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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Taliban Use Girl, 8, as Bomb Mule in Attack on Afghan Police Post
27 June 2011
Taliban insurgents used an eight-year-old girl carrying a bag of explosives to attack a police checkpost in central Afghanistan, the Afghan government said on Sunday, making her one of the youngest child bombers of the decade-old conflict. The incident took place in Char Chino district of central Uruzgan province, the interior ministry said. "The insurgents handed over a bag with a homemade bomb to an eight-year-old girl and asked her to take it...
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Nuristan Province now al-Qaeda and Taliban Central: Senior Police Official
23 June 2011
Afghan intelligence officials in the province of Nuristan have accused the central government and Nato forces in particular of ignoring insurgents there and in other strategically important areas close to the Pakistani border. They say that increasing violence in Nuristan - and in the provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar - poses a significant security threat. "Nuristan is now al-Qaeda and Taliban central," said one senior police official in...
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Taliban Suicide Bomber Targets Afghan Governor, Kills Two
21 June 2011
A Taliban suicide bomber targeted a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two civilians and wounding another two, the interior ministry said. The attack struck the usually peaceful province of Parwan, when the bomber tried to enter the compound of governor Basir Salangi. "At around 10:45am (0615 GMT) Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated himself in front of the gate of the Parwan governor's compound. As a result, two civilians...
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Haqqani Leader Threatens Reprisals as Govt Executes Two over Bank Attack
20 June 2011
Insurgents in Afghanistan's violent east will target courts and judges after the execution of two fighters convicted over a brutal bank raid, one of the leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network said on Monday. At least 40 people were killed when seven gunmen and suicide bombers, dressed in border police uniforms, attacked an office of private lender Kabulbank on February 19, triggering gunbattles that lasted several hours. Security camera footage...
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US Confirms Talks with Taliban as UN Splits Taliban, Al-Qaeda on Sanctions List
20 June 2011
Outgoing US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the US is holding "outreach" talks with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr Gates said talks were "preliminary" but that a political solution was the way "most of these wars end". It is the first time the US has acknowledged such contact and comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said peace talks had started. The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan...
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Uniformed Suicide Bombers Attack Kabul Police Station, Kill Nine
20 June 2011
Suicide bombers in army uniform attacked a Kabul police compound on Saturday, killing nine people in the second major assault inside the Afghan capital in less than a month, the Interior Ministry said. The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the assault, vowed last month to carry out attacks on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials, and have assassinated several senior police commanders since the start of the year. Three policemen,...
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Al-Zawahiri Named New al-Qaeda Chief
16 June 2011
Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the group has said in a statement issued in the name of the group's general command. "The general command of al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the statement, posted online on Thursday, said. US special forces killed bin Laden in a raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2. Al-Qaeda...
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Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan: Quarterly Report January-March 2011
16 June 2011
Progress in Afghanistan has been achieved on a number of fronts at the national, provincial, district and local levels. The pace of change in Afghanistan however has been slow and not without setbacks. Sustaining progress—whether political, economic or social—will depend on continuing Afghan leadership, within government and in particular throughout Afghan society. While much remains to be done, Canada continues to be inspired by those...
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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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