Australian Infantry Frustrated With Non-Combat Roles
27 May 2008
"Australian infantry soldiers are ashamed of their low-risk missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and are scorned by troops of other nations, two seasoned officers charged in comments published Tuesday." (. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the head of the Australian Army, Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy "acknowledged that morale has suffered as the infantry has shifted to increasingly low-risk, non-combat roles in Afghanistan...
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Rise in Suicides Among Afghan Women Profiled
27 May 2008
Mandy Clark, 'Alarming Rise of Suicides Among Afghan Women,' Voice of America, 27 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Greater freedom for the women of Afghanistan was one of the promises of the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. U.S. and Afghan officials say there have been significant improvements, noting that some two million women and girls are now attending school, something that was forbidden under the extremist Taliban government. But despite Western efforts,...
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Contested Nation-Building: The Challenge of Countering Insurgency in Afghanistan
27 May 2008
Colonel John Frewen, ',' Australian Army Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Autumn 2008): 19-27
ABSTRACT: "With this account of his time in Afghanistan, the author describes some of the challenges of ?contested nation-building? in that country. This article explores the difficulties of developing civilian capacity while also participating in a counterinsurgency...
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U.S. Fighting The 'Wrong War'
27 May 2008
Ahmed Rashid, ',' New York Review of Books, 12 June 2008
Jihadi terrorism is profiled in a new review article by Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid. Rashid reviews recent books by Omar Nasiri, Brynjar Lia, Michael Bonner, Antonio Giustozzi, Daniel Byman, Philip H. Gordon, and Robert D. Crews and Amin Tarzi.
EXCERPT: According to Philip H. Gordon, "[t]he [George W. Bush] administration...
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Taliban Vow To Fight On, Offer Talks With Afghans
27 May 2008
Sayed Salahuddin, 'Taliban vow to fight on, offer talks with Afghans', Reuters, 26 May 2008
EXCERPT: "The Taliban will fight on till the last foreign soldier is driven out of Afghanistan, but their door is always open to talks with other Afghan opposition groups, the Islamist movement said on Monday. The offer comes days after Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president and mujahideen chief, now opposition leader, said the Taliban had...
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Norwegian Forces Battle Taliban in Badghis
27 May 2008
'Telemark Battalion in new combat with Taliban', Aftenposten, 27 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Norwegian soldiers have been engaged in heated battles against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan this month. Military officials claim 13 Taliban soldiers were killed. Around 250 Norwegian soldiers were involved in the mid-May battles in Afghanistan's Badghis Province, the defense ministry reported. It's the second time Norwegian forces have been...
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