Afghanistan

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Blasts Rock Afghanistan as Hagel Visits

Nearly 20 people killed after defense chief arrives

(Newser) - A suicide bomber on a bicycle struck outside the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul today, one of two attacks that killed at least 18 people as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited the nation. Nine people were killed in the bombing at the ministry, a fresh reminder that insurgents continue to...

Soviet Soldier Found in Afghanistan—33 Years On

Rifleman now practices herbal medicine

(Newser) - Veterans' groups trying to track down the 264 Soviet soldiers still listed as missing in Afghanistan have scratched one off the list. Bakhretdin Khakimov, a rifleman who went missing months after the 1979 Soviet invasion, has been found living among Afghans in the western province of Herat, the BBC reports....

US Commander: Sorry We Killed 2 Afghan Boys

Gen. Joseph Dunford: Coalition takes full responsibility

(Newser) - The US-led coalition says its forces accidentally killed two Afghan boys during an operation in southern Afghanistan. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commander of US and allied forces in Afghanistan, offered his "personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed" and said the coalition...

Insiders Drug, Kill 17 Afghan Cops

Taliban takes credit for new insider attack

(Newser) - In the latest Afghan police insider attack, 17 officers were drugged at dinner and killed while they were passed out. Two policemen have reportedly been arrested in the Ghazni province attack; officials say they're Taliban members. After shooting the victims—seven of whom were still in training—the escaping...

Karzai Boots US Special Forces From Restive Wardak

Gives special forces 2 weeks to get out

(Newser) - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai says all US special forces must leave eastern Wardak province within two weeks because of allegations that Afghans working with them are torturing and abusing other Afghans. Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi says today's decision was taken during a meeting of the National Security Council because...

Afghan Civilian Deaths Down, Assassinations Up

Civilian deaths drop for the first time in 6 years

(Newser) - The UN's annual report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan is out, and it brings welcome news: civilian deaths are down, the first decline in six years. It's a byproduct of the war slowing down, but also reflects an effort to reduce civilian deaths, particularly at the hands of...

In Cutting Airstrikes, Karzai Could 'Hamstring' Troops

Pakistan office bombing kills 5

(Newser) - Afghanistan's president wants his country's security forces to stop asking foreign troops to launch airstrikes in residential areas —and that could leave Hamid Karzai's forces floundering, the Los Angeles Times reports. The commander of US-led forces there maintains that "there are other ways we can...

Karzai Limits Foreign Airstrikes

Afghan leader says his troops can no longer request air support

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today he will issue a decree banning Afghan security forces from asking international troops to carry out airstrikes under "any circumstances." The announcement came amid anger over a joint Afghan-NATO operation this week that Afghan officials said killed 10 civilians, including women and...

How This Drone Photo Came to Be

AP photographer explains her now-familiar image

(Newser) - It's become the go-to image for editors everywhere to illustrate stories about US drone strategy: A Predator drone flies over Kandahar's air field with a full moon in the background. (It shows up on Newser a lot, too.) With the image in wide circulation of late, Josh...

Obama to Announce Withdrawal of 34K Troops


 Obama to 
 Announce 
 Withdrawal of 
 34K Troops 
SOTU SOURCES SAY
Feb 12, 2013 9:30 AM CST

Obama to Announce Withdrawal of 34K Troops

Accelerated drawdown to feature in State of the Union address

(Newser) - President Obama intends to pull about half of the US' remaining troops in Afghanistan out of the country within a year, and will announce the move at tonight's State of the Union address, two sources familiar with the address tell the AP . Obama agreed to accelerate the US exit...

Afghanistan Vet to Receive Medal of Honor

Clinton Romesha will join Michelle Obama at State of the Union

(Newser) - Today, President Obama will award Clinton Romesha the Medal of Honor, making the former Army staff sergeant just "the fourth living recipient to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan," the White House notes, per USA Today . Romesha was among 53 soldiers at...

54 Countries Aided CIA in Post-9/11 Interrogations

US helpers ranged from UK to Syria: report

(Newser) - The US was far from alone in its controversial counterterror practices after 9/11: More than a quarter of the world's countries helped the agency, a new report says. Some partners hosted secret interrogation prisons; some arrested suspects; others let the CIA refuel its planes at their airports, the New ...

$7.3M US-Built Afghan Police Camp Sits Nearly Empty

Inspectors find Kunduz compound locked, unused

(Newser) - A $7.3 million, 12-building compound built by the US Army Corps of Engineers for the Afghan Border Police resembled a ghost town just two months after it was handed over to Afghan authorities, Reuters reports. Inspectors found just 12 personnel at the Kunduz province base camp, which had been...

What Hagel Said to Impress Obama
 What Hagel Said 
 to Impress Obama 
Bob Woodward
Jan 28, 2013 9:49 AM CST

What Hagel Said to Impress Obama

Bob Woodward: Hagel is Obama's foreign policy 'soul mate'

(Newser) - Why did President Obama pick Chuck Hagel as his new secretary of defense? It all goes back to a never-reported conversation Hagel had with Obama right after his first term as president began, Bob Woodward reports in a Washington Post column. Obama asked Hagel his thoughts on foreign policy and...

Harry's Afghan Downtime: Playing Butler, Board Games

Apparently, he really likes games

(Newser) - More tidbits from Prince Harry's media blitz upon his return from Afghanistan: His off-duty time in Afghanistan appeared to be full of war movies, board games, and elaborate candy trades. The 28-year-old helicopter pilot and fellow members of his squad swapped Kit Kats and Rice Krispies Squares for American...

Top Afghan Airline Hauling Opium: US

US military bans contracts with Kam Air

(Newser) - Afghanistan's leading private airline has been transporting opium in "bulk" on civilian flights, the US military says. Central Command has now banned Kam Air from any military contracts, marking the first time the military has slapped drug-related penalties on a major Afghan firm, the Wall Street Journal notes....

UN to Investigate US, UK Drone Attacks

Critics say drone strikes hit civilians, violate int'l laws

(Newser) - In the face of mounting criticism about US and UK drone strikes , the United Nations is going to investigate the use of drones in targeted killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, reports the Guardian . The investigation will look at drone strikes in Mali and those made by Israel into...

Karzai Calls for Torture Investigation

But skeptics doubt it's a serious effort

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into reports of torture at Afghanistan's prisons, in the wake of a UN report claiming that nearly a third of detainees NATO had transferred into Afghan custody had been abused or tortured. But the team Karzai appointed includes advisers from the interior ministry...

8 Dead as Suicide Bombers Storm Kabul Police HQ

3 police officers killed in 9-hour battle

(Newser) - A Taliban raid of the Kabul traffic police headquarters is over and three police officers and at least five insurgents were killed in the hours-long fighting, Afghan police say. The battle ended more than nine hours after it began early today with a car bomb attack against the front gate...

Afghanistan Tortures Prisoners: Report

The NDS has 'secret places' for torture, official says

(Newser) - Afghanistan is torturing nearly a third of prisoners handed over by NATO and using secret facilities to do it, according to an anticipated UN report . What's more, several hundred prisoners interviewed for the report offered "credible and reliable evidence" that more than 50% of them have been abused...

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