Taliban

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American Among Dead in Kabul Hotel Attack

Park Palace Hotel assault leaves 5 dead, 6 wounded

(Newser) - Police say gunmen stormed a guesthouse in the Afghan capital as it hosted a party for foreigners, triggering an hourslong siege that ended with five people dead, including an American and two Indian nationals. Six were wounded and 54 hostages were rescued. Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman says the attack...

Taliban: Our Spring Offensive Starts Friday

Announcement made via an emailed statement to media

(Newser) - The Taliban said today they will start their spring offensive this week, an annual campaign in their war against the Afghan government. In an emailed statement, the group said the offensive—dubbed "Azm" or perseverance in Dari and Arabic—will begin on Friday. The Taliban said their Islamic Emirate...

Asteroid Named After Anti-Taliban Activist

Malala Yousafzai honored by NASA researcher

(Newser) - A dark rock you might spot orbiting the sun every 5.5 years now has its own name: 316201 Malala (2010 ML48) . The part we all understand—Malala—refers to Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, 17, who drew the world's attention by defying Taliban rule...

Bergdahl: I Was Tortured, Caged for 5 Years

Letter outlines brutal treatment from captors

(Newser) - Bowe Bergdahl spent his five years as a Taliban captive caged and tortured both physically and psychologically, according to a letter his lawyer released soon after he was charged with desertion . "I was kept in constant isolation during the entire five years, with little to no understanding of time,...

US Eyes Slow Afghan Exit
 US Eyes Slow Afghan Exit 
Feb 22, 2015 1:40 PM CST

US Eyes Slow Afghan Exit

And Afghanistan readies for new Taliban talks

(Newser) - The US is considering slowing its military exit from Afghanistan by keeping a larger-than-planned troop presence this year and next because the new Afghan government is proving to be a more reliable partner, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said yesterday. Carter, on his first overseas trip since starting the Pentagon...

Drone Strike Kills Afghan ISIS Leader

Disaffected mullah quit Taliban last month

(Newser) - A disaffected Taliban commander has been killed less than a month after he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Mullah Abdul Rauf was killed yesterday in Helmand province in a strike that tribal elders say hit a car traveling across the desert and killed around six people, the BBC reports. Rauf—who...

With US Gone, Afghans Struggle to Keep Taliban at Bay

1.3K killed between June and November in Helmand province: report

(Newser) - Following the departure of most US forces from Afghanistan, clashes between its security forces and the Taliban have been renewed, with brutal fighting returning to areas that had been comparatively quiet, the New York Times reports. From June to November, some 1,300 members of Afghan security forces were killed...

'My Dream Has Been Killed': 100 Pakistan Kids Massacred

Gunmen stormed Peshawar military school

(Newser) - At least 145 people, more than 100 of them children and teenagers, are dead in a massacre today after nine Taliban gunmen rampaged through a Pakistani public military school in what's being called the worst such attack in years. The chaotic scene in Peshawar began early today with militants,...

Suicide Bomber Hits Anti-Suicide-Bomber Play

At least one killed in Taliban attack in Kabul

(Newser) - The Taliban pulled off a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul yesterday with a cruel twist: The blast took place during a play condemning suicide bombers, reports CNN . Authorities say the teenaged bomber set off his explosives during a performance of Heartbeat: Silence After the Explosion at the French Cultural Centre,...

Top Female MP Survives Afghan Suicide Bomber

Shukria Barakzai slightly injured in assassination attempt that kills 3

(Newser) - A suicide bomber tried to assassinate a prominent female member of Afghanistan's parliament today, killing three people and wounding the lawmaker, a senior official said. Shukria Barakzai was slightly wounded in the attack on her vehicle as she was heading to parliament, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. Another...

Taliban Suffers Tweet-Fail, Blames 'Enemy Plot'

Afghanistan spokesman accidentally gave away his location, wasn't in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The perils of modern technology can prove too great even for one of the world's leading terrorist organizations: The Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, was busily tweeting about an attack on Friday when he suffered an apparent tweet-fail: The tweet contained geolocation data indicating that he was...

10 Arrested for Malala Shooting

Pakistan army, police, intelligence community worked together to nab militants

(Newser) - For two years, Malala Yousafzai has inspired the world with her intelligence, grace, and spirit in the aftermath of her 2012 shooting by Taliban strongmen. Now the 17-year-old Pakistani girl may finally see some justice: Ten militants have been arrested in connection with the attack, a spokesman for the Pakistani...

Al-Qaeda Launches India Branch

Zawahri vows to wage jihad across subcontinent

(Newser) - With an even more brutal group of Islamic extremists capturing the world's attention, is al-Qaeda feeling neglected? In what analysts see as an effort to grab the spotlight from ISIS, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has announced the formation of an Indian branch of the terror network that will "...

Watchdog: Bergdahl Prisoner Swap Was Illegal

Congress should have been told, GAO says

(Newser) - The Obama administration's release of five Taliban prisoners in exchange for captive soldier Bowe Bergdahl was illegal in more ways than one, according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The government watchdog says the decision violated federal law because Congress wasn't given 30 days' notice of the transfer...

Bergdahl Begins Telling His Story of Capture

He waives right to be silent in Army interview

(Newser) - Bowe Bergdahl is freely telling his story to Army investigators about how he came to be held captive by the Taliban. Bergdahl waived his right to remain silent yesterday, "letting the facts unfold in his own voice" to Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, who is in charge of the investigation...

US General's Killer Hid in Bathroom Before Attack

Maj. Gen. Harold Greene got shot in the back, reports NBC

(Newser) - When an Afghan soldier identified as Mohammad Rafiqullah returned from patrol yesterday, he didn’t turn in his NATO-issued machine gun like his fellow soldiers. Instead, Rafiqullah hid in a bathroom with it at Camp Qargha, then opened fire from a window when generals came into view, an Afghan official...

Feds Think There's a New Snowden in Our Midst

Someone appears to be leaking sensitive US documents again

(Newser) - A story published by Glenn Greenwald's Intercept , which has published the leaks of none other than Edward Snowden, contains information from national security documents dating back to August 2013—after Snowden fled the US, and thus an indication that there's a new leaker in town. The newly leaked...

Afghanistan Hit by Deadliest Blast Since 2001

Suicide car bomber kills 89 civilians

(Newser) - A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near a busy market and a mosque in a remote town in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 89 people in the deadliest insurgent attack on civilians since the 2001 US-led invasion. The blast destroyed numerous mud-brick shops, flipped cars...

Shopkeeper: Here's What the Taliban Like to Buy

White undies, foreign perfumes, brand-name soaps, he says

(Newser) - Ever wonder what the Taliban buy when they go shopping? Neither did we, but apparently they like spending big bucks on nice perfumes and brand-name soaps and shampoos. Oh, and they prefer white underwear, either Y fronts or briefs, a former shopkeeper tells the BBC . The young man in his...

Hagel Grilled on Bergdahl: 5 Standout Lines

He appears before House Armed Services Committee

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today became the first Obama administration official to testify publicly about the controversial decision to swap Bowe Bergdahl for five Gitmo prisoners, and the New York Times reports that he "wrote almost every word of his opening statement himself," canning his speechwriters' suggestions and...

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