Afghanistan

'Irresponsible'
to Send Troops Without Election Results: Kerry

Oct 18, 2009 7:39 AM CDT

'Irresponsible' to Send Troops Without Election Results: Kerry

Says Afghan leadership needs to be in place

(Newser) - The US is in no position to send more troops to Afghanistan with that country's presidential election still up in the air, Sen. John Kerry told State of the Union in an interview yesterday. Speaking from Kabul ahead of an announcement on whether a runoff would be held, the Senate...

NYT Reporter Recounts
7 Months as Prisoner

Oct 17, 2009 5:05 PM CDT

NYT Reporter Recounts 7 Months as Prisoner

David Rohde begins first-person account of capture, escape

(Newser) - New York Times reporter David Rohde begins a gripping first-person account of his 7 months as a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan before he managed to escape. In the first of the five-part series, he writes of his capture ("I waited for the sound of gunfire. I knew I might...

Balloon Boy Is What's Wrong With Cable News

OPINION

Oct 16, 2009 1:50 PM CDT

Balloon Boy Is What's Wrong With Cable News

US Pays $400 a Gallon for Gas in Afghanistan

Figure to become major talking point in Congress

(Newser) - As debate over the Afghan war heats up, expect Congress to heavily quote a new statistic from the Pentagon: $400. That’s how much the US pays, on average, for every gallon of fuel put into its planes and combat vehicles in Afghanistan, military officials recently told the House Defense...

Afghan Election
Now Headed
for Runoff

Oct 16, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

Afghan Election Now Headed for Runoff

'Stunning' second ballot complicates Obama strategy

(Newser) - President Hamid Karzai's share of the vote in Afghanistan's presidential election has reportedly fallen to about 47% after an investigation into fraudulent ballots—meaning that he will face Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff if the result is finalized today. One Afghan official called the development "stunning," and a...

4 American Troops Killed
in Afghan Blast

Oct 16, 2009 5:14 AM CDT

4 American Troops Killed in Afghan Blast

Deaths bring US death toll to 25 for the month

(Newser) - Four American service members were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan yesterday. Two were killed instantly in the blast and two others suffered fatal injuries in the same explosion. Details of the attack, including its location, haven't been released. The deaths bring to 25 the number of American troops...

Taliban: Italy Paid Us
Protection Money

Oct 16, 2009 3:17 AM CDT

Taliban: Italy Paid Us Protection Money

Italian government denies bribing insurgents to leave its troops alone

(Newser) - The Italian secret services bribed the Taliban not to attack Italian forces in Afghanistan, according to both a Taliban commander and senior officials in the Afghan government. The accusations have sparked fury in France, which lost 10 soldiers in an ambush after taking over a district east of Kabul from...

Afghan War Costs US
$3.6B Per Month

Oct 15, 2009 9:36 AM CDT

Afghan War Costs US $3.6B Per Month

Figure will go even higher if more troops are sent

(Newser) - Waging a war in Afghanistan ain’t cheap. The US is spending roughly $3.6 billion a month there, according to data from the Congressional Research Service, and that number is likely to rise precipitously as the Obama administration sends more troops. That estimate is based on 51,000 troops;...

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

Oct 14, 2009 9:00 PM CDT

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

White House denies a decision has made, but UK's move would make more sense

(Newser) - President Obama will announce a troop surge in Afghanistan next week, sources tell the BBC, with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US saying Obama will commit as many as 45,000. The White House says there’s been no decision, with spokesman Robert Gibbs sniffing that the BBC wouldn’t...

Britain to Send 500 More
Troops to Afghanistan

Oct 14, 2009 7:11 AM CDT

Britain to Send 500 More Troops to Afghanistan

Expects other NATO countries to follow suit

(Newser) - Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,”...

Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies

ANALYSIS

Oct 14, 2009 5:21 AM CDT

Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies

VP's calls for a narrowed mission echo increasing pessimism on war

(Newser) - Joe Biden was a lone voice of skepticism on Afghanistan strategy after his fact-finding tour there earlier this year, but many in the White House have gradually swung to his point of view. Biden's perspective that the mission should be narrowed is now favored by administration liberals. The position reflects...

Pentagon Downplays
13K Surge in Afghan
Support Troops

UPDATED

Oct 13, 2009 7:53 AM CDT

Pentagon Downplays 13K Surge in Afghan Support Troops

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have...

Beck: Prez Cares
More About
Fighting Fox
Than Afghan War

Oct 13, 2009 5:17 AM CDT

Beck: Prez Cares More About Fighting Fox Than Afghan War

Beck, Bill O'Reilly escalate Fox feud with the White House

(Newser) - Fox anchors Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly went on the attack last night against White House accusations that their network is heavily biased against the president. "They’re more worried about the war on Fox than the actual war in Afghanistan,” snorted Beck at the beginning of his...

Obama Team Downplays
Risks in Afghan Pullback

Pentagon Insiders:

Oct 12, 2009 11:57 AM CDT

Obama Team Downplays Risks in Afghan Pullback

Al-Qaeda, Taliban much closer than public has been led to believe

(Newser) - US military and intelligence officials see dangerous misrepresentations in the Obama team’s flirting with a limited, anti-al-Qaeda strategy in Afghanistan. “The White House is downplaying the dangers of doing the only thing that they think Congress and the public will support,” an official tells McClatchy. But taking...

New Pakistan Bomb Kills 41

Oct 12, 2009 5:52 AM CDT

New Pakistan Bomb Kills 41

Fourth terror attack in a week rocks nation

(Newser) - Yet another massive bomb has struck a market in Pakistan, this time killing 41 people. The blast in the Shangla district is the fourth terrorist attack in just over a week. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out before an expected US-backed offensive in the al-Qaeda and...

UN Official Denies
Cover Up in
Afghan Vote

Oct 12, 2009 1:19 AM CDT

UN Official Denies Cover Up in Afghan Vote

Recount will rectify fraud, says head of mission in troubled nation

(Newser) - The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan is denying that he helped cover up vote-rigging in the disputed Afghan election, refuting charges made by a top US diplomat. In a rare press conference, Kai Eide also said a partial recount being conducted by a UN-backed election panel would root...

GOP to Obama:
Give McChrystal
His Troops

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Oct 11, 2009 11:19 AM CDT

GOP to Obama: Give McChrystal His Troops

McCain: Not granting request 'would be an error of historic proportions'

(Newser) - Afghanistan was the name of the game on the talk shows today, with John McCain pointedly warning President Obama on State of the Union that sending Gen. Stanley McChrystal anything less than the 40,000 troops he's requested "would be an error of historic proportions." Lindsey Graham chimed...

Iraq Hawks Are
Just as Wrong
on Afghanistan

Frank Rich

Oct 11, 2009 9:51 AM CDT

Iraq Hawks Are Just as Wrong on Afghanistan

Why is anyone still listening to McCain, Lieberman, and Graham?

(Newser) - The Three Amigos who pushed the invasion of Iraq are at it again, now claiming that we must escalate the war in Afghanistan if we want to avoid another 9/11—the same claim they used before to urge us to take on Iraq in 2003, Frank Rich writes. Rich finds...

Taliban Claim Victory
as US Quits Base

Oct 9, 2009 8:37 PM CDT

Taliban Claim Victory as US Quits Base

Insurgents take control of remote outpost where 8 troops were killed last week

(Newser) - The Taliban claimed to have won a major victory over the US yesterday as American troops abandoned a remote base in eastern Afghanistan where eight soldiers were killed in a firefight last weekend. "The white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh," crowed a Taliban spokesman. NATO ...

A Few Other Nobel
Candidates

Oct 9, 2009 2:22 PM CDT

A Few Other Nobel Candidates

Tireless campaigners for human rights, long-suffering Chinese dissidents among those passed over

(Newser) - President Obama himself said he was not sure he deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and the Weekly Standard seems to agree. Mary Katherine Ham invites you to consider some of the luminaries who were passed over:

Sima Samar: A Afghan women’s rights activist who kept her schools—

...