Taliban

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Kandahar Slips Back Into Taliban Hands

Generals give up on local officials and call for more troops

(Newser) - Taliban forces using massive car bombs and threatening letters have slowly retaken Kandahar, reports the Washington Post. The Taliban's resurgence in Kandahar, its spiritual home, presents a complex problem for US and UN forces, both scrambling to find enough troops to stabilize the city. In many ways, Kandahar stands for...

Taliban Surrenders in Swat
 Taliban Surrenders in Swat 
Sep 13, 2009 12:26 PM CDT

Taliban Surrenders in Swat

Maulana Fazlullah either surrounded or arrested as Pakistani offensive continues

(Newser) - A Taliban-controlled pirate radio station announced the militant group's surrender in the Swat Valley, after yet another key leader was said to have been arrested by the Pakistani military, the Telegraph reports. Though some reports claim that Maulana Fazlullah is surrounded by Pakistani forces, sources tell the Telegraph that he...

Pakistan Nabs Voice of Taliban in Swat Valley

(Newser) - Pakistani soldiers arrested the spokesman for the Taliban in the Swat Valley and four other commanders, striking the first direct blow against the leadership of the insurgency in the one-time tourist resort. The capture of spokesman Muslim Khan and the others could be a big blow to the Taliban's hopes...

Times Scribe Recounts Ordeal as 'Taliban Embed at Gunpoint'

Afghanis, negotiators angered by operation that killed Steven Farrell's interpreter

(Newser) - Four days in the hands of the Taliban often felt more like a tour of insurgent territory than a hostage ordeal, writes rescued New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell. The militants struck his interpreter, Sultan Munadi, with a rifle when the two were seized, but did not mistreat them afterward—...

Suicide Bomb Rocks NATO Base at Kabul Airport

At least two civilians dead; foreign troops may also be victims

(Newser) - A suicide bomber blew up his car outside a NATO military base at Afghanistan's main airport today, killing at least two civilians and wounding six others, Reuters reports. Eyewitnesses saw huge flames rising from the airport, which has endured Taliban rocket attacks and suicide bombs in the past. An Afghan...

NATO Probes 'Disastrous' Air Strike; 90 Dead

Horrific injuries reported after fireball engulfs villagers

(Newser) - NATO will conduct a "thorough investigation" into the air strike on two Taliban-hijacked fuel tankers in Afghanistan that killed 90 people today, many of them believed to be civilians, the alliance's secretary general said. An investigation team has already been sent to the area as reports trickle in of...

Dozens of Afghan Civilians Killed In NATO Tanker Strike

Blast hit Taliban-hijacked fuel tankers, triggering explosion

(Newser) - At least 90 people were killed in northern Afghanistan today when a NATO air strike hit two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban, setting off a massive explosion. At least 40 of the dead were civilians, said officials. Many more people are injured, and the local hospital in Kunduz province...

Fringe Baptist Minister Is New American Taliban

(Newser) - The Rev. Steven Anderson—he's the Arizona preacher praying for the president's death—is positioning himself nicely to take up a new title, writes Jeffrey Weiss for Politics Daily: American Taliban. Anderson isn't a terrorist. But he is a "man with an absolute belief in a particular interpretation of...

Taliban Blast Kills Afghan Spy Chief, 22 Others

Insurgents target intelligence official during mosque visit

(Newser) - A Taliban suicide bomber at a mosque near Kabul killed 23 people today, including Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence. The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as officials were leaving the mosque. Two top provincial officials from Laghman were also among the dead, and the blast destroyed...

Kristol: George Will Is Wrong on Afghanistan

(Newser) - George Will’s call today to pull US troops out of Afghanistan is tantamount to “urging retreat and accepting defeat,” fellow conservative William Kristol blogs in the Washington Post. Will’s idea to focus mostly on offshore operations and airstrikes "doesn't sound much more engaged than US...

White House Braces for Anti-War Push From Left

Administration fears liberal call for pullout

(Newser) - Administration officials are concerned that pressure from the left could drive the Afghanistan war effort off the rails early, Politico reports. Rising casualties, along with doubts about strategy and the recent election, are raising fears the White House could be denied a chance to show concrete progress in the country....

Time to Quit Afghanistan
 Time to Quit Afghanistan 
OPINION
Sep 1, 2009 2:15 AM CDT

Time to Quit Afghanistan

Nation-building in one of the world's weakest states is a lost cause

(Newser) - America needs to abandon its idea of nation-building in Afghanistan before the lives of yet more troops are squandered trying to establish an effective central government in a country that has never had one, George F. Will warns in the Washington Post. Even with America's troop-intensive efforts, experts say Kabul...

Insurgents Reverse Afghan Women's Political Gains

(Newser) - Afghan women streamed to the ballot boxes five years ago, and in some districts female turnout was even higher than male. But the flood of women voters that delighted aid groups dried up this year, reports the Washington Post, and many of the segregated female polling stations had few if...

McChrystal: US Is Failing in Afghanistan

General wants more Taliban engagement, warns of losing citizens' support

(Newser) - The US military's strategy in Afghanistan is failing, Gen. Stanley McChrystal will tell commanders in Washington today. A copy of the US commander's remarks leaked to the BBC compares the military to a bull charging at a matador—losing strength with each individual cut. McChrystal's report says Afghans are suffering...

Taliban Cut Off My Nose, Ears for Voting: Farmer

Kabul hospital turned him away due to overcrowding

(Newser) - An Afghan farmer who dared walk to a polling place for the presidential election 10 days ago paid a bitter price, losing his nose and both ears in a Taliban attack, the Independent reports. In the first account by a victim of election retribution, Lal Mohammed, 40, says three militants...

Huge Kandahar Blast Kills 43, but Taliban Deny Role

(Newser) - A Taliban spokesman today denied that the group was behind a huge explosion that killed at least 43 and injured 65 more in Kandahar last night. Roughly 40 shops were destroyed in the blast, which went off outside a wedding hall just as people were breaking their Ramadan fast. Rescue...

Taliban Finally Confirm Mehsud's Death

(Newser) - Weeks after a US drone reportedly took out the Taliban's leader in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud's fellow commanders have confirmed his death. Two Taliban officials—including his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud—tell the BBC that their leader actually died Sunday after being critically injured in the airstrike. The development also clears up...

Afghan Elections a Setback for Women

Low female turnout could mean leaders even less responsive to women

(Newser) - For women, Afghanistan's recent elections appear to have been more of a setback than a step forward. Early reports strongly suggest that voter turnout fell more sharply for women than for men in last week's polls. Election observers blame Taliban attacks, a dearth of female election workers, and the closure...

US Commanders: We Need More Troops in Afghanistan

(Newser) - American military officials leading the NATO mission in Afghanistan told the Obama administration they need more troops to do their job, compounding Washington's headaches in the wake of an allegedly fraudulent presidential election. Support for the Afghan war is diving among Americans, and several US senators said this weekend that...

Taliban Chops Off Fingers of Afghan Voters

(Newser) - The Taliban is following through on its threat to chop off the fingers of Afghan voters, the Los Angeles Times reports. In southern Afghanistan, considered the most hazardous place for Afghans to vote, militants attacked two voters and cut off their ink-dyed fingers, authorities said. A third case is under...

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