Germany Issues "Concrete" Terror Warning, Raises Security Measures
18 November 2010
German Government Issues "Concrete" Terror Warning, Spiegel Online, 17 November 2010
EXCERPT: "German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday issued the most explicit warning yet that Germany may be the target of a terror attack in the near future. New evidence, he says, means that there is 'cause for concern.' 'The situation has changed.' That was the message delivered by German Interior Minister...
Read the post »
Afghan National Security Forces: What It Will Take to Implement ISAF Strategy?
18 November 2010
[pdf], Center for Strategic and International Studies, 17 November 2010
EXCERPT: "A successful effort to create effective Afghan forces, particularly forces that can largely replace the role of U.S. and allied forces, must overcome a legacy of more than eight years of critical failures in both force development and training, and in the broader course...
Read the post »
Marjah Civilians Take Up Arms Against Taliban
18 November 2010
Marjah Civilians Take Up Arms Against Taleban, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 16 November 2010
EXCERPT: " A group of villagers in the Marjah district of Helmand say they have formed an armed force to fend off the Taleban, in the first movement of its kind in the restive southern province. In Doottanow, a poor village where most survive through agriculture and livestock farming, members of the 150-strong group say they are opposed...
Read the post »
Watchdog Criticized for Failing to Focus on Investigations, Prosecutions
18 November 2010
, The Associated Press, 18 November
EXCERPT: "The U.S. watchdog charged with combating corruption in the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Afghanistan is defending his reputation Thursday as congressional critics press President Barack Obama to fire him for incompetence and mismanagement. [...] Matthew McLauchlin, a former U.S. government official who supported legislation that created...
Read the post »
Hezb-i-Islami Offers Ceasefire Terms
18 November 2010
Afghan Rebel Group Offers Truce Terms, BBC News, 17 November 2010
EXCERPT: "A leading Afghan insurgent group has told the BBC it would agree to a ceasefire if US-led coalition forces stayed in their main bases. Hezb-e-Islami, viewed as the country's most important rebel group after the Taliban, said they had already held talks with the Americans. Habib-ur-Rahman, son of Hezb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said his father was...
Read the post »