Trends in Terrorism in Central, South Asia from 2007-2010: Report
29 June 2011
This report draws on an extensive modeling effort by Andrew C. Gagel. It provides a statistical trend of the US count of terrorist actions by terrorist organization in each region and country, along with maps of the number and density of terrorist acts. These trends and developments are summarized in a short overview for each sub region. Terrorist activity was also high in Central Asia and South Asia. Unsurprisingly, terrorist activity was the...
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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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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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Reactions to US Troop Withdrawal Plans
24 June 2011
European allies on Thursday applauded President Barack Obama's plan to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, with France jumping at the chance to announce its own drawdown in a mission that has drained budgets and strained public opinion across the continent. After nearly a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, Obama's withdrawal blueprint was welcomed by NATO allies facing dwindling support, if not outright opposition, because of the conflict. Obama...
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Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan
24 June 2011
The CSIS Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation (C3), formerly the PCR Project, has studied the link between the rise of nonstate armed groups (or militants, for the sake of simplicity) and the quality of local governance in Afghanistan and Pakistan: whether a link exists and, if so, what the United States can do about it, if anything. This research, based on more than 250 field interviews and an extensive review of published literature, found...
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Afghanistan Urges End to Pakistani Border Attacks
24 June 2011
The Afghan government on Friday called for an end to cross-border attacks from Pakistan, warning that such incidents could affect "improving trust and cooperation" between the two wary allies. The high-level warning comes after days of claim and counter-claim over cross-border attacks by the neighbours, whose relations are strained over the Islamist militancy faced by both which Kabul says is rooted in Pakistan. Four children were killed late Thursday...
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2010 Annual Report on EU's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Efforts: Afghanistan
21 June 2011
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the humanitarian crises are twofold: on the one hand, the ‘Afghan’ crisis affects not only Afghanistan but also Iran and Pakistan, where almost four million Afghan refugees are still living; on the other hand, Pakistan is affected by a twinfaceted crisis with still more than 1.2 million people displaced by the conflict and almost 20 million affected by major flooding as from July 2010. In Afghanistan the deterioration...
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Cross-border Rocket Attack Kills 4 Afghan Children
17 June 2011
A rocket fired during fighting Friday in Pakistan's tribal region landed in eastern Afghanistan, killing four children in an area where militants launch attacks on U.S.-led forces, officials said. The rocket landed in Sirkanay district of Kunar province, an area where more than 100 rockets have landed in the last few days from across the border, provincial police chief Gen. Ewaz Mohammad said. It was unclear who fired the rocket, though Mohammad...
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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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Pakistan Village Raided "by Militants from Afghanistan"
16 June 2011
More than 200 militants have stormed a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, wounding at least two women, officials say. Pakistani officials say the insurgents crossed the border to attack Mamoond village in Bajaur tribal region. [...] A similar attack earlier this month in Pakistan's Upper Dir area led to a prolonged clash and left at least 25 Pakistani troops dead. "Some 250-300 militants targeted civilians in Mamoond," AFP news agency...
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