Taliban

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Taliban Releases Last American Hostage

Kevin King, Australian Timothy Weeks flown to US air base in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The last known American to be held by the Taliban is free. Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, professors kidnapped at gunpoint while leaving the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul in August 2016, were released to US forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday in exchange for three Taliban commanders who...

Taliban to Free American, Australian Hostages
US Taliban
Hostage
to Go Free
Nov 12, 2019 8:13 AM CST

US Taliban Hostage to Go Free

3 Taliban commanders released in Afghan prisoner swap

(Newser) - Two American University of Afghanistan professors kidnapped by the Taliban three years after they were kidnapped at gunpoint may finally go free. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks would be freed in exchange for the release of three Taliban commanders, including the...

Raid Mistakenly Kills Dozens of Civilians at Wedding

Officials in Afghanistan say at least 40 civilians were killed

(Newser) - At least 40 civilians at a wedding party were killed Sunday night during a raid conducted by Afghan special forces and supported by US airstrikes on Taliban hideouts in the southern Helmand province, Afghan officials said. The violence has further rattled Afghanistan, which is facing an upsurge in violence after...

At Least 30 Die When US Drone Misses ISIS, Hits Farmworkers

American officials confirm strike but not casualties

(Newser) - A US drone missed its target—an ISIS hideout—and killed at least 30 farmers and laborers sitting around a bonfire in eastern Afghanistan this week. Another 40 people were injured, Reuters reports. The workers were collecting pine nuts in a mountainous region in the eastern part of the country....

Trump Speaks of Something More Powerful Than Nukes

President marks 9/11 anniversary at the Pentagon

(Newser) - Speaking at the Pentagon to mark the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Trump promised that if "they come back to our country, we will go wherever they are and use power the likes of which the United States has never used before." He added, per the...

The &#39;Dividing Point&#39; Behind the Scrapped Camp David Meeting
Collapsed Camp David
Meeting Leaves Big Questions
the rundown
Sep 9, 2019 12:30 PM CDT

Collapsed Camp David Meeting Leaves Big Questions

The big one: What happens to the expected withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan?

(Newser) - President Trump surprised many over the weekend with the revelation that he had canceled secret peace talks that were about to take place at Camp David with Taliban and Afghan leaders. Trump said he called off the meeting following a Taliban attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier. Now...

Trump: Secret Taliban Meeting at Camp David Is Off

President tweets that he canceled peace talks after attack that killed US soldier

(Newser) - President Trump said he canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing in Kabul killed 12 people, including an American soldier, and has called off peace negotiations with the insurgent group. "Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately,...

Top US Envoy Says Peace Deal With Taliban Agreed

He says troop pullout deal still needs Trump's approval

(Newser) - After almost 18 years of war, a peace deal between the US and the Taliban has been agreed to "in principle," according to Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief American negotiator. Khalilzad said Monday that as part of the deal, some 5,400 American troops out of around 14,000...

Bolton&#39;s Clout With Trump Is Looking Iffy
Bolton: On the Outs?
Aug 31, 2019 6:00 PM CDT

Bolton: On the Outs?

The hard-talking national security adviser disagrees with the President, yet again

(Newser) - John Bolton doesn't seem like a sidelines kind of guy—but the hard-talking national security adviser appears headed that way as he opposes his boss yet again, the Washington Post reports. Their latest conflict? Afghanistan, where President Trump is considering a reduction in US troops if the Taliban will...

Trump Begins Strategy Talks on Leaving Afghanistan

President huddling with top advisers Friday to review talks with Taliban

(Newser) - Last month, President Trump raised eyebrows with the claim that he could win the Afghanistan war in 10 days by wiping the nation "off the face of the Earth." On Friday, Trump begins a more measured approach to ending American's nearly two-decade military involvement in the country....

Afghanistan Civilians See Grim, New Low

July has worst civilian casualties since 2017

(Newser) - July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in a single month since 2017, the UN mission said Saturday, per the AP . Its preliminary findings indicate more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded, mainly due to a spike in casualties from insurgent attacks. It did not...

Man With 'Despicable Goal' Is Arrested Before Boarding

Delowar Mohammad Hossain wanted to join the Taliban, prosecutors say

(Newser) - A Bronx man was arrested at JFK airport on Friday for allegedly planning to join the Taliban and kill US soldiers, CBS News reports. According to investigators, Delowar Mohammad Hossain was about to fly to Thailand, then Afghanistan, to fulfill his dream of killing Americans there. "I just want...

Official: ISIS Is 'Most Near-Term' Threat to US From Afghanistan

Kabul attacks seen as 'practice runs'

(Newser) - ISIS has lost its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, but in the forbidding mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, the group is expanding its footprint, recruiting new fighters, and plotting attacks on the United States and other Western countries, according to US and Afghan security officials. Nearly two decades after the US-led...

Hostage Mom Breaks Her Media Silence

Caitlan Coleman sits down with ABC News

(Newser) - Caitlan Coleman is telling her side of the story. The woman once held by the Taliban with her husband—who she says bit, punched, slapped, choked , and raped her in captivity—sat down with ABC News to explain how they ended up in Afghanistan, what happened there, and how his...

On Day of John Walker Lindh's Release, Some Have Big Fears

He wrote ISIS was doing a 'spectacular job' in 2015 letter

(Newser) - John Walker Lindh, the federal prisoner dubbed the "American Taliban," is due to be released Thursday—but federal authorities believe he could still be very dangerous, sources tell NBC . Lindh, who grew up in California and was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, said joining the Taliban was...

One-Eyed Leader Was Hiding Under Our Noses: Report

Mullah Mohammad Omar may have been smoking his local tobacco near a US base

(Newser) - The Taliban's founder may have been hiding in plain sight—or at least near a US base—when America thought he was really in Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal reports. A new research-based report says Mullah Mohammad Omar spent his final years in Afghanistan, partly with his driver, and...

'No Choice': Why Afghans Keep Signing On for Deadly Duty

New York Times: Options are limited in war-torn country

(Newser) - It's a tough choice people face in Afghanistan, where almost constant war has raged on for more than four decades: Keep fighting and sustaining massive casualties, or broker peace with the Taliban to end these mass deaths—and risk putting enemies into power who may then slaughter members of...

Deal Reportedly Close to End Long US War in Afghanistan

'We have a draft of the framework,' US envoy tells 'New York Times' after Taliban talks

(Newser) - The wording is couched to be sure, but the New York Times reports that a deal is in the works to end America's nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan. Here is how the chief US negotiator in talks between the US and the Taliban puts it to the newspaper: "...

100 Feared Dead in Taliban Attack on Military Base

Group says peace talks with US are ongoing

(Newser) - A Taliban assault on a military base and police training center in a province just outside the Afghan capital on Monday killed at least 45 people, most of them military personnel, Afghan officials say. There are fears, however, that the death toll is even higher. Some government officials estimate the...

Report: Trump Plans to Pull Troops From Afghanistan

Sources say this played a big role in Mattis resignation

(Newser) - President Trump's Syria decision wasn't the only reason behind the abrupt resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, insiders say. The New York Times reports that defense officials say Trump has ordered the military to begin pulling 7,000 troops from Afghanistan, about half the current US forces there....

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