Kandahar

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>

US Soldiers in Afghanistan Took Home 'Finger Trophies'

'Kill team' murdered Afghan civilians for sport, say investigators

(Newser) - A secret "kill team" of US soldiers in Afghanistan murdered civilians for sport and kept their fingers as trophies, according to Army investigators. Prosecutors have charged members of an American infantry brigade with some of the most serious war crimes to surface in the Afghanistan war. Five of the...

Roadside Bomb Brings US Afghan Toll to 21 in 5 Days

Petraeus: US withdrawal will be 'thinning out,' not abrupt departure

(Newser) - Four US troops were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan today, bringing the American death toll to 21 since Friday. The US death toll for August now stands at 53, almost all of whom were killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is strongest, the...

July Deadliest Month for US in Afghanistan

Three more American deaths bring total to 63

(Newser) - Three US service members have been killed in blasts in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for July to at least 63 and making it the deadliest month for American forces in the war. The three died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan yesterday. US and NATO commanders had warned that...

8 US Troops Killed in Taliban Attacks
 8 US Troops Killed 
 in Taliban Attacks 
updated
Jul 14, 2010 12:44 PM CDT

8 US Troops Killed in Taliban Attacks

Taliban claims responsibility for car bomb, gun, grenade attack

(Newser) - Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, including a car bombing and gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar. In that attack, a suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police....

Troops Forced to Play Diplomat in Kandahar

Forces represent Afghan government where it fears to go

(Newser) - After the less-than-successful military offensive in Marjah, NATO forces are taking a different tack in the villages surrounding Kandahar: They’re acting as representatives of the distant, oft-distrusted government. In “Operation Hamkari” (“cooperation”), soldiers are attempting to drive out the Taliban simply by improving government services and...

McChrystal Was Doomed From 1st Words of 'Runaway'
McChrystal Was Doomed From 1st Words of 'Runaway'
Inside Obama's Warroom
Jun 24, 2010 10:52 AM CDT

McChrystal Was Doomed From 1st Words of 'Runaway'

Obama thought keeping general would undermine civilian command

(Newser) - One paragraph into “the Runaway General,” Barack Obama was pretty sure he’d fire Stanley McChrystal. An hour after the president got the Rolling Stone article, aides were summoned to discuss the possibility. “There was a basic meeting of the minds,” Rahm Emanuel tells the New ...

We Can't Take Kandahar Yet: McChrystal

NATO delays operation because locals don't want them there

(Newser) - The military push to secure Kandahar is being delayed, because the hearts-and-minds part of the operation isn’t going so well, General Stanley McChrystal revealed at a NATO meeting in Brussels today. The massive operation to take back the birthplace of the Taliban was supposed to begin this month, the...

Suicide Attack Kills 40 at Afghan Wedding Party

Taliban blamed for Kandahar blast

(Newser) - Officials in Kandahar say they have no doubt that the Taliban was behind a suicide attack that killed at least 40 people at a wedding party last night. Dozens more were injured, although the bride and groom survived. The groom's brother and two of his cousins were police officers, and...

Taliban Attack NATO's Bagram Base

Military: Bagram security 'not breached'

(Newser) - Seven US soldiers were wounded this morning as the Taliban staged a bold pre-dawn attack at one of the largest US bases in Afghanistan that also killed 10 insurgents. Though details are still murky, an American official told the New York Times that as many as 30 insurgents fought their...

Afghans Riot After US Troops Kill Bus Passengers

Civilian death spark outrage before Kandahar push

(Newser) - Anti-American riots swept Kandahar yesterday after American troops opened fire on a passenger bus, killing at least 4 civilians and wounding 18. Accounts of the incident—which deals a massive blow to NATO's hopes of winning over the local population before its upcoming offensive in the area—vary widely. NATO...

4 Suicide Attacks Kill 30 in Afghanistan

Separate blasts rock Kandahar, one of them near a prison

(Newser) - At least 30 people were killed and dozens more hurt in four suicide attacks in the Afghan city of Kandahar. A local official—the half-brother of President Hamid Karzai—says a main target of the attacks was a prison, but no prisoners escaped. It may have been an attempt to...

Next Target Taliban Stronghold of Kandahar
Next Target Taliban Stronghold of Kandahar
Gen. McChrystal
Mar 8, 2010 5:07 AM CST

Next Target Taliban Stronghold of Kandahar

Meanwhile, Gates arrives in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Preparations have begun for a crucial campaign to assert Afghan government control over Kandahar, spiritual home of the Taliban, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said today. The NATO-led force is growing in districts around Kandahar that are under the Taliban thumb, ahead of an eventual military operation, McChrsytal said, though he added...

Journalist, 4 Canadian Troops Killed in Afghan Blast

Roadside bomb claims life of award-winning reporter Michelle Lang

(Newser) - An award-winning Calgary Herald journalist was among five Canadians killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan yesterday. Michelle Lang, 34, was embedded with troops on a security patrol when their vehicle was hit in the Kandahar area. She had arrived in the country 2 weeks earlier on an assignment to...

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns
 Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns 
Analysis
Dec 2, 2009 10:44 AM CST

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns

New strategy will result in immediate spike in battles

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s new strategy will result in an immediate spike in combat clashes, as the US directly advances on the ethnic Pashtuns in eastern and southern Afghanistan. The first wave of reinforcements is already moving, reports David Wood in Politics Daily, with marines expected to begin landing in the...

Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy

Kandahar official survives attack on holiest Muslim holiday

(Newser) - The governor of Kandahar narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded underneath his convoy. Turyalai Wesa was on his way to prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the holiest holiday on the Muslim calendar. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, a violent Afghan hotspot, and...

Fresh Troops to Target Afghanistan's Troubled South

Kandahar key in coming Afghan surge

(Newser) - Though President Obama has yet to announce his plan for finishing the job in Afghanistan, military commanders say the bulk of the fresh troops—regardless of their number—will be sent to the country's volatile south to reverse Taliban gains, specifically targeting the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The coming surge...

Kandahar Slips Back Into Taliban Hands

Generals give up on local officials and call for more troops

(Newser) - Taliban forces using massive car bombs and threatening letters have slowly retaken Kandahar, reports the Washington Post. The Taliban's resurgence in Kandahar, its spiritual home, presents a complex problem for US and UN forces, both scrambling to find enough troops to stabilize the city. In many ways, Kandahar stands for...

Karzai Set Up 800 Fake Poll Sites, Say Diplomats

Ten times as many ballots as voters, say Western officials

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai's supporters set up hundreds of fake polling stations that delivered hundreds of thousands of votes to the Afghan president, even though nobody voted there, diplomats tell the New York Times. The incumbent's team created as many as 800 fake sites, existing only on paper. Karzai allies also occupied...

Huge Kandahar Blast Kills 43, but Taliban Deny Role

(Newser) - A Taliban spokesman today denied that the group was behind a huge explosion that killed at least 43 and injured 65 more in Kandahar last night. Roughly 40 shops were destroyed in the blast, which went off outside a wedding hall just as people were breaking their Ramadan fast. Rescue...

US Afghan Toll Mounts; 2009 Deadliest for Foreign Troops

(Newser) - A busy, bloody day in Afghanistan:
  • Five car bombs detonated simultaneously in Kandahar, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 50, reports the AP.
  • That follows news of a blast in southern Afghanistan that killed four US troops, bringing to 41 the number of American deaths in August.
...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser