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Afghan Police: Insurgent Gunmen Storm Police Posts, Kill 16 Policemen

AP | RAHIM FAIEZ | Posted 12.15.2009 | World

Read More: Afghan Police Checkpoint, Taliban, Afghanistan Insurgents, Afghanistan, Afghan Police, Afghanistan Police Killed, Afghan Police Killed, World News

KABUL — Taliban fighters attacked checkpoints in northern and southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing 16 members of the Afghan National police. ...

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To Beat Al Qaeda, Look to the East

Scott Atran | Posted 12.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Karl Eikenberry, Taliban, General Mcchrystal, Al Qaeda, Obama Afghanistan War, Afghanistan War, Politics News
Scott Atran

We're winning against Al Qaeda and its kin in places where antiterrorism efforts are local and built on an understanding that the ties binding terrorist networks today are more cultural and familial. Consider recent events in Southeast Asia.

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Americans In Pakistan Had Taliban Contact: Police

AP | ASIF SHAHZAD | Posted 12.12.2009 | World

Read More: Saifullah, Punjab, Usman Anwar, Afghanistan, Fbi, Taliban, Americans in Pakistan, World News

ISLAMABAD — Five young American men under investigation in Pakistan for alleged terror links had established contact with a Taliban recruiter an...

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The New York Times - Getting Pakistan Wrong

Wajiha Ahmed | Posted 12.14.2009 | Media

Read More: New York Times, Taliban, Drones, Pakistan, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan War, Media News
Wajiha Ahmed

While some Pakistanis might subscribe to outrageous theories, it is disingenuous to paint such a simplistic picture. The NYT's report that Pakistan's media outlets "trumpet" conspiracy theories is incomplete.

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Obama's Lincolnesque Nobel Peace Prize

William Bradley | Posted 12.11.2009 | World

Read More: Iran, Al Qaeda, Pakistan, Cairo, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, Taliban, Iraq, Nobel Peace Prize, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, 9/11, Emancipation Proclamation, Civil War, World News
William Bradley

Lincoln is Obama's professed ideal. We remember Lincoln today from civics lessons and the monument in Washington, but the historical reality is that he was both soaring idealist and ruthless pragmatist.

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Can Arlen Specter End the War in Afghanistan?

Robert Naiman | Posted 12.11.2009 | World

Read More: Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania, Ned Lamont, Taliban, Joe Lieberman, Iraq, Jim McGovern, Senate, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan War, Joe Sestak, World News
Robert Naiman

Who knew Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter would emerge as one of the most vocal opponents in the Senate of the President's military escalation in Afghanistan?

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Recent Pakistan Bombings Show Strength Of Insurgents

True/Slant | Christopher Allbritton | Posted 12.10.2009 | World

Read More: Taliban Swat Valley, Tehreek-E-Taliban, Taliban, Taliban Pakistan, Pakistan Taliban, Pakistan, World News

Yesterday's attack in Multan may not seem significant to outsiders looking at the steady drumbeat of bombings that have rocked Pakistan. It seems like...

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Afghanistan and Pakistan: Anatomy of a Proxy War

Bob Churcher | Posted 12.10.2009 | World

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Obama Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan Taliban, Pakistan, Taliban, Barack Obama, Afghan Taliban, Afghanistan War, India, World News
Bob Churcher

Powerful elements in Pakistan will continue to support the Pashtun insurgency in Afghanistan no matter what Islamabad's government says or does. This is the core problem for Obama.

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McChrystal: Bin Laden Key To Defeating Al Qaida

AP | Posted 12.09.2009 | World

Read More: Mcchrystal, Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden, Taliban, Afghanistan, Osama, General Mcchrystal, Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, World News

WASHINGTON — The general in charge of the war in Afghanistan says capturing Osama bin Laden is the ultimate key to defeating the al-Qaida terror...

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Could Be a Late Night in Partystan

Rick Horowitz | Posted 12.09.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Obama and Afghanistan, Curfews, Karl Eikenberry, Pakistan, Deadlines, David Petraeus, Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Obama Administration, Afghanistan Policy, Troop Withdrawal, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, Taliban, Hillary Clinton, Afghanistan, Zardari, Comedy News
Rick Horowitz

"Daddy, have you seen the car keys?" "On the table near the door -- you're going already?" "I'm late -- I told Marisa I'd pick her up on the way ...

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McChrystal: 'No Silver Bullets' For Success In Afghanistan

AP | ANNE GEARAN and ANNE FLAHERTY | Posted 12.09.2009 | World

Read More: Mcchrystal Strategy, Afghan Strategy, Mcchrystal, Warwire, Stanley McChrystal, Taliban, Afghanistan, Afghan Army, World News

WASHINGTON — Questioned by skeptical lawmakers, the U.S. general running the war in Afghanistan said Tuesday he did not get as many troops as he...

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Love Shacks For The Taliban

wowOwow | Sara Davidson | Posted 12.07.2009 | World

Read More: Afghanistan Taliban, Taliban, Taliban Pakistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, World News

I thought I knew what we should do in Afghanistan, until I flew to the country with a group of eight women and one man organized by Code Pink. This is...

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Iraq-Afghanistan Surge Analogies Mask Risks Of Afghanistan

New York Times | DAVID E. SANGER | Posted 12.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Surge, Bush, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, George W. Bush, Pakistan, Native, Analysis, Anbar Awakening, Taliban, Iraq, Counterinsurgency, Foreign Fighters, Politics News

In fact, Iraq analogies have been flying back and forth so furiously in recent days that Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, the only holdover from ...

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Barack Obama's War: 10 Key Things To Know

William Bradley | Posted 12.04.2009 | World

Read More: Al Qaeda, Nato, Pakistan, Taliban, Afghanistan, Iraq, Soviet Union, Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Richard Nixon, Britain, World News
William Bradley

It's Barack Obama's war now -- a war in which the Nobel Peace Prize-winner has placed himself at the helm of the largest military force ever sent to Afghanistan. Here are some key things to know.

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Obama's Surge: The Real Reason

Jamal Dajani | Posted 12.04.2009 | World

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Pakistan, Stanley McChrystal, Asif Ali Zardari, Taliban, Barack Obama, Al Qaeda, World News
Jamal Dajani

It's not because of bin Laden, al-Qaeda, or the Taliban. The real reason behing the surge is Pakistan, a failed state with nuclear warheads.

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Karzai: "We Must Talk To The Taliban"

AP | KATHY GANNON | Posted 12.04.2009 | World

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, Taliban, Karzai Taliban, Afghan Taliban, Afghanistan War, World News

KABUL — President Hamid Karzai put a brave face Thursday on President Barack Obama's decision to start pulling out troops in mid-2011, telling T...

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Obama's Afghanistan Escalation: An Assessment

Phyllis Bennis | Posted 12.03.2009 | World

Read More: Taliban, Afghanistan, Obama, Empire, General Mcchrystal, Escalation, Pakistan, World News
Phyllis Bennis

The White House has dropped the rhetoric. Now it's official. It's not about Afghanistan and Afghans at all -- it's all about us.

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Obama's Afghanistan Strategy: Blogs From New York Review

The New York Review of Books | Posted 12.17.2009 | Books

Read More: Bill Clinton, Garry Wills, Mccrystal, Pakistan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Biden, Nyr, Afghan War Strategy, Mcchrystal, Taliban, Hillary Clinton, Afghanistan, Obama Disappointment, Books News

Pakistani author and journalist Ahmed Rashid writes in the New York Review of Books about Obama's "missing strategy" in Afghanistan. After all the ta...

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What Does 30,000 Troops Really Buy Us?

Megan Carpentier | Posted 12.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Afghanistan Troop Increase, Troops, Obama West Point Speech, Afghanistan, Us Troops Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, John McCain, Saddam Hussein, Bush Administration, Pakistan, Iraq War, Taliban, Obama Administration, Politics News
Megan Carpentier

Is a graceful withdrawal and a less unstable puppet government worth more American lives? Are those lives really worth that "success"?

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Gates: Afghanistan Failure Would Have 'Severe Consequences'

AP | ANNE FLAHERTY and PAULINE JELINEK | Posted 12.03.2009 | World

Read More: Robert Gates, Afghanistan War, Taliban, Hillary Clinton, Afghanistan, US Troops, Obama Afghanistan, World News

WASHINGTON — A deeply skeptical Congress on Wednesday resigned itself to President Barack Obama's escalation of the Afghanistan war, even as the...

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President Obama's Afghanistan Speech a True Capitulation

Charles Butler | Posted 12.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Stanley McChrystal, Troops, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan Surge, David Axelrod, Taliban, Obama Afghanistan Troop Increase, West Point, Politics News
Charles Butler

The Obama administration has to stop campaigning to get down to governing. All of the campaign-like speeches are becoming quite transparent to the American people and foreigners alike.

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How We Should Really Be Viewing Afghanistan

Melissa Roddy | Posted 12.02.2009 | World

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Bosnia, War in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan Taliban, War Wire, Taliban, Afghanistan War, World News
Melissa Roddy

The U.S. bears much responsibility for the destruction of Afghanistan during the 1980s and 1990s. We have a duty to help Afghans rebuild their country and to defend them against their enemy who we've long enabled.

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Afghanistan: A Little Something for Everyone

Nick Mills | Posted 12.02.2009 | World

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Obama, Taliban, Afghanistan Surge, Pakistan, Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, World News
Nick Mills

President Obama's Afghan strategy is an attempt to give most stakeholders something to cheer about. Except in this situation the cheer sounds something like, "Well, yeah, okay, maybe...".

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The Speech Obama Should Give Tonight

Adam Hanft | Posted 12.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, 9/11, Stanley McChrystal, Taliban, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan War, Politics News
Adam Hanft

Churchill was an orator who knew the power of the simple declarative: "The news from France is very bad." In that spirit, I stand before you tonight and say the news from Afghanistan is very bad.

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Questions Obama Has To Answer Tonight

Jon Soltz | Posted 12.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Stop-Loss, Obama Afghanistan, Warwire, Dwell Time, Afghanistan, President Obama, Obama West Point Speech, Taliban, Afghanistan War, Al Qaeda, Politics News
Jon Soltz

By deploying an additional 34k troops, without speeding up the departure from Iraq, our force will remain overstretched. How does the administration reconcile this issue?

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