Taliban

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Dozens Dead, Hundreds Hurt in Attack on 'Afghan Secret Service'

Spring offensive hits Kabul

(Newser) - Armed militants in Afghanistan staged a coordinated assault on a key government security agency in Kabul Tuesday morning, killing at least 28 people. The Taliban has claimed responsibility. The attack appears to have targeted an agency similar to the US Secret Service, providing personal protection for high-ranking government officials, the...

What It's Like to Be on America's 'Kill List'

Malik Jalal describes his life, being hunted by drones

(Newser) - Malik Jalal has been targeted by drones four times, resulting in the death of many innocent bystanders and members of Jalal's own family being killed and seriously injured. He's on the "Kill List" of America and its allies, he explains in an essay for the Independent , and...

Taliban: Our Rockets Just Missed John Kerry

Blasts rock Kabul after Secretary of State leaves

(Newser) - A near-miss for John Kerry? The Taliban says it fired four rockets into Kabul on Saturday aimed at the Secretary of State but missed him by about an hour, CNN reports. Kerry had just left Kabul and his plane was readying to take off when four blasts sounded in the...

Taliban App Yanked From Google Play for 'Technical Issues'

Says the Taliban; Google's being a little more cryptic

(Newser) - The Taliban has been taking pointers from the Islamic State's online presence, keeping its social media accounts and website updated and fresh, and even launching a new app through the Google Play store last week. But that app—called "Pashto Afghan News—Alemarah," per the Guardian —...

Taliban Faction: We Sent Easter Bomber

Death toll in Pakistan attack hits 70

(Newser) - A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a sickening attack that killed scores of people in a park on Easter Sunday. A spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar tells the AP that the group was deliberately targeting Christians when it sent a suicide bomber to the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in...

Taliban's Latest Victim: 10-Year-Old Militia Hero

Wasil Ahmad shot twice outside his home in Afghanistan

(Newser) - In his 10 short years, Wasil Ahmad was named a hero by the Afghan government for leading the fight against a Taliban siege. When the siege was over, the government dressed him in a police uniform, hung plastic flowers around his neck, and handed him a helmet and gun. "...

Bergdahl Heads for General Court-Martial, Could Get Life

Ruling general ignored recommendation Bergdahl go before 'special' military court

(Newser) - A lawyer for Bowe Bergdahl , the US soldier accused of deserting his Army post in Afghanistan in 2009 before being captured and held by the Taliban for almost five years, says his client will stand trial before a general court-martial, Reuters reports. Despite the advice of a preliminary-hearing officer that...

House GOP: Bergdahl Prisoner Swap Was Illegal

Report accuses administration of acting recklessly

(Newser) - The Obama administration broke the law and deceived Congress when it traded five Guantanamo detainees for Taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl last year, according to a House Armed Services Committee report seen by the New York Times and the Washington Post . The report from the committee's GOP majority, which will...

Taliban: We Won't Hinder Quake Relief

Rescuers shouldn't 'hold back,' says group

(Newser) - With the death in Monday's earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan at more than 300 and rising, the Taliban on Tuesday issued a plea to rescuers: Don't "hold back." Relief agencies had been wary about entering Taliban-held territory, but the group promised not to interfere, reports Reuters...

US Story About Hospital Airstrike Changes Yet Again

Doctors Without Borders wants to know why it's the 4th version in 4 days

(Newser) - Details continue to emerge about Saturday's bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, with the US military commander in Afghanistan testifying Tuesday that it was due to US directive. "To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a US decision made within the...

As Accusations Swirl, MSF Shuts Bombed Hospital

US claims it was responding to Taliban threat

(Newser) - Doctors Without Borders on Sunday closed its bombed-out hospital in the Afghanistan city of Kunduz and evacuated its personnel, amid no shortage of controversy over the US-led airstrikes that killed 19 at the trauma center Saturday. The medical charity known by French initials MSF did not go quietly, reports the...

Taliban's Rule in Seized City Was Short, Brutal

Militants targeted women's shelter in Kunduz

(Newser) - The Taliban was only in full control of Kunduz for a couple of days, but that was more than long enough to remind the world that it can still rival ISIS for brutality. Residents tell the New York Times that within hours of their victory, the militants promised that Taliban...

Major Taliban Victory May 'Invalidate' US Surge

Group takes over its first major city, Kunduz, in 14 years

(Newser) - The Taliban flag is flying over the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan today after an early morning assault—the first major city captured by the group since 2001, reports the Guardian . The loss of a provincial capital is seen as a huge embarrassment to the Afghan government, but it's...

Taliban Raid Frees Hundreds of Inmates

Attackers almost emptied Afghan prison

(Newser) - More than 350 inmates escaped an Afghan prison following a coordinated attack by Taliban insurgents early today, according to both Afghan officials and the Taliban. The deputy governor of Ghazni province says insurgents wearing military uniforms launched a well-organized attack this morning that included using a suicide bomber to breach...

Taliban Publish Biography of New Leader

Fighters meet to resolve Mullah Akhtar Mansoor dispute

(Newser) - The Afghan Taliban have published a biography of their new leader as hundreds of insurgents meet to resolve a dispute over his appointment. The detailed biography, emailed to journalists today, offers the story of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who now leads the Taliban in its fight against the Afghan government. He...

How Taliban Kept Leader's Death Secret for 2 Years

It helped that only one person was allowed to see him

(Newser) - The Taliban has confirmed that leader Mullah Omar is dead, and it appears he has been so for two years now. How did the Taliban pull it off for so long? A report in the New York Times helps explain: The reclusive Omar steadily reduced the number of Taliban members...

Report: Mullah Omar Dead
 Taliban's Leader 
 Died 2 Years Ago 
UPDATED
Jul 29, 2015 10:12 AM CDT

Taliban's Leader Died 2 Years Ago

Afghan sources confirm Mullah Omar is long dead

(Newser) - "We confirm officially that he is dead." The "we" is Afghanistan's main intelligence agency. The "he" is Taliban supreme commander Mullah Omar. Afghan government sources told the BBC earlier today that the one-eyed leader, who had been in hiding since the 9/11 attacks, died two...

Afghanistan: ISIS Part of 'Unprecedented Convergence'

Taliban, ISIS, foreign fighters testing Afghan forces

(Newser) - A new offensive against the Afghan government and people is being compounded by "an unprecedented convergence" of Taliban insurgents, more than 7,000 foreign fighters, and violent groups including ISIS, Afghanistan's UN ambassador says. Zahir Tanin today told the UN Security Council that these groups not only target...

Taliban Strikes Afghan Parliament

They tried to storm building during defense vote

(Newser) - The Taliban launched a complex attack on the Afghan parliament today with a suicide car bomber striking at the entrance and gunmen battling police as lawmakers were meeting inside to confirm the appointment of a defense minister, police and witnesses say. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says the attack began...

8 Malala Suspects Didn't Go to Jail as Reported

No good explanation why 'misreporting' took so long to correct

(Newser) - The secretive trial of Malala Yousafzai's alleged attackers now has another surprise to reveal: Even though it was widely reported at the end of April that 10 Taliban militants had been convicted and sentenced to Pakistan's equivalent of a life sentence for trying to kill her, Pakistani officials...

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