Afghanistan

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US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal
US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal 
Jul 13, 2008 7:29 AM CDT

US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal

Need for troops in Afghanistan may drive unexpected shift

(Newser) - US officials in Washington and Baghdad may pull as many as three brigades from Iraq by the time George Bush leaves office, the New York Times reports. The move, driven in part by a need to bolster the American presence in Afghanistan, could remove far more troops than seemed likely...

Kabul Bomb Kills 41 at Indian Embassy

Deadliest attack this year in Afghan capital

(Newser) - A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the Indian embassy in Kabul today, killing 41 people and injuring 141. Several diplomats were among the dead, as well as children, security guards and visa seekers on the crowded street in the Afghan capital, reports CNN. The huge blast was the...

Karzai Orders Inquiry Into Fatal US Airstrike

Military, Afghans spar over whether 15 victims were Taliban, civilians

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai today ordered an investigation into a US-led airstrike on Friday that killed 15 people. At issue is whether the victims were armed Taliban, as the US military claims, or the innocent civilians that an Afghan governor believes died.

Obama Restates Iraqi Plan After Charges of Flip-Flop

Says he remains committed to withdrawing troops in 16 months

(Newser) - Barack Obama today reaffirmed his commitment to withdraw American troops from Iraq in 16 months, hours after being accused of backtracking on that pledge. Obama triggered a flurry of speculation—and ridicule from the McCain camp—by saying earlier in the day he might "refine" his war policies after...

Pentagon Backtracks, Extends Afghanistan Tours

2,200 Marines will remain another 30 days despite repeated denials

(Newser) - The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather...

Afghan War Hamstrung by Troop Shortage

But Joint Chiefs chair says that Iraq's needs limit US options

(Newser) - The US needs more troops in Afghanistan but lacks the available forces because of the Iraq war, the nation’s top military officer said yesterday. In his most pointed remarks to date, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen said that countering the country's resurgent Taliban and booming...

US Deaths in Afghanistan Hit Record

More troops die there than in Iraq for second straight month

(Newser) - More troops from the United States and coalition countries died in Afghanistan last month than at any other time since the 2001 invasion. For the second month in a row, deaths among American-led forces were higher in Afghanistan, where 46 servicemen died, than in Iraq, where 31 were killed. The...

US and Pakistan Let al-Qaeda Regroup

Infighting, Musharraf, Iraq led to failure of 'Operation Cannonball'

(Newser) - Nearly seven years after 9/11, America has not only failed to capture Osama bin Laden; it has also allowed al-Qaeda to rebuild itself in lawless northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border. The New York Times conducted more than four dozen interviews to discover how rivalries among American agencies, trouble with...

Pakistan Routs Taliban Forces in Major Offensive

Government abandons diplomatic tack to cut militant violence

(Newser) - Pakistan blasted suspected militant hideouts today, launching its biggest offensive against Taliban forces since electing a government last March. The military cleared three militant outposts and forced the insurgents west, CNN reports. For weeks, tensions have mounted between militants and Islamabad, which abandoned its diplomatic strategy as insurgent strikes increased.

Afghan Taliban Resurgence Alarms Pentagon

Pentagon report cautions a renewed insurgency

(Newser) - Taliban militants in Afghanistan have regrouped “into a resilient insurgency” that has US  allies "losing ground and slipping backwards," a new Pentagon report concludes. Bombing attacks set a record in 2007, and are on track to top that in 2008. Security conditions in the war-torn country have...

Afghans Accuse Pakistan of Karzai Plot

Say they have concrete evidence of link to April assassination attempt

(Newser) - Afghanistan publicly accused Pakistan of plotting the April assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai, saying it has evidence linking Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to the deed. A spokesman said phone records, documents, and confessions from suspects proved the ISI harbored "the real schemers and organizers" behind the attack.

US Ambassador Implicated in China Arms Deal

Envoy to Albania hid aging, illegal munitions bound for Afghanistan

(Newser) - The American ambassador to Albania personally endorsed a plan to disguise the origin of munitions bought by a Pentagon contractor, according to Congressional testimony. The New York Times traveled to Albania during an earlier investigation of a shady 22-year-old arms dealer operating out of Miami Beach. But the Albanian defense...

US Firm Calls for Islamic Law in Lawsuit

Blackwater boss seeks Sharia law to dodge Afghan plane crash suit

(Newser) - An American firm blamed for the death of three US soldiers in a plane crash has asked a federal court to apply Islamic law to a lawsuit brought by their widows, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Presidential Airways, Blackwater's sister company, argues that since its plane crashed in Afghanistan,...

Taliban Said Routed Near Kandahar

NATO forces help kill 56 insurgents in 'successful airstrikes'

(Newser) - Yesterday's swift offensive by Afghan and NATO forces drove Taliban militants from a strategic group of villages outside southern Afghanistan's largest city and killed 56 insurgents, Afghan officials said today. The Afghan National Army has taken control of the villages, a defense ministry spokesman said, but militants had planted hundreds...

Afghans Launch Assault on Taliban

Kandahar is next militant target

(Newser) - Afghan and NATO troops launched a huge offensive against the Taliban today, Reuters reports, starting with an air and ground assault on a valley in southern Afghanistan. Bolstered with hundreds of fighters freed in last week’s prison break, the Taliban has taken several villages in Arghandab, and has its...

First British Woman Killed in Afghanistan

Servicewoman dies in bomb attack on convoy

(Newser) - An attack on a British military convoy in Afghanistan killed four troops, including the first British female soldier to die since the conflict began. The soldiers died in an explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan's most volatile region, reports the Guardian. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed his "deepest condolences"...

Afghan Sex Trade Thrives Despite Taboos

900 foreigners hustle in Kabul brothels, but locals do it secretly

(Newser) - Sex is selling in Afghanistan despite Islamic laws that make prostitution punishable by death, the AP reports. At least 900 women do it in Kabul, but residents admit only to brothels full of Chinese prostitutes; to be a native Afghan hooker is "very, very bad," one expert said....

Karzai Warns Pakistan He'll Send Troops Over Border

Afghan leader says he'll self-defend vs. militants

(Newser) - Citing the right to self defense, Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that his country may send troops across the border with Pakistan to fight militants who have killed Afghans, BBC reports. "When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and to kill coalition troops it...

Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200
 Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200 
Jun 13, 2008 11:02 PM CDT

Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200

Inmates spill into streets after suicide blast at Kandahar prison

(Newser) - Taliban fighters blasted into Kandahar's main prison last night and freed about 1,200 inmates, including 350 Taliban, the New York Times reports. Prisoners, including Taliban leaders, quickly flooded the streets and scattered into nearby villages. “It is very dangerous for security," a Kandahar politician said. "They...

First Lady Writes Home on Afghanistan
 First Lady Writes
 Home on Afghanistan 
OPINION
Jun 12, 2008 1:34 PM CDT

First Lady Writes Home on Afghanistan

Mrs. Bush sees hope, hurdles as donor summit kicks off in Paris

(Newser) - Laura Bush, attending an international fundraising conference for Afghanistan after visiting the war-torn country, documents the distance it's traveled in recovery and the challenges ahead in a Wall Street Journal column. Hailing “amazing progress,” the first lady writes of lowered infant mortality and increased access to health care...

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