Lithuania Could Hand Ghor Province to Afghans in 2012
08 February 2011
, AFP, 8 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The Lithuanian military could hand over the central Afghan province of Ghor to local forces by the end of 2012, Defence Minister Rasa Jukneviciene said Tuesday. 'We're moving towards a situation where we'll be able to hand over responsibility for security in Ghor province to the Afghans at the end of 2012,' Jukneviciene told Lithuanian public...
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Counterinsurgency in Helmand: Progress and Remaining Challenges
08 February 2011
[pdf], Institute for the Study of War, 31 January 2011
EXCERPT: "Over the course of the past year, the momentum in Helmand has swung from the insurgency to the coalition and Afghan forces. Definable progress is evident in many areas throughout southern and central Helmand. This progress was largely due to 'getting the inputs right,' that is, providing the decisive...
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Winning Hearts and Minds? Aid and Security in Faryab Province
08 February 2011
[pdf], Feinstein International Center // Tufts University, 4 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The case study of Faryab Province is part of a larger comparative study that looks into the assumed causal relationship between development aid and stabilization in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa. The assumptions that development...
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Karzai Wants Taliban Official Released from Guant?namo
08 February 2011
, The New York Times, 8 February 2011
EXCERPT: "President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he wanted to bring a Taliban official being held at the Guant?namo Bay prison back to Afghanistan to join in reconciliation talks. His remarks seconded a request by the government's High Peace Council calling for the release of the Taliban figure, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, who has been...
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Hundreds of Militants Join Reintegration Program as Taliban Retaliates
08 February 2011
, The Canadian Press, 8 February 2011
EXCERPT: "Despite Taliban threats against their lives, nearly 900 militants have quit the fight and enrolled in an Afghan government program luring insurgents off the battlefield, a NATO official said Monday. The months-old reintegration program, which attracts fighters with promises of jobs, literacy and...
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