Taliban

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35 Killed in Pakistan Mosque Attack

Attackers fire on worshipers before blowing themselves up

(Newser) - At least 35 people were killed when two suicide bombers stormed a mosque near Pakistan's army headquarters today.They opened fire on worshipers and threw grenades before blowing themselves up in a heavily fortified area, the AP reports. Officials say 70 others were injured in the attack in Rawalpindi, a...

Taliban: Bin Laden's Hiding in Afghanistan

Cohort offered to arrange meeting, says Pakistan inmate

(Newser) - A high-ranking Taliban member in Pakistani custody claims a cohort offered to arrange a meeting with Osama bin Laden earlier this year, and that the al-Qaeda leader is in eastern Afghanistan, not northern Pakistan as widely believed, the detainee told a BBC reporter. The inmate, who met with bin Laden...

Obama Plan Won't Make America Safer

Afghan surge can't defeat terrorist ideology

(Newser) - President Obama should have used his speech to declare victory and announce the start of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan instead of an escalation, writes Eugene Robinson. Even if the surge achieves its immediate mission—at huge cost—the operation won't achieve its ultimate goal of making the US safer...

Karzai: I'd Meet With the Taliban

Al-Qaeda not welcome, but not all Taliban members are terrorists, he says

(Newser) - Just two days after President Obama announced a 30,000 surge in troops for Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai reiterated his desire to make peace with the Taliban. In an interview with the AP today, the Afghan president said he would do "whatever it takes" to bring peace, including meeting with...

Gates: Afghan Failure Means 'Civil War'

Troop surge is necessary to transition to humanitarian role

(Newser) - Defense chief Robert Gates and other members of the Obama administration took to Capitol Hill today to sell President Obama's plan to send 30,000 additional troops. "Failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of much, if not most, of the country and likely a renewed civil war,...

Taliban: Obama Will See 'Lots of Coffins'

Insurgents vow to fight against US surge

(Newser) - The Taliban defiantly vowed to fight back against the US troop surge, with a spokesman saying it will “provoke stronger resistance” from the group. “Obama will witness lots of coffins heading to America from Afghanistan,” a spokesman tells the BBC . “Their hope to control Afghanistan by...

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns
 Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns 
Analysis
Dec 2, 2009 10:44 AM CST

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns

New strategy will result in immediate spike in battles

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s new strategy will result in an immediate spike in combat clashes, as the US directly advances on the ethnic Pashtuns in eastern and southern Afghanistan. The first wave of reinforcements is already moving, reports David Wood in Politics Daily, with marines expected to begin landing in the...

Musharraf: Don't Abandon Afghanistan Again
Musharraf: Don't Abandon Afghanistan Again
OPINION
Dec 2, 2009 10:20 AM CST

Musharraf: Don't Abandon Afghanistan Again

Time limits won't work, says former Pakistan leader

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf comes out of retirement with an op ed piece today, arguing that a time limit on American involvement in Afghanistan is repeating the mistakes that put the country in the hands of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A political strategy needs to be found that will stabilize the country...

Bomber Hits Pakistan Navy HQ
 Bomber Hits Pakistan Navy HQ 
Dec 2, 2009 4:24 AM CST

Bomber Hits Pakistan Navy HQ

Security officer killed, 2 guards and 2 civilians wounded

(Newser) - In the latest attack on Pakistani security forces, a suicide bomber blew himself up today at the entrance to naval headquarters in the northern city of Islamabad, killing a security officer and critically wounding two other guards. Two civilians were also hurt in the attack, one of them a 6-year-old...

Obama to Send 30K Troops; Home By 2011
 Obama to Send 
 30K Troops; 
 Home By 2011 
AFGHANISTAN SPEECH
Dec 1, 2009 7:55 PM CST

Obama to Send 30K Troops; Home By 2011

President explains US troop surge at West Point

(Newser) - Saying that “Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,” President Obama explained his decision tonight to send 30,000 more US troops there. Speaking at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, he told the cadets in the audience, “I owe...

Troop Surge Number? 34K
 Troop Surge Number? 34K 
AFGHAN strategy
Dec 1, 2009 7:36 AM CST

Troop Surge Number? 34K

With NATO troops, total close to McChrystal request

(Newser) - The Washington Post has—or thinks it has—the much anticipated number of troops President Obama will deploy to Afghanistan, and it's 34,000. That, combined with 5,000 he's said to be seeking from NATO allies, brings the total within shooting distance of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,...

Teen Afghan Prisoners Claim Abuse at US Site

Say they were beaten, photographed naked at Bagram

(Newser) - Two Afghan teenagers held prisoner by the US at the Bagram air base say American interrogators beat them, deprived them of sleep, photographed them naked, and made them look at porn to humiliate them sexually. The teens' accounts to the Washington Post have not been substantiated, but they have the...

Taliban Makes Surprise Return in N. Afghanistan

Kunduz thought secure enough to move troops elsewhere

(Newser) - With US and Afghan forces focused on the southern regions of Afghanistan, the Taliban has popped up in the country’s northern Kunduz province—not only far from its home area but until recently seen as peaceful enough that soldiers and policemen have been transferred from the area to help...

Fresh Troops to Target Afghanistan's Troubled South

Kandahar key in coming Afghan surge

(Newser) - Though President Obama has yet to announce his plan for finishing the job in Afghanistan, military commanders say the bulk of the fresh troops—regardless of their number—will be sent to the country's volatile south to reverse Taliban gains, specifically targeting the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The coming surge...

US, Afghans Recruit Taliban With Jobs

Drive will be similar to the 'Sons of Iraq' program

(Newser) - Afghanistan has launched an initiative to convert Taliban foot soldiers with the promise of jobs and protection. Backed by the US military, the plan is modeled on its “Sons of Iraq” program; Stanley McChrystal even lured a key architect of that program out of retirement to help with it....

US Backs Afghan Militias Against Taliban

Supporting local resistance, as in Iraq, is a delicate equation

(Newser) - The US is actively supporting local militia groups against the Taliban as American and Afghan officials move to encourage a demoralized Afghan population to re-engage in the war, reports Dexter Filkins of the New York Times . Tapping into the militias’ resources could fill the manpower gap as a vacillating White...

Pakistani Intelligence Sheltering Taliban Leader

Mullah Omar hiding in Karachi: US sources

(Newser) - Pakistan’s intelligence service is secretly sheltering the Taliban’s top leader, US intelligence sources tell the Washington Times —helping Mullah Omar escape from the town of Quetta, along the Afghanistan border, to the port city of Karachi, deep within Pakistan. The sources say Mullah Omar is leading a...

Suicide Bomber Kills 16 in Afghanistan

Two children among the dead in latest attack

(Newser) - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 16 people, including two children and a policeman, and wounded at least 23 others today in a busy city square in western Afghanistan. The violence comes a day after President Hamid Karzai, in his second inaugural address, said he has placed national reconciliation...

Suicide Bomb Kills 19 at Pakistan Courthouse

Region hit with seventh militant attack in two weeks

(Newser) - A suicide bombing outside a Peshawar courthouse killed 19 people this morning in Pakistan, the latest in a series of attacks by Islamic militants reacting against an anti-Taliban army offensive in the region. Today's bombing came only hours after missiles fired from a suspected US drone killed three alleged militants...

US Fears Insurgents Are Eluding Pakistan Crackdown

Dubious success of campaign could affect Afghan troop decision

(Newser) - Pakistan's drive to oust militants from South Waziristan has been suspiciously successful, prompting US fears that the enemy is simply eluding Pakistani forces. The military, for example, recently captured Sararogha, the Taliban’s de facto capital. “It all started here,” a commander boasts to the New York Times....

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