NewsTrust - Afghanistan - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Afghanistan Is About More Than The War

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Pruning Shears - By Dan Fejes - Nov. 05 (News Analysis) - Troop levels and insurgency strategies have dominated the discussion about Afghanistan, but there may be an important ulterior motive for those in favor of a ramped up military effort.

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Pakistan at War

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Global Pulse - By Erin Coker - Oct. 28 (News Analysis) - It has been a bloody month for Pakistan. The army has launched an offensive in South Waziristan aided by US drones, and the Taliban are fighting back with suicide bombs in major cities. With hundreds dying, what do the Pakistani people think?

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UN Guest House Attacked in Kabul

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Oct. 28 (News Analysis) - Afghanistan continues to generate bad news at an alarming rate. Gunmen stormed a UN guest house in Kabul, deploying small arms fire and killing 3 UN staff members along with 4 other persons . A Taliban spokesman said his group was behind the attack and that it was aimed at disrupting the Nov. 7 presidential runoff election. At the same time, a rocket slammed into a five star hotel in Kabul. Heavy gunfire reverberated through the streets shortly after dawn and a large plume of smoke rose over the city following the attack on the hostel in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahman said seven people were killed, including some attackers. The killing of 8 US troops by roadside bombs on Tuesday has brought the number of US ...

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Cronological History of Afghanistan - the cradle of Gandharan civilisation

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:19:43 -0700

gandhara.com.au - By Gandhara.com - Oct. 27 (Other) - The history of Afghanistan Below is a table outlining the turbulent and troubled history of Afghanistan, once the cradle of Gandharan civilisation, who's influence stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean to the deserts of Serin

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History of Afghanistan

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:17:34 -0700

afghanan.net - By Afghanan.Net - Oct. 27 (Other) - AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY, its internal political development, its foreign relations, and its very existence as an independent state have been largely determined by its location at the crossroads of Central, West, and South Asia. Waves of migrating peoples poured through the region in ancient times, leaving a human residue to form a mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. In modern times, as well as in antiquity, great armies passed through the region, establishing at least temporary local control and often dominating Iran and northern India as well.

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War weary Europeans test their leaders' resolve

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Mort Rosenblum - Oct. 27 (News Analysis) - Whoever ends up presiding over Afghan chaos and corruption, Europe is losing patience fast with U.S. mission muddle and a president who won’t make up his mind. NATO defense ministers meeting last week in Slovakia backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy to strike harder, and fast, against a growing insurgency. But opinion polls and remarks in official circles from Britain to Poland (and elsewhere, like, Canada) make clear that Europeans are fed up with Afghanistan if not the whole military business altogether.

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No Afghanistan ‘Checkposts’ Abandoned While Pak Military Offensive Proceeds ?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Oct. 19 (News Analysis) - "A piece in the Pakistan paper the News accused the U.S. military of taking the inexplicable step of abandoning “checkposts” on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border while the Pakistani military offensive in nearby Waziristan intensifies. According to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s staff, it’s just not true".

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Unintended Consequences in Nuclear Pakistan

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthDig - By Fred Branfman - Oct. 09 (News Report) - If U.S. military leaders are right that they cannot prevail in Afghanistan without escalating into Pakistan, this is the strongest possible argument for withdrawing from Afghanistan. For nothing, not even Taliban rule in Kabul, could justify allowing the tiny Afghan tail to wag a giant, nuclear-armed Pakistani dog whose stability is clearly America’s very top priority in the region. Further instability in Pakistan would only benefit al-Qaida, which has already made deep inroads into Pakistan and is unlikely to return to Afghanistan even if the U.S. withdraws from there. Former N.Y. Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer is right: “It should be engraved on the minds of every American diplomat: Do nothing that will further destabilize Pakistan” (from the “Rethink Afghanistan” video).

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Fired UN Official Peter Galbraith Accuses the United Nations of Helping Cover Up Electoral Fraud Committed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Peter Galbraith, Anjali Kamat, Amy Goodman - Oct. 05 (News Report) - Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fired the top American diplomat at the United Nations in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith. Galbraith had accused his boss at the UN mission in Afghanistan, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, of helping cover up electoral fraud and being biased in favor of Hamid Karzai. Galbraith has described the Afghan election as a “foreseeable train wreck” and says the election has “handed the Taliban its greatest strategic victory in eight years of fighting the United States and its Afghan partners."

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Meet the Afghan Army

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Ann Jones - Sep. 24 (Special Report) - Afghans do not think or act like Americans. Yet Americans in power refuse to grasp that inconvenient point.

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Afghanistan Surge? Jamal Dajani Weighs In

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Link TV - Sep. 23 (News Report) - The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan has warned that the U.S.-led NATO coalition risks losing the war unless there are fundamental changes in military strategy, including the addition of at least 10,000 more American troops

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Sam Stein Discusses Cheney 2012, Condoleeza Rice's Afghanistan Comments On Rachel Maddow Show (VIDEO)

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Huff TV - Sep. 23 (News Analysis) - Huffington Post political reporter Sam Stein weighed in on Condoleeza Rice's comments on Afghanistan during his appearance Tuesday evening on The Rachel Maddow Show.

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Will McChrystal Quit?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Robert Dreyfuss - Sep. 22 (News Analysis) - Under all three, Kimmitt said, McChrystal believes that he can do the job. On the other hand, if he doesn't get the low option, probably something like an additional 15,000 troops, the general might consider quitting.

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U.S. War in Afghanistan

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - Sep. 16 (Special Report) - Tracking a war

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4 Deadly Delusions About Afghanistan Held by Obama's Top Advisors

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy In Focus - By Conn Hallinan - Sep. 15 (News Analysis) - Delusion #1 In his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Obama characterized Afghanistan as "a war of necessity" against international terrorism. But the reality is that the Taliban is a polyglot collection of conflicting political currents whose goals are local, not universal jihad.

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Art as Resistance

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Dahr Jamail - Sep. 07 (Special Report) - Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have tough truths to tell, and it has been well demonstrated that the establishment media does not want to broadcast these. Given the lack of an outlet for anti-war voices in the corporate media, many contemporary veterans and active-duty soldiers have embraced the arts as a tool for resistance, communication and healing. They have made use of a wide range of visual and performing arts - through theater, poetry, painting, writing, and other creative expression - to affirm their own opposition to the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Obama's Afghanistan Contradiction

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By David Corn - Sep. 04 (News Analysis) - With the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama faces a contradiction. He says he wants to win the war but he will not commit to fighting for as long as that might take. This tension between policy and rhetoric was on full display in the White House briefing room earlier this week. On Monday, press secretary Robert Gibbs about Afghanistan and the strategic assessment that had just been completed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander there. Gibbs noted that Obama had yet to see McChrystal?s review, but he said over and over that the Afghanistan war had been "under-resourced" for years by the Bush-Cheney administration and that "it takes a long time to implement" a change in strategy. Asked if the situation in ...

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Andy Worthington: Who Are the Two Syrians Released From Guantanamo to Portugal?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Andy Worthington - Sep. 03 (News Report) - Their stories, as revealed in publicly available documents from Guantánamo, reveal that neither man had any connection whatsoever to international terrorism.

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Are US taxpayers funding the Taliban?

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Jean MacKenzie - Sep. 02 (Investigative Report) - KABUL — The United States Agency for International Development has opened an investigation into allegations that its funds for road and bridge construction in Afghanistan are ending up in the hands of the Taliban, through a protection racket for contractors. And House Foreign Affairs Committee member, Rep. Bill U.S. officials confirmed that the preliminary investigation and the proposed hearings were sparked by a GlobalPost special report on the funding of the Taliban.

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Robert Scheer: Obama's Meaningless War

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Sep. 02 (News Analysis) - Meaningless is the right term for the Afghanistan war, because our bloody attempt to conquer this foreign land has nothing to do with its stated purpose of enhancing our national security.

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Nir Rosen on the Growing Afghanistan War, Embedding and the "Counterinsurgency" Doctrine in Washington

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS, Amy Goodman, Nir Rosen - Sep. 01 (News Analysis) - The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has submitted a long-awaited review of the Afghan war. The New York Times reports although McChrystal’s assessment doesn’t call for sending more US troops, it effectively lays the groundwork for such a request in the coming weeks. The assessment comes on the heels of the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the US invasion nearly eight years ago.

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Gates: Report details highs, lows of Afghan fight

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

seattlepi.com - By Anne Gearan - Aug. 31 (News) - Gen. Stanley McChrystal said the nearly 8-year-old war is winnable, but his report is expected to be a blunt appraisal of the Taliban's increasing tactical prowess and diminishing popular support in Afghanistan for both the foreign-led war effort and the fragile, corruption-riddled central government.

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Afghan Elections Give Pakistan Bleak Hope

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Naveen Naqvi - Aug. 27 (News Analysis) - Where Pakistanis had once bristled at the idea of being lumped in with the Afghan state, there is now a subtle admission that their futures are shared. The Foreign Office spokesman, Abdul Basit, said on Thursday that the fates of the two countries were intertwined. Pakistan's government expressed the hope that elections in Afghanistan would bring stability to its western neighbor.

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Feingold to Obama: Announce Withdrawal Timetable from Afghanistan

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

blogs.abcnews.com - By David Chalian - Aug. 25 (News Report) - "After eight years, I am not convinced that pouring more and more troops into Afghanistan is a well thought out policy," said Feingold. The liberal Democrat said he has expressed his reservations with President Obama, Admiral Mullen, and others inside the administration and he says he has "never been convinced they have a good answer." "I think it is time we start discussing a flexible timetable so that people around the world can see when we are going to bring our troops out," said Feingold.

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"The Safe Haven Myth"

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Stephen Walt, Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Aug. 25 (News Analysis) - US military commanders have reportedly told the US special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, that they need more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last week, President Obama defended the expansion of the war, calling it a “war of necessity.” We speak with Harvard professor Stephen Walt, who argues that the President’s “safe haven” argument for expanding the US military presence in Afghanistan should be viewed with skepticism.

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