Taliban

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Senate Report Pins Torture on Rumsfeld

Bipartisan panel, including McCain, concludes detainee abuse not just because of 'a few bad apples'

(Newser) - Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top White House officials were responsible for detainee abuse at US military prisons, a bipartisan Senate report finds. After 2 years of hearing testimony and reviewing documents, the study—released by Sens. John McCain and Carl Levin—traces controversial interrogation practices like sleep...

Obama Must Put Lawless Somalia Back on Agenda

US has treated nation as if it doesn't matter ... just like pre-9/11 Afghanistan

(Newser) - With a government “rotten to the core,” continuing civilian deaths, and burgeoning Islamic extremism that echoes the atmosphere in Afghanistan under the Taliban, it’s time for the US to stop ignoring Somalia, writes Aidan Hartley in Vanity Fair. After two helicopters were shot down there in 1993,...

Afghanistan Is a 'Theme Park of Problems'
 Afghanistan Is a
'Theme Park of Problems'
Analysis
Dec 2, 2008 8:34 AM CST

Afghanistan Is a 'Theme Park of Problems'

Obama has his work cut out for him

(Newser) - Winning in Afghanistan won’t be nearly as easy as Barack Obama hopes, military experts tell the New York Times. The president-elect has staked his national security reputation on Afghanistan, but the rural nature of the insurgency there will make it difficult to stamp out. “Afghanistan may be the...

US Suspects Pakistani Group Behind Mumbai Terror

Kashmir-based extremist group has links to al-Qaeda, Taliban

(Newser) - American intelligence experts are focusing on a Pakistani group as they help India probe the Mumbai attacks, the New York Times reports. Counterterrorism authorities won't say what makes them suspect Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, but it’s believed that at least one member has been captured for interrogation. The militant group is...

Taliban Stockpiles Surplus Opium

This year's crop was double global demand

(Newser) - The Taliban is stockpiling opium in Afghanistan, where high yields in recent years have led to a surplus, the UN drug office says. Poppy cultivation is less widespread than it once was, but the high yield offsets the contraction—and allowed the Taliban to make $300 million off opium last...

Afghans Bust Schoolgirl Acid Attackers

Assault was 'work of the Taliban': minister

(Newser) - Afghan officials have nabbed 10 Taliban militants accused of throwing acid in the faces of eight schoolgirls and four female teachers, Reuters reports. President Hamid Karzai called for their arrest and said the group would be publicly executed. “The attack was the work of the Taliban and we have...

Pakistanis Fear US May Be Out to Carve Up Nation

Many fear Yanks may be colluding with India

(Newser) - Pakistanis are fearful that the US is part of an India-Afghanistan plot to carve up the nation, writes Jane Perlez in the New York Times. Those worries have been fueled by a theoretical map drawn by US neoconservatives featuring a shrunken Pakistan and larger neighbors. “One of the biggest...

Faith in Petraeus May Lead Obama Astray in Afghanistan

Could 'yes we can,' become dangerous optimism?

(Newser) - President-elect Obama’s biggest decision in the war on terror is defining the nature and extent of the military commitment in Afghanistan, Russ Hoyle writes for the Daily Beast. While the US has Gen. David Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, there is no unified, coherent plan for battling the resurgent...

Taliban Mullahs Reject Karzai's Offer of Talks

Militants say they won't deal until foreign troops withdraw

(Newser) - Taliban leaders have rejected Hamid Karzai's guarantee of safe passage in exchange for beginning peace talks, reports Reuters. The militants instead reiterated demands for all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan before any negotiating begins—a condition the Afghan president rejected as unacceptable. Some analysts don't see Mullah Mohammad Omar's rejection...

Karzai Vows to Protect Taliban Chief in Talks

Will not cave to huge bounty, or US pressure to turn Omar over

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ensure the safety of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar if he agrees to peace talks, the Washington Post reports. "If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices: remove me or leave," Karzai said, referring to US...

US Aid Worker Shot Dead in Pakistan

Gunman kills man and driver

(Newser) - Gunmen shot and killed an American aid worker as he traveled to work today in northwestern Pakistan, the latest in a spate of attacks on foreigners in the militancy-wracked country. The shooting occurred in University Town, an upscale area of Peshawar where a top US diplomat was attacked just a...

Obama to Focus on bin Laden, Revamp Afghan Approach

Eyes regional strategy, talks with Taliban, Iran

(Newser) - Barack Obama is drastically rethinking the war effort in Afghanistan, his security advisers tell the Washington Post, including making the capture of Osama bin Laden a top priority. The administration’s fledgling plan calls for a more aggressive regional approach, possibly involving help from Iran. Obama also favors the ongoing...

Resilient Taliban Drives Pakistan to Brutal Tactics

200,000 displaced in tribal regions as state battles militants

(Newser) - In the lawless Northwest Frontier Province, the Pakistani army has been fighting the Taliban for 3 months for control of just a sliver of land. State forces had expected the battle to be a cursory victory, but the Taliban is stronger and more deeply entrenched—literally, in a network of...

Afghans Hard-Pressed to Hold Gains in War on Opium

Corruption, other obstacles make cultivation of legitimate crops tough to maintain

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s second-largest opium-producing province has eradicated the drug, a remarkable feat but one that farmers fear is short-lived, the Christian Science Monitor reports. NATO-backed efforts in the country that makes 90% of Earth's opium have reduced poppy harvests, violence, and corruption nationwide. But to grow anything else, the region...

US Strike Kills 40 at Wedding: Afghans

President Karzai angry; military investigating incident

(Newser) - A US air strike killed 40 civilians at a wedding party Monday, the Afghan government said today. The US said it was investigating the incident, but would not verify any attack or death toll, the New York Times reports. A Kandahar province official said US forces were fighting with the...

Afghan Officials Helped Taliban Attack US Army

Nine Americans died when hundreds descended on camp

(Newser) - An Afghan police chief and a local government official aided Taliban militants who killed nine American soldiers, an internal military review has found. The July attack came as American and Afghan forces were constructing a base in the country's remote east, when around 200 fighters descended on the soldiers. The...

Pakistani Vigilantes Strike at Taliban

Desperate police encourage citizens to take actions

(Newser) - As Pakistan’s overtaxed military and police forces wage a desperate battle against the Taliban, vigilantes are striking back at the militants on their own, the New York Times reports. Last August, citizens in a quiet farming valley hunted down and killed the Taliban fighters who murdered six policemen, lining...

$3.2B Opium Stash May Be Taliban's Secret Weapon

International agencies alarmed by 8,000 of tons of missing opium

(Newser) - A huge pile of missing opium has international law enforcement agencies worried, Time reports. The UN estimates up to 8,000 tons of opium—enough to supply every addict in the world for two years—have disappeared between Afghanistan's poppy fields and the world market in recent years. Experts fear...

US Weighs Talks With Taliban
US Weighs Talks With Taliban
Oct 28, 2008 10:51 AM CDT

US Weighs Talks With Taliban

Petraeus, set to take charge of Afghanistan policy, backs at least limited negotiations

(Newser) - The US is strongly considering negotiating with at least some elements of the Taliban, the Wall Street Journal reports. The talks, which would exclude top leaders, are part of a draft White House assessment of strategy in Afghanistan, officials say. Gen. David Petraeus, who takes over Central Command this week,...

Pakistan to Arm Local Militias
 Pakistan to Arm Local Militias 
Oct 23, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Pakistan to Arm Local Militias

Insurgency strategy, successful for US in Iraq, boosts American confidence in ally

(Newser) - Pakistan plans to give weapons to thousands of  tribal fighters along its border with Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports—a strategy that has helped the US in Iraq. The move to link the militias—called lashkars—to anti-Taliban efforts is a boost to US confidence in Pakistan’s military efforts,...

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