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Six Afghan policemen killed in Herat bombing

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:21:19 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan - At least six Afghan policemen guarding a strategically important dam were killed in a roadside bombing Tuesday in the war-torn country's western province of Herat, officials said. They said that suspected Taliban insurgents triggered the explosion when a police patrol vehicle heading to Herat city was travelling in the Chashti Shareef district of the province. "There ...

Afghanistan Seeks Military Aid from India

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:15:07 -0400

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met with Indian leaders in hopes of securing more military aid before international troops leave the country next year. Mr. Karzai held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late Tuesday in New Delhi, after meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. The Afghan president is expected to seek India's assistance to help strengthen Afghan security ...

Vice President Hamid Ansari leaves for a four-day official visit to Uzbekistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:20:01 -0400

Vice President Hamid Ansari today left on a four-day visit to Uzbekistan during which the two nations will discuss issues of cooperation in counter-terrorism, Afghanistan and development projects in the region will come up for discussion. Ansari is travelling with a high-level delegation to Tashkent where he will meet Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov. Issues relating to Afghanistan will come ...

President Karzai invites CII to set up healthcare and skill building centers in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:10:02 -0400

In an exclusive interaction with a group of CII CEOs , President Karzai called for Indian Investment in prominent sectors including Healthcare, Agri business, Telecom and Capacity Building. He briefed the Indian investors on emerging business opportunities in Afghanistan and take advantage of the business friendly regime and investment climate. He highlighted that Agriculture is a priority ...

Talks with Taliban only option for Pakistan Nawaz Sharif

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:50:03 -0400

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, has told newly elected lawmakers that Pakistan has no other option apart from negotiating with the Taliban in the interest of peace. The Express Tribune quoted Nawaz, as saying that the Taliban invitation for dialogue should be taken seriously. Nawaz said the bullet is not a solution, adding they want to use each and every option available ...

Afghan women getting jailed for moral crimes

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:40:01 -0400

The Afghan government should take urgent steps to halt an alarming increase in women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes," Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. Statistics from Afghanistan's interior ministry indicate that the number of women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes" had risen to about 600 in May 2013 from 400 in October 2011 - a 50 percent rise. Since October 2011, there has been ...

Afghan President Karzai to hold talks with Manmohan Singh today

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:50:01 -0400

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who is in India on a three-day visit, will meet Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh here this evening. Security, infrastructure development and peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan are likely to figure prominently during their talks. This is Karzai's second visit to India in the last six months. President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday conferred ...

Afghan interpreters to get British visas

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:49:52 -0400

About 600 Afghan interpreters who served with British forces fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan will be allowed to stay in Britain, the government has revealed.Prime Minister David Cameron initially opposed calls to allow interpreters and their families to settle in Britain but backed down following a campaign.He is now preparing to offer five-year visas to those who served on the front ...

Afghan Interpreters Can Come To UK In Rethink

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:31:36 -0400

Around 600 Afghan interpreters are to be offered the chance to settle in Britain after an apparent coalition rethink. About half the staff working with UK forces are expected to be granted visas in recognition of risks to their personal safety. The proposals could see all interpreters who have been in the job more than 12 months and put themselves in physical danger offered a resettlement ...

Memo From Afghanistan In Afghanistan Hezb-i-Islami Takes Its Extremism Into Politics

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:32:47 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan ...

Afghan interpreters can come to UK

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:28:50 -0400

About half the staff working with UK forces are expected to be granted visas in recognition of risks to their personal safety.The proposals could see all interpreters who have been in the job more than 12 months and put themselves in physical danger offered a resettlement package.They will need to have worked between December 2012 and December 2014, when troops are due to leave, to be eligible.It ...

Australia waits on US-Afghan decision

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:33:04 -0400

Australia is still waiting on the US to decide its post-2014 troop commitment to Afghanistan before announcing how many Australian troops will remain, Defence Minister Stephen Smith says.Speaking after meeting US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Washington, Mr Smith said Australia remained willing to assist with training of Afghan officers.Australia was also ready to contribute special forces to ...

600 interpreters will be allowed to move to UK as reward for assisting British forces in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:13:15 -0400

About 600 Afghan interpreters that put themselves in danger for British forces are to be given settlement rights in the UK, it was ...

Some Afghan interpreters to be allowed to settle in Britain

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:54:31 -0400

About half the Afghan interpreters risking their lives for British troops are to be given settlement rights in the UK under a reworked package prepared by the coalition government.The package represents a climbdown from earlier suggestions that most interpreters would have to risk reprisals as collaborators by the Taliban after coalition forces leave a still unstable country at the end of ...

Which Is More Corrupt Afghanistan or America

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:53:50 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan -- None of President Hamid Karzai's top advisers knew that he had been receiving tens of millions of dollars in secret cash from the CIA, Afghanistan's senior anticorruption official said, and he added that he did not believe the Afghan leader's claim that he had been giving the agency regular receipts for the money. Mohammad Yasin Osmani, the head of the ...

Delay in mine project shadows hopes for Afghan economy

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:52:54 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan - The giant copper mine that the Afghan government has made the centerpiece of its plans for building an economy nearly from scratch is at least five years behind schedule and the state-owned Chinese company that won the bidding has missed key deadlines in its still-secret contract with the Afghan government and is trying to renegotiate the deal, according to several officials ...

Afghanistan - Radio station technician and host murdered in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:50:00 -0400

Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that the body of Mohammad Hassin Hashemi, a 30-year-old employee of local radio Nadjhrab in the northeastern Kapisa Valley, was found near his home on 20 May 2013, 18 days after he disappeared.Hashemi was apparently shot in the head the day after he went missing. His body also bore the marks of blows."We offer our condolences to his family and ...

Body of Footless Torture Victim Unearthed Near US Special Forces Base in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:46:00 -0400

Laborers digging a water ditch just 200 yards from a former US Special Forces outpost in Afghanistan have discovered the body of a missing Afghan man, Sayid Mohammad, who was last seen being taken to the base after being taken into custody by men associated with the US ...

11 Afghan police killed in latest violence

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:45:51 -0400

The bomb killed six police guards in Herat province on Tuesday as they traveled to a hydroelectric dam that is under protection from insurgent attack. The officers were from the Afghan Public Protection Force, a government-run force that provides security for international supply convoys, aid groups and foreign-funded reconstruction sites. The blast ripped through the vehicle as the men were ...

Chronicling thirty years of upheaval in Afghanistan’s Garmser district

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:48:00 -0400

Carter Malkasian, War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier. (London: C Hurst & Co Publishers; New York: Oxford University Press, ...

US military deaths in Afghanistan at 2091

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:43:55 -0400

As of Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at least 2,091 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press ...

Pakistans new leader offers talks to Taliban

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:40:09 -0400

By Wajahat S. Khan, Producer, NBC News ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's prime minister designate Nawaz Sharif told a packed hall of his party stalwarts that talks with the Taliban -- who have been fighting the state for almost a decade -- are not off the table."All options should be tried, and guns and bullets are not a solution to all problems … Why shouldn't we sit and talk and ...

Dining Out Afghan Chopan Kebab House offers comfort food

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:23:47 -0400

afghanchopankebab.ca Dinner for two without tip: About $40-----EDMONTON - I awoke on a recent spring morning and looked out the window only to discover snow-lined tree tops and winds as strong as my desire for comfort and warmth. With a sigh, I found my woollies and succumbed to winter's grip.Hoping to find solace in a helping of homestyle comfort food straight from the streets of Kabul, I ...

Kyrgyz leader says US Manas air base will close in 2014 base supports Afghanistan operation

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:12:21 -0400

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan's president has reaffirmed that next year the Central Asian nation will evict the U.S. air base that supports military operations in nearby Afghanistan. President Almazbek Atambayev has repeatedly pledged to shut the Manas Transit Center next year, dismissing U.S. assumptions the base would remain in exchange for higher rent. The United States pays $60 ...

Kyrgyzstan shutting down key US route to Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:30:08 -0400

President Almazbek Atambayev has repeatedly pledged to shut down the Manas Transit Center in 2014, dismissing U.S. assumptions that the base would remain in exchange for higher rent. The United States currently pays $60 million annually for the base.Atambayev said the Kyrgyz Cabinet had drafted a bill on the base closure and submitted it to parliament. He said Kyrgyzstan would compensate for the ...

Karzai seeks Indian military aid to fill gap left by Nato

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:28:20 -0400

Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai (second from left) receives an honourary degree from his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee at the Lovely Professional University on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of ...

India offers more aid for rebuilding Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:25:57 -0400

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, right, listens to Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a meeting at the Indian Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Karzai is meeting with Indian leaders and is expected to seek increased military aid from India. India has invested more than $2 billion in Afghan infrastructure, including highways and hospitals and rural electricity ...

Increasing Numbers of Afghan Women Jailed for Moral Crimes

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:24:30 -0400

Kabul, May 21 (Prensa Latina) The Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed today that the number of women and girls in prison in this country for so-called moral crimes has increased by 50 percent over the last eight months. According to official data published on the Khaama Press website, in October 2012, about 400 women were jailed for escaping from their homes or having extra-marital sex, in ...

7 Afghan police officers killed in blast

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:05:15 -0400

-- Seven police officers were killed in western Afghanistan on Tuesday when a police vehicle struck a roadside explosive, a Herat province spokesman ...

Afghan president expected to seek military aid during visit to India

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:53:06 -0400

India would stand by Afghanistan in its transition Prez

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:50:17 -0400

Bullion traders say the refining of these impure gold bars will be a new line of business in India and jewellers may also look at setting up refineries to ensure a steady supply of the ...

Afghanistan Sees Sharp Rise in Women Imprisoned for Moral Crimes

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:19:52 -0400

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday, the highest number since the Taliban were toppled almost 12 years ago. Running away from home, usually from abuse and forced marriage, and alleged adultery, which often involves rape, have landed most of the 600 women in prison. That figure is an increase of 50 percent over the last 18 months. "That increase reflects a shameful lack and failure ...

Afghanistan Deadly 24 hours leave 14 police dead

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:13:31 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan -; A coordinated Taliban assault on checkpoints in southern Afghanistan killed four police before a counterattack drove the insurgents back, Afghan officials said Tuesday. Also, at least 10 other police died in two attacks in the country's ...

Media Watchdog Calls For Probe Into Afghan Journalists Murder

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:12:12 -0400

KABUL -- A leading press freedom organization in Afghanistan, Nai, has demanded an investigation into the killing of a journalist who was found dead after being missing for weeks. In a statement, Nai called on Afghan authorities to probe the murder of Mohammad Mohsin Hashimi in northern Kapisa Province. Abdul Woudod Haideri, district governor of Nijrab in Kapisa, told RFE/RL's Radio ...

U.N. urges Afghanistan to protect women

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:35:30 -0400

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is urging authorities to fully implement the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, a news release states. "Progress in implementing the EVAW law contributes to deterring harmful practices and protecting women from violence in their daily lives," said the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of ...

More Afghan women jailed for ‘moral crimes’ HRW

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:37:23 -0400

Female Afghan prisoners play volleyball at a prison in the eastern Afghan city of Herat on July 2, 2010. There are 110 women inmates at the main Herat ...

Coordinated Taliban attacks in Afghan south kill six policemen

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:29:32 -0400

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Dozens of Taliban insurgents launched coordinated attacks on Afghan checkpoints in the south on Tuesday, killing at least six Afghan policemen, officials said, adding that a clash was going ...

President Karzai to Discuss Enhancing Defense Ties with India

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:52:35 -0400

Afghan President Hamid Karzai receives an honorary degree from his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, second right, at the Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, India, May 20, ...

Combined Force Wounds Taliban Leader Arrests Insurgent

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:37:27 -0400

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release KABUL, Afghanistan, May 21, 2013 A combined Afghan and coalition security force wounded a senior Taliban leader and arrested another insurgent in the Zharay district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province today, military officials reported. The Taliban leader, who was wounded after he attacked the security force, is ...

Chinas Strategy in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:20:01 -0400

An Afghan man rides his bike past a China Merchandise Trade Center in Kabul, Afghanistan.(Musadeq Sadeq/AP) For a relatively small drilling operation, China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) project in Afghanistan's Sar-e-Pul province has a large footprint. Several layers of fences and containers serving as blast walls surround the extraction site, which includes dormitories, an ...

Dozens of deaths reported in fighting in western southern Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:10:25 -0400

A members of the Hamas security forces patrol the border area between Gaza and Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip May 20, 2013. Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again for four days, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travellers, As Tunnels between Egypt and Gaza closed and border was declared as military ...

Coalition Downplays Afghan Reports of Major Battle in Helmand

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:27:51 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan ...

Number of Afghan women jailed for fleeing abuse soars

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:04:08 -0400

Women demonstrate in Kabul: religious conservatives have blocked a landmark law protecting women from violence. Photograph: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty ...

10 Police Killed in Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:28:34 -0400

Authorities say a vehicle the police were riding in was destroyed when it hit the bomb Tuesday in the Obe district of Herat province. The police were assigned to work as guards on a dam project. There was no claim of responsibility, but similar assaults often are blamed on the Taliban. Meanwhile, a Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan has killed four police officers. Officials say a ...

18 militants killed in Afghan operations within day

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:15:51 -0400

Eighteen militants have been killed and 22 others detained in a series of operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday."Up to 18 armed Taliban have been killed and 22 others captured in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces when Afghan National Police (ANP), supported by army ...

Official Roadside bomb kills 6 policemen in western Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:55:14 -0400

KABUL - A powerful roadside bomb killed six policemen in western Afghanistan on Tuesday when their vehicle hit the explosives buried in the road, an Afghan official said. Insurgents often use makeshift land mines to target both Afghan government officials and international forces in Afghanistan. The explosives often kill civilians as well, accounting for a large percentage of Afghan civilian ...

Pakistan PM-elect calls for Taliban talks

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:04:09 -0400

Pakistan's prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif Monday called for peace talks with Pakistani Taliban militants at war with the government, potentially charting a course that could put him at odds with the country's powerful army. Speaking to the newly elected members of national and provincial assemblies belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said that Taliban offers to ...

Clashes kill 4 cops 26 militants in S. Afghanistan

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:03:37 -0400

An Afghan provincial official said Tuesday that four Afghan policemen and 26 militants have been killed in ongoing clashes in the country's southern province of Helmand."Militants numbered hundreds launched armed attacks against police checkpoints in Pirozo and Kolali areas of Sangin district Monday morning and clashes still going on there till now," the provincial government ...

Nawaz Sharif calls Pakistani Taliban for peace talks

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:44:19 -0400

Pakistan's presumptive prime minister Nawaz Sharif called for peace talks with Taliban militants at war with the government on Monday, potentially charting a course that could put him at odds with the country's powerful army.Nawaz Sharif said 'terrorism' was one of the most serious problems plaguing the country and any offer by the Pakistani Taliban to talk 'should be ...

Endgame Afghanistan living in the fear of the Taliban

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:39:49 -0400

Kabul: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai is in India to seek economic cooperation but the focus this time is likely to be on security.The Afghan MPs, Opposition leaders, former intelligence chiefs and police commissioners have told NDTV that they want more than developmental aid from India.They would like India to player a much bigger role post-2014, when Western troops will exit ...

Bomber kills 14 at Afghan provincial council

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:30:31 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed 14 people, including a prominent provincial council chief, outside the council headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Monday, authorities said. The Taliban insurgency quickly claimed ...

Military Memo Applying Early Lessons to Build Afghan Security

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:00:35 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan ...

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:22:14 -0400

The Department of Defense has identified 2,206 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans ...

Getting to Yes with the Taliban - By John Arquilla

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:17:24 -0400

Hagel's front office gets a new Hand; Shineski, under fire; Obama to talk drone, Gitmo policy; MCT: Amos being investigated; Terminal Lance: "Shut up!" and a bit more. - by Gordon ...