14 June 2011
[...] As the West and President Hamid Karzai's government redouble efforts to coax insurgents into peace negotiations, a loose coalition of women's groups, human rights activists, professionals, Karzai critics and ethnic groups is beginning to coalesce in opposition to such talks. Most Afghans believe a negotiated settlement is the only way to bring the decade-old conflict to an end. But many also fear the price of any peace, worried that desperation...
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Focus of War to Shift Eastward in Effort to Stop Cross-border Flow of Militants
14 June 2011
In southern Afghanistan, the United States has succeeded over the past year in prying the Taliban’s grip from parts of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. But U.S. military commanders recognize they have far to go in the country’s east, where insurgents fight from the cover of craggy mountains, drive truckloads of weapons through illegal dirt-road crossings, and flee across the border into Pakistan to elude capture.The intense U.S. focus...
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US Establishes Contact with Mullah Omar
14 June 2011
The United States has established contacts with elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar to negotiate an end to the conflict in Afghanistan. A former Afghan Taliban spokesman has played a key role in the US-Taliban communication, a source told The Express Tribune. Abdul Haqiq, who was operating under the alias of Dr Mohammad Hanif as an Afghan Taliban spokesman, is said to have helped Washington reach out to Mullah Omar. Dr Hanif was arrested by US and...
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Taliban’s Conduct of Intelligence and Counterintelligence: Analysis
14 June 2011
Throughout the history of the post-9/11 insurgency in Afghanistan, reports have emphasized the Afghan Taliban’s impressive ability to collect and exploit intelligence effectively. Researchers and media outlets describe the Afghan Taliban as possessing an “impressive intelligence network” which conducts numerous functions such as giving Taliban fighters early warning of U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrols,...
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