Taliban

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With US Help, India-Pakistan Tension Eases

(Newser) - Revamped leadership in India and Pakistan and some behind-the-scenes encouragement from the US could lead to negotiations over the disputed Kashmir region, the New York Times reports. But while there are shimmers of hope, the relationship is still strained. “I am happy to meet you,” India’s PM...

Pakistan Launches Operation to Kill Taliban Leader

Baitullah Mehsud blamed for several recent attacks

(Newser) - Pakistan is launching a manhunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—branded "the root cause of all evils," by one official—in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan officials blame Mehsud's group for a string of recent attacks, the BBC reports. The heavy military offensive is expected to please...

Pakistan Suicide Bombing Kills Moderate Cleric

(Newser) - One of Pakistan’s most prominent anti-Taliban clerics was killed today in a suicide bomb attack, the Times of London reports. Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, who supported the Pakistan army’s campaign in the Swat Valley, died on the way to the hospital after an explosion at his Islamic college in...

Death Toll Rises to 11 In Pakistani Hotel Blast

(Newser) - The death toll in the suicide attack on a luxury hotel in Pakistan rose to 11 with at least 70 injured, reports the Times of London. At least two foreigners were among the dead at the five-star Pearl Oriental in Peshawar, though no more specific IDs were available. Still no...

Pakistan Hotel Bombing Kills at Least 5

No responsibility claimed; attack matches Taliban threats

(Newser) - Gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Peshawar, then set off a huge blast that killed at least five people and wounded dozens more today in the latest of a string of suicide attacks in Pakistani cities, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it fit with...

Brits Grab $105M in Drugs From Afghan Taliban

Taliban drug factory found and destroyed in Helmand province

(Newser) - British troops have seized a huge stash of Taliban drugs after fierce fighting in Afghanistan, the Telegraph reports. Soldiers from the elite Black Watch squad discovered opium, heroin, and cannabis with a street value of some $105 million after attacking a Taliban drug factory in Helmand province. A number of...

Bin Laden Short on Hiding Spots: Officials

Pakistan offensive, troops in Afghanistan, drone attacks cut space

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden has fewer and fewer places to hide these days, officials tell NPR. And “the administration smells blood,” says a former counterterror official who cites three reasons for the shrinking space: Pakistan’s Swat Valley offensive against the Taliban, "along with US activities from the...

Pakistanis Finally Turning Against the Taliban

Swat Valley battles push citizens away from Islamic extremism

(Newser) - Only a year ago the Taliban had growing support in Pakistan, and many citizens regarded them as fellow Muslims opposed to the American government and military. But as the New York Times reports, public sentiment has shifted in recent months. Following violence in the Swat Valley and months of televised...

Taliban Kidnapped 500 From Boys' School: Pakistan

Police said to be negotiating with militants

(Newser) - Police are negotiating with the Taliban to release hundreds of people abducted in a northwest tribal region, a Pakistani official says. Around 500 students and staff from a boys’ school and their relatives were being held captive today in the militant stronghold of Bakka Khel in North Waziristan, he said....

Pakistan Says It's Close to Swat Victory

(Newser) - Pakistan’s defense secretary says the army will crush Taliban militants in the Swat Valley within days, the BBC reports. Just "5% to 10% of the job" is left, Syed Athar Ali told an Asian forum, though an army spokesman declined to give an actual timeline. Meanwhile, 40 rebels...

Pakistan Retakes Key Swat City
 Pakistan Retakes Key Swat City 
May 30, 2009 9:50 AM CDT

Pakistan Retakes Key Swat City

(Newser) - Pakistan's military has regained control of the main town in the Swat Valley, raising hopes that at least some of the 2 million refugees from the region may be able to return home, reports Reuters. Battles on the outskirts remain, but the military said today it has ousted the Taliban...

Taliban Warns Pakistan of Major Attacks

Tells residents to flee after blasts in two more cities kill 11

(Newser) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for bombings in two more Pakistani cities today that killed at least 11 and promised that more attacks were on the way, the New York Times reports. The group also took credit for yesterday's bombing in Lahore that killed 26, calling the new wave of assaults...

Afghan Taliban Have Momentum: Gates

Defense sec says US has months before support wanes

(Newser) - The Taliban have the momentum in the war in Afghanistan and the US is rapidly losing time to turn it around before public support runs out, Robert Gates tells the Wall Street Journal. The defense secretary said in an interview that American support for the war will recede unless the...

Pakistan Claims Key Square in Swat City

(Newser) - Pakistan says it has claimed a crucial part of the Swat Valley’s largest city from the Taliban, the New York Times reports. Ten Taliban fighters and six Pakistani soldiers died fighting over Mingora’s Green Square, known as “Slaughter Square” for its reputation as a beheaded-body dumping ground...

Town's Stalemate Offers Snapshot of Afghan War

(Newser) - A stalemate between US Marines and Taliban fighters in a small, abandoned town in southern Afghanistan could be seen as a microcosm of the war there, Michael M. Phillips writes in the Wall Street Journal. In Now Zad, a 300-strong company of Marines has traded fire with a Taliban force...

US, Afghan Forces Kill 60 in Massive Taliban Drug Raid

(Newser) - US and Afghan forces seized a massive drug cache and and killed 60 militants in a four-day operation in Helmand province, Reuters reports. The troops scored more than 17 tons of morphine, opium, and heroin, along with 75 tons of poppy seeds, and caches of weapons and equipment, the military...

Gates Praises Soldier in Pink Boxers

(Newser) - A US soldier who took up the fight against the Taliban sans pants and clad in “I Love NY” pink boxers got a vote of his support from the nation’s defense chief last night, reports Reuters. “Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink...

Pakistani Town Beats Back Taliban

Locals raid militant invaders as army gains in Swat

(Newser) - Armed residents of a town in the troubled Swat Valley fought off Taliban forces yesterday,  the latest sign that locals are helping the Pakistan army beat back militants, reports the Wall Street Journal. Several Taliban fighters were captured when hundreds of residents stormed out of the mountain town of ...

Afghan Peace Talks Hinge on US Pullout

Militants negotiate with intermediaries, but no likely deals yet

(Newser) - Peace talks are under way in Afghanistan between militant leaders and intermediaries, but the insurgent groups—which include the Taliban—continue to insist on US withdrawal as a condition for peace, the New York Times reports. The Afghan government is backing the talks and optimistic about American backing, even as...

US Army Burned Bibles in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The US military burned bibles sent to Afghanistan by an American church, reports CNN. Officials feared the bibles, sent last year, would cause problems if they were used in a campaign to convert Muslims to Christianity. The unsolicited bibles were printed in the two most popular Afghani languages. Ironically, Taliban...

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