Taliban

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Messy Afghan Election Gives White House New Headache

(Newser) - White House hopes that the Afghan election would show the country's progress toward stability have been dashed, as the voting instead highlighted the challenges Afghanistan faces, the New York Times reports. With a runoff between President Karzai and challenger Adbullah Abdullah on the horizon, observers complain of fraud, ballot stuffing...

Afghan Polls Close; Taliban Attacks Dampen Turnout

(Newser) - With polls now closed, Taliban threats appeared to have dampened voter turnout in the militant south in today's Afghanistan election. Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide, and bomb attacks that closed some polling sites. After 10 hours of voting, including a last-minute, one-hour extension, election workers began to count the millions...

Afghan Polls Open as Race Tightens

In test of country's stability, Karzai faces Taliban violence, 34 challengers

(Newser) - As polls open in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai's chances of claiming enough of the vote to avoid a runoff no longer look like a sure thing, the New York Times reports. Voter intimidation by the Taliban, a surge in popularity by one of Karzai's opponents, and limited election monitoring could conspire...

Taliban Battle Police in Kabul on Election Eve

(Newser) - Taliban fighters wearing explosive-laced vests stormed a government-run bank in central Kabul today, precipitating an hours-long shootout with Afghan forces 24 hours before the presidential election. A Taliban source said that 20 militants had entered Kabul, a day after a suicide bomb and a rocket attack rocked the capital. Afghan...

Afghanistan Forbids Reports on Election Violence

Karzai government says gag will 'control the negative impact of the media'

(Newser) - The Afghan government ordered journalists to stay silent on any insurgent attacks that may happen during the presidential election Thursday, the Guardian reports. The gag order is necessary in order “to encourage people and raise their morale to come out and vote,” said a spokesman for President Karzai....

Taliban Peace Talks Dominate Afghan Race

(Newser) - As Afghans prepare to vote on Thursday, the top issue for all the leading presidential candidates remains whether and how to negotiate with the Taliban. Hamid Karzai, still predicted to win, has made vocal calls for negotiations but has done little so far in office, and Taliban insurgents are imperiling...

Taliban Threaten to Mutilate Afghan Voters

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai's battle for reelection on Thursday is facing a significant hurdle: threats by the Taliban to mutilate anyone who shows up at the polls. Insurgents are strongest in Pashtun regions, normally a Karzai stronghold, and in one town a group of Taliban fighters told citizens anyone who votes will...

Afghanistan Legalizes Starving Wives Who Refuse Sex

(Newser) - Afghan lawmakers have passed a new law requiring women to submit to their husbands' sexual demands or be starved, reports the BBC. The new law is an amended version of a bill that forced women to have sex with their husbands at least every four days, and completely removed a...

US Could Buy Off the Taliban
 US Could Buy Off the Taliban 
analysis
Aug 14, 2009 6:23 PM CDT

US Could Buy Off the Taliban

(Newser) - The US war in Afghanistan is costing $4 billion a month and lacks a clear end-date—so why not just pay off the Taliban's hired guns to stop fighting? Analysts say the math makes sense: Taliban gunmen earn $10 a day. There are 10,000 to 15,000 of...

Marines Launch New Afghan Assault

(Newser) - US Marines battled Taliban fighters today for control of a strategic southern town in a new operation to cut militant supply lines and allow Afghan residents to vote in next week's presidential election. Insurgents appeared to dig in for a fight, firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, and even missiles from...

US Commander: Taliban Winning Afghan War

McChrystal makes protecting civilians his first priority

(Newser) - The Taliban are winning the war in Afghanistan and the US must quickly change course, warns Stanley McChrystal, the general now commanding American forces in the country. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, McChrystal says he wants more troops in big, dangerous cities like Kandahar as part of...

Top Militant Denies Taliban Shootout

Pakistan insists dead leader's aide killed in power struggle

(Newser) - Days after Pakistan's Taliban leader reportedly died in a US airstrike, conflicting stories are emerging about a power struggle in the militant group, the New York Times reports. Waliur Rehman, a commander who had wanted to lead the Taliban, denies killing a young aide to the former leader in a...

Mehsud Is Alive, Says Fellow Commander

(Newser) - US and Pakistani officials say they're all but certain they killed Baitullah Mehsud, yet one of his fellow Taliban commanders says that's just a bunch of "ridiculous" propaganda. Mehsud, he insists to the BBC, is alive and will stay underground for a few days before issuing a public statement....

Officials: Taliban's Mehsud Is Dead

(Newser) - Pakistani officials have confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader, in an American drone strike early Wednesday. While there is still no concrete evidence of his death, the country's foreign minister said today that "he has been taken out." One security official told the New ...

US Drone May Have Killed Taliban Leader Mehsud

(Newser) - Potentially big news out of Pakistan: A US drone may have killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, reports Reuters. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," said an anonymous US official. Mehsud is an...

Roadside Bomb Kills 21 Afghan Civilians

(Newser) - A roadside bomb hit a wedding party on its way to a ceremony in southern Afghanistan, killing 21 people including women and children, Afghan officials said today. A local police chief said that a Western airstrike hours later killed five farmers loading cucumbers into a taxi in a neighboring province;...

US Strike Kills Wife of Pakistan Taliban Chief

(Newser) - A US missile strike today in Pakistan's lawless tribal region killed a wife of Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander, the AP reports. Mehsud has been accused of orchestrating dozens of suicide attacks in Pakistan, including the assassination of former PM Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. The US, as usual, did...

Bomb Blast in Western Afghanistan Kills 10

Targeted police chief critically injured; Taliban claims responsibility

(Newser) - A remote-controlled bomb exploded today in western Afghanistan's main city, killing 10 and critically wounding a district police chief, the main target of the attack. Police said 30 were injured. The bomb went off on a crowded street near a fruit market in Herat. The police chief for a nearby...

US to Pressure Brits for More Troops in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The US is expected to push for more British troops to help fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, a move certain to be unpopular with the British public, reports the Guardian. NATO Gen. Stanley McChrystal will likely recommend to President Obama that the current total of 150,000 Afghan troops should...

US, Brits Press Plans for Taliban Talks

(Newser) - British commanders backed by US officials aim to use the success of recent offensives to persuade mid-level Taliban leaders to come in for talks and give up the fight, the Guardian reports. Conditions are right for the "second-tier" leaders who control large numbers of fighters in southern Afghanistan to...

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