Afghan Officials Say NATO Killed 62 Civilians
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "A recent NATO air strike in an eastern Afghanistan valley killed at least 62 civilians including women and children, an Afghan government investigation said Thursday. On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused NATO of having killed more than 50 civilians in eastern Afghanistan's troubled Kunar province, and sent a team to inquire into the alleged civilian deaths. 'After three days of investigation, we found out that 62 civilians,...
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NATO's Afghan Night Raids Come with High Civilian Cost
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "[...] Petraeus says the pressure on suspected insurgents and their networks has brought a new dynamic to a near-decade-old war. Critics argue it is fuelling violence because poor intelligence means dozens of innocent people are killed or detained. Although more than 80 percent of recent raids ended without a shot being fired, violence escalates fast when it does break out, with 600 people killed on operations in the three-month period....
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Afghan Suicide Blast Kills Agent, Wounds 26
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "A suicide car bomb attack killed an intelligence agent and wounded 26 other people in an Afghan town on the Pakistan border Thursday, officials said, in the latest in a wave of blasts. The explosives-packed vehicle with two bombers inside blew up in Spin Boldak after intelligence agents acting on a tip-off opened fire in a bid to stop it, Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for Afghanistan's national spy agency, said. 'We had intelligence that...
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Afghan Girls' Education in Danger, Aid Groups Warn
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "Girls' education in Afghanistan, one of the biggest gains for women since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, is at risk because of insecurity, lack of funds and equipment and poor teacher-training, aid groups said on Thursday. Women's education was banned under the government of the hardline Islamist group, now leading a growing insurgency, with only an estimated 5,000 girls in school. There are 2.4 million girls enrolled at school, but...
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Army Deploys Psy-Ops on US Senators
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in 'psychological operations' to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators. The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops –...
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Gauging US-Taliban Talks: Interview
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The United States has supported an Afghan-led negotiation process with Taliban insurgents ready to renounce violence, but a new report in the New Yorker provides details on what it says are direct U.S.-Taliban talks already underway since last year. Steve Coll, president of the Washington-based New America Foundation, and author of the article, says U.S. engagement is meant to 'create conditions in which a more sustainable--and possibly...
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