Middle East
At Afghan Prison, Invasive Search of Female Visitors Raises U.S. Objections
Women visiting relatives at a notorious men s prison on the edge of Kabul have in recent weeks been subjected to invasive body-cavity searches at the order of the prison s commandant, who has told guards and American officials that the measure is needed to keep out contraband, Western and Afghan officials said.
Afghan massacre US soldier ‘reluctant to serve’
The US soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghans had been injured twice while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty, a lawyer has said. John Henry Browne said the soldier - who has not been named - had already completed three tours in Iraq. He also said the accused had witnessed his friend's leg blown off the day before the killings.
Karzai Wants U.S. Troops Confined to Bases – Taliban Suspend Peace Talks
Denial and defeat in Afghanistan
To listen to US and European officials, all is well with the Western project in Afghanistan. Absent awareness of the irony, President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron have announced that this project is in its "final phases". "The trajectory we've set", said an advisor of President Obama's who specialises in strategic communications, "is one of transition and Afghan sovereignty". As the Afghans move into the lead, the US will be able to pull back.
Afghan interpreter tried to run down Marines, official says
When war turns pathological, get out
US soldiers urinating on dead Taliban fighters, the burning of Qurans, and troops convicted of killing Afghan civilians for sport or routinely invading the privacy of Afghan homes in the middle of the night: whatever the military commanders in Kabul might say in regret, and Washington might repeat by way of formal apology, has become essentially irrelevant.
‘Taliban Stronger than Ever’ after Massacre
Taliban vow revenge for US soldier’s attack on Afghans
Afghan civilian massacre sparks public fury
US soldier kills Afghan civilians in Kandahar
British troops killed in Afghan blast
Six British soldiers have been killed by an explosion in southern Afghan province of Helmand, according to the UK's defence ministry, in the deadliest attack on the country's forces in over five years. A separate explosion in a crowded market in neighbouring Kandahar province killed four civilians and wounded nine others, provincial officials said.
Corruption Remains Intractable in Afghanistan Under Karzai Government
For the past few months, possibly the most intriguing poker game in Kabul has been taking place in the sprawling pink sitting room of the man at the center of one of the most public corruption scandals in the world, the near collapse of Kabul Bank. The players include people tied to President Hamid Karzai s inner circle, many of whom have profited from the crony capitalism that has come to define Afghanistan s economic order, and nearly brought down Kabul Bank.
Afghan clerics’ guidelines ‘a green light for Talibanisation’
US-Afghanistan deal in danger as Hamid Karzai holds firm on demands
Two American Soldiers Die in Shooting at Afghan Base
Another two United States soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday when an Afghan soldier in league with a civilian Afghan literacy instructor killed a tower guard and attacked with gunfire and a rocket the barracks where American soldiers were sleeping at a joint base in the south of the country, officials said.
Afghanistan suicide bomber attacks Nato military base
France and Germany withdraw civilian staff
France and Germany are following the US and Britain in withdrawing civilian staff from Afghan government institutions in the wake of the killing of two senior US Nato officers. Afghan authorities are hunting a 25-year-old Afghan policeman believed to have shot the officers dead at the interior ministry in Kabul on Saturday.
Afghan police officer sought over Kabul Nato killings
Afghan Grenade Wounds American Soldiers as Riots Still Rage
NATO recalls advisers after Kabul shooting
U.S. commander pulls back advisors from Afghan ministries
Protests over Koran Burning: Germany Closes Afghan Military Base Early
The German military said Friday it would move up the planned closure of a base in northern Afghanistan in response to deadly protests over the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran by a US soldier. The base would have been shuttered in March, but officials worried its security could not be maintained in the face of the demonstrations.
Afghan Protests Over Burning of Korans Spread for 3d Day
Six dead in Afghanistan Koran burning protests
At least six people have been killed and dozens injured in Afghanistan after protests spread over the burning of copies of the Koran at a US airbase. One person was killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and at least four in Parwan province. US officials apologised on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram airbase. Officials at Bagram reportedly believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages to each other.
Afghan Girls Are Penalized for Elders’ Misdeeds
Karzai Arrives in Pakistan to Discuss Afghan Peace Talks
Leaked report belies Afghan surge ‘success’
An analysis by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, which the US Army has not approved for public release but has been leaked to Rolling Stone magazine, provides the most authoritative refutation thus far of the official military narrative of success in the Afghanistan War since the troop surge began in early 2010.
Afghan War Risks Are Shifting to Contractors
Even dying is being outsourced. This is a war where traditional military jobs, from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers, have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many American generals and diplomats have private contractors for their personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.
Nine dead in Kandahar car bomb attack
A car bomb attack on police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar has killed at least nine people, including five policemen. Some 19 others were wounded in the blast in a car park outside the police building, the local government said. The blast - thought to have been caused by explosives hidden inside a parked car and detonated remotely - was strong enough to shatter nearby windows.
Rants and raves for new US pullout plan
Taliban eat into Afghanistan’s core
As the United States steps up efforts to engage the Taliban and al-Qaeda in a peace process for Afghanistan, elements of the Taliban have initiated their own plan focusing on regaining the power they lost in 2001 following the US-led invasion. This involves hijacking the efforts and finances that the US is investing in training and equipping the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP).
Afghan civilian deaths rise for 5th straight year to record high
Afghan civilian casualties have reached a grim new milestone, with a record 3,021 noncombatants killed in wartime violence last year, the United Nations said in a report released Saturday. The toll for 2011 represented an 8% increase from the previous year and marked the fifth year in a row that the number of noncombatant deaths and injuries has risen. Insurgents were blamed for nearly four-fifths of the deaths.
US remains committed to Afghan exit in 2014
Military chiefs in the US say the country's commitment to Afghanistan has not changed after an earlier suggestion that their combat role might end earlier than previously thought. Intelligence officials were trying to clarify remarks from Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, who said that combat operations could end in 2013, a year early.
U.S. and allies plan to give Afghanistan forces lead role in 2013
Despit heavy losses captured Taliban believe winning the war
Afghan Officials Consider Separate Talks With Taliban
Afghan President Hamid Karzai ‘plans talks with Taliban’
Taliban Have Begun Talks With U.S., Former Taliban Aides Say
The long walk to Europe
Afghan soldier who killed French troops was our recruit, Taliban say
The Taliban claim the Afghan soldier who shot dead four French soldiers at a base east of Kabul, prompting France to threaten to withdraw early from the country, was one of their recruits. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the gunman was an infiltrator working for the Taliban, also known as The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Afghan Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces
American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report.
Many killed in Afghan suicide attack
More than a dozen people have been killed and many more wounded when a man on a motorcycle blew himself up in a market in Helmand province, Afghan and international officials said. Thirteen Afghans, including three police officers, were killed and at least 23 others wounded, Daud Ahmadi, a spokesperson for the province, said on Wednesday.
UK troops quizzed over Afghan ‘child abuse’
Two British soldiers have been arrested and questioned over allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" in Afghanistan, the UK's Ministry of Defence announced after a newspaper described their alleged abuse of two 10-year-old boys. Quoting defence sources, The Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday that a sergeant and a private from the Mercian Battle Group had recorded their abuse of the children on video and showed it to other soldiers on laptops.
Afghan War Reflects Changes in Air War
The use of air power has changed markedly during the long Afghan conflict, reflecting the political costs and sensitivities of civilian casualties caused by errant or indiscriminate strikes and the increasing use of aerial drones, which can watch over potential targets for extended periods with no risk to pilots or more expensive aircraft.
Afghan president demands control of Bagram prison
Hamid Karzai, furious at being sidelined from Afghan peace talks, has thrown his government into yet another dramatic confrontation with the international community by demanding the US hand over control of its main military prison in Afghanistan. Officials at the US embassy and Nato headquarters in Kabul scrambled to deal with the unexpected announcement, which comes amid humiliation for Karzai over US efforts to set up an overseas political office for the Taliban despite the minimal involvement of the Afghan government.
Taliban to Open Qatar Office in Step Toward Peace Talks
Giving its first major public sign that it may be ready for peace talks, the Taliban announced on Tuesday that it had struck a deal to open a peace mission in Qatar. The step was a sharp reversal of the Taliban s longstanding public denials that it was involved or interested in any negotiations to end its insurgency in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, a Troubling Resurgence of the Poppy Crop
This stretch of the Helmand River Valley, the heart of the nation s poppy-growing area, stands as a showcase for one of NATO s most ambitious offensives against the Taliban and the drug trade. But now, the area is also becoming an object lesson in the resilience of militants and opium producers alike.