Afghanistan

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Donors Offer $16B in Afghan Aid

But this time, there's strings attached

(Newser) - International donors pledged a total of $16 billion in development aid through 2015 to Afghanistan at a conference in Tokyo yesterday. The funding is intended to help steady Afghanistan during the NATO pullout but major donors, including the US, Japan, and Germany, stressed that the aid would be tied to...

NATO: 6 Service Members Killed in Afghanistan

Bombs, attacks also killed Afghan civilians and policemen

(Newser) - A bomb in eastern Afghanistan today killed six NATO service members, on a day where a total of 29 people died from roadside bombs and insurgent attacks. NATO said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device but provided no further details about the attack and did not identify...

Taliban Execution Video Sparks Outrage

Hillary Clinton: Nation can't prosper 'if half the population is not empowered'

(Newser) - Afghan officials and human rights campaigners are expressing their outrage over a video of Taliban militants executing a woman for adultery, Sky News reports. The footage, shot last month in Qol village near Kabul, shows a 22-year-old woman in a shawl waiting while a bearded man reads Koran verses about...

Afghanistan Is Now 'Major Non-NATO Ally'

Hillary Clinton makes surprise trip to Kabul

(Newser) - The Obama administration today formally declared Afghanistan the United States' newest "major non-NATO ally," an action designed to facilitate close defense cooperation after US combat troops withdraw in 2014. "We see this as a powerful commitment to Afghanistan's future," said Hillary Clinton at a news...

Another Afghan Soldier Attacks NATO Troops

5 wounded; attacker flees

(Newser) - Five NATO troops were wounded after an Afghan soldier opened fire at a coalition base and then fled, officials revealed today. The attack occurred yesterday afternoon on a small base near a village in Wardak province, the New York Times reports. The wounded service members were all American, according to...

New Plan to Restart Taliban Talks: Move Gitmo Prisoners

Hamid Karzai pushing for all 17 Afghans at Guantanamo to be transferred

(Newser) - Up to 17 Taliban militants who were captured in the early days of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and have been detained at Guantanamo for years could be moved to a prison in Afghanistan in an effort to get peace talks with the Taliban moving again, reports the AP . The...

White House Squabbles Cost Us in Afghanistan

Key adviser trampled by opponents within administration

(Newser) - A new book gives an in-depth look at the Obama White House as officials made momentous choices about the war in Afghanistan—and author Rajiv Chandrasekaran sees some major missteps. Among them: Despite former top Afghanistan adviser Richard Holbrooke's expertise on ending wars—he played a role in peace...

18 Taliban Hostages Freed as Siege Continues

Likely many more captives in Kabul hotel

(Newser) - Afghan police have freed 18 hostages and killed two Taliban gunmen who stormed a popular lakeside hotel in Kabul tonight, Reuters reports. But the siege continues and the militants are still holding more captives, and have reportedly killed a hotel guard, officials warned. "Two terrorists have been killed, and...

Allies to Limit Airstrikes on Afghan Homes

But Afghan prez expects more

(Newser) - After an airstrike in Afghanistan last week that killed 18 civilians , including nine children, coalition forces have issued new restrictions on airstrikes on militants who hide in residential homes, reports the New York Times . The move comes after a NATO apology and a weekend meeting between President Hamid Karzai and...

NATO: Sorry for Killing Families

General acknowledges that Afghan strike did kill more than dozen civilians

(Newser) - The commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan apologized today for civilian deaths in a coalition airstrike earlier this week—the first confirmation by NATO forces that civilians were killed in the operation. Marine Gen. John Allen flew to Logar province to personally deliver his regrets to villagers and...

Panetta: Pakistan Reaching 'Limits of Our Patience'

Defense secretary arrives in Afghanistan amid mounting violence

(Newser) - Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan amid worsening violence today, and he wasn't shy about laying the blame for that violence on a once-vital ally. "It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," said the defense secretary,...

Afghans: NATO Strike Hit Wedding, Killed 18 Civilians

Including 7 children, 5 women

(Newser) - A NATO airstrike hit a wedding in Afghanistan's volatile Baraki Barak district and killed 18 civilians, Afghan officials and villagers said today, and they offered bodies as proof of their story. An AP photographer saw villagers pile the corpses of seven children, five women, and six men into vans....

Live Grenade Pulled From Marine's Leg

Video shows risky procedure to pull explosive from soldier

(Newser) - It's the very definition of amazing rescues: During a Taliban attack on US forces in January, Marine Lance Corporal Winder Perez was left was a daunting injury—a live explosive was wedged in his leg, reports ABC News . All four members of the medevac team that responded had to...

Karzai Family Squabbling Over Ill-Gotten Gains

Theft, kidnapping, and more involved in Afghan intrigue

(Newser) - It won't be long before Hamid Karzai's days as president of Afghanistan are finished—and his family members are scrambling to carve out and protect their slice of the family's fortune, the New York Times reports. Over the past decade, the Karzais have gotten rich off military...

As US Leaves Afghanistan, China Moves In

China, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia all to jostle for influence in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The United States and coalition forces may be pulling out of Afghanistan, but China is happy to take their place. Beijing and Afghanistan are poised to sign a wide-ranging agreement this week to deepen ties, reports Reuters . The agreement will elevate "our existing, solid relationship to a new level,...

Kidnapped Aid Workers Freed in NATO Helicopter Raid

US-led team rescues 4 in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Two foreign aid workers and two Afghan colleagues were rescued this morning by a US-led coalition team, freeing them 11 days after they were seized by militants, reports the AP . The four, including Brit Helen Johnston and Kenyan Moragwe Oirere, worked for Medair, a Swiss-based NGO. They were traveling by...

Airstrike Kills al-Qaeda's No. 2 in Afghanistan

Sakhr al-Taifi directed attacks against NATO, Afghan forces

(Newser) - NATO forces in Afghanistan have killed al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader in the country, in an airstrike in eastern Kunar province, the coalition said today. Sakhr al-Taifi, also known as Mushtaq and Nasim, was responsible for commanding foreign insurgents in Afghanistan and directing attacks against NATO and Afghan forces, the...

To Mark Day, Words of Fallen Marine Read Aloud

Gen. John Allen reads Sgt. William Stacey's reasons for fighting

(Newser) - US troops in Afghanistan marked Memorial Day with the words of a fallen comrade—one of at least 1,851 Americans to have died in the war. Marine Gen. John Allen, the leading US commander in Afghanistan, read a letter penned by Marine Sgt. William Stacey, killed by homemade explosives...

Afghan Family of 8 Killed by Coalition Airstrike

Wayward strike further strains Afghan relations

(Newser) - A family of eight was killed in a coalition airstrike in eastern Afghanistan late last night, in the latest strain on US-Afghanistan relations, reports al-Jazeera . Local government officials said the man, his wife, and their six children were not affiliated with any anti-government group. "This man had no connection...

Afghan School Girls Sprayed With Poison

More than 120 students, three teachers hospitalized

(Newser) - One hundred and twenty-two Afghan school girls and three teachers were sprayed with poison and hospitalized today, the latest in a long string of poisonings designed to deter girls from going to school. The poison induced dizziness, vomiting, and headaches, and made some girls pass out, but "generally they...

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