Britain to Pull 400 Troops Out of Afghanistan This Year
17 May 2011
David Cameron has announced that 400 British troops will withdraw from Afghanistan this year in the first stage of his plan to remove all UK combat troops by the end of 2014. The move, given greater urgency by the killing of Osama bin Laden, had been initially resisted by defence chiefs. Cameron made the announcement to MPs on Tuesday in advance of President Obama's state visit to the UK next week. Speaking to the liaison committee of MPs, Cameron...
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US Speeds Up Direct Talks with Taliban
17 May 2011
The administration has accelerated direct talks with the Taliban, initiated several months ago, that U.S. officials say they hope will enable President Obama to report progress toward a settlement of the Afghanistan war when he announces troop withdrawals in July. A senior Afghan official said a U.S. representative attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany, one as recently as eight or nine days ago with a Taliban official considered close...
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NATO Fails to Win over Afghan Hearts in South despite Battlefield Gains: Report
17 May 2011
Despite battlefield gains against insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the United States is failing to win over Afghans in the heartland of the Taliban, a new study shows. Almost 90 percent of men polled in contested districts in southern Afghanistan believe foreign military operations are bad for them, according to research by the International Council on Security and Development, or ICOS. Over half the people who took part in the study in southern...
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Pakistan, NATO Exchange Fire at Border; Helicopter "Likely" Crossed into Pakistan
17 May 2011
Two NATO helicopters entered Pakistani airspace and triggered a firefight that injured two soldiers, Pakistan’s military said, in a further setback to ties strained by the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Pakistan troops at a border post in the North Waziristan region shot at the aircraft of the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan and were injured in a return of fire, according to an e-mail sent by Inter-Services Public Relations, the press...
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