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NEWS ABOUT: Afghanistan exit strategy

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US Eyes Switch to Special Ops in Afghanistan

Focus to be on training, special missions, not policing

(Newser) - The United States may be wrapping up its combat operations in Afghanistan a year early, but the fight against insurgents and terrorists will continue in the form of US special forces, who are expected to stay in the country well after 2014, reports the New York Times . According to the... More »

Sarkozy Wants Out of Afghanistan Next Year

France will withdraw combat troops by the end of 2013

(AP) - France and Afghanistan agree NATO should speed up by a year its timetable for handing all combat operations to Afghan forces in 2013, President Nicolas Sarkozy said today, raising new questions about the unity of the Western military alliance. Sarkozy also announced that all French combat troops will leave the... More »

Afghanistan: We Need Aid Through 2024—or Longer

Karzai wants political, military support until then, financial aid until 2030

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai today called for continued political and military support in his country until 2024—a full decade beyond the planned 2014 withdrawal of American and other forces. "We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade," Karzai said to a group of leaders... More »

Base Shows Dangers of Handing Off to Afghans

The last time the US left Nangalam, all hell broke loose

(Newser) - Wondering how the US’ rumored plan to handoff responsibility in Afghanistan to the Afghans will go? Well, the Wall Street Journal has a less-than-encouraging case study in Nangalam, a town in the Pech Valley. The US handed off control there to the Afghans in 2010—and all hell broke loose.... More »

Obama Considering Scaling Back Afghan Mission

US would shift to advisory role

(Newser) - The White House is looking to shift US troops in Afghanistan from a combat role to a primarily advisory one earlier than previously planned. While no decisions have been made yet, the possibility has been discussed at high-level meetings with defense officials, sources tell the Wall Street Journal , with some... More »

Afghanistan Routinely Tortures Prisoners: UN

'Even stones confess here,' one guard said; Kabul promises reform

(Newser) - A UN investigation has uncovered “a compelling pattern … of systemic torture and ill-treatment” in Afghan prisons, with prisoners reporting being beaten and shocked with electrical cables, hung by their hands, and having their genitals twisted until they passed out, the New York Times reports. Nearly half of all... More »

Afghan Desertion Rates Soar as US Withdraws

Officials blame poor Afghan leadership, but increase a concern

(Newser) - Desertions from the Afghan army are soaring this year, amounting to one in seven of the country's 170,000 soldiers in the first six months of 2011, and casting doubts on the government's ability to maintain its own security, reports the Washington Post . The trend—more than twice... More »

Drone Strike Kills 20 in Pakistan

Latest strike kills militants belonging to the Haqqani network

(AP) - American-fired missiles killed 20 Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan today, most of them members of a powerful insurgent network fighting the US presence in Afghanistan, say Pakistani intelligence officials. Two missiles slammed into a house in North Waziristan, a militant hotspot that lies just across the border from Afghanistan. Unnamed... More »

Taliban Hangs 8-Year-Old Afghan Boy

Father refused to give militants a police vehicle

(Newser) - The Taliban has hanged an 8-year-old boy, in tragic retribution after the boy's cop father refused to give militants a police vehicle, reports CNN. The child was kidnapped Friday in the southern province of Helmand, and killed at an unknown point after that. President Hamid Karzai condemned the boy'... More »

Taliban: We Were Hacked; Mullah Omar Is Alive

Death reports were fake, says spokesperson

(Newser) - Everyone's getting hacked these days—even the Taliban, apparently. A spokesperson in Afghanistan tells the AP and the Los Angeles Times that the group's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is alive—and that it was a hacker who sent out text messages, emails, and Internet postings announcing Omar's... More »

Top Karzai Aide Gunned Down

Parliament member killed as well

(Newser) - Gunmen hit the Kabul home of one of Hamid Karzai’s top aides today, killing him and an Afghan lawmaker, local police tell Reuters . “The battle between gunmen and security forces is still going on,” the spokesman said. According to an AFP reporter on the scene, two or... More »

72% Support Obama's Afghanistan Pullout

Even a majority of Republicans back the withdrawal

(Newser) - Americans overwhelmingly President Obama's plan to pull out of Afghanistan says a new Gallup Poll , with 72% in favor and only 23% opposed. For Democrats, that rises to 87%, but even Republicans support it, with 50% for it versus 43% opposed. More specifically, Obama's plan to withdraw 30,... More »

Speech Was Obama's 'Mission Accomplished'

All he needed was a flight suit

(Newser) - He may not have unfurled a banner or donned a flight suit, “but make no mistake: President Obama gave his own version of a ‘mission accomplished’ speech last night,” writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post . Last night the president declared—“perhaps prematurely”—that the... More »

GOP Hopefuls React to Obama War Speech

Pawlenty, Romney hawkish as Huntsman calls for faster withdrawal

(Newser) - The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan could become a major bone of contention among the GOP's 2012 hopefuls, judging by their differing responses to President Obama's speech outlining the US drawdown.
  • Tim Pawlenty took the most hawkish position, calling the decision to bring all the surge forces
... More »

Obama to Pull 10K Troops From Afghanistan

Officials say that's the number he's settled on for 2011

(Newser) - President Obama will outline his plans for starting to get American troops out of Afghanistan in a speech to the nation tomorrow night, and officials tell the Los Angeles Times that the magic number for 2011 will be 10,000. That's more than what many were hoping to hear:... More »

Robert Gates: Taliban Talks 'Preliminary'

Says he wouldn't expect real progress until at least winter

(Newser) - Robert Gates confirmed today that the US is in "preliminary" talks with the Taliban, reports the Hill, cautioning that they've only been going on for a "few weeks." Appearing on State of the Union and Fox News Sunday, the outgoing defense secretary said the State Department... More »

Obama Weighs Quicker Afghanistan Pullout

But Gates, Petraeus point to risks

(Newser) - With Osama bin Laden dead and war costs increasing, the Obama administration is weighing a sharper drawdown of troops from Afghanistan than it had planned, the New York Times reports. But the issue is still very much up in the air, and outgoing defense secretary Robert Gates advocates slower steps.... More »

Next in Budget Crosshairs: Afghanistan War

'Money is the new 800-lb gorilla,' says one official

(Newser) - With budget battles in Washington growing ever fiercer and the US military poised to spend $113 billion on operations in Afghanistan this year, cost is going to be the largest factor in troop reductions there, reports the Washington Post . Afghanistan's inaccessibility and lack of resources means nearly everything the... More »

Petraeus: My Son Served in Afghanistan

Deployment was kept 'very quiet'

(Newser) - In the midst of an emotional exchange today on Capitol Hill, David Petraeus revealed that his son had recently served a combat tour in Afghanistan, "which thankfully we were able to keep very quiet," the AP reports. Republican Rep. Walter Jones had pressed Petraeus to "be honest"... More »

Biden to Karzai: We'll Stay Past 2014

But he promises US will 'not be an occupying force'

(Newser) - So much for “hell or high water.” Joe Biden met with Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan yesterday, and emerged telling reporters that the US would be willing to keep troops in the country past 2014, provided the Afghan government wanted them there. “We have moved into a new... More »

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