Feminists Fighting from Under the Burqa
30 April 2010
Afghan Feminists Fighting from Under the Burqa, The Guardian, 30 April 2010
EXCERPT: "Feminists in Afghanistan are forced to operate as underground movement, often using the burqa as a convenient disguise. As a committed feminist, there are few symbols of women's oppression that Parween hates more than the burqa. But compromises are necessary in a country where fighting for women's rights can be a controversial and dangerous...
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The Al-Qaeda-Taliban Relationship After 2001: Report
30 April 2010
[pdf], New America Foundation, 19 April 2010
EXCERPT: "While al-Qaeda fighters continue to cooperate with the Taliban on a tactical level, al-Qaeda and the Quetta Shura have diverged strategically since 2001. This development can be ascribed to al-Qaeda's relocation to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in 2001?2002?hundreds...
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Recklessness of Afghan Private Security Leads to Anger
30 April 2010
, The Associated Press, 30 April 2010
EXCERPT: "Private Afghan security guards protecting NATO supply convoys in southern Kandahar province regularly fire wildly into villages they pass, hindering coalition efforts to build local support ahead of this summer's planned offensive in the area, U.S. and Afghan officials say. The guards shoot into the villages to intimidate any potential...
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Forces Face Four More Years of Combat: NATO Official
30 April 2010
Afghanistan Forces Face Four More Years of Combat, Warns NATO Official, The Guardian, 29 April 2010
EXCERPT: "British and other foreign troops deployed in Afghanistan face a 'very tough' time ahead and can expect to be engaged in a combat role for three or four more years, Nato's most senior civilian official in the country said today. Mark Sedwill, a former UK ambassador to Afghanistan, warned of further troop deaths in the region, saying:...
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German Army Opens IED Research Center for Soldiers
29 April 2010
German Army Opens IED Research Center for Soldiers, Deutsche Welle, 29 April 2010
EXCERPT: "A new center was opened at the Boeselager German army base in the town of Grafschaft in western Germany on Wednesday, designed to help protect soldiers from home-made bombs planted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. As German troops are increasingly fighting Afghan insurgents in rural areas, army leaders believe that better technical information on...
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Afghan Prisoners in UK Torture Claim
29 April 2010
Afghan Prisoners in UK Torture Claim, BBC News, 29 April 2010
EXCERPT: "The High Court has heard claims that suspected insurgents were seized by UK troops and handed over to the Afghan authorities, who then tortured them. At least eight men transferred by the Army to the Afghan Security Service, the NDS, say they were mistreated. One claims he was told he would be shot if he did not sign a confession; others say they were given electric...
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Pentagon Issues Downbeat Assessment on Afghanistan
29 April 2010
Pentagon Issues Downbeat Assessment on Afghanistan, Miami Herald, 29 April 2010
EXCERPT: "The Pentagon issued a downbeat assessment Wednesday of the situation in Afghanistan, saying only one in four Afghans in strategically important areas currently back President Hamid Karzai's government even as the Taliban expand their insurgency and install shadow local governments. The report to Congress outlined some areas of progress, including...
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NATO "Kills Afghan MP Relative" in Raid
29 April 2010
NATO "Kills Afghan MP Relative" in Raid, BBC News, 29 April 2010
EXCERPT: "A prominent Afghan MP says Nato troops stormed her home and shot dead one of her relatives in an overnight raid. Safia Siddiqi, who was not home at the time, said soldiers tied up members of her family and fired on one of them. Nato confirmed one person was killed in an operation against a 'Taliban facilitator' in eastern Afghanistan. Safia...
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Coroner Criticises US in "Friendly Fire" Inquest
28 April 2010
Coroner Criticises US as He Gives "Friendly Fire" Inquest Verdict, Times Online, 28 April 2010
EXCERPT: "A coroner yesterday criticised the US authorities? failure to co-operate with his investigation into the deaths of three British soldiers in a 'friendly fire' incident. Privates Aaron McClure, 19, Robert Foster, 19, and John Thrumble, 21, from the Royal Anglian Regiment died in Afghanistan in August 2007 when a 500lb American bomb was...
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US Troops Fill NATO Training Gap in Afghanistan
28 April 2010
US Troops Fill NATO Training Gap in Afghanistan, NPR, 28 April 2010
EXCERPT: "The Pentagon is sending 800 more American soldiers to Afghanistan in the coming weeks to work as trainers for the Afghan security forces. The contingent is needed because other NATO countries still haven't fulfilled their pledges to send their own troops to train the Afghan army and police. A battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division will be heading to Afghanistan...
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