Afghanistan

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Al-Qaeda Crows About US Credit Crisis

Some supporters hope for McCain victory

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda websites are celebrating the crippling crisis sweeping the US economy and financial markets, with some internet postings crediting al-Qaeda for luring the nation into a war that has exhausted its resources, reports the Washington Post. Some writers are penning messages expressing hope for renewed terror attacks and a John...

Taliban Gunmen Kill Christian Aid Worker

Afghanistan militants say they were angered by teaching of religion

(Newser) - Taliban gunmen killed a Christian aid worker in Kabul today, and the militant group said it targeted the woman because she was spreading her religion. The dual South African-British national worked with handicapped Afghans and was shot by gunmen on a motorbike around 8 am, officials said.  "This...

Afghan Activists Push for Peace Talks

Activists launch growing anti-war movement

(Newser) - More and more Afghan activists are pushing for a negotiated end to their country’s increasingly violent war, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Thousands have attended peace assemblies throughout Afghanistan, aimed at forcing the government to open public talks with the Taliban. "We need to pressure the Afghan government...

Top General: 'We Will Win' in Afghanistan

McKiernan aims to defuse concerns about region

(Newser) - As concerns mount about the situation in Afghanistan, the top US commander there asserted that America and its allies are winning against the Taliban, the New York Times reports. There have been “too many” reports suggesting the contrary, and “I absolutely reject that idea, I don’t believe...

Someone's Leaving Iraq— Journalists

Interest wanes as news shifts from fighting to rebuilding

(Newser) - As Iraq stabilizes itself, withdrawals have finally begun—for the media. Journalists have left Iraq in droves this year, the Washington Post reports. Last September, military units hosted 219 embedded journalists; this month, that number shrunk to 39. Of the dozen newspapers that once maintained Baghdad bureaus, only 4 remain....

NATO Troops Target Afghan Drug Lords

Troops given green light to attack industry that funds Taliban insurgents

(Newser) - NATO has given its troops permission to go after Afghanistan's drugs labs and opium kingpins, Agence France Presse reports. Some members of the alliance had been wary of targeting the industry, fearful of alienating farmers. But the Afghan government has given its blessing to attacks on the trade that puts...

Afghanistan Sinking Into Chaos

Violence, corruption destroying nation, US report reveals

(Newser) - A soon-to-be released classified report on Afghanistan paints a grim picture of a nation sliding into chaos, the New York Times reports. The report—the most detailed from American intelligence services in years—reveals that rampant corruption and the booming heroin trade has seriously destabilized the country as militants based...

US Airstrike Killed 30 Afghan Civilians: Inquiry

Outraged Afghans still maintain 90 died in controversial Aug. raid

(Newser) - A US military inquiry puts the number of Afghan civilians killed in an August 22 raid at more than 30, the New York Times reports, down from the 90 the Afghan government had claimed. The airstrike on Azizabad, a suspected Taliban stronghold, was condemned by the Afghan government. The US...

Germany Ups Afghan Force, Debates Talking to Taliban

Negotiation with radicals seems necessary, but Karzai's not the man for the job

(Newser) - Germany’s government decided today to send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan and to keep its forces there for 14 more months, Der Spiegel reports. But as Angela Merkel’s government recommits to the fight, the German press argues over whether a radical change in strategy—including diplomatic engagement...

UN Crackdown on Heroin Is Bleeding Taliban Dry

Hundreds of tons of chemicals seized

(Newser) - The UN has been quietly striking a major blow against the Taliban with a widely successful international attack on its heroin trade, Bloomberg reports. The campaign has seized several hundred tons of acetic anhydride bound for Afghanistan. Without the chemical, the Taliban can’t convert its poppy, which sells for...

Petraeus' Iraq Strategy Is Ill-Suited to Afghanistan

Counterinsurgency expert may need to learn a few new tricks to quell Taliban rebellion

(Newser) - Gen. David Petraeus faces an uphill battle in replicating the successes of the Iraq surge in Afghanistan, Michael Evans writes in the Times of London, “because the economic, social and political conditions are so different.” Afghanistan doesn’t have nearly the natural, fertile resources, and neither the US...

Taliban Breaks al-Qaeda Ties, Talks Peace: Report

Afghans deny secret Saudi-backed dialogue

(Newser) - The Taliban has broken all ties with al-Qaeda and engaged in peace talks with the Afghan government, CNN reports. The talks, held from Sept. 24-27 in Saudi Arabia, mark the first attempt to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan. But both Afghan and Taliban spokesmen are denying the...

Afghan Leader's Brother Tied to Drug Trade: US

Karzai denies claims, but Washington believes 'he's dirty'

(Newser) - The White House believes that the brother of Afghanistan’s US-backed president has ties to the country’s heroin trade, the New York Times reports. Hamid Karzai insists there is no firm proof against his brother, who calls himself a “victim of vicious politics.” But numerous reports from...

US Doomed in Afghanistan: British Envoy

Leaked French cable quotes diplomat opposing surge

(Newser) - The British ambassador to Afghanistan believes “the American strategy is destined to fail,” the Telegraph reports, based on a leaked memo written by a French diplomat. In the memo, the French diplomat records statements by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles at a Sept. 1 meeting in which the British envoy...

Pakistan Helped Taliban Plan Afghan Attacks: Report

Leaked Spanish document alleges link between intelligence agency and militants

(Newser) - Pakistani spies armed Taliban insurgents in 2005 assassination plots against the Afghan government, Cadena Ser radio reports after obtaining a confidential Spanish defense document. Bearing the defense ministry’s seal, the report alleges that Pakistan’s intelligence gave the militants roadside bombs, and may have also provided intelligence and training....

Afghanistan Commander Calls for More Troops, Now

US General appeals for political support, manpower

(Newser) - The top US commander in Afghanistan today asked for more troops, as well as additional political and economic aid, "as quickly as possible" to combat a growing influx of foreign insurgents in the country, the AP reports. The fight against Islamic militants is going to get harder before it...

Three Warlords Loom Large in Afghanistan

Former anti-Soviet allies come back to haunt US

(Newser) - Behind Afghanistan’s recent escalation in violence looms three faces familiar to the US intelligence community. Mohammed Omar, founding mullah of the “Big T” Taliban government; Jalaluddin Haqqani, his one-time cabinet minister; and the ruthless Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are most responsible for leading the anti-government charge, the LA Times reports—...

Taliban Chief to America: Let's Make a Deal

Mullah Omar offers US troops safe passage out of Afghanistan

(Newser) - Taliban boss Mullah Omar has warned that the US will suffer defeat just like the Soviet Union if it fails to withdraw from Afghanistan, Reuters reports. In a message posted on extremist websites, the defiant leader offered American forces "safe passage" out of Afghanistan if officials reconsider their "...

Once-Nurtured Militants Have Pakistan Teetering on Brink

Paradoxically, insurgents strengthen after US-inspired strikes

(Newser) - Pakistan’s government is caught between two overbearing powers: the Taliban fighters who want to destroy it, and the American officials who inflame tensions between the government and its people. “The Pakistanis are truly concerned about their whole country unraveling,” a Western military official tells Dexter Filkins, who...

Pakistan Fires on US Choppers
 Pakistan Fires on US Choppers 
Sep 25, 2008 10:34 AM CDT

Pakistan Fires on US Choppers

Crew and craft not damaged, but tensions rise

(Newser) - Pakistani troops fired at American reconnaissance helicopters patrolling the Afghan-Pakistan border today, heightening tensions as US steps up cross-border operations in a region known as a haven for extremists. Two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters were on a routine afternoon patrol in the province of Khost when they received small-arms fire...

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