UK Military Creaking Under Strain of Iraq and Afghanistan
09 February 2010
UK Military Creaking Under Strain of Iraq and Afghanistan, Report Says, Times Online, 9 February 2010
EXCERPT: "Budget cuts and relentless fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have left more than half of the ships, aircraft and ground units of the Armed Forces with 'serious or critical weaknesses', MPs say today. Britain's military is creaking under the strain of ongoing operations and is being forced to deploy faulty equipment,...
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Taliban Claim to Debut New Bomb "Omar"
09 February 2010
, AFP, 9 February 2010
EXCERPT: "The Taliban claimed Tuesday to have developed a new bomb nicknamed Omar after their fugitive leader and which they say is impossible Western mine sweepers to detect. The biggest killer of Western troops in Afghanistan are home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, which the Taliban deploy to wide effect in their eight-year insurgency...
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Gates Quietly Draws More Allied Troops
09 February 2010
Gates Quietly Draws More Allied Troops for Afghanistan, Los Angeles Times, 8 February 2010
EXCERPT: "In many ways, it was a familiar scene: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in Europe, meeting with U.S. allies about the war in Afghanistan. But something was missing. Gates, during a weeklong tour, did not plead with his European counterparts to send more troops. The shift in Gates' approach reflects both the significant growth...
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NATO Frustration as Afghan Police Flunk Drug Tests
09 February 2010
NATO Frustration as Afghan Police Flunk Drug Tests, Reuters, 9 February 2010
EXCERPT: "When British trainers administered random drugs tests to 25 Afghan police recruits at a base in southern Helmand province, most of them failed. One recruit was kicked out of the force. The others were given warnings. Heroin shouldn't be tolerated, but there is no point kicking out the ones who smoke hashish: there would be too few left, their Afghan...
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