The Afghan and Russian presidents have taken steps to restart economic and political ties that have been almost nonexistent since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was highlighted by the signing of an agreement that could pave the way for Russia to participate in “priority economic projects” – including ones left unfinished after Soviet forces pulled out of the country in 1989, following nearly a decade of war.
A village in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province has been completely wiped out of the map after an offensive by the US Army to get rid of the Taliban militants in the area, a media report said here. Tarok Kolache, a small settlement in Kandahar near the Arghandad River Valley, has been completely erased from the map, [...]
NATO says there will be no letup in fighting during the winter in Afghanistan, VOA reports. A spokesman for NATO’S International Security Assistance Force, German General Josef Blotz, says NATO will maintain pressure on the Taliban during the winter months when fighting traditionally eases.
Pakistan’s progress in rooting out terrorists has “not come fast enoughâ€, and so the United States will continue insisting it to deal with the terror havens within its borders, US President Barack Obama has said. “We will continue to focus on our relationship with Pakistan. Increasingly, the Pakistani government recognizes that terrorist networks in its [...]
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry says a NATO air strike killed four Afghan soldiers on Dec. 15 in southern Afghanistan, apparently mistaking them for insurgents. Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the soldiers had left their base in Musa Qala district, in Helmand Province, when they came under fire from NATO planes.
A gunman in an Afghan police uniform has killed six service members in eastern Afghanistan, NATO forces say. The BBC reports that the man turned his weapon on the troops during a training mission, said NATO. He was also killed in the incident in Nangarhar province.
NATO’s exit strategy from Afghanistan will dominate a crucial summit starting today.
Arriving in Portugal for the talks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will hear plans to withdraw most of the 150,000 foreign troops within four years.
Afghanistan’s president says he wants the United States to reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations in his country. In an interview Sunday in The Washington Post, Hamid Karzai said he wants the U.S. to stop night raids, which he says aggravate Afghans and could incite people to join the Taliban insurgency. The newspaper reports that the Afghan president is seeking veto power over those nighttime operations.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded an explanation from NATO’s command in Afghanistan for a counternarcotics raid, RFE/RL reports. He said it was carried out by the United States and Russia without his government’s permission.
Fresh details emerged on Wednesday of British forces killing or wounding Afghan civilians.
The Guardian newspaper obtained documents from the Ministry of Defence under the UK’s freedom of information legislation. The files show three British military units killed or wounded civilians on 21 occasions.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his office receives large amounts of cash in bags from Iran, VOA reports.
However he says the money is a transparent form of aid for his government.
Pakistan said Sunday it has reopened a border crossing used by NATO to ship supplies into Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the Torkham crossing in the northwest Khyber tribal region on September 30, the same day NATO helicopters fired missiles at a Pakistani military post, killing two soldiers.
Afghans cast their ballots for a new parliament Saturday, despite rocket and bomb attacks during elections, VOA reports. The elections are seen as a key test of the government’s fight against the Taliban and corruption.
Reports from Afghanistan say an explosion rocked the capital Kabul early Saturday just hours before polling stations were to open for a parliamentary election.
The French News Agency says the cause of the pre-dawn blast is not known, but the Associated Press quotes a police officer (Abdul Manan) as saying it was caused by a rocket. There was no word about casualties.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has again harshly criticized coalition strategy for fighting Afghanistan’s stubborn insurgency. President Karzai said in a meeting Sunday with the visiting German Parliament speaker Norbert Lammer the current strategy has been “ineffective” and has not achieved anything other than “killing civilians.”
Afghan officials say Taliban rebels have killed eight police officers in a raid in the northern province of Kunduz. VOA reports that Taliban were stepping up strikes in what once was a relatively secure part of Afghanistan.
The commander of the U.S. Marine Corps says it likely will take a few years to transfer security duty to Afghan forces in the country’s key southern provinces.
General James Conway says some American forces in Afghanistan probably will turn over combat duties to Afghan forces in 2011. However, he adds, that probably will not include Marines battling insurgents in Helmand and Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said there are no formal peace talks between his government and the Taliban, RFE/RL reports. However he admitted to “individual contacts” with the hard-line Islamic group.
U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus says he sees progress in the war, VOA reports. But he cautioned that the fight against the Taliban is an “up and down process.”
