Obama's Pledge to 'Finish the Job' in Afghanistan
Pres. Obama reiterated again on “The View” today that he pledged as a Candidate to finish the job in Afghanistan, and that’s exactly what he intends to do. The cover of Time is the exact photo to represent what we’re fighting. Back in the 90s when the Taliban’s brutality against women was brought into the forefront is where I joined this battle. Mavis Leno was one of the women on the front lines back then. That’s how long I’ve believed this battle was...

Patrick Coburn: 'We need to talk to the Taliban'
David Cameron's denunciation this week of Pakistan for "promoting terror" misses the point that there will be no Peace in Afghanistan without Pakistani involvement. Finger-wagging by Mr Cameron is not going to change the interdependence between the Insurgency in Afghanistan and the Pakistani army which has existed since the Soviet invasion in 1979. But the link between the Taliban and the Pakistani Military is an opportunity as well as a threat. Safe havens within Pakistan are essential to...

Second missing U.S. sailor in Afghanistan is found dead
Kabul -- The second U.S. sailor who went missing in eastern Afghanistan last week has been found dead and his body recovered. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story The discovery Wednesday ended the urgent manhunt that began Friday evening when two U.S. Navy service members drove away from Camp Julien on the outskirts of Kabul and ended up in an apparent Taliban ambush in Logar province. The two men, Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, 30, of Wheat...

Patrick Coburn: 'We need to talk to the Taliban'
David Cameron's denunciation this week of Pakistan for "promoting terror" misses the point that there will be no Peace in Afghanistan without Pakistani involvement. Finger-wagging by Mr Cameron is not going to change the interdependence between the Insurgency in Afghanistan and the Pakistani army which has existed since the Soviet invasion in 1979. But the link between the Taliban and the Pakistani Military is an opportunity as well as a threat. Safe havens within Pakistan are essential to...

Fight in Afghanistan but be a good guest
AFP A new set of Afghan Counterinsurgency guidelines issued by General David Petraeus includes the instruction to "be a good guest" but urges Troops to "fight hard" and get tough on Corruption. The three-page manifesto, dated July 27 and issued in Kabul, is a blueprint for the behaviour of members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, led by Petraeus. Excerpts of the 24-point document include: "Secure and serve the population. Only by providing them...

Karzai condemns documents leak
AFP Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned as "irresponsible and shocking" the release of informants' names by Whistleblower site Wikileaks, saying it has put their lives in danger. "It is extremely irresponsible and shocking," Karzai told a news Conference in the Afghan capital. "There are lives and these lives are in danger." The website released more than 90,000 classified US Military files from the Afghan war between 2004 to 2009, a period when tens of thousands of US and NATO Troops...

Taliban blamed for roadside bomb which killed 25 Afghan civilians on bus
A crowded bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 25 passengers, in the latest example of Afghan civilians bearing the brunt of the country's war. At the same time, NATO continued to investigate claims that a Helicopter gunship mistakenly opened fire on a house packed with civilians, with Afghan government officials saying that 52 people were killed. Yesterday's casualties occurred when a passenger bus was approaching Helmand Province on its way to Kabul and struck...

TIME magazine ends debate on the war in Afghanistan?
Leaving Afghanistan: "Zohal Sagar lost her father and two brothers in the war. Her mother hopes they can leave Afghanistan and find a new life in Canada ," Time captions this bitterweet image of one of the innocent Victims of war. But it gets oh so much worse. Their cover image will haunt you forever unless you're a moral relativist like Editor Peter Stengel , who makes a point of assuring us he isn't taking sides (see below). By Sissy Willis of sisu " We do not...

Three foreign troops killed by bombs
AFP Three foreign Soldiers were killed in two separate Taliban-style Bomb Attacks in Afghanistan's volatile south, NATO said on Friday. The three, whose nationalities were not released, were all killed on Thursday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Cheap and easy to make and plant, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are the Taliban's main weapon in the War in Afghanistan, nearing the end of its ninth year. A total of 408 foreign Troops have died in the Afghan war so...

The Afghanistan WikiLeaks
The NY Times keeps hope alive : Document Leak May Hurt Efforts to Build War Support By Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper Washington - The disclosure of a six-year archive of classified Military documents increased pressure on President Obama to defend his Military strategy as Congress prepares to deliberate financing of the Afghanistan war. The disclosures, with their detailed account of a war faring even more poorly than two Administrations had portrayed, landed at a crucial...

Mullah Omar orders Taliban to attack civilians, Afghan women
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Amir Al Mumineen ("the commander of the faithful") of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. The battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan has taken a new turn in the past two months. The Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Omar, has ordered his forces to kill or capture any Civilians, including Afghan women, who cooperate with Coalition forces. Omar's latest directive contradicts his marching orders from just one year ago, when he told his Taliban commanders to refrain...

Leaked Afghan war files a 'dangerous' risk: Gates
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said leaked US documents on the Afghan war posed grave risks for Americans in battle and for US relationships in the region. Gates vowed the Pentagon will "aggressively investigate" and prosecute those behind the leak and had asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help in the Probe. The leak of 92,000 classified documents by the website Wikileaks contained no surprises and did not call into question the US strategy in the Afghan war, Gates and the US...

3 US troops die in deadliest month of Afghan war
Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) - Three U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for July to at least 63 and making it the deadliest month for American forces in the nearly 9-year-war. A NATO statement Friday said the three died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. The statement gives no nationalities but U.S. officials say they were all Americans. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending notification of kin. That brings the U.S. death...

Michael Medved: The Cost of Defeat in Afghanistan
Those who demand quick U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan need to confront an uncomfortable question: what happens when NATO Troops go home?   During the Vietnam conflict, Anti-War advocates fatuously claimed that Communists would bring Reconciliation, but no one advances such illusions about the Taliban. Their previous years in power demonstrated their bloodthirsty habits and support for Terrorism. Moreover, a U.S. defeat in Afghanistan would inspire Islamist radicals everywhere with an...

U.S. must work with Pakistan despite leaked reports' picture of ties to Taliban, experts say
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — Despite a wealth of detail in leaked U.S. documents about suspected collusion between Pakistani Intelligence agents and the Afghan Taliban , experts here say the U.S. and Afghanistan have little choice but to work with a partner they believe supports, funds and equips their enemy. Pakistan vehemently denies assisting the Taliban, an assertion officials repeated after documents posted by the website Wikileaks detailed reports of numerous meetings...

Afghan war spending faces new scrutiny
As part of its attempt to boost Afghanistan's economic and political development, the United States is paying thousands of Afghan contractors and subcontractors to perform much of the work that supports U.S. efforts there. But the "Afghan First" program could be achieving just the opposite of its intended effect, according to officials trying to figure out where the Money is going. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story This Story Initial...

Feingold: Leaked docs underscore problems with Afghan war
Leaked classified documents about U.S. Military strategy in Afghanistan underscore why Troops should be withdrawn, . Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said Thursday. Feingold, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and an advocate for drawing down Troops in Afghanistan, condemned the release of classified documents to the website Wikileaks, but said the leaked documents proved his point. "I'm deeply troubled at the release of this kind of information," Feingold said during an appearance on...

Time Magazine Can't Die Soon Enough
This week's cover is of a girl who had her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban. The cover title is "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan." Underneath it reads, "Aisha, 18, had her nose and ears cut off last year on orders from the Taliban because she fled abuse in-laws." I leave the logic of this to you, dear readers, as an exercise. It then has an article agreeing with Limbaugh that the gulf Spill is a no big deal.

Time's Rick Stengel Explains Reasoning Behind Bold Cover Image
This week’s Time Magazine cover might startle you. It might make you a bit uncomfortable. And that’s exactly what Rick Stengel , the Magazine’s managing editor, intended. The cover image shows 18-year-old Aisha, an Afghan woman who, after leaving her abusive in-laws, had her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban. The story’s headline reads: What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan . Stengel wrote an accompanying letter explaining the decision behind the cover image and...

The Last Straw in Afghanistan
No. It cannot be won with states like Pakistan, failing to to keep pace intellectually, industrially, economically with India its bete noir necessary adversary, cynically playing our over extended forces for the fools they believe them to be. No, it cannot be won in any terms familiar to western ears, eyes, or hearts. No, it cannot be won except by descending to the level at which the public consciousness exists (in so far as it ever exists in Afghanistan) and playing the game on those terms...

The Last Straw in Afghanistan
No. It cannot be won with states like Pakistan, failing to to keep pace intellectually, industrially, economically with India its bete noir necessary adversary, cynically playing our over extended forces for the fools they believe them to be. No, it cannot be won in any terms familiar to western ears, eyes, or hearts. No, it cannot be won except by descending to the level at which the public consciousness exists (in so far as it ever exists in Afghanistan) and playing the game on those terms...

Time magazine's new cover: Woman whose nose was cut off by Taliban
Not just her nose, though: They ordered her husband to saw off her ears too for the crime of running away from home. Time’s editor insists that “We do not run this story or show this image either in support of the U.S. war effort or in opposition to it,” but that’s nonsense, of course. The image is as stark an argument as you’re likely to see for continuing the war, which is why lefties naturally have been griping about it all day. Some offer legit...

Wikileaks Afghanistan: Taliban 'hunting down informants'
The Taliban has issued a warning to Afghans whose names might appear on the leaked Afghanistan war logs as informers for the NATO-led coalition.

Behind the Leaked Documents (Guest Voice)
Behind the Leaked Documents by Michael Reagan The man behind the torrent of leaked documents wants to end the War in Afghanistan, and he doesn't care how much Damage he does to the Troops on the ground in that hostile environment. Now hailed by Anti-War Liberals as some kind of a hero, Australian Computer Hacker Julian Assange is part of an international cabal dedicated to doing mischief that endangers U.S. National Security. Last April, his website Wikileaks posted a video, "Collateral...