Insurgents Target Top Officials in Multiple Attacks, Kill at Least 9 Civilians
15 June 2011
The Taliban targeted top government officials in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 11 people in two suicide blasts and firing rockets at the vice president and interior minister, who escaped unhurt. Nine civilians were among those who died in the attacks [...] In the first, an attacker drove a car laden with explosives towards the education and agriculture departments in Mahmud Raqi, capital of Kapisa province northeast of Kabul. [...] Taliban...
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Secret US and Afghanistan Talks Could See Troops Stay for Decades
15 June 2011
American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades. Though not publicised, negotiations have been under way for more than a month to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014 – the agreed date for all 130,000 combat troops...
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Afghanistan Looms Large at SCO Security Group Meeting
15 June 2011
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) meeting in Kazakhstan focused on how Central Asia could be affected by the possible spread of the Arab Spring – as well as failure to stabilize Afghanistan. [...] In the longer run, the SCO is deeply worried about the possible failure of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and that country's reversion to the anarchy that prevailed after the USSR ended its disastrous nine-year occupation in 1989. "Russia...
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Report Notes Complex Motives behind Rising Attacks by Afghan Troops on NATO Soldiers; Cites Stress as Factor
15 June 2011
In late November, U.S. soldiers were supervising artillery training for Afghan troops in Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistan border. After they climbed a ridge to assess the impact area, an Afghan border policeman suddenly turned on them and opened fire. Seconds later, six Americans and their assailant were dead. It was one of the deadliest incidents of what the military call "green on blue" -- a euphemism for attacks by members of the Afghan...
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Afghanistan Worst Place in the World for Women: Report
15 June 2011
Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows. The appearance of India, a country...
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