Afghanistan Seeks US Help Post-2014
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan on Wednesday appealed for the United States to provide security assistance beyond 2014, the date by which President Barack Obama wants to withdraw US combat troops. Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak was holding talks at the Pentagon to look at future relations, despite recent tensions between the two governments over civilian deaths in the NATO-led campaign against the Taliban. 'We do strongly believe that for Afghanistan...
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The Challenge of Reconstructing "Failed" States
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "While international aid has significantly increased its support for the reconstruction of fragile countries and 'failed' states emerging from severe crises or civil war, we begin today to realize that the disaster in Afghanistan is largely due to mistakes made by the Western coalition, and in particular, to the disorganization of its development support efforts in this country. In this uncompromising article, Serge Michailof undertakes...
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Afghanistan's Elections Stalemate
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The prolonged crisis over Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections has further undermined President Hamid Karzai’s credibility. He is now even more isolated politically than he was after his dubious re-election in 2009. The Wolesi Jirga was inaugurated on 26 January 2011, following a lengthy standoff that exposed sharp political fault lines, which could plunge the country deeper into not just political but armed conflict. Clashes...
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US Pulls Back from "Vital" Afghan Valley in Kunar
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "After years of fighting for control of a prominent valley in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the United States military has begun to pull back most of its forces from ground it once insisted was central to the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The withdrawal from the Pech Valley, a remote region in Kunar Province, formally began on Feb. 15. The military projects that it will last about two months, part of a shift of...
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Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: Report
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "This first report in this series ef highlights some of the metrics that reflect a consistent failure to properly resource the Afghan campaign, and to react to the growth of the Taliban, the Al Qa’ida sanctuary in Pakistan, and the failures of the Afghan government turned near victory into near defeat. These failures were driven in part by the lack of unity and realism in ISAF, an ineffective UN effort, a US focus on the Iraq War,...
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Afghan Officials Say NATO Killed 62 Civilians
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "A recent NATO air strike in an eastern Afghanistan valley killed at least 62 civilians including women and children, an Afghan government investigation said Thursday. On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused NATO of having killed more than 50 civilians in eastern Afghanistan's troubled Kunar province, and sent a team to inquire into the alleged civilian deaths. 'After three days of investigation, we found out that 62 civilians,...
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NATO's Afghan Night Raids Come with High Civilian Cost
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "[...] Petraeus says the pressure on suspected insurgents and their networks has brought a new dynamic to a near-decade-old war. Critics argue it is fuelling violence because poor intelligence means dozens of innocent people are killed or detained. Although more than 80 percent of recent raids ended without a shot being fired, violence escalates fast when it does break out, with 600 people killed on operations in the three-month period....
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Afghan Suicide Blast Kills Agent, Wounds 26
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "A suicide car bomb attack killed an intelligence agent and wounded 26 other people in an Afghan town on the Pakistan border Thursday, officials said, in the latest in a wave of blasts. The explosives-packed vehicle with two bombers inside blew up in Spin Boldak after intelligence agents acting on a tip-off opened fire in a bid to stop it, Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for Afghanistan's national spy agency, said. 'We had intelligence that...
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Afghan Girls' Education in Danger, Aid Groups Warn
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "Girls' education in Afghanistan, one of the biggest gains for women since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, is at risk because of insecurity, lack of funds and equipment and poor teacher-training, aid groups said on Thursday. Women's education was banned under the government of the hardline Islamist group, now leading a growing insurgency, with only an estimated 5,000 girls in school. There are 2.4 million girls enrolled at school, but...
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Army Deploys Psy-Ops on US Senators
24 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in 'psychological operations' to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators. The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops –...
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