Afghanistan

Stories 1981 - 2000 | << Prev   Next >>

Pakistani Suicide Bombers Tipping Afghan War

Taliban finds success recruiting uneducated men with few options

(Newser) - One says he wanted to kill himself anyway. Another says he was duped. Both were captured in failed suicide bombings in Afghanistan, where such attacks were unheard of until the last 2 years, denounced by village elders as cowardly and un-Islamic. Now, these bombings are at all-time highs as the...

Pakistan Aided Kabul Embassy Attack: US

Messages between militants and spy agency intercepted

(Newser) - American intelligence has determined that members of Pakistan's powerful spy agency helped to plan July's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, reports the New York Times. US authorities based their findings on intercepted messages between the attackers and Pakistani intelligence officers. American officials also obtained new evidence that the...

GOP's Offshore Drilling, Dems' Afghan Surge Both Bad Ideas

Both are blindly touting poor policy: Friedman

(Newser) - Democrats and Republicans alike are beating empty campaign slogans, and both need to take a look at their real-world implications, writes Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times. Republicans who insist that offshore oil drilling will solve the world's problems sound like "someone back in 1980" pushing for...

Taliban Targets Attacks for Maximum Panic in Kabul

Incapable of large strikes, insurgents aim to strike fear into populace

(Newser) - Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan lack the firepower to spark a massive attack, but they’re doing their best to wage psychological warfare on Kabul, Newsweek reports. Creating a sense of instability through frequent small-scale attacks, “we can create panic and undermine the last vestiges of support for the regime,...

Brzezinski Down on Idea of Afghan 'Surge'

Security expert: McCain camp on path to world war

(Newser) - The presidential candidates seem to agree that Afghanistan needs a troop surge, but Zbigniew Brzezinski doesn’t. Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, now a Barack Obama backer, says he's concerned that the US is “literally running the risk of unintentionally doing what the Russians did,” and being...

Obama and Sarkozy Rendezvous in Paris

Dem attends press conference with French president in brief visit; London next

(Newser) - Barack Obama received an enthusiastic Paris reception today from President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said, “The French have been following him with passion”—and that the Democrat’s “adventure … rings true in the hearts in minds” of his country. The two men discussed cooperation on climate change,...

In Jordan, Obama Urges Iraq-to-Afghanistan Shift

With security improved, US must focus on fighting terror, Dem says

(Newser) - Barack Obama said today that, with improved security in Iraq, the US should turn its attention to Afghanistan. “There is security progress, but now we need a political solution” in Iraq, Obama said in Amman, Jordan—in his first news conference abroad, the AP reports. Afghanistan, the “central...

Archeologists Uncover Treasures Via Google Earth

Lost ruins spotted in Afghan desert

(Newser) - Google Earth has made detailed satellite imagery readily accessible to planetary voyeurs—but academics are also using it to get things done in ways never before possible. A team of university archeologists are uncovering hundreds of sites in the Afghan desert that might never have been discovered on foot, reports...

Obama Declares Afghanistan 'Precarious and Urgent'

Candidate pledges more US troops

(Newser) - Calling the situation in Afghanistan "precarious and urgent," Barack Obama today urged the Bush administration to make Afghanistan—rather than Iraq—"the central front in our battle against terrorism." In his first interview since arriving in the country yesterday, the Democratic candidate told Lara Logan on...

Obama Meets Afghan Prez
 Obama Meets Afghan Prez 
Jul 20, 2008 7:18 AM CDT

Obama Meets Afghan Prez

Candidate lunches with the leader he criticized a week ago

(Newser) - World-touring Barack Obama sat down with Hamid Karzai today, joining the Afghan president for lunch at his Kabul palace. Although Obama criticized the leader's government as recently as last week, he expected to steer clear of arguments in today's meeting, Reuters reports. "I'm more interested in listening than doing...

Obama Meets Afghan Leaders, Reiterates Support

Says he's interested in listening, not talking

(Newser) - Barack Obama met today with officials from one of Afghanistan’s most hard-fought regions, the AP reports, and re-iterated his commitment to intensifying US efforts there if elected president. Together with Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed, Obama visited Jalalabad Air Field in Nangarhar province. Nangarhar lies next to the Pakistani...

Obama Arrives in Afghanistan
 Obama Arrives in Afghanistan 
Jul 19, 2008 5:58 AM CDT

Obama Arrives in Afghanistan

Candidate wants on-the-ground experience in US war zones

(Newser) - Barack Obama touched down in Afghanistan today to begin a trip to the Middle East and Europe, CNN reports. The Illinois senator, whose whereabouts have been under wraps since he left Washington on Thursday, made a stop in Kuwait, where he visited US troops, his campaign said. He plans to...

8 Afghan Civilians Killed in US-Led Airstrike

Coalition forces called for air backup during firefight

(Newser) - Eight civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike targeting suspected militants in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, Reuters reports. The deaths occurred after American-led forces called for air backup during a roadside firefight Tuesday. A military statement said that officials "deeply regret any occurrence such as this." There...

McCain Adopts Obama's Afghanistan Position
McCain Adopts Obama's Afghanistan Position
ANALYSIS
Jul 15, 2008 5:12 PM CDT

McCain Adopts Obama's Afghanistan Position

Stance on US vs. NATO troops appears to soften

(Newser) - John McCain suddenly switched both schedule and policy today, transforming a speech about jobs into one on Afghanistan, and echoing Barack Obama's argument for sending in new brigades. Obama has long said more troops are needed in Afghanistan, but McCain has repeatedly contended that NATO should pick up the slack,...

Obama: Swift End to Iraq War Will Strengthen Security

Candidate makes position crystal clear

(Newser) - Barack Obama will promise a swift end to the Iraq war in a major speech today, arguing that the ongoing conflict “distracts us from every threat that we face,” according to excerpts obtained by Politico. As president, Obama would take the fight to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan....

Taliban Shows Fresh Fangs in US Base Attack

Secure in Pakistan, insurgents gain next door in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The Taliban demonstrated complex tactics and a renewed taste for conventional warfare in the attack on a remote outpost that claimed the lives of nine US soldiers yesterday, Reuters reports. The militants drove the residents from a nearby village and used it as a base of operations from which to...

Obama to Meet With Abbas During Mideast Swing

Dem to meet Palestinian president in Ramallah

(Newser) - Barack Obama will visit Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank next week, a top Palestinian official said today. The Ramallah meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority will happen on July 23, CNN reports. Details on the international trip have been guarded, but the Times of London says Obama...

New McCain Attack: Obama Wants to Lose War

Republicans say Dem is serving own purposes

(Newser) - John McCain’s inner circle tried a new line of attack against Barack Obama today, charging that the presumptive Democratic nominee and his entire party want to lose the Iraq war to serve their own political purposes. Said McCain’s top foreign policy hand, “Senator Obama seems to think...

Obama Stands By Plan for 16-Month Drawdown in Iraq

Candidate outlines 16-month withdrawal; blasts Bush, McCain

(Newser) - Calling Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a timetable for US withdrawal an "enormous opportunity," Barack Obama lays out his plan for ending the war in Iraq in a New York Times op-ed piece. The presumptive Democratic nominee reiterates his support for a careful withdrawal over 16...

9 US Troops Die in Afghan Attack; Suicide Bomb Kills 24

But at least 40 militants killed in separate attack on coalition forces

(Newser) - A multi-pronged militant assault on a remote US base killed nine American soldiers and wounded 15 today in the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in 3 years, officials said. The attack came the same day a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol killed 24 people, while US coalition...

Stories 1981 - 2000 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser