Afghanistan war

Obama Looks for Local
Allies in Afghanistan

Oct 29, 2009 6:53 AM CDT

Obama Looks for Local Allies in Afghanistan

Administration's decided it can't wipe out Taliban

(Newser) - President Obama has requested detailed, province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan’s local and tribal leaders, hoping to find more effective partners than the country’s weak and corrupt central government. The administration has concluded that no surge in troops will be able to eradicate the Taliban as a political force, but...

Obama Visits Dover
to Honor War Dead

Oct 29, 2009 5:09 AM CDT

Obama Visits Dover to Honor War Dead

Prez makes midnight trip to base as 18 bodies arrive

(Newser) - President Obama made a surprise visit to Dover Air Force Base before dawn today to honor fallen American service members. The president arrived at the base shortly after a transport plane carrying 18 bodies landed. Obama and other officials boarded the plane and stood by as a chaplain prayed over...

Karzai's Brother
a Bad Investment for CIA

aryn baker

Oct 28, 2009 1:32 PM CDT

Karzai's Brother a Bad Investment for CIA

Alleged drug runner undermines US effort

(Newser) - No one in Afghanistan will be shocked by the allegations that Ahmed Wali Karzai is a drug runner on the CIA payroll, writes Aryn Baker. The accusations are old news, and Aghans have always figured brother Hamid for a US stooge anyway. But it’s probably fairly shocking to Americans,...

City-Focused
Afghan Plan
Winning Support

Oct 28, 2009 6:36 AM CDT

City-Focused Afghan Plan Winning Support

Emerging strategy fuses McChrystal, Biden competing plans

(Newser) - A plan one official describes as "McChrystal for the city, Biden for the country," is emerging as the administration continues to hammer out its Afghan strategy. The plan would concentrate US forces in population centers, while maintaining pressure on insurgents elsewhere with drone strikes and targeted attacks from...

UN Staffers Among
Dozen Killed in
Kabul Attacks

UPDATED

Oct 28, 2009 5:11 AM CDT

UN Staffers Among Dozen Killed in Kabul Attacks

Taliban claims responsibility for attacks on guest houses

(Newser) - Six United Nations staffers and six others were killed today when militants armed with automatic weapons, grenades, and suicide vests stormed two guest houses in downtown Kabul where international workers were sleeping. One of the dead was American. The nationalities of the others was not immediately known. Rockets hit another...

Karzai's Brother
on CIA Payroll: Insiders

Oct 27, 2009 8:43 PM CDT

Karzai's Brother on CIA Payroll: Insiders

Ahmed Wali Karzai has been linked to Afghanistan drug trade

(Newser) - The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been on the CIA’s payroll for much of the past 8 years, a time during which he’s boosted his personal power in a large area of southern Afghanistan—and been linked to the opium trade. Ahmed Wali Karzai denies the...

Afghan Surge Gains Favor; Public Sours on DC

POLL NUMBERS

Oct 27, 2009 6:20 PM CDT

Afghan Surge Gains Favor; Public Sours on DC

Support for public option also grows; GOP isn't more popular, though

(Newser) - New poll numbers out today hold good news and bad for the Obama administration. Support is rising for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds, and nearly half now favor a public option in the health-care reform measures now under consideration. The bad news: 58% said...

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It

JUAN COLE

Oct 27, 2009 11:17 AM CDT

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It

New prez is doing fine in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, but no one notices

(Newser) - Despite the howls of protest over President Obama's Nobel Prize and the administration’s "dithering" on Afghanistan, the fact is that the new president’s foreign endeavors deserve good marks, says Juan Cole. Cole gives Obama an A for his Iranian statesmanship, a B for pulling out of Iraq...

Oct. Deadliest Afghan Month as 8 US Troops Die

Oct 27, 2009 10:05 AM CDT

Oct. Deadliest Afghan Month as 8 US Troops Die

'Complex' bombings in south also take 1 Afghan life

(Newser) - Eight American troops have been killed today in multiple bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month for American troops there since the war began in 2001. The 8 deaths occurred in "multiple, complex" bomb attacks in the south, according to the US military.

Ex-Marine: Afghan War Not Worth Fighting

Interview

Oct 27, 2009 7:35 AM CDT

Ex-Marine: Afghan War Not Worth Fighting

Former official explains why he resigned his post in protest

(Newser) - When Matthew Hoh resigned in protest last month, it sent a small tremor through the Pentagon and White House. Hoh, an ex-marine, was the US’ top civilian in Zabul province, until he reached the conclusion that the war wasn’t worth fighting. “My resignation is based not upon how...

Pentagon Holds
Secret Afghan
War Games

Oct 26, 2009 6:06 AM CDT

Pentagon Holds Secret Afghan War Games

Mullen leads exercise to assess effects of troop surge

(Newser) - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, led a secret war game earlier this month to assess the Obama administration's options in Afghanistan, including a 44,000-troop surge. A team of military leaders used Gen. Stanley McChrystal's analysis to examine how Taliban insurgents and the Afghan...

Biden on Cheney's Afghan Bluster: 'Who Cares?'

Oct 23, 2009 6:40 PM CDT

Biden on Cheney's Afghan Bluster: 'Who Cares?'

In Europe, VP calls predecessor's review of conflict 'irrelevant'

(Newser) - Joe Biden’s in Europe, but his latest opinion of Dick Cheney’s continued attacks on President Obama isn’t getting lost in translation. Asked about Cheney’s criticism that Obama is “dithering” on Afghanistan, Biden replied: “Who cares?” Biden added that a review of the conflict late...

White House:
Cheney's the
Irresponsible One

Oct 23, 2009 4:38 AM CDT

White House: Cheney's the Irresponsible One

He helped get us into mess, Pelosi adds

(Newser) - What Dick Cheney calls dithering, "President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday, rejecting Cheney's charge that the Obama adminstration is taking too long to decide its Afghanistan strategy. "...

Cheney Is
a 'Maniacal'
Hypocrite

Kristen Breitweiser

Oct 22, 2009 12:47 PM CDT

Cheney Is a 'Maniacal' Hypocrite

He accuses Obama of endangering troops?

(Newser) - Dick Cheney is accusing President Obama of "dithering" on Afghanistan and endangering troops. How rich, writes Kristen Breitweiser. What actually endangers troops "is bad judgment—particularly when exercised by an overzealous, power-hungry, maniacal Vice President like you." Cheney seems to have forgotten that the Iraq war—a...

Obama Uses
Troop Bump
to Pressure Karzai

Afghanistan strategy

Oct 22, 2009 9:14 AM CDT

Obama Uses Troop Bump to Pressure Karzai

US wants clean election, and could support a coalition government

(Newser) - The US built pressure on Hamid Karzai yesterday, with both Barack Obama and John Kerry signaling that a troop increase could hinge on a successful runoff election, and that the Obama administration would be receptive to a power-sharing deal between Karzai and his chief rival. A coalition government could provide...

Stop Afghan 'Dithering' as Troops Face Danger: Cheney

Oct 21, 2009 9:52 PM CDT

Stop Afghan 'Dithering' as Troops Face Danger: Cheney

'Do what it takes to win,' former VP urges Obama

(Newser) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney tonight accused the White House of dithering over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan and urged President Barack Obama to "do what it takes to win." Cheney, accepting an award from a conservative national security group, added, "Make no mistake. Signals...

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Poll Numbers

Oct 21, 2009 8:17 AM CDT

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Deeply divided country leaves president between rock, hard place

(Newser) - When it comes to the Afghan war, Barack Obama is between a rock and a hard place politically. Only 45% of the public approves of his handling of it, down 10 percentage points from last month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and a whopping 63% don’t...

Military Frustrated
by 'Slow' Obama

Oct 20, 2009 3:54 AM CDT

Military Frustrated by 'Slow' Obama

Commanders irked by ongoing review of Afghanistan strategy

(Newser) - President Obama's ongoing review of Afghan strategy is frustrating military officers used to a different commander-in-chief's style, say past and present top brass. Some fear that the long deliberations over Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops signal weakness and indecision to the enemy, while others fear the president is...

Taliban Money Men Outwit US

Oct 19, 2009 7:37 AM CDT