Afghanistan

Stories 1101 - 1120 | << Prev   Next >>

Afghan Cops Catch Man Who Helped Cut Off Teen's Nose

But he may not be punished by country's corrupt courts

(Newser) - Afghan police have captured one of the men who allegedly sliced off the ears and nose of a teenage Afghan girl. That girl, now-19-year-old Bibi Aisha, became the maimed face of Taliban oppression when Newsweek ran a story on her this summer (summarized here .) Police have now arrested her...

27% of Afghans Say Insurgent Attacks Are Justified

Last year, only 8% thought so

(Newser) - A new poll shows a striking increase in the number of Afghans who support insurgent attacks against American troops: 27%, compared to just 8% last year, called such attacks justified. The increase parallels an increase in Afghan civilian casualties—fatalities and injuries were up 31% in the first half of...

US Gives Troops 'Smart' Grenade Launcher

Pentagon sees it as a 'game-changer' for Afghan battles

(Newser) - They say a counter-insurgency war is won with hearts and minds, not weapons—but the new XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System can't hurt. The US military's latest innovation is a grenade launcher that can fire explosive charges 2,300 feet—well beyond the accurate range of an AK-47 or...

Obama to Troops: You're Winning

President thanks service members during surprise Afghanistan trip

(Newser) - President Obama capped his surprise visit to Afghanistan by delivering words of encouragement to US troops at the Bagram base north of Kabul, Bloomberg reports. “You are protecting your country, you’re achieving your objectives, you will succeed in your mission,” Obama said. “We said we were...

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
WikiLeaks Reveal
Dec 3, 2010 7:28 AM CST

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought

WikiLeaks' cables paint hopeless picture

(Newser) - WikiLeaks’ State Department cable dump paints an almost comically bleak picture of Afghan corruption. How bad is it? So bad that in January, the American Embassy noted that the agriculture minister “appears to be the only minister … about whom no allegations of bribery exist,” according to the...

Afghan Government Frees Taliban Fighters for Cash

WikiLeaks cable reveals US fury over prisoner release

(Newser) - Taliban commanders no longer fear capture because Afghan security forces are freeing fighters in return for cash or political favors. The practice has become so widespread that the Taliban have a committee devoted to securing the release of prisoners, reports Reuters , citing sources familiar with a range of cases. One...

British Brought in Taliban Impostor: Karzai Aide

UK intelligence paid fake senior insurgent

(Newser) - British officials are at fault for bringing a Taliban impostor to Afghanistan’s presidential palace to meet Hamid Karzai, the president’s chief of staff tells the Washington Post . An Afghan at the meeting knew the man wasn’t top Taliban figure Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour; foreigners shouldn’t be...

US Now in Afghanistan as Long as Soviets

9 years, 50 days: Same length, different fight, analysts say

(Newser) - As of today, the US military has been fighting in Afghanistan for 9 years and 50 days—exactly as long as the Soviets did during their doomed campaign to turn the country into a socialist state. Analysts say that while the Soviet invasion and the NATO campaign have very different...

Karzai Government Slams 'Premature' Election Results

Could just be a move to influence results from a final, lingering province

(Newser) - The results are in and the government of President Hamid Karzai is none too pleased: As the United Nations stepped up to endorse Afghanistan's long-awaited parliamentary election results yesterday, Karzai's government promised to challenge the outcome. The New York Times reports that Karzai can count on about 100 of the...

Chaos Surrounds Afghan's 'Final' Election Results

For starters, votes in one province can't be counted

(Newser) - The main electoral body in Afghanistan released today what it says are the final results of September's parliamentary election, but results for an entire province were withheld because rampant violence, intimidation, and voter fraud made a fair tally impossible. As the results were announced, angry supporters of disqualified candidates staged...

Afghanistan Is 'Faking Us Out'
 Afghanistan Is 'Faking Us Out' 
maureen dowd
Nov 24, 2010 10:03 AM CST

Afghanistan Is 'Faking Us Out'

We're stuck in a region that's taking us for a ride, writes Maureen Dowd

(Newser) - Considering the fact that the billions we've spent on intelligence hasn't enabled us to distinguish between an impostor and an actual Taliban leader, it’s no wonder the war in Afghanistan is a mess. “The tragedy has descended into farce,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times...

Taliban Chief at Peace Talks Was Impostor

Fake leader paid handsomely for taking part in talks

(Newser) - A "Taliban leader" heavily involved in peace talks in Afghanistan was an impostor, according to US and Afghan officials. The man, who pretended to be high-ranking Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, was flown to several meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and was given a sizable sum of cash for...

Kids Safer in Kabul Than NYC: NATO Official

Top envoy claims children in Kabul also safer than in London, Glasgow

(Newser) - Seventy-four children were killed by bombs or suicide attacks in Afghanistan during the first half of this year—but even so, a NATO's senior civilian envoy to the country claims that "children are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York, or Glasgow or many other...

Few Afghans Know Reason for War, NATO Troops

92% never heard of 9/11 attacks

(Newser) - Most Afghans living in the provinces with the heaviest fighting have never heard of the September 11 attacks and have absolutely no idea why NATO forces are in their country, Reuters reports. A think tank polled residents of the southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces and found that 92% of the...

US Sending Tanks to Afghanistan for First Time

The 68-ton machines have a main gun that can destroy a home a mile away

(Newser) - The US military is deploying a company of heavily armored tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, in response to the ever-more intense opposition NATO is encountering from the Taliban. Marines in the southwest will get a batch of M1 Abrams tanks, which will allow them...

US Blows Up Booby-Trapped Afghan Homes

Taliban left hundreds of surprises in Kandahar

(Newser) - US forces are systematically destroying hundreds or, by some estimates, even thousands of homes in newly-captured parts of Kandahar, after finding that they’d been booby-trapped by the Taliban, the New York Times reports. NATO has been attempting to compensate the homeowners, but the effort still isn’t going over...

Shelter Kills War Hero Dog by Mistake

Mutt saved 50 soldiers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - A dog credited with saving the lives of dozens of US soldiers in Afghanistan was euthanized in an Arizona shelter by mistake, reports the Arizona Republic . Target, a stray who hung around a US military base, became a hero when she and two other dogs attacked a suicide bomber who...

We're Not Open to Talks: Taliban Boss

Mullah Mohammed Omar says insurgents are winning war

(Newser) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has once again denied that the insurgents are open to talks with the Afghan government. In a message for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Omar argues insurgents in Afghanistan are winning the war. "Claims about negotiation, flexibility in the stance of the Islamic...

US Plans 2014 End to Afghan Combat

Phased withdrawal echoes Iraq exit strategy

(Newser) - The Obama administration has worked up a plan to complete the US combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014, gradually shifting security into the hands of Afghan troops, insiders tell the New York Times . The piecemeal strategy, which echoes the phased Iraq withdrawal, will be presented at a NATO meeting in...

Karzai to US: Cut Troop Presence
 Karzai to US: 
 Cut Troop 
 Presence 
INTERVIEW
Nov 14, 2010 10:03 AM CST

Karzai to US: Cut Troop Presence

Afghan prez says war has taken vast toll on people, need to get back to normal

(Newser) - Nine years into the war in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai sees the toll it's taken on his people and says it's time for the US military to dial down its war effort. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan," he tells the...

Stories 1101 - 1120 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser