We Mean You No Harm

Group may be trying
to sway Afghanistan strategy debate

(Newser) - With the US debating what to do in Afghanistan, the Taliban has announced it poses no threat to the West. “We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have such agenda today,” said a statement posted on Taliban websites. The group... More »

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Pelosi Eye Roll Hints at Dem Rift on Afghanistan

She doesn't seem to be on the same page as Reid

(Newser) - It was a little thing. After Tuesday’s powwow with the president on Afghan strategy, Harry Reid emerged from the White House with Nancy Pelosi and announced: “Everyone said that ‘whatever decision you make, we will support it,’” as the House speaker rolled her eyes. Though... More »

 Troops Despair, Question 
 Afghan Mission: Chaplains 

'I'm not exactly sure why we're' in Afghanistan, says one

(Newser) - Morale is not good at the Forward Operating Base in Wardak province. Soldiers there are starting to lose hope, base chaplains tell the Times. “They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said one, while another described a “sense of... More »

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white house strategy review

 Afghan Debate 
 Focuses on al-Qaeda 

White House advisers argue that Taliban is too ingrained to be completely wiped out

(Newser) - The question of how much of a threat the Taliban actually poses to the US was at the heart of discussions on Afghanistan strategy yesterday, officials say. Members of Obama's national security team argued that recent successes in Pakistan show that al-Qaeda can be defeated without extra troops in Afghanistan,... More »

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WHAT OBAMA IS READING

Vietnam Books Playing Key Role in Afghan War Debate

Competing works on Vietnam War top policymakers' reading lists

(Newser) - A pair of books on the Vietnam War—one on why America should never have gotten involved, and one on how it could have won—are providing the framework for the Washington debate over Afghanistan strategy, insiders say. Lessons in Disaster, which describes how the White House was pushed into... More »

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Afghanistan Joe Biden Robert Gates Vietnam War Afghanistan war President Obama Afghanistan exit strategy

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