Military Operations In FATA: Eliminating Terrorism Or Preventing The Balkanization Of Pakistan?
26 June 2008
Tariq Mahmud Ashraf, 'Military Operations In FATA: Eliminating Terrorism Or Preventing The Balkanization Of Pakistan?', Global Terrorism Analysis / The Jamestown Foundation, 12 June 2008
EXCERPT: "Ever since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the radical turnaround in Pakistan's policy toward the Taliban, there has been an ongoing debate in Pakistan over whether President Pervez Musharraf has gone too far in supporting the U.S.-sponsored...
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UNODC 2008 World Drug Report: Opium Trade Soars In Afghanistan
26 June 2008
'', United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "In 2007, opium cultivation increased in both Afghanistan and Myanmar: coupled with higher yields, especially in southern Afghanistan, this generated much greater world output. The total area under opium cultivation rose to 235,700 ha in 2007. This increase of 17% from 2006 puts global cultivation at just about the same level, though...
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Firing Blanks In Afghanistan
26 June 2008
David Isenberg, '', Asia Times Online, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT:"The saga of United States military contractor AEY and its supply of substandard ammunition to Afghanistan keeps getting curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland phrased it, after descending the rabbit hole. Or put another way, it is the news story that keeps on giving. Since the New York Times first reported March 27 on the contract...
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Aid Promise Prompts IDPs To Return
26 June 2008
'Aid Promise Prompts IDPs To Return', IRIN News, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "An estimated 9,000 people who abandoned their homes in the Alburz District of Balkh Province, northern Afghanistan, over a month ago and camped near Mazar-i Sharif have now agreed to go back to their homes, UN agencies and provincial officials said. Agreement was achieved after aid agencies and provincial government bodies assured the internally displaced persons...
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US Plans To Triple Non-Security Aid To Pakistan
26 June 2008
'', The Associated Press, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "A top Democratic senator on Wednesday [25 June 2008] proposed tripling nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, while restricting reimbursements for anti-terrorist operations unless Islamabad does more to fight insurgents along its Afghan border. 'We should be willing to spend more if we get better returns ? and less if we don't,'...
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Afghanistan's Shattered History
26 June 2008
'Afghanistan's Shattered History', BBC News, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "With its steep sides, glistening blue river and green patchwork of fields, the Panshir valley is firmly associated with one man, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the so-called Lion of the Panshir. It was from this valley - with its crevices and caves - that Shah Massoud kept the Soviet army at bay throughout the 1980s. He then fought the Taleban, which controlled most of the country...
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"Life In Afghanistan Is Getting Safer"
26 June 2008
'Life In Afghanistan Is Getting Safer, Says Senior Scots Soldier', Times Online, 25 June 2008
EXCERPT: "A senior Army officer defended the role of British troops in Afghanistan yesterday [24 June 2008], saying that he was cautiously optimistic that they could defeat the Taleban. Brigadier Andrew Mackay, the commander of 52 Infantry Brigade who recently headed Taskforce Helmand, also claimed that life was now much safer than it was two...
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NATO Not To Carry Out "Hot Pursuit"
26 June 2008
'NATO Not To Carry Out "Hot Pursuit"', DAWN Pakistan, 25 June 2008
EXCERPT: "A senior Nato official regretted on Wednesday the US-led forces? cross-border attack in which 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed earlier this month and assured that Nato forces would not enter Pakistan's territory in ?hot pursuit?. 'Nato recognises Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity,' ambassador James W. Pardew, deputy secretary-general for operations...
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Afghanistan Sacks Police Chief Over Jailbreak
26 June 2008
'Afghanistan Sacks Police Chief Over Jailbreak', ABC News, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan has sacked the police chief of southern Kandahar province and two senior aides over an embarrassing mass jailbreak earlier this month, the interior ministry said. About 1,100 prisoners including hundreds of Taliban rebels escaped when militant suicide bombers blew open the gates of Kandahar city's main prison on June 13. Fifteen prison guards...
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NATO Chief In Italy For Afghan Talks
26 June 2008
'', Agence France Presse, 26 June 2008
EXCERPT: "NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer travels to Rome Thursday [26 June 2008] to sound out Italy on exactly how it plans to use its troops in future in Afghanistan, his spokesman said. Scheffer will hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Giorgio Napolitano, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa and other senior officials....
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