Taliban

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Taliban Chief at Peace Talks Was Impostor

Fake leader paid handsomely for taking part in talks

(Newser) - A "Taliban leader" heavily involved in peace talks in Afghanistan was an impostor, according to US and Afghan officials. The man, who pretended to be high-ranking Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, was flown to several meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and was given a sizable sum of cash for...

Pakistan Freed Captors of NYT Reporter

It's more evidence of ties between government, Taliban

(Newser) - An investigative piece by the Nation about what happened in the aftermath of an American reporter's escape from his captors demonstrates yet again that Pakistan's secretive ISI agency maintains close ties with the Taliban. The case revolves around New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was kidnapped and held 7...

Obama Plans to Stay in Afghanistan Past 2014
Obama Plans to Stay in Afghanistan Past 2014
nato summit
Nov 19, 2010 9:30 AM CST

Obama Plans to Stay in Afghanistan Past 2014

President brings new strategy to NATO summit

(Newser) - As the NATO summit in Lisbon begins today, President Obama has a new plan for Afghanistan—and it calls for the US and others to stick around beyond 2014, the Christian Science Monitor reports. NATO forces, the plan says, will turn over the country to Afghan forces by 2014, but...

We're Not Open to Talks: Taliban Boss

Mullah Mohammed Omar says insurgents are winning war

(Newser) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has once again denied that the insurgents are open to talks with the Afghan government. In a message for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Omar argues insurgents in Afghanistan are winning the war. "Claims about negotiation, flexibility in the stance of the Islamic...

Taliban Writes Letter to Congress

'Your military leaders are lying,' states missive

(Newser) - In a brazen bid to squeeze the US out of Afghanistan, the Taliban has written its first "open letter" to Congress detailing why America "can't win" the war. Letter author and Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi called on Congress to send a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan. The...

Entire Afghan Police Station Defects to Taliban

19 cops cut a deal with insurgents, sack, burn station

(Newser) - An entire Afghan police station defected to the Taliban today, with as many as 19 officers joining insurgent fighters in sacking and burning their own station, the New York Times reports. The lone remaining cop of the station southwest of Kabul—the chief—said that the turncoats took their guns,...

Afghan Peace Talks Not Actually Happening: Officials

Experts say reports likely part of 'information strategy'

(Newser) - Don’t believe the reports of high-level peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government: No such discussions are taking place, say US officials and Afghan experts. Such reports, the experts noted, could be intended to divide Taliban bosses, McClatchy reports. “This is a psychological operation, plain and...

Taliban Retreats in Kandahar: NATO

Coalition thinks they've made big progress

(Newser) - NATO and Afghan forces have been wiping the floor with the Taliban in Kandahar in recent weeks, using new high-precision mobile rockets to rout insurgents from their long-held strongholds, NATO commanders, Afghan officials and local residents tell the New York Times . Western officials believe the Taliban has been dealt a...

NATO Escorts Taliban Elite to Afghan Peace Talks

Talks have included commanders at the highest level of insurgency

(Newser) - NATO troops have been helping top Taliban commanders get to Kabul for face-to-face peace talks with Hamid Karzai, sources tell the New York Times. In at least one case, Taliban leaders actually hopped aboard a NATO aircraft to make the journey, and in others NATO has secured roads, promising leaders...

Bin Laden in House, Not Cave: Official

Al-Qaeda bosses living comfortably in Pakistan, says NATO insider

(Newser) - “Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave”—instead, Osama bin Laden and other top figures are likely to be living rather comfortably in houses in Pakistan, under the protection of locals and some Pakistani intelligence, a NATO official tells CNN . Bin Laden has likely been roaming from...

Petraeus: 300 Taliban Leaders Hit in 3 Months

Special forces operations increase threefold

(Newser) - Special Forces teams have killed or captured more than 300 Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders in the last three months, says David Petraeus. The top general revealed the figure in a wide-ranging and upbeat discussion of the Afghan war, noting that the results had come from a three-to-four-fold increase in the...

US Backs Taliban Talks
 US Backs Taliban Talks 
Oct 15, 2010 1:00 AM CDT

US Backs Taliban Talks

Clinton: 'Stranger things have happened'

(Newser) - Western nations seem to be quickly warming to the idea of talking peace with the Taliban. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who only last month said talks would be premature, backed the idea at a NATO meeting yesterday, the AP reports. "Whenever opportunities arise that are worth exploring, I think...

Taliban Ready for Peace Talks: Afghan Peace Council Chief

Former president says 'first steps' being taken

(Newser) - A former Afghan president who heads a new peace council said today that he's convinced the Taliban are ready to negotiate peace. Burhanuddin Rabbani told reporters in Kabul that the Taliban have not completely rejected the idea of negotiating a nonmilitary resolution of the war. "They have some conditions...

US Grenade May Have Killed British Aid Worker

Linda Norgrove died in flubbed rescue effort

(Newser) - Though initial reports stated that Linda Norgrove's Taliban captors detonated a bomb that killed her, the kidnapped British aid worker may have actually been killed by a grenade thrown by American forces during the flubbed rescue attempt in Afghanistan. British PM David Cameron made the announcement today, but defended the...

Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks
 Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks 
Oct 11, 2010 3:22 AM CDT

Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks

Reps are talking 'countryman to countryman,' he says

(Newser) - It's official: Hamid Karzai is talking to the Taliban in a last-ditch bid for peace. In an interview with CNN 's Larry King set to air today, the Afghan leader says his government is engaged in "unofficial" discussion with Taliban reps. "We have been talking to the Taliban...

Afghan Mosque Blast Kills 20, Including Governor

Mohammad Omar was targeted, official says

(Newser) - A provincial governor and at least 19 other people were killed by a massive bomb blast inside a packed mosque during Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan, where insurgents have stepped up violence amid intensified NATO-Afghan military operations. Thirty-five people were wounded in the explosion while praying at the Shirkat mosque...

Afghan Warlords, Insurgents Hired to Guard US Bases

Senate panel says lack of oversight creating 'grave risks' for US troops

(Newser) - American contractors in Afghanistan have hired security forces with links to the Taliban, warlords, and even Iranian intelligence services to guard US bases in Afghanistan, according to a Senate Armed Services Committee report. The report found that "systemic failures" exist in the Pentagon's oversight of Afghan guards and that...

Pakistan Pushes Taliban to Keep Fighting: Report

Militants say ISI threatens to arrest them if they don't

(Newser) - Pakistani intelligence has been actively pressuring the Taliban to continue fighting in Afghanistan, even threatening to arrest them if they don’t, Afghan militants tell the Wall Street Journal . Taliban commanders say pressure from the ISI is one of the main reasons that few have taken the Afghan government up...

US in Secret Talks With Ruthless Haqqani Network

Which have been described as 'extremely tentative'

(Newser) - The US and Afghan governments have both been in secret talks with the Haqqani network, which they have come to believe is the most powerful and ruthless of all the Afghan insurgent groups, sources tell the Guardian . The US has been talking to the network through intermediaries for more than...

Prince Harry Taliban Kidnap Drama Irks Royals

Royal 'furious' at fictional depiction of Afghan snatching

(Newser) - Prince Harry begs his Taliban captors for his life in a British drama to be broadcast later this month, and the royal soldier is not amused. Channel 4's "dramatized documentary" The Taking of Prince Harry mixes footage of a kidnapped Harry, played by actor Sebastian Reid, with real interviews...

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