2
POPSAfghan president Karzai calls for peace with Taliban Our correspondent says that many Afghan and western officials believe that the insurgency cannot be defeated militarily and that a political accommodation must be reached, but there has been fierce disagreements between Western countries and the Afghan government as to how this process should proceed. Correspondents say that earlier attempts to negotiate with the Taleban have been beset by difficulties, especially when foreign powers have been involved.
1
POPSTaliban in secret peace talks with Afghan government Last week, the French Prime Minister, Franois Fillon, referred indirectly to the talks during a parliamentary debate on Afghanistan. “We must explore ways of separating the international Jihadists from those who are acting more for nationalist or tribal motives. Efforts in this direction are being led by Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia,î he said. Late last year Karzai said he would welcome the chance to speak directly to Hikmatyar and to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban’s leader and one of the most wanted men in the world, promising that if the Taliban demanded a ìdepartment in this or in that ministry or a position as deputy ministerî in exchange for ending violence, he would give them the posts. Previously, Taliban spokesmen have said that only the departure of foreign troops, the institution of a fiercely rigorous interpretation of Sharia law and a share of government would be acceptable to them as the basis for any deal.
4
POPSAfghanistan Looming as Huge Mire of wasted lives, resources When will we ever learn? Trying to bomb these people (at great cost in innocent lives) into submission in a guerrilla war is incredibly stupid. The Russians couldn't do it and apparently we didn't learn our lessons well in Vietnam, Jungle/desert comparison aside. Their will to defend their own turf is rooted in the ages while ours is in greed and misguided ideology and there's the rub. Fools. What a waste of lives and resources and perception of good will worldwide. It's NOT a "good" war, if there are any. And changing strategy to more troops is folly of the worst kind but great for the war profiteers.
5
POPSPentagon To Expand Intel Ops at US Prison in Afghanistan
What incredible crap they sling at us... Originally built as a Soviet air base in the 1980s, the Bagram prison was meant to be a short-term holding site. Bagram has been a flash point in the debate over U.S. treatment of detainees. The International Red Cross has negotiated with U.S. officials about conditions and access to detainees. After peaking at nearly 700 prisoners in 2006, the population at Bagram has hovered for the past year at its 600-prisoner capacity, according to Central Command figures provided in response to a USA TODAY inquiry. The intelligence hires are to be in place before next summer's scheduled completion of the new detention center that will hold 1,000 prisoners, an increase in capacity by 65%. "In 2001 ... we never thought we'd still be (at Bagram) today," said Brig. Gen. Robert Holmes, deputy operations chief at U.S. Central Command, which oversees Afghanistan operations. "Now that we see this as a sustained activity, there were improvements to be mad
5
POPSAfghans Fed Up With Government, US A strong sense of frustration echoed through dozens of interviews by The Associated Press with Afghan villagers, police, government officials, tribal elders and Taliban who left and rejoined the religious movement. The interviews ranged from the capital, Kabul, to the rural regions near the border with Pakistan. The overwhelming result: Ordinary Afghans are deeply bitter about American and NATO forces because of errant bombs, heavy-handed searches and seizures and a sense that the foreigners do not understand their culture. They are equally fed up with what they see as seven years of corruption and incompetence in a U.S.-backed government that has largely failed to deliver on development. Even with more foreign troops, Afghanistan is now less secure.
4
POPSTaliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults The Taliban claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Khost. Their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said that 15 suicide bombers, equipped with machine guns and vests packed with explosives, with 30 militants backing them up, attacked the base, one of the largest foreign military bases in Afghanistan. He claimed that some of the bombers had gotten inside the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Azimi of the Afghan military.
2
POPSAfghan Militants Butcher American Soldiers
I didn't say anything about it here or elsewhere because a.) I didn't know what the families knew, and b.) I couldn't confirm it with anyone else. As for the soldiers being alive when captured, I still don't know with certainty whether or not that's true or just battlefield rumor. But everything else my source told me has turned out to be correct. The New York Times explains in more detail: The three were identified as Sgt. First Class Matthew L. Hilton, 37, of Livonia, Mich., of the Michigan Army National Guard; and Sgt. First Class Joseph A. McKay, 51, of Brooklyn; and Specialist Mark C. Palmateer, 38, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., both of them part of a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition unit of the New York Army National Guard, according to a Pentagon news release. Their Afghan interpreter was 21-year-old Muhammad Fahim from Kabul, who had been working with the Americans for the last three years. His body was burned beyond recognition, his family said.
13
POPSAfghanistan’s Secret Treasure Afghanistan has probably one of the richest cultural and historical heritage, dating back to the third millennium BCE and the land had been a melting pot of Mesopotamian, Harappan, Greek and Chinese civilizations. Unfortunately, the wars and oppressive/dogmatic regimes tried their best to destroy the traces of this brilliant cultural background. Archaeology Magazine's latest issue tells the story of an amazing treasure of ancient artifacts, 95 percent of which was luckily recovered and brought to museums worldwide to be exhibited.
2
POPSGeneral Barry McCaffrey (ret) Says More Troops Aren't The Answer In Afghanistan
More ominously, the general says, we can expect a Taliban drive to erase Afghanistan's border with Pakistan in the wild frontier provinces of Pakistan that have provided sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaida leaders and fighters since Osama bin Laden escaped there in 2001. Military means, he writes, won't be enough to counter terror created by resurgent Taliban forces; we can't win with a war of attrition; and the economic and political support from the international community is inadequate. The battle will only be won, McCaffrey says, when there's a real Afghan police presence in all of the country's 34 provinces and 398 districts; when the Afghan National Army is expanded from 80,000 troops today to 200,000 troops; when we deploy five U.S. combat engineer battalions with a brigade of Army Stryker forces for security to begin a five-year road building program that also trains Afghan Army engineer units and employs Afghan contractors and workers.
2
POPSAfghans Increasingly Caught in Crossfire--more to come from USA Afghanistan has been mired in a vicious cycle of violence since 1979 when local communist groups formed a government in Kabul with the help of the former Soviet army. They were overthrown by Islamist militants backed by the United States in the early 1990s. U.S. officials largely ignored the country and the plight of its people from then until 2001, when Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group launched its attacks on the United States.
1
POPSPak-US Ties Vital For Regional Peace About the recent incident of firing across the LoC, he said there had been three such incidents in the Batal sector, including the one that happened on Sunday. About UN probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the spokesman said that modalities were being worked out and an announcement was expected in a couple of weeks. He said Dr Khan had retired a long time ago and has no say in the nuclear programme now. Pakistan's nuclear programme, he added, is fully secure, under maximum security arrangements, which are the best security practices all over the world.
1
POPSAfghanistan: Obama Sees Problems; McCain Sees A solution The differences are not small ones, and reflect a distinction between the kind of staff-driven, laundry-list mush that sees the immensity of a problem and a leader-driven set of priorities that sees a solution. It is the distinction between Obama's opposition to the Iraq surge and McCain's support for it: not just the courage to make the tough choice, but the clarity to follow the right course. It's also the distinction between winning the war and simply ending it. Thomas Donnelly is the Resident Fellow in Foreign & Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
1
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update