28 June 2011

Afghan civilians are caught in the middle of an intensifying military campaign against a fractured armed insurgency. Despite the U.S. military’s claims of progress, insurgent attacks are up by 50% over last year, and more than 250,000 people have fled their villages in the past two years. U.S. funded and trained militias are only exacerbating this explosive situation. As the U.S. begins to draw down its forces and transition responsibilities...

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28 June 2011

A senior leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group has been captured in northern Afghanistan dressed up like a woman — the latest in a recent series of cases involving male militants disguised as females, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday. A joint Afghan and coalition force apprehended a senior figure from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and two of his associates during a nighttime operation Monday in Kunduz city, NATO said. It...

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28 June 2011

During his confirmation hearing last week for his new post at the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency, Petraeus said coalition forces had already shifted out of some parts of the country—including the areas in and around Kabul—and handed security responsibility off to the Afghans. He said coalition forces planned to move to parts of the former Taliban stronghold of Helmand province this fall, with further redeployments set for next...

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28 June 2011

Afghan officials have issued an arrest warrant for the former governor of the central bank, Abdul Qadeer Fitrat. He is being investigated in connection with massive fraud at the privately owned Kabul Bank and the printing of unauthorised amounts of currency. Earlier, it emerged Mr Fitrat had fled Afghanistan for the US - he said his life was in danger for exposing fraud. He said the Afghan government had hindered his attempts to investigate corruption. Afghanistan's...

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