Afghanistan war – News Stories About Afghanistan war - Page 41

Taliban Is Paid to Protect
US Supply Convoys

INVESTIGATION

Nov 12, 2009 5:20 AM CST

Taliban Is Paid to Protect US Supply Convoys

US military funding Taliban through contractors

(Newser) - The Taliban is getting a big chunk of its financing by protecting supply convoys to the American military. Security contractors paid by the US to bring supplies into Afghanistan pay huge amounts of protection money to warlords and insurgents, an investigation by the Nation has discovered. Pentagon officials are aware...

US Ambassador Disagrees
on Afghan Troop Surge

Nov 11, 2009 6:49 PM CST

US Ambassador Disagrees on Afghan Troop Surge

Wants Karzai government to shape up first

(Newser) - The US ambassador to Afghanistan—a former general who served there as recently as 2007—is against increasing troop levels until the Afghan government gets its act together. In classified cables ahead of President Obama’s deliberations on a surge, Karl Eikenberry cites rampant corruption and mismanagement in Hamid Karzai’...

Body of Missing US Soldier
Found in Afghan River

Nov 11, 2009 11:27 AM CST

Body of Missing US Soldier Found in Afghan River

Second American is still missing, believed drowned

(Newser) - Military divers have found the body of a US soldier who disappeared last week with a fellow soldier as the two tried to recover airdropped supplies from a river in western Afghanistan. The two Americans, from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, went missing Nov. 4 in Badghis...

Top Obama Advisers
Push 30K Troop Increase

Afghan rethink

Nov 11, 2009 7:45 AM CST

Top Obama Advisers Push 30K Troop Increase

President, war council, weigh Afghan troop options today

(Newser) - As President Obama heads into a meeting with his national security team today, one of the four options on the table for increasing troop levels in Afghanistan has emerged as a favorite of his top advisers. Hillary Clinton, Mike Mullen, and Robert Gates all favor a plan to send about...

Poll: Grouchy
Public Sticks
With Obama

Nov 11, 2009 4:49 AM CST

Poll: Grouchy Public Sticks With Obama

Glum nation pessimistic about economy, wars

(Newser) - America's mood has crashed hard after the euphoria that greeted Barack Obama's inauguration: A recent poll shows the country in a pessimistic funk as the president struggles to revive the economy and fight two wars abroad. But Americans haven't lost all faith in Obama: His approval stands at 54%, no...

CBS: Prez Will Grant McChrystal Troop Request

Nov 10, 2009 5:50 AM CST

CBS: Prez Will Grant McChrystal Troop Request

White House denies decision made

(Newser) - President Obama has decided to grant Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for a large and long-term increase in US forces in Afghanistan, according to CBS and AP , which cite "informed sources." The president will give the general almost all the troops he has asked for, boosting the size of...

Casey:
Send More
Troops to
Afghanistan

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Nov 8, 2009 12:03 PM CST

Casey: Send More Troops to Afghanistan

Lieberman to probe Fort Hood shootings as 'attack' on US troops

(Newser) - President Obama would do well to give Stanley McChrystal more troops in Afghanistan, Army chief of staff George Casey said on Meet the Press today. "We have already made progress, and I would look for that progress to continue,” Casey said, without saying how many troops he thought...

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge

AFGHAN STRATEGY REVIEW

Nov 8, 2009 9:18 AM CST

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge

Said to be close to decision as Asia trip looms

(Newser) - President Obama is zeroing in on an Afghanistan strategy that likely includes sending in some 30,000 troops, reports Reuters —short of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's requested 40,000, but far greater than war-weary Democrats may support. An additional 4,000 trainers are likely to be sent, McClatchy reports, with...

Honor Hero Cop: End
Ban on Women in Combat

opinion

Nov 7, 2009 10:15 AM CST

Honor Hero Cop: End Ban on Women in Combat

Time to wrap up the military's 'failed social experiment'

(Newser) - Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood was just the latest example of how there really is no front line for US troops these days; Iraq and Afghanistan are entirely battlefields. So women are already, in effect, in combat, and anyone wanting still more proof that they can handle it...

2 American NATO Troops
Missing in Afghanistan

Nov 6, 2009 11:44 AM CST

2 American NATO Troops Missing in Afghanistan

Western region has seen a recent uptick in violence

(Newser) - Two NATO soldiers have been missing in Western Afghanistan since Wednesday after a routine supply mission went awry. “We continue exhaustive search and rescue operations to locate our missing service members,” a NATO spokesperson tells the BBC . “We are doing everything we can to find them.”...

Blame 'Vicarious' PTSD

fort hood shooting

Nov 6, 2009 10:03 AM CST

Blame 'Vicarious' PTSD

Trauma is infectious, Essig writes, and therapists can catch it

(Newser) - When Todd Essig learned the Fort Hood shooter “was an Army psychiatrist who treats post traumatic stress disorder, himself on the cusp of deployment, I thought, ‘I’m not surprised.’” Why? Because there is a documented transfer of trauma disorders from sufferers to caregivers, dubbed “...

Army's Stress Most Obvious
at Fort Hood

ANALYSIS

Nov 6, 2009 6:16 AM CST

Army's Stress Most Obvious at Fort Hood

Repeat deployments prompt record levels of suicide, depression

(Newser) - Fort Hood has had more suicides than any other US Army facility since the start of the Iraq war, and while Nidal Hasan, the man officials say is responsible for yesterday's massacre, likely had unique motivations, he was perhaps only the most troubled member of a volunteer force buckling under...

Afghan Governor
Rejects Karzai Election

Nov 6, 2009 5:37 AM CST

Afghan Governor Rejects Karzai Election

Dispute could spark fresh fighting in northern province

(Newser) - A powerful warlord-turned-governor's rejection of Hamid Karzai's election victory is raising fears that one of Afghanistan's most stable provinces could collapse into fighting. Atta Mohammed Noor—the only one of Afghanistan's 34 governors to have openly supported Karzai's rival, Abdullah Abdullah—has denounced Karzai as an "unlawful president."...

Gunman Hasan a Lifelong Muslim, Devout Soldier

FORT HOOD SHOOTING

Nov 5, 2009 11:20 PM CST

Gunman Hasan a Lifelong Muslim, Devout Soldier

He counseled returning soldiers with PTSD

(Newser) - The details emerging about Nidal Hasan, who authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a US Army base, paint a picture of a man torn by contradictory loyalties. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim, an imam at his mosque said, but not an extremist. He had served 8...

UN Evacuates Afghan Staff

Nov 5, 2009 4:33 AM CST

UN Evacuates Afghan Staff

Hundreds pulled out after deadly Kabul attack

(Newser) - The United Nations is pulling more than half of its 1,100 international staff in Afghanistan out of the country as the security situation deteriorates. Some of the 600 staffers would return after new security arrangements were made, while others will be permanently relocated, said a spokesman. Much of the...

Obama Calls for
New Afghan Chapter

Nov 3, 2009 2:50 AM CST

Obama Calls for New Afghan Chapter

Karzai congratulated, told to clean up his government

(Newser) - President Obama congratulated Hamid Karzai on his "messy" election victory yesterday while warning him that it was time to clean up corruption in his government. "I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," said Obama,...

Rush: Obama
Doesn't Care
About War in
Afghanistan

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Nov 1, 2009 9:50 AM CST

Rush: Obama Doesn't Care About War in Afghanistan

Furthermore, prez is intentionally killing economy, says Limbaugh

(Newser) - Ever-reticent talking head Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves today, telling Fox News Sunday that President Obama "doesn't care much about" the war in Afghanistan, and his recent salute of slain soldiers "was a photo op precisely because he’s having big time trouble on this Afghanistan dithering...

UK Colonel's Death Raises Fury at Home

Oct 31, 2009 1:07 PM CDT

UK Colonel's Death Raises Fury at Home

He's killed by roadside bomb after warning about lack of choppers

(Newser) - Britain's newspapers are up in arms today over the revelation that a commander got killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan just weeks after warning his superiors they weren't doing enough to prevent such deaths. Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe complained in an email that troops didn't have enough helicopters and...

Time to Act Presidential on Afghanistan

Charles Krauthammer

Oct 30, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

Time to Act Presidential on Afghanistan

After 'yearlong drift,' Obama can't keep passing buck to Bush

(Newser) - President Obama loves to blame things on George W. Bush, and on Monday he did it again, referring to the “long years of drift in Afghanistan.” He must be trying to “explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan,” writes Charles Krauthammer . In March, Obama...

Obama Needs to Decide if He's in It to Win It

david brooks on afghan war

Oct 30, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

Obama Needs to Decide if He's in It to Win It

Hasn't proved he's truly committed to the fight

(Newser) - These White House strategy sessions on Afghanistan are all well and good and full of questions, writes David Brooks , but they sidestep the big one: Is he committed to the effort? We know President Obama is a smart guy. What we don't know is whether he has the "tenacity"...