Afghanistan among 13 Countries where Journalists Are Killed with Impunity: Report
01 June 2011
CPJ’s annual Impunity Index, first published in 2008, identifies countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. For this latest index, CPJ examined journalist murders that occurred between January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2010, and that remain unsolved. Only the 13 nations with five or more unsolved cases are included on the index. Cases are considered unsolved when no convictions have been obtained. Impunity...
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Taliban Aims to Win over Nuristan Province, Use It as Staging Ground
01 June 2011
Every morning at 8, Maulawi Zahir heads into Waygal district center, a remote mountain village of stone houses stacked almost vertically up granite slopes. As the undeniable man in charge of the Afghan village, the Taliban leader is there to hear and settle disputes. But despite his group's ascendancy, he struggles to burnish his credentials among his constituents, even in an area where loathing for NATO and the Afghan government runs deep. "People...
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200 Militants Cross Afghan Border, Attack Pakistani Checkpoint
01 June 2011
About 200 militants crossed into Pakistan's rugged northwest from Afghanistan on Wednesday and attacked a security checkpost, killing one policeman, police said, and a television station put the death toll at seven. It was not clear whether the militants were Afghans or Pakistanis. The border area is a global hub for militants, including al Qaeda and allies such as the Pakistani Taliban, who seek to topple the U.S.-backed Islamabad government. The...
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Overall Progress in Improving Security in Afghanistan "Slow": NATO Parliamentary Assembly
01 June 2011
This report, prepared for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Defence and Security Committee, is intended to assess, insofar as possible given the resources at our disposal, the evolution of the security situation in Afghanistan. It is deliberately limited in scope in that reports by the other Committees of the Assembly are treating other critical areas such as governance, development, and the role of neighbouring countries. This report will...
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Attacks by Renegade Afghan Troops on the Rise ahead of Transition
01 June 2011
Commanders of international troops in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly concerned at the growing number of attacks by members of local security forces on western forces or advisers. The Taliban ordered insurgents to step up infiltration of the Afghan national army and police earlier this year, Nato officials believe, leading to an alarming rise in the number of "blue on green" attacks. Increasing the numbers of local security forces is a key...
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