200 Civilians Killed in Two Weeks: Officials
02 March 2011
"More than 200 Afghans were killed in attacks and military operations during the past two weeks, Afghan officials said Saturday, calling it the deadliest period for civilians since the war began. Two attacks on Saturday added to that toll and fueled fears that violence will climb as winter, typically a slow fighting season in Afghanistan, gives way to spring. The latest violence comes as U.S. commanders are under heavy pressure to show signs of progress...
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Parliament Elects Ex-Warlord Ibrahimi as Speaker
02 March 2011
"Afghanistan's parliament elected a former Uzbek warlord as speaker on Sunday, ending a month of squabbling over the position that has further undermined the credibility of an assembly tainted by electoral fraud. The endorsement of Abdul Rahoof Ibrahimi clears the way for the assembly - a disparate collection of 249 individual lawmakers rather than coherent political parties - to begin legislating five months after a parliamentary vote. But parliament...
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US Looks to Mexico to Tighten Afghan-Pakistan Border
02 March 2011
"U.S. commanders in Afghanistan are looking to their own country's heavily monitored border with Mexico as part of efforts to stem the flow of Taliban fighters crossing from Pakistan to wage a growing insurgency. U.S. forces say they are considering employing sensors and radar systems of the kind used on the U.S.-Mexico border to control the insurgent 'rat lines' (escape routes) straddling Afghanistan's porous 2,430-kilometre (1,510-mile) border with...
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Six NATO Troops Killed across Afghanistan
02 March 2011
"Six NATO troops were killed in attacks across Afghanistan Monday, one of the deadliest days for the international force this winter, military officials said. Four came under attack in eastern Afghanistan, a region that has become increasingly volatile since the U.S. military made a concerted effort last year to dislodge Taliban fighters from strongholds in the south. One of the attacks in the east involved a homemade bomb that killed two soldiers....
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UK Strategy on Track in Afghanistan: Cameron
02 March 2011
"The UK government is on track to deliver on its strategy in Afghanistan and remains 'cautiously optimistic' about the progress made, David Cameron has said. The prime minister met the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, in Downing Street to 'take stock' and to discuss three priorities for the year: capitalising on the momentum created in the military campaign, the continuing to bolster the Afghan security forces, and beginning the process of transferring...
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Two Blasts Kill 10 Civilians near Kandahar
02 March 2011
"A pair of explosions tore through a group of spectators at an illegal dogfight Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than a dozen others in the latest in a string of deadly insurgent attacks in crowded public places. In the last five weeks, more than 100 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in bloody assaults across the length and breadth of the country. The targets — a supermarket, a shopping...
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