Afghanistan Braces for Urban Warfare
12 February 2010
Afghanistan-Somalia: Two Towns Braced for Urban Warfare, IRIN News, 12 February 2010
EXCERPT: "Continents apart, the civilian populations of Marjah, a key town in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, are steeling themselves for intense urban warfare. Major offensives are being planned in both, pitting NATO and Afghan national forces against the Taliban in Marjah, and according to media reports, Somali transitional...
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Afghanistan Quietly Brings Into Force Taliban Amnesty Law
12 February 2010
Afghanistan Quietly Brings Into Force Taliban Amnesty Law, The Guardian, 12 February 2010
EXCERPT: "Taliban fighters who have maimed and murdered but who lay down their weapons will be given immunity from prosecution according to a law that came into force without announcement in the weeks running up to last month's London conference on Afghanistan. The sudden implementation of the controversial law, which had been shelved for almost two...
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Afghanistan Quietly Brings Into Force Taliban Amnesty Law
12 February 2010
Afghanistan Quietly Brings Into Force Taliban Amnesty Law, The Guardian, 12 February 2010
EXCERPT: "Taliban fighters who have maimed and murdered but who lay down their weapons will be given immunity from prosecution according to a law that came into force without announcement in the weeks running up to last month's London conference on Afghanistan. The sudden implementation of the controversial law, which had been shelved for almost two...
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Blackwater Accused of Defrauding US Govt
12 February 2010
Blackwater Accused of Defrauding US Govt, The Guardian, 12 February 2010
EXCERPT: "The troubled American private 'security company Blackwater faced fresh ?controversy today when two former employees accused it of defrauding the US government for years, including ?billing for a Filipina prostitute on its payroll in Afghanistan. According to Melan Davis, a former employee, Blackwater listed the woman for payment under the 'morale...
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Different Kind of Power Struggle in Kandahar
12 February 2010
Different Kind of Power Struggle in Kandahar, The Washington Times, 11 February 2010
EXCERPT: "About 90 factories sit vacant in the economic capital of southern Afghanistan. They could fight militants in a way no army could, employing thousands of people and giving them a reason to shun the Taliban. A lack of reliable electricity is what's keeping the factories silent and useless in the fight against the insurgency. And it's the insurgency,...
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