Taliban

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US Drone Kills 31 in Pakistan Strike
 US Drone Kills 31 
 in Pakistan Strike 
UPDATED
Feb 16, 2009 5:44 AM CST

US Drone Kills 31 in Pakistan Strike

Attack is first in region bordering Waziristan

(Newser) - A US drone plane fired missiles at a building reportedly housing militants in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 31 people, reports the New York Times—the second time in three days such a strike has claimed upward of 30 lives. "Afghan Taliban were holding an important meeting there when...

Taliban Declares Ceasefire in Pakistan Valley

Militants begin peace talks with government, warn of retaliation

(Newser) - The Taliban declared a 10-day ceasefire in a Pakistani valley and freed a Chinese hostage today after it began peace talks with the government, but an abducted American remains missing. The militants called the move a goodwill gesture, as its sympathizers and government officials discuss introducing elements of Islamic law...

Suspected US Strike Kills 30 in Pakistan

(Newser) - An airstrike in Pakistan’s troubled South Waziristan region, likely orchestrated by the US, has killed about 30 people, the Los Angeles Times reports. The dead are thought to be al-Qaeda or Taliban militants; the attack destroyed the compound of an associate of the Taliban leader suspected in the assassination...

Controversial US Drones Based in Pakistan: Feinstein

(Newser) - Dianne Feinstein said today that Predator drones used to carry out attacks in Pakistan originate there, not in Afghanistan as had been widely assumed, the Los Angeles Times reports. The revelation, which is likely to cause trouble for the Pakistani government, came during testimony by spy chief Dennis Blair. A...

US Envoy Visits Pakistan, Afghanistan Amid Violence

(Newser) - Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, arrived in the region yesterday as waves of killings were washing over both countries, the BBC reports. While touring Pakistan’s volatile frontier region, a local official was killed by a roadside bomb. At the same time in...

Gunmen Kill 19 in Kabul Attacks

(Newser) - Gunmen launched coordinated suicide attacks on three government buildings in Afghanistan’s capital today, killing at least 19 and injuring more than 50, the BBC reports. Attackers armed with AK-47s, grenades, and in some cases explosive vests hit the prison directorate and the justice and education ministries. The Taliban claimed...

Lieberman: 5 Surges for Afghanistan
Lieberman: 5 Surges
for Afghanistan
OPINION
Feb 6, 2009 12:12 PM CST

Lieberman: 5 Surges for Afghanistan

Senator outlines plan to empower moderate Muslims, win war

(Newser) - It’s going to be a difficult slog, bound to get worse before it gets better, but we must win the war in Afghanistan, writes Joe Lieberman in the Wall Street Journal. If we follow his prescriptions, he writes, we can empower moderates and make Afghanistan an al-Qaeda “graveyard”...

Pentagon to Send 30K New Troops to Afghanistan

Heartland strategy seeks to cut off Taliban's supply of fighters, drug money

(Newser) - US commanders are finalizing plans to beat back the resurgent Taliban with tens of thousands of extra American troops in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal reports. As part of Barack Obama's emerging strategy, reinforcements will be deployed in rural areas where Kabul's grip is weak, including along the border with...

Taliban Wrecks Key Afghanistan Supply Bridge

Deliveries cut off after Pakistan attack; how long remains unclear

(Newser) - Taliban militants have blown up a bridge along the NATO supply route across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, halting deliveries to troops, the New York Times reports. Repairs are under way on the Khyber Pass bridge, but it’s not yet clear how long it will be before supply efforts resume. Militants...

How to Fix Afghanistan
 How to Fix Afghanistan 
OPINION
Feb 2, 2009 11:44 AM CST

How to Fix Afghanistan

Four ways to improve strategy in misdirected war

(Newser) - The war in Afghanistan is going poorly, but there’s still time for the US to hone its strategy, Fareed Zakaria writes in Newsweek. We must keep in mind our chief aim, well-put by Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists...

Afghan Bomber Kills 21 Cops
 Afghan Bomber Kills 21 Cops 
Feb 2, 2009 6:39 AM CST

Afghan Bomber Kills 21 Cops

Suicide bomber disguised himself as police reservist

(Newser) - A suicide bomber blew himself up inside an Afghan police station, killing at least 21 policemen in an attack claimed by the Taliban, reports the BBC. The attack in the south of the country is the deadliest in months. A police spokesman in Uruzgan said the bomber wore a police...

Afghanistan: the Next Vietnam?
 Afghanistan: the Next Vietnam?  
analysis
Feb 1, 2009 5:49 PM CST

Afghanistan: the Next Vietnam?

(Newser) - Afghanistan may not be Barack Obama's Vietnam—it may be worse, John Barry and Evan Thomas write in Newsweek. The president plans to double US troops there to 60,000, hoping Gen. David Patraeus can recreate "surge" success and train an Afghan army to stabilize the country. But...

In Afghanistan, Taliban Control the Countryside

As Obama mulls more troops, NATO gaps give insurgents free rein

(Newser) - Barack Obama has signaled that he will send 20,000 to 30,000 new American troops to join NATO forces in Afghanistan. It certainly won't hurt, reports Dexter Filkins in the New York Times. Troops are stretched so thin that, more than 7 years after the initial invasion, the Taliban...

2 Dozen Gitmo Prisoners Win Court Cases

All but 3 who got hearings were found wrongfully detained

(Newser) - At least 24 detainees at Guantanamo Bay have won cases in federal court or military tribunals voiding their detention in the last 3 months. While the Bush administration has insisted that the prisoners who remain at Gitmo are "the worst of the worst," there was apparently no legal...

Unbowed by Attack, Afghan Girls Return to School

School thrives despite horrific assault

(Newser) - Last November in Kandahar, the southern Afghan city in the grip of the Taliban, 15 students and teachers were sprayed with acid on their way to a girls' school. The attack was the culmination of a Taliban-supported campaign to keep women from education, but the girls and their teachers have...

Afghans Infuriated by Gaping Wealth Divide

Corruption fuels scattered elite class

(Newser) - Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world—but while many are forced to beg for change, scattered neighbors are living in mansions, having mysteriously accumulated vast wealth, the Washington Post reports. Stories of drug trafficking, smuggling, and abuse of international aid abound. “All the jobs and...

5 US Troops Killed in Wave of Afghan Attacks

Including 5 American soldiers

(Newser) - Three American soldiers were killed today when their Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Southern Afghanistan, and two were killed yesterday, as a string of attacks took 18 lives in the country over the past two days. Earlier today a suicide bomber blew himself up in a fruit shop in...

Pakistan Cracks Open Afghan Supply Route

Crucial Khyber Pass has been shut for anti-Taliban campaign

(Newser) - Pakistan allowed traffic to cross the Khyber Pass today for 6 hours after closing it to help fight the Taliban, the New York Times reports. But analysts say that once the offensive is over, guerrillas who fled the area will simply return to the pass, a crucial supply route for...

Pakistani Offensive Shuts US Supply Line to Afghanistan

Crackdown targets Khyber Pass militants

(Newser) - Pakistan closed the main route used to ferry supplies to US and allied troops in Afghanistan today after launching a fresh offensive against militants in the area. The road through the Khyber Pass in the northwest of Pakistan has faced increasing attacks by militants seeking to squeeze Western forces fighting...

Taliban Exact Revenge on Pakistani Town That Stood Up

Car bombing punishes crackdown on militants

(Newser) - A few months ago, villagers in a Pakistani town killed six Taliban fighters who had bound and killed local police; yesterday, the Taliban retaliated, targeting the town of Shalbandi with a suicide car bomb that killed more than 30. The explosion rocked a school that was holding a vote to...

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