Afghanistan war

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US Pays $400 a Gallon for Gas in Afghanistan

Figure to become major talking point in Congress

(Newser) - As debate over the Afghan war heats up, expect Congress to heavily quote a new statistic from the Pentagon: $400. That’s how much the US pays, on average, for every gallon of fuel put into its planes and combat vehicles in Afghanistan, military officials recently told the House Defense...

Afghan Election Now Headed for Runoff

'Stunning' second ballot complicates Obama strategy

(Newser) - President Hamid Karzai's share of the vote in Afghanistan's presidential election has reportedly fallen to about 47% after an investigation into fraudulent ballots—meaning that he will face Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff if the result is finalized today. One Afghan official called the development "stunning," and a...

4 American Troops Killed in Afghan Blast

Deaths bring US death toll to 25 for the month

(Newser) - Four American service members were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan yesterday. Two were killed instantly in the blast and two others suffered fatal injuries in the same explosion. Details of the attack, including its location, haven't been released. The deaths bring to 25 the number of American troops...

Afghan War Costs US $3.6B Per Month

Figure will go even higher if more troops are sent

(Newser) - Waging a war in Afghanistan ain’t cheap. The US is spending roughly $3.6 billion a month there, according to data from the Congressional Research Service, and that number is likely to rise precipitously as the Obama administration sends more troops. That estimate is based on 51,000 troops;...

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

White House denies a decision has made, but UK's move would make more sense

(Newser) - President Obama will announce a troop surge in Afghanistan next week, sources tell the BBC, with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US saying Obama will commit as many as 45,000. The White House says there’s been no decision, with spokesman Robert Gibbs sniffing that the BBC wouldn’t...

Arianna: Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan
Arianna: Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan
opinion
Oct 14, 2009 5:54 PM CDT

Arianna: Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan

If Obama ramps up troops, the VP should quit on principle

(Newser) - Joe Biden should resign on principle if President Obama sends more troops to Afghanistan, writes Arianna Huffington. It's no secret Biden has "deep reservations" about ramping up the war effort there. "So if the president does decide to escalate, Biden, for the good of the country, should escalate...

Britain to Send 500 More Troops to Afghanistan

Expects other NATO countries to follow suit

(Newser) - Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,”...

Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies
Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies
ANALYSIS
Oct 14, 2009 5:21 AM CDT

Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies

VP's calls for a narrowed mission echo increasing pessimism on war

(Newser) - Joe Biden was a lone voice of skepticism on Afghanistan strategy after his fact-finding tour there earlier this year, but many in the White House have gradually swung to his point of view. Biden's perspective that the mission should be narrowed is now favored by administration liberals. The position reflects...

Karzai's Government Too Rotten to Back
Karzai's Government
Too Rotten to Back
OPINION
Oct 14, 2009 1:19 AM CDT

Karzai's Government Too Rotten to Back

Sending more troops won't work if they're protecting a tainted government

(Newser) - No counterinsurgency campaign can succeed without a good government to work with, and Hamid Karzai's operation is nowhere near good enough, writes Thomas L. Friedman. Karzai's government is thoroughly corrupt and his election victory deeply tainted, Friedman notes in the New York Times. Much of the insurgency is now fueled...

Hey, Right Wingers: You're Hanoi Jane Now
Hey, Right Wingers: You're Hanoi Jane Now
OPINION
Oct 13, 2009 11:11 AM CDT

Hey, Right Wingers: You're Hanoi Jane Now

Folks attacking Obama over Peace Prize are the America haters

(Newser) - “Why, oh why, do conservatives hate America so?” One might get that idea, Eugene Robinson writes, when the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the RNC rush to join the Taliban in denouncing President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. These people are “exhibiting what they, in a...

Pentagon Downplays 13K Surge in Afghan Support Troops

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have...

I'm Not Marginalized, I Delegate: Clinton

Obama's Peace Prize is deserved, but won't sway war policy, she says

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton would rather you view her apparent absence from big foreign policy issues like Iran and Afghanistan as an example of “delegating power” and not marginalization. Ann Curry used a variant of that word in an interview on MSNBC, which Clinton finds "absurd." “I would...

Joe Biden Is Obama's Best Gadfly, 'Truth-Teller'

Hardly a joke, veep doesn't mind stirring the pot

(Newser) - Barack Obama's suave, controlled campaign may have winced when gaffe-prone Joe Biden came aboard, but the vice president has proven himself to be a necessary straight-shooter time and again in the administration's tumultuous first nine months. From Afghanistan to health care, Biden has become Obama's most reliable "truth teller,...

Guns Failed US Troops in Afghan Firefight

M-4, built for extreme conditions, jammed repeatedly in heavy fire

(Newser) - As militants surrounded the remote Afghanistan base of Wanat on July 13, 2008, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M-4 carbine quit firing. The machine gun he grabbed in desperation didn't work, either. When the battle ended, nine US soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the...

Iraq Hawks Are Just as Wrong on Afghanistan

Why is anyone still listening to McCain, Lieberman, and Graham?

(Newser) - The Three Amigos who pushed the invasion of Iraq are at it again, now claiming that we must escalate the war in Afghanistan if we want to avoid another 9/11—the same claim they used before to urge us to take on Iraq in 2003, Frank Rich writes. Rich finds...

Taliban Claim Victory as US Quits Base

Insurgents take control of remote outpost where 8 troops were killed last week

(Newser) - The Taliban claimed to have won a major victory over the US yesterday as American troops abandoned a remote base in eastern Afghanistan where eight soldiers were killed in a firefight last weekend. "The white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh," crowed a Taliban spokesman. NATO ...

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in His Troops
Pres. Hamlet Must Send in
His Troops
OPINION
Oct 9, 2009 11:15 AM CDT

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in His Troops

Krauthammer: Dems have to get serious about Afghanistan

(Newser) - It’s time for Democrats, particularly President Obama, to get serious about the war in Afghanistan, writes Charles Krauthammer. From John Kerry on, Democrats have campaigned on the cynical political calculation that Afghanistan was the “good war.” But now that it’s time to send troops into that...

Top Afghan Troop Request Is 60K—Not 40K

Obama and team meet again today on strategy

(Newser) - The troop requests on the table as President Obama meets with his security team again today are even higher than has been reported: The top option is 60,000, not 40,000, the Wall Street Journal reports, though Gen. McChrystal is backing the middle figure, 40,000. The third and...

Let McChrystal Make His Case to Congress
 Let McChrystal 
 Make His Case 
 to Congress 
peggy noonan
Oct 9, 2009 1:39 AM CDT

Let McChrystal Make His Case to Congress

National debate is needed to build consensus

(Newser) - President Obama may not want to hear from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but Congress certainly does, writes Peggy Noonan, and he should let them. Staying on in Afghanistan and withdrawing are both unappealing options that could have dire consequences, and even though the Pentagon doesn't want to do it, the country...

Taliban to West: We Mean You No Harm

Group may be trying to sway Afghanistan strategy debate

(Newser) - With the US debating what to do in Afghanistan, the Taliban has announced it poses no threat to the West. “We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have such agenda today,” said a statement posted on Taliban websites. The group...

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