Afghanistan

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Canada Hails Dalai, China Rages
Canada Hails Dalai, China Rages
Oct 30, 2007 3:44 AM CDT

Canada Hails Dalai, China Rages

Latest welcome for Tibetan exile new blow to China

(Newser) - Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper rolled out the red carpet for the Dalai Lama yesterday, provoking the wrath of the Chinese government. The two men exchanged traditional white Tibetan silk scarves, with Harper's gift to his guest embroidered with the Canadian maple leaf. The Chinese are furious over the attention...

80 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
80 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
Oct 28, 2007 7:00 AM CDT

80 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle

Coalition, Afghan forces pitch 6-hour battle after insurgent ambush

(Newser) - In a sudden new flash of violence in another American battle theater, US-led forces killed 80 Taliban fighters yesterday near a southern Afghanistan town held by insurgents. The battle erupted when Taliban troops ambushed a joint coalition and Afghan army patrol with machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire. Coalition forces...

What Price War? Try $2.4T
What Price War? Try $2.4T
Oct 24, 2007 4:16 PM CDT

What Price War? Try $2.4T

Figure much higher than previous estimates for Iraq, Afghanistan

(Newser) - Americans will have to pony up $8,000 apiece to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars through the next decade—a total that could top $2.4 trillion—according to a projection by the Congressional Budget Office released today. The figure dwarfs previous CBO estimates because it factors in $705...

Audits Rip Fed Oversight of Security Firms, Costs

Lax controls, slopping accounting

(Newser) - A State Department internal review of its own security practices in Iraq is sharply critical of the lack of oversight of private contractors Blackwater, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. A second report due today says officials can't say what the government got for $1.2B paid to DynCorp since 2004,...

Hero SEAL's Parents Accept Medal of Honor

Emotional prez acknowledges 'debt that can't be repaid'

(Newser) - President Bush yesterday presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of a Navy SEAL from Long Island who lost his life in Afghanistan after calling for help to save his team. The debt owed to Lt. Michael Murphy "cannot diminish over time and can never be repaid,"...

Bush Asks $46B More for Wars
Bush Asks $46B More for Wars
Oct 22, 2007 4:07 PM CDT

Bush Asks $46B More for Wars

Request brings the total to $196.4 billion this year

(Newser) - Citing the need to "provide our troops with the support they need to get the job done," President Bush asked Congress today for $46 billion more to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AP reports. Not so fast, said congressional Democrats, who vowed not to act until...

'Antiquated' VA Ill Equipped to Care for Vets

Bush pledges massive overhaul, which requires major funding

(Newser) - Some 700,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are eligible for VA benefits, and overhauling the overburdened system is firmly in the sights of  President Bush and a bipartisan commission. Citing "fundamental system weaknesses," a GAO report last week outlined a huge bureaucracy rife with staffing and training shortfalls,...

Germany Paid Dearly for Hostage Release

Afghan captors secure cash, cronies' freedom in risky precedent

(Newser) - On one hand, the German government successfully negotiated the release of a German engineer held hostage in Afghanistan; on the other, the deal cost the Germans a hefty ransom, the release of five prisoners, and its hard line against granting terrorist demands, reports Der Spiegel. "I have purchased a...

European Militants Find Training in Pakistan

Fighters wary of Iraq are groomed for terror ops on Afghan border

(Newser) - Renewed Al-Qaeda strength on the Pakistan-Afghan border is wooing European militants to train in Pakistan, the Los Angeles Times reports. Fighters who are wary of Iraq—where they may have to strap on a bomb on short notice—can enjoy being groomed for missions in Pakistan. “Pakistan worries me...

US Marines Want Out of Iraq
US Marines Want Out of Iraq
Oct 11, 2007 3:15 AM CDT

US Marines Want Out of Iraq

Commander calls for lead Afghan role instead

(Newser) - The US Marine Corps is lobbying to be withdrawn from Iraq and instead be given the lead role in Afghanistan, reports the New York Times. The move would leave the Army with primary responsibility for the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq. Supporters believe it would allow the branches to operate...

Supremes Won’t Hear CIA Torture Suit

Earlier dismissals rested on concerns about national security

(Newser) - The Supreme Court declined today without comment to hear the case of a German citizen who claims he was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA. Lower courts had dismissed Khaled el-Masri's case on the grounds that a trial would expose state secrets. German authorities have said the US acknowledged abducting...

US Targets Afghan Opium Crop
US Targets Afghan Opium Crop
Oct 8, 2007 9:15 AM CDT

US Targets Afghan Opium Crop

Karzai reluctant to allow spraying of heroin producing crop

(Newser) - The US is pressing the Afghan government to stem its booming poppy crop with mass spraying following the biggest opium harvests in its history—which accounts for 91% of the world's production. Therein lies much of the resurgent Taliban's revenue, the New York Times reports, but Karzai fears a Taliban-inspired...

Big Families Win Wars
Big Families
Win Wars
Oct 6, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

Big Families Win Wars

Professor links countries' military strength to number of 'superfluous sons'

(Newser) - A nation’s military strength may be rooted in its average family size, says a popular German professor, putting Islamic countries in a good position, America on neutral ground, and Europe in dire straits. Bigger families mean “more superfluous sons to burn on the battlefield,” argues Gunnar Heinsohn....

Issue of Stars' Safety Delays Kite Runner

Producers fear film may inflame Afghanistan's ethnic tensions

(Newser) - Paramount Vantage is pushing back the release of "The Kite Runner" to allow its child stars to leave Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The studio, worried that a “Danish-cartoons situation” could erupt over an ethnically charged rape scene, has moved the film's release date to Dec. 14....

NATO, Brits Accuse Iran of Arming Taliban

Shipment of roadside bombs intercepted at border fuels suspicions

(Newser) - NATO and the British military claim Iran is supplying Afghanistan's Taliban with the same equipment for explosive devices that it provides to Iraqi insurgents, the Telegraph writes. US Gen. Dan McNeill, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, said his forces discovered 50 roadside bombs and timers crossing the Iran-Afghanistan border in...

Gates Eyes $3B Army Expansion
Gates Eyes $3B Army Expansion
Sep 28, 2007 9:42 AM CDT

Gates Eyes $3B Army Expansion

Gates ready to approve major recruitment campaign to boost ranks

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he's likely to approve spending nearly $3 billion over the next four years to accelerate an expansion of the US Army, stretched thin by punishing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AP reports. The Pentagon believes the Army and Marine Corps need to grow to...

Taliban Kidnaps Red Cross Staff
Taliban Kidnaps Red Cross Staff
Sep 27, 2007 4:55 PM CDT

Taliban Kidnaps Red Cross Staff

Group says humanitarian workers will be released soon

(Newser) - Taliban fighters kidnapped four Red Cross workers southwest of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, yesterday, Reuters reports. A Taliban spokesman says the group has "nothing against the Red Cross," was unaware at the time that the kidnapped were Red Cross staff, and that the  four would be released soon. The...

Karzai Defies Legislators' Call to Sack Minister

Afghanistan parliament headed for "collapse" over standoff, MPs say

(Newser) - Afghanistan's government is at the breaking point, as President Hamid Karzai continues to defy the legislature's wishes to remove the country's foreign minister. Four months into the standoff, the New York Times reports, the president's opponents have threatened either to boycott Parliament or quit government altogether.

Osama Attempts to Re-Take Al-Qaeda Reins

Media blitz aims to reassert power, unite fractured terror group

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden’s sudden media blitz this month isn’t just a message to the West—it’s also to his own fractured terrorist organization, a Taliban official tells Newsweek. An al-Qaeda faction had long told bin Laden to remain secluded for his own safety, advice the spotlight-loving leader...

Father Upset by Rape Scene in Kite Runner

Dad of Afghan actor afraid film will ignite anger against his family

(Newser) - The father of an actor in a film adaptation of The Kite Runner is worried about a pivotal rape scene and wants it nixed, the BBC reports. The production features Afghans in many roles, and the boy actor's father, Ahmad Jaan, is concerned that the movie could unleash sectarian anger...

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