Taliban

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Pakistan PM Claims 700 Taliban Killed

Army has already killed 700 militants: minister

(Newser) - With more than a million of its citizens fleeing violence within its borders, Pakistan's prime minister said today the army has killed more than 700 militants in the last two weeks, in an operation in which "the very existence of the country was at stake.” Syed Yousaf Raza...

Al-Qaeda Sets Sights on Pakistan

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda has set its sights on the increasingly unstable Pakistan, American and Pakistani intelligence officials tell the New York Times. “They smell blood, and they are intoxicated by the idea of a jihadist takeover in Pakistan,” said a former CIA analyst. The group no longer operates in Afghanistan,...

Refugee Tally Hits 1.3M as Pakistan Plans Ground Strike

(Newser) - Pakistani forces told more residents of Swat Valley to flee during a 9-hour lull in fighting today, sparking an even greater migration that is snarling roads and deepening a humanitarian crisis, the Guardian reports. A quarter million refugees have now registered for help, bringing the homeless tally to 1.3...

Pakistanis Decry Taliban Sharia Law

(Newser) - Public opinion is swinging against Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat Valley as tens of thousands flee fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. A public fed up with inefficient and corrupt secular courts once welcomed the Taliban's version of religious law, but lawmakers and pundits now...

Cheney: I'm Speaking Out to Keep US Safe
 Cheney: I'm 
 Speaking Out 
 to Keep US Safe 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Cheney: I'm Speaking Out to Keep US Safe

Petraeus says US routing al-Qaeda; Gingrich likens torture talk to McCarthyism

(Newser) - Dick Cheney says he’s been outspoken because the Obama administration has “moved to take down a lot of those policies we put in place to keep the nation safe for 8 years.” On CBS’ Face the Nation, Cheney denied the Bush administration was in the “torture...

Pakistani Civilians Stuck as 55 Militants Die in War

Curfew curbs residents' flight in 'war of country's survival'

(Newser) - Pakistani troops and warplanes killed at least 55 Taliban militants today in what Prime Minister Raza Gilani is calling a "war of the country's survival," the AP reports. Fighting centered in the northwestern Swat Valley, where a curfew prevented residents from fleeing and the main town has...

US Admits Afghan Raids Killed Civilians

Pentagon reverses earlier claims that Taliban was to blame

(Newser) - American officials acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the US military was responsible for at least some of the 100 recent civilian deaths in western Afghanistan. The air strikes have led to angry protests in Afghanistan and calls for the US to withdraw from the country. While initial military...

US Won't Send Troops to Pakistan: Gates

(Newser) - There are no plans to deploy US ground troops to Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today, despite concerns over increasing violence between Pakistani troops and Taliban militants. Speaking to about 300 Marines at Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan, Gates assured the soldiers they didn't have to "worry about...

As Pakistan Shells Taliban, 500K Flee Swat

Military bombards densely populated areas; UN warns of crisis

(Newser) - Refugees continue to flee the Swat Valley in Pakistan, reports the Guardian, where government forces battling resurgent Taliban militants have been conducting airstrikes in heavily populated areas. The government is preparing for up to 500,000 refugees in what the UN warns is becoming a humanitarian crisis. The Washington Post...

A Doubting Washington Greets Karzai
 A Doubting 
 Washington 
 Greets Karzai 

ANALYSIS

A Doubting Washington Greets Karzai

Afghan president has 'plateaued,' diplomats say

(Newser) - Nearly eight years after the fall of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai comes to the White House today to meet an administration distinctly unimpressed with his governance of Afghanistan. In interviews with two dozen Washington officials, the Washington Post finds anger and frustration with a president overseeing a weak and corrupt...

US-Led Airstrike Kills 30 Afghan Civilians

Villagers deliver bodies to provincial capital as proof

(Newser) - Afghan villagers bore the bodies of 30 civilian victims of a US-led airstrike to a provincial council as proof of the coalition operation’s deadly price, provincial officials reported to the AP today. When fighting broke out yesterday between militants and coalition forces in Farah province, villagers herded their women,...

Fighting Erupts as Pakistan-Taliban Truce Folds

(Newser) - Pakistan's government abandoned its rapidly decaying truce with the Taliban today, al-Jazeera reports, with government forces openly battling militants in several parts of the Swat Valley following a Taliban attack on an army convoy yesterday. Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the area, and the government said it...

Pakistanis Flee Swat Ahead of Taliban Clash

Militants take control of main city in strategic valley

(Newser) - Pakistani authorities have warned residents of the country's troubled Swat Valley to leave their homes ahead of an expected military operation in the Taliban-controlled area. The February peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban, which included the introduction of Sharia law, has effectively collapsed, reports Reuters. Militants have infiltrated several...

US Worries Grow Over Weakened Pakistan's Nukes

But Pakistani officials call concerns 'overblown rhetoric'

(Newser) - The growing insurgency in Pakistan has heightened US worries about the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reports. Some fear militants could steal weapons in transport or get access to nuclear facilities. President Obama says he’s “confident” that the stock is “secure,...

Taliban Uses Human Shields in Pakistan Fight

90K refugees flee terror campaign as battles continue

(Newser) - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's attempt to reclaim control of Taliban-seized districts—perhaps his last shot at maintaining power—ran into new terror tactics today, the Times of London reports. In the Buner district, Taliban are using 2,000 villagers as human shields, while elsewhere they are waging an aggressive...

US Reaches Out to Pakistani Opposition

Administration presses bitter rivals to unite against Taliban threat

(Newser) - The Obama administration is seeking closer ties with the Pakistani president's biggest—and most bitter—rival, the New York Times reports. The US previously shunned Nawaz Sharif because of his links to Islamists, but diplomats now believe Sharif's popularity among that group could help bolster Asif Ali Zardari's embattled government...

Pakistan Retakes Key Town From Taliban: Military

Will redeploy 6K troops from Indian to Afghan border

(Newser) - After deploying jets and helicopters yesterday in response to a Taliban incursion into the Buner district, Pakistan has taken back a key town, the military says. The country will also shift 6,000 troops from the Indian border to face militants along the Afghan border, said an official, a move...

US Preps Plans to Take Out Taliban Poppy Crop

Offensive aims to cut off Afghan insurgency's financial lifeline

(Newser) - American commanders in Afghanistan are preparing a huge assault on the Taliban's opium-growing heartlands this summer, reports the New York Times. Taking out the opium crop is key to NATO strategy, and commanders expect casualties on both sides will be high as the militants stand their ground to defend the...

Pakistan Launches Strikes Against Taliban

Militant presence in Buner violates peace agreement, says military

(Newser) - Pakistan has deployed troops and begun airstrikes against suspected Taliban sites in the Buner district, uncomfortably close to the capital. A military spokesman said some 500 militants are in the district, just over 60 miles from Islamabad, violating a peace agreement, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled...

Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off
Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off
OPINION

Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off

Don't give cash to corrupt government, says Zardari's niece

(Newser) - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is going to Washington next week to seek billions more to combat terrorism and keep the troubled nation afloat—and the Obama administration should swat away his outstretched hand, says Fatima Bhutto, estranged niece of Zardari's slain wife, Benazir Bhutto. "No amount of money,...

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