UN: Afghan Civilian Deaths Jumped 40 Percent
17 February 2009
'', The Associated Press, 17 February 2009
EXCERPT: "The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan's worsening conflict jumped 40 percent to a new high last year, and more than half of the deaths were inflicted by Taliban insurgents and other militants, the United Nations said Tuesday. The report said insurgents increasingly use roadside bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers in...
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Obama's War
17 February 2009
'Obama's War', New America Foundation / The Washington Post, 15 February 2009
EXCERPT: "Iraq was George W. Bush's war, but the conflict that now embroils both Afghanistan and Pakistan is likely to become Barack Obama's - a war to which he may commit 30,000 more US troops. Will the incoming soldiers be sucked into the 'graveyard of empires', as the British and Soviets were before them? Or could Obama's war...
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Bottom-Up Approach Needed In Afghanistan: Report
17 February 2009
'Bottom-Up Approach Needed In Afghanistan: Report', Reuters, 17 February 2009
EXCERPT: "The drive to stabilize Afghanistan must focus on cultivating local leaders, better training of Afghan troops and police, and pressing Kabul to fight corruption, a report by a U.S. think tank said on Tuesday. Security in Afghanistan should be rethought to address failures in the seven years since the ousting of the Islamist Taliban...
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Taliban Forces Students Out Of Schools Into Madrasas
17 February 2009
'Taliban Forces Students Out Of Schools Into Madrasas', IRIN News, 17 February 2009
EXCERPT: "The closure of schools and continuing attacks on students in the southern Helmand Province forced Abdul Wakil's parents to send him to a madrasa (Islamic school) in neighbouring Pakistan. Almost two months later, Abdul Wakil [not his real name] quit the school outside Quetta, capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan Province,...
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