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As Afghans Resist Taliban, U.S. Spurs Rise of Militias

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Dexter Filkins - Nov. 22 (News Report) - “We are trying to reach out to these groups that have organized themselves,” Col. Christopher Kolenda said in Kabul. Special Forces soldiers have been fanning out across the countryside, descending from helicopters into valleys where the residents have taken up arms against the Taliban and offering their help. Afghan and American officials say they plan to use the militias as tripwires for Taliban incursions, enabling them to call the army or the police if things get out of hand.

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Kerry: Afghan handoff may take 4-5 years

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

USA Today - Nov. 18 (Interview) - In the past year Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has become a more prominent force in Washington. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry offers a critical voice at a time when the United States is engaged in two wars abroad while facing myriad challenges on the international front. The Vietnam War veteran, who was his party's presidential candidate in 2004, recently has warned that though the cost of failure in Afghanistan would be substantial, Afghans must do the heavy lifting. He is pushing an initiative on climate change, tying it directly to national security. Kerry discussed these and other issues Tuesday with USA TODAY's editorial board. The following Q&A is adapted from that session and edited for length and clarity.

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How the US Funds the Taliban

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Aram Roston - Nov. 12 (Special Report) - With Pentagon cash, contractors bribe insurgents not to attack supply lines for US troops

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20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Will Another Superpower Meet Its End in Afghanistan?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Loretta Napoleoni - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - Remarkably, the central Asian country of Afghanistan seems once again to be shaping our future. It is paradoxical that the graveyard of one superpower should become a battlefield for the other.

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U.N. to Relocate Afghanistan Staff

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

Associated Press - Nov. 05 (News Report) - The United Nations said Thursday that it is temporarily relocating more than half its staff in Afghanistan following last week's deadly Taliban attack against U.N. workers.

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The Generals' Revolt

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:07:22 -0800

Rolling Stone - Nov. 04 -

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Kipling Haunts Obama's Afghan War

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Ray McGovern - Nov. 01 (Editorial) - The White Man's Burden, a phrase immortalized by English poet Rudyard Kipling as an excuse for European-American imperialism, was front and center Thursday morning (October 29) at a RAND-sponsored discussion of Afghanistan in the Russell Senate Office Building.???? The agenda was top-heavy with RAND speakers, and the thinking was decidedly "inside the box" - so much so, that I found myself repeating a verse from Kipling, who recognized the dangers of imperialism, to remind me of the real world: It is not wise for the Christian white To hustle the Asian brown; For the Christian riles And the Asian smiles And weareth the Christian down. At the end of the fight Lies a tombstone white With the name of the late deceased; And the epitaph drear, A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East. With a few notable exceptions, the RAND event offered conventional wisdom to a fare-thee-well.

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Taliban attack UN Kabul guesthouse in attempt to upend Afghan runoff

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

Christian Science Monitor - By Julius Cavendish - Oct. 28 (News Report) - Taliban gunmen stormed a private guesthouse in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a bloody predawn attack Wednesday that killed six United Nations staff and signaled a clear intent to disrupt the upcoming presidential runoff. The United States embassy in Kabul confirmed that at least one of the dead was an American.

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Analysis: Taleban attack is bid to force UN out of Afghanistan

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

The Times - By Jeremy Page - Oct. 28 (News Analysis) - The Taleban attack on an international guesthouse in Kabul today is its bloodiest assault yet on the United Nations in Afghanistan – and represents a major escalation of its campaign to disrupt next week’s presidential election run-off. The attack, which killed 12 people including six UN staff, appears to be designed to force the UN to pull out of Afghanistan altogether – just as it did from Iraq after a truck bomb at its headquarters there killed 22 people in 2003.

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Official resigns over Afghan war

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

Washington Post - By Karen DeYoung - Oct. 27 (Special Report) - Foreign Service officer leaves in protest of war he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

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Phase 2 of Waziristan Campaign; Pakistan Closes Schools; Mahsud Civilians Barred from Roads

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Oct. 24 (News Analysis) - akistan's military began "Phase 2" of its campaign in South Waziristan on Thursday, with a siege of Kotkai, the home town of Hakimullah Mahsud, the leader of the Taliban Movement of Pakistan. So far the army claims to have killed 100 militants, and 300 homes are said to have been damaged. Locals maintain that some of those killed are actually innocent civilians, and most of the houses were unconnected to the Taliban. Even if they were accurate, these numbers suggest that the Taliban have not stood and fought, but rather have melted away, since they only have light arms and would have been killed in large numbers by the Pakistani army, which has artillery and fighter jets.

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Caught in the crossfire of war against the Taliban

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Independent - Oct. 23 (News Report) - Gul Hassan is incandescent with rage. As the Pakistan military mounted its most ambitious anti-Taliban offensive yet, the farmer and his family were not ready. "Bombs were falling all around us," he recalls, gesturing animatedly. "We were very scared. We didn't know what was going to happen to us."

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The Washington Post Creates Its Own Facts to Support Afghan Nation-Building

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Melvin A. Goodman - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - The Washington Post is creating its own facts in order to support its argument for US nation-building in Afghanistan. In its lead editorial on Saturday, the Post asserted that the United States is capable of building a strong government in Afghanistan at the national and local levels. The Post claimed that Afghanistan had had a "working national government through most of the 1970s and 1980s." This is simply not so.read more

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There’s No Substitute for Troops on the Ground

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Max Boot - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - After a visit to Afghanistan, it was clear that success there depends on an infusion of additional troops.

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Refugee flood reveals human cost of South Waziristan's invisible war | World news

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Declan Walsh - Oct. 20 (News Report) - • Pakistani forces accused of hitting civilians • Up to 260,000 people may flee battle against Taliban. The war in South Waziristan started early for Ghufran. As Pakistani warplanes pounded the Taliban stronghold of Ladha last week, in preparation for the ground offensive now under way, the 11-year-old boy and his family scrambled to safety across a range of jagged mountains. They left behind a broken home, destroyed by the air force, but also something much more precious. Ghufran said his father stayed on to guard the family's worldly wealth: four goats, three sheep and a donkey. "I miss him already. I wish he came with us," the schoolboy said, a shadow falling across his face. As fighting raged for a third day in South Waziristan ...

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US, Pakistan agree to disagree on Waziristan offensive

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

Christian Science Monitor - By Issam Ahmed - Oct. 19 (News Analysis) - "As the Pakistani Army continues its massive offensive against the Taliban's base in South Waziristan, top US officials including CENTCOM chief David Petraeus and Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts, are meeting with military and civilian leaders here. While the Army's action is in line with US encouragement to rout out the militants, key differences appear to remain between the US and Pakistan on how to tackle the insurgency".

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Pakistan launches risky offensive into Taliban-Al Qaeda stronghold