Afghanistan

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UN Meeting on Afghanistan Will Include Iran

Decision to attend may indicate US overtures to Tehran are working

(Newser) - Iran plans to attend a US-initiated UN conference on the situation in Afghanistan, Reuters reports. A foreign ministry rep said Tehran hasn't decided who to send; other attendees include Ban Ki-Moon and Hillary Clinton. “Iran will participate,” the spokesman said. “The level of participation is not clear....

US Pinpoints New Drone Targets in Pakistan

Missile strikes evaluated as part of regional policy review

(Newser) - As the US reviews its controversial air strike program in Pakistan, US and Pakistani intelligence officials are adding new targets to its list, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pakistani officials hope that expanding the drone program to target extremists will win them public support; at the same time, the Obama...

Taliban Gets Pakistani Aid for Afghan Fight

(Newser) - It's no great secret that Pakistan's spy agency has long lent a helping hand to the Taliban, but the scale of that aid appears to be larger and more diverse than thought, the New York Times reports. The secretive ISI provides money, supplies, and help with strategic planning to the...

'Wait Until She's Sober': Pentagon Rep on Sex Crimes

(Newser) - A House member is incensed that a Pentagon official, reporting a 25% increase in combat-zone sexual assault against women, said servicemen should “wait until she's sober,” the New York Daily News reports. “This woman is not in the right line of work,” Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY,...

Fox Host Apologizes for Taunting Canadian Forces

Canadians outraged at slight

(Newser) - The host of Fox’s Red Eye apologized yesterday for a segment mocking the Canadian military, CBC reports. On March 17, Greg Gutfeld derided a general’s comment that troops need down time after Afghanistan combat, saying the military wants to “do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the...

NATO Troops Kill Key Taliban Commander in Afghanistan

Maulawi Hassan responsible for numerous bombings, attacks in recent months

(Newser) - A top Taliban commander was killed by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan this weekend, the New York Times reports. Maulawi Hassan had been the coordinator of many suicide bombings and other attacks since fall 2008 and reported directly to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban leader who directs operation from outside Afghanistan. Hassan’...

Seeking Talks, US May Allow Taliban Political Party

Some could run for office, but power-sharing impossible: diplomat

(Newser) - In an effort to establish a dialogue with the Taliban, the US may allow the militant group to create a political party or be represented by election candidates, the Guardian reports. Other options include removing Taliban leaders from UN blacklists, releasing prisoners, and revising Afghanistan’s constitution. But there’s...

Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say
Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say
OPINION
Mar 19, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan must roundly reject the so-called “minimalist” approach being whispered about in DC, write John McCain and Joe Lieberman in today’s Washington Post. The minimalists want the US to focus on limited, “realistic” counterterrorism goals. But McCain and Lieberman remind Obama that...

Feds Loosen Restrictions on 'American Taliban'

(Newser) - Federal prison officials are easing up a bit on John Walker Lindh, better known as the American Taliban, reports the Washington Post. All "special administrative measures" against Lindh will expire on Friday, meaning he'll be able to get more visitors, mail, and access to the media, among other things....

Liberals Turn Against War in Afghanistan, Too
Liberals Turn Against War in Afghanistan, Too
OPINION
Mar 17, 2009 9:52 AM CDT

Liberals Turn Against War in Afghanistan, Too

How swiftly 'good war' becomes 'another Vietnam,' says scribe

(Newser) - When the Iraq war was going badly, Bret Stephens writes in the Wall Street Journal, American liberals always defended efforts in Afghanistan—the “good war” the US couldn’t afford to lose. But now many of those same lefties say it’s time to bow out instead of getting...

Poll: 42% See Afghanistan War as 'Mistake'

Figure highest since question first asked in November 2001

(Newser) - Americans increasingly think the war in Afghanistan was a bad move from the start, a USA Today/Gallup poll this weekend found. Some 42% of respondents said it was a “mistake” to send troops to Afghanistan, the highest percentage since the question was first asked in a November 2001 poll....

Troops in Iraq Face Final Challenge: Moving Out

US military prepares to remove equipment from Iraq

(Newser) - As the US military reduces its presence in Iraq, it faces the logistical challenge of moving all the equipment it brought to the country during the nearly six-year war effort, the Los Angeles Times reports. Unlike personnel, much of the equipment used in Iraq will remain in the region, stored...

Russia Starts to Admit Heroin Problem
Russia Starts
to Admit Heroin Problem
Mar 11, 2009 10:18 AM CDT

Russia Starts to Admit Heroin Problem

Some blame West's failures in Afghanistan; others see bad policy

(Newser) - With an estimated 2 million drug addicts in Russia—about one in 50 adults—the nation is finally admitting it has a problem. One ally of PM Vladimir Putin faults the West’s anti-terror efforts in nearby Afghanistan for allowing poppy cultivation to bloom; others say Russia’s sweep-it-under-the-rug policies...

With Talks, US Looks to Split Taliban

Experts push for controversial negotiations

(Newser) - The idea of negotiating with the Taliban may seem absurd to many Americans—but experts are increasingly encouraging the Obama administration to talk with some of the group’s low-ranking members, writes Helene Cooper in the New York Times. Such a strategy could help divide the Taliban by targeting insurgents...

Karzai Agrees to Postpone Elections Until August

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accepted the recommendation of an independent election commission and will delay the country’s national elections until August out of concern for security and fairness, the Washington Post reports. Karzai's term expires in May, and what will happen in the interim between then and August...

Obama May Reach Out to Elements of Taliban

(Newser) - President Obama stated flatly today that the US is not winning the war in Afghanistan and said he is considering reaching out to less extreme elements of the Taliban, the New York Times reports. He likened the strategy to the successful American efforts in Iraq of convincing Sunni insurgents to...

Pakistan Bombings Kill 15
 Pakistan Bombings Kill 15 
Mar 7, 2009 12:24 PM CST

Pakistan Bombings Kill 15

(Newser) - Three separate bombings killed 15 people in northwestern Pakistan today, while authorities investigated reports that a pilotless US drone crashed in the region bordering Afghanistan. The bombings, coming days after gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team, were a fresh reminder of the militant threat in Pakistan, where Western leaders...

US Inviting Iran to Afghanistan Meeting

Rejecting Bush approach, she wants Tehran at conference table

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton has announced the US is inviting Iran to a major conference on Afghanistan this month, setting up the first possible face-to-face meeting between Tehran and the Obama administration. The secretary of state said at a NATO meeting in Brussels that Iran could play a critical role in stabilizing...

Obama Tactic on Pakistan, Afghanistan: Fingers Crossed

Pakistan will become key to US approach there

(Newser) - President Obama is bringing hope to conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan—but along the lines of hoping something good happens, Joe Klein writes in Time. A policy review is underway, but it seems the administration’s approach will be to “hope that the disintegration of Afghanistan can be prevented...

Pakistan Routs Insurgents in Militant Haven

Army says other regions will be free of al-Qaeda, Taliban by year's end

(Newser) - Pakistani forces have scored a victory against Islamic militants by ousting them from a stronghold on the Afghan border, Reuters reports. Pakistan plans to clear at least four of seven other regions of militants by the end of the year. “They have lost their cohesion here,” one general...

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