Taliban Set Free 19 of 50 Recently Abducted "Policemen"
28 March 2011
The Taliban on Monday freed 19 of 50 policemen in their captivity as a result of arbitration by tribal elders in eastern Kunar province, the governor said. The off-duty policemen were kidnapped by the Taliban in an ambush in the Chapa Dara district when they were returning from neighbouring Nuristan province where they had traveled to collect their salaries. Tribal elders were able to secure the release 19 of the hostages, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidee,...
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Kabul Bank's Future Undecided despite Reports of Liquidation: Central Bank
28 March 2011
Afghanistan's central bank said Monday no decision had yet been made about the future of the embattled Kabul Bank, after weekend reports suggested it would be put into liquidation next month. Kabul Bank came close to collapse last year and had to be taken over by the central bank amid claims that former executives had granted themselves huge loans off the books. On Saturday the Washington Post, quoting finance ministry officials, said the central...
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Govt, Taliban Maintain Uneasy Truce in NE Mountain District
28 March 2011
Alasay district, in Kapisa province northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul, is the scene of an unusual arrangement where local government officials and the Taleban turn a blind eye to one another. Recognising that neither side can defeat the other, the two have effectively decided to coexist as peaceably as conditions will allow. Taleban guerrillas and government policemen, both armed, wander around the open-air market in the district centre without...
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Pentagon Spends Billions in Fight against IEDs, with "Little Success"
28 March 2011
In February 2006, with roadside bombs killing more and more American soldiers in Iraq, the Pentagon created an agency to defeat the deadly threat and tasked a retired four-star general to run it. Five years later, the agency has ballooned into a 1,900-employee behemoth and has spent nearly $17 billion on hundreds of initiatives. Yet the technologies it's developed have failed to significantly improve U.S. soldiers' ability to detect unexploded roadside...
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Taliban Suicide Bombers Kill 24, Wound over 50 in Afghanistan's SE
28 March 2011
Three suicide bombers killed 24 people and wounded dozens more in an attack on a construction firm in Afghanistan's restive southeast, government officials said on Monday, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the assault. [...] The attackers forced their way into the company's compound in the Bermel district of volatile Paktika province on Sunday night after killing a security guard and then detonated a truck laden with explosives, the Interior...
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