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Keyword: afghanistan

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Pakistani doctor who helped get Bin Laden was denied asylum in U.S., report reveals

    05/17/2013 9:24:58 PM PDT · by Petrosius · 17 replies
    Fox News ^ | May 17, 2013 | Sib Kaifee
    The jailed doctor who helped the U.S. track down Usama bin Laden was convicted by a tribal court on bogus charges, according to a classified Pakistani government report. Portions of the voluminous 357-page Abbottobad Commission Report, which has yet to be made public and were obtained exclusively by Fox News, acknowledge Dr. Shakil Afridi’s conviction last year by a government-sponsored Jirga has undermined Pakistan’s credibility. The report calls for Afridi to be given a new trial.
  • Six Americans die in suicide attack in Afghan capital

    05/16/2013 7:08:10 AM PDT · by navysealdad · 14 replies
    NBC NEWS ^ | May 16, 2013
    Six Americans were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a convoy carrying foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, according to a NATO source. The victims included two soldiers and four civilian contractors, the source added. Officials said at least six Afghan civilians had also died. Kabul police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai said the attacker detonated a Toyota Corolla. He added that 35 people had been injured.
  • 15 killed, including 6 Americans, after car bomb hits US convoy in Afghanistan

    05/16/2013 8:19:25 AM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 12 replies
    Fox News ^ | May 16, 2013 | AP
    KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S. convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including two American soldiers and four civilian contractors, officials said. The brazen attack made May the deadliest month this year for coalition forces. Cmdr. Bill Speaks, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Secretary, confirmed that the two soldiers from the NATO military coalition who were killed in the bombing were Americans. He would not comment on the nationalities of the civilian contractors. It was the bloodiest attack in the Afghan capital since March 9, when suicide bombers struck...
  • George Soros: Media Mogul (Lefty Businessman Spends Millions Funding Journalism)

    08/19/2011 8:23:22 AM PDT · by markomalley · 19 replies
    Media Research Center ^ | August 15, 2011 | Dan Gainor and Iris Somberg
    On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list...
  • Four U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan's Kandahar

    05/14/2013 10:00:57 AM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 8 replies
    Reuters ^ | Tue May 14, 2013 10:19am EDT | Sarwar Amini
    (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Tuesday, the coalition and officials said, a day after three Georgian soldiers were killed in nearby Helmand. The soldiers were in a vehicle on patrol in Kandahar's Zhari district when they were killed, provincial spokesman Jawid Ahmad Faisal said.
  • US drone strikes inside Pakistan must end: Nawaz Sharif

    05/13/2013 9:41:29 AM PDT · by Jyotishi · 10 replies
    Daily News & Analysis ^ | Monday, May 13, 2013 | PTI
    Lahore - Since 2004, the US has carried out over 350 drone strikes inside Pakistan, killing some of the top al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders. A number of civilians also died in the attacks. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who is poised to become Pakistan's new prime minister, today said he wanted to strengthen his country's testy ties with the US but insisted that the CIA's controversial drone attacks must end as it posed a "challenge" to national sovereignty. "Drones indeed are challenging our sovereignty. Of course we have taken this matter up very seriously. I think this is a very serious...
  • SEAL Parents Demand Obama Explain Why Their Son Was Allowed to Be Desecrated At His Memorial Service

    05/13/2013 7:08:26 AM PDT · by george76 · 61 replies
    Gateway ^ | May 13, 2013 | Jim Hoft
    <p>Karen and Billy Vaughn lost her SEAL son Aaron in 2011 in Afghanistan along with 16 other Navy SEALs. At the memorial service in Afghanistan an Islamic cleric desecrated their son and the other SEALs. Now they’re speaking out.</p> <p>On Sunday the Vaughns went on FOX and Friends. Billy Vaughn wants the Commander-in Chief, “To defend the policy that in this United states government that allows the body of a slain warrior to be desecrated and allows the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be mocked.”</p>
  • Panetta orders Pentagon investigation of legal, ethical issues among military leaders

    11/15/2012 7:56:28 AM PST · by Seizethecarp · 28 replies
    Washington Post ^ | November 15, 2012 | Craig Whitlock
    BANGKOK — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has ordered the Pentagon to find out why so many generals and admirals have become embroiled in legal and ethical problems, a trend exacerbated by recent investigations of two of the military’s best-known commanders. The Pentagon disclosed Panetta’s directive on Thursday after he arrived in Thailand as part of a visit to Asia. But aides insisted that he had been considering the review for some time and that it was not prompted by revelations that the FBI has been investigating former CIA director David H. Petraeus, a retired Army general, and Marine Gen....
  • Between meals food items discontinued for troops in Afghanistan? (vanity)

    05/12/2013 12:43:16 PM PDT · by lowbridge · 20 replies
    Apparently this was sent by an active duty soldier in Afghanistan:
  • Five Fort Bliss soldiers killed in Afghanistan blast

    05/10/2013 3:04:40 PM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 9 replies
    el paso times/pioneer press ^ | 5-7-13 | David Burge
    FORT BLISS, Texas - Five Fort Bliss soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, were killed over the weekend in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan. "The toll of this has hit this community hard," Fort Bliss spokesman Maj. Joe Buccino said Monday. "This brings it home." The soldiers killed were: 1st Lt. Brandon James Landrum, 26, Lawton, Okla.; Staff Sgt. Francis Gene Phillips IV, 28, Meridian, N.Y.; Spc. Kevin Cardoza, 19, Mercedes, Texas; Spc. Brandon Joseph Prescott, 24, Bend, Ore.; and Spc. Thomas Paige Murach, 22, Meridian, Idaho. The soldiers were more than halfway through a...
  • BOMBSHELL: Was the downing of SEAL Team 6's CH-47 helicopter an inside job?

    05/10/2013 12:33:21 PM PDT · by GeorgeWashingtonsGhost · 76 replies
    May 10, 2013 | GeorgeWashingtonsGhost
    Fox News' Megan Kelly interviewed the parents of SEAL Team 6 member Aaron Vaughn who perished in the tragic crash of a CH-47 helicopter on August 06 2011 in Afghanistan. During this interview the Vaughs stated that this crash was a direct result of traitorous rules of engagement ordered by the Obama administration that have consistently proven deadly to our troops (It should be noted here that "Over Twice as Many U.S. Soldiers Have Died in Afghanistan Under Obama In 3 1/2 Years Than Did Under Bush in 8 Years..") Although the exact number of SEALs killed has been misstated...
  • SEAL Mom: “This is Submission and the Cost of that Submission on August 6 was My Only Son”(VIDEO)

    05/10/2013 8:50:25 AM PDT · by IChing · 9 replies
    FrontPageMag ^ | 5/9/13 | Daniel Greenfield
    I’ve said before that the Rules of Engagement are a much bigger scandal than Benghazi. I don’t have much else to say, except watch this video. Find an Obama supporter who still has some sense of right and wrong and show them this video. “The hearts and minds of the enemy are more valuable to this government than my son’s blood. This is submission and the cost of that submission on August 6 was my only son.”
  • Gov't Inspector: $50 Million Stolen From US Treasury Disappears After Being Found in Afghan Bank

    05/10/2013 5:59:18 AM PDT · by huldah1776 · 24 replies
    CNSNEWS.com ^ | May 9, 2013 | joe Schoffstall
    John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), spoke at New America Foundation's National Security Studies Program on Wednesday and said $50 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars was stolen from the United States Treasury and found in a bank in Afghanistan. The money has since gone missing. "We identified 50 million dollars stolen from the United States Treasury and it was sitting in an Afghan bank account," said Sopko. "We identified the bank account, we obtained a court order in the United States and had it served on the Afghan government to get them to seize that...
  • Families say Muslim cleric disparaged dead Navy SEALS at their own funeral

    05/10/2013 3:24:53 AM PDT · by expat1000 · 47 replies
    The Daily Caller ^ | may 9, 2013 | Patrick Howley
    Relatives of Navy SEALs who died when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan in August 2011 spoke at a press conference Thursday to condemn the Obama administration and claim that the U.S. military presented a Muslim cleric at the dead SEALs’ funeral who disparaged “sinners and infidels who are fodder for the hell fire.” FreedomWatch president Larry Klayman, the attorney representing the families, claimed at the press conference, which Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and former Florida Republican Rep. Allen West also attended, that the U.S. military presented an anti-American speaker at the SEALs’ 2011 funeral.
  • Defense IG: Obama administration “bureaucrats” trying to silence me about corruption in Afghanistan

    05/09/2013 10:50:09 AM PDT · by Nachum · 4 replies
    Hot Air ^ | 5/9/13 | Ed Morrissey
    In yesterdays hearings on Benghazi, Gregory Hicks told the House Oversight Committee that the State Department warned him about cooperating with investigators and retaliated against him for challenging the bogus talking points about a “spontaneous demonstration.” Mark Thompson further testified to being cut out of the loop after he insisted that FEST should be activated, and Eric Nordstrom dismissed the supposedly independent ARB effort as a whitewash aimed at protecting senior officials in the State Department. Those aren’t the only complaints coming from career professionals within the Obama administration. Politico reports that the Inspector General for the reconstruction of Afghanistan...
  • TrentoVision 5.9.13 - Navy SEAL Extortion 17 EXPOSED - Obama Failures

    05/09/2013 7:41:35 PM PDT · by Iscool · 41 replies
    Youtube ^ | 5/09/2013 | National Press Club, Washington DC
    Navy SEAL Extortion 17 EXPOSED - Obama Failures Sick Video: Obama Has Islamic Iman Curse Dead Soldiers at Their Memorial Service (Seal Team VI)
  • Revealed: The Battle of Shah Wali Kot ("One does not simply 'win' a Victoria Cross")

    05/09/2013 2:04:57 PM PDT · by naturalman1975 · 17 replies
    news.com.au ^ | 10th May 2013 | Ian McPhedran
    "It was tense, hot and arduous ... it was kill or be killed." For sniper team leader Sergeant Garry Robinson - a veteran on his third deployment to Afghanistan - it was the most intense fighting he had experienced. The commandos were surrounded by more than 100 Taliban fighters and were pinned down by withering rocket propelled grenade and machinegun fire at one of the enemy's most secure fortresses in southern Afghanistan, the village of Chenartu in Shah Wali Kot. The rate of fire raking the dangerously exposed Diggers shocked even the most hardened soldiers in their ranks. ..... The...
  • Watchdog says government has tried to silence him on Afghanistan

    05/09/2013 1:44:19 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 3 replies
    Politico ^ | 05/09/2013 | By STEPHANIE GASKELL
    The watchdog who tracks the billions of taxpayer dollars spent to rebuild Afghanistan says government officials have tried to silence him because they think he's embarrassing the White House and Afghan President Hamid Karzai by pointing out the waste and fraud. John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, used a speech at the New America Foundation on Wednesday to blast government “bureaucrats”' who have told him to stop publicizing damning audits that detail case after case of waste, corruption and mismanagement of rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan. Some government officials have even complained that they aren't allowed to pre-screen...
  • Did an Imam Really Use Arabic Prayer to Covertly Damn Fallen Seal Team 6 Members...?

    05/09/2013 10:55:47 AM PDT · by RoosterRedux · 32 replies
    The Blaze ^ | 5/9/2013 | Billy Hallowell
    On Wednesday, TheBlaze spoke with attorney Larry Klayman who is representing the grieving parents to learn more about the Arabic comments in question. Noting that he has consulted with a certified translator, he paraphrased the meaning of the imam’s words as follows: “That the fallen seals should be damned and go to hell as infidels.” If this translation is valid, the notion that it was spoken over U.S. service members bodies at a funeral is potentially problematic, although it should be noted that the prayer may have been intended only for the Afghan soldiers who perished. Let’s first explore what...
  • OUTRAGE! Obama Administration Allowed Radical Cleric to Curse US Navy SEAL Heroes at Funeral

    05/09/2013 10:16:26 AM PDT · by Nachum · 70 replies
    Gateway Pundit ^ | 5/9/13 | Jim Hoft
    This combo shows the 30 troops killed in a helicopter downing in Afghanistan on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. The Pentagon on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 identified the Americans as 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs, five Naval Special Warfare personnel who support the SEALs, three Air Force Special Operations personnel and an Army helicopter crew of five. (AP Photo) Today three families of Navy SEAL Team VI special forces servicemen, along with one family of an Army National Guardsman, appeared at a press conference to disclose never before revealed information about how and why their sons along with 26...
  • Breaking: Saudi Arabia just broke ties with Taliban and recalled embassy personnel

    09/24/2001 10:50:05 PM PDT · by DCBryan1 · 89 replies · 536+ views
    Fox News Live ^ | 25 SEP 01 | DCBryan1
    United Arab Emirates said they would break ties if Saudi Arabia did...now its only Pakistan which has ties with the Taliban...they are running out of friends quicker than Saddam did in 1991.
  • 7 American Service Members Killed in Afghanistan

    05/04/2013 2:41:58 PM PDT · by TurboZamboni · 27 replies
    abc ^ | 5-4-13 | PATRICK QUINN /AP
    even U.S. soldiers and a member of the NATO-led coalition were killed on Saturday in one of the deadliest days for Americans and other foreign troops in Afghanistan in recent months, as the Taliban continued attacks as part of their spring offensive. The renewed violence came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged at a news conference that regular payments his government has received from the CIA for more than a decade would continue. Karzai also said that talks on a U.S.-Afghan bilateral security agreement to govern future American military presence in the country had been delayed because of conditions the...
  • Seven US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast

    05/04/2013 1:57:44 PM PDT · by Patriot95 · 30 replies
    Guardian UK ^ | 4 May 2013 | Associated Press In Kabul
    Seven US service members were killed on Saturday in one of the deadliest days for Americans in Afghanistan in recent months and the latest of attacks against international troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive. The renewed violence came as Afghan president Hamid Karzai acknowledged at a news conference that regular payments his government has received from CIA for more than a decade would continue. Karzai also said that talks on a US-Afghan bilateral security agreement to govern future American military presence in the country had been delayed because of conditions the Afghans were placing on...
  • Five U.S. troops killed by IED attack in Afghanistan

    05/04/2013 8:15:26 AM PDT · by ColdOne · 21 replies
    nbcnews.com ^ | 5/4/13 | Kiko Itasaka and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News
    Five United States troops were killed Saturday by an attack involving an improvised explosive device, the NATO-led security force in the country said.
  • Afghan, Pakistani Forces Clash

    05/02/2013 6:06:17 PM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 2 replies
    Wall Street Journal ^ | May 2, 2013, 2:14 p.m. ET | YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
    KABUL—Afghan troops destroyed parts of the controversial border outpost recently erected by Pakistan, Afghan officials said on Thursday, following a heavy exchange of fire that caused casualties on both sides and dramatically raised tensions between the two uneasy neighbors. One Afghan Border Police officer was killed and three injured in the overnight clash in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. While the Afghan border police said nine Pakistani troops were killed or injured, Islamabad confirmed only two injuries among its Frontier Constabulary soldiers. The battle between the U.S.-funded and U.S.-advised Afghan security forces and the troops...
  • Horrifying Video Of 747 Crash In Afghanistan

    05/01/2013 11:09:18 AM PDT · by lbryce · 86 replies
    Business Insider ^ | April 30, 2013 | Adam Taylor and Pamela Engel
    Direct YouTube Link Shocking new footage has surfaced that appears to show a 747-400 cargo plane crashing at Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield. The crash reportedly left all seven Americans aboard the plane dead. The Taliban took responsibility for the crash shortly after it occurred yesterday, but NATO told the Associated Press that these claims were false. One army spokesperson said the crash occurred due to low altitude after takeoff. The plane, run by Florida-based National Airlines, a subsidiary of National Air Cargo, was reportedly carrying vehicles and other cargo and was bound for Dubai. We've embedded the footage below, which...
  • Afghanistan: UK's best armoured vehicle overcome by Taliban for first time

    05/01/2013 4:53:49 AM PDT · by Smartisan · 18 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 01 May 2013
    The killing of three British soldiers in an explosion in Afghanistan is the first time the Taliban has overcome Britain’s best-protected armoured vehicle, defence chiefs admitted today. The soldiers were killed while travelling in a Mastiff armoured patrol vehicle, once described by Prime Minister David Cameron as offering "the best-known protection" against bombs, after it was struck by an improvised explosive device in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. It is the first time British soldiers have been killed while travelling in a Mastiff armoured vehicle, the Ministry of Defence said today. The Ł1m Mastiff is widely used by...
  • Video of Bagram Airfield Crash 29 April 2013

    04/30/2013 4:05:17 PM PDT · by Dallas59 · 22 replies
    Youtube ^ | 4/30/2013 | Youtube
    Video Linky Here Bagram airfield crash 29 apr 2013 A civilian cargo plane crash at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul in Afghanistan has killed seven people.
  • US cargo plane crash in Afghanistan kills 7

    04/30/2013 3:59:40 PM PDT · by ConservativeStatement · 10 replies
    ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | April 30, 2013
    KABUL, Afghanistan — A civilian cargo plane owned by an American company crashed at Bagram Air Field, north of the Afghan capital, soon after takeoff on Monday, killing all seven people aboard, the US-led military coalition said.
  • Bagram Airfield Crash 29 APR 2013 (Dash Cam Video)

    04/30/2013 2:08:25 PM PDT · by South40 · 79 replies
    LiveLeak.com ^ | 4/30/2013
    A civilian cargo plane crash at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul in Afghanistan has killed seven people. Video Here
  • US panel: Afghans need more religious freedom (Duh)

    04/30/2013 3:48:42 AM PDT · by markomalley · 6 replies
    AP ^ | 4/30/2013 | THOMAS WAGNER
    Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedom remains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday. As the country braces for next year's presidential election and the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014, the panel urges the U.S. government and its allies to work harder to promote religious rights in the war-torn nation. The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni...
  • Cargo Plane Crash In Afghanistan Kills 7

    04/29/2013 3:57:54 PM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 8 replies
    NPR ^ | April 29, 2013 5:43 PM | Krishnadev Calamur
    "Officials say the crash killed all seven crew members. And there is no word yet on their nationalities. "Emergency responders are still on the scene of the crash, at the sprawling base north of Kabul. Officials are still trying to determine the reason for the crash but say there's no indication of hostile fire.
  • Millions in CIA 'ghost money' paid to Afghan president's office: New York Times

    04/28/2013 11:20:58 PM PDT · by LucyT · 12 replies
    Chicago Tribune ^ | April 28, 2013 | Jason Reed
    Tens of millions of U.S. dollars in cash were delivered by the CIA in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags to the office of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, according to the New York Times, citing current and former advisers to the Afghan leader. The so-called "ghost money" was meant to buy influence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but instead fuelled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan, the newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying. "The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan", one American official said, "was the United States."
  • Judge Jeanine Pirro Slams Jihad Mom: Lady, You Shouldn't Be Allowed Here

    04/27/2013 9:39:29 PM PDT · by cunning_fish · 36 replies
    Must See. Jeanine Pyrro Slams Chechen Jihad Mom Zuby Tsarnaeva.
  • Hamid Karzai seeks to curb CIA operations in Afghanistan

    04/24/2013 5:20:38 PM PDT · by JohnPDuncan · 11 replies
    There’s a report in The Guardian detailing Afghan president Karzai’s determination to clamp down on CIA operations after 10 children were killed by a militia affiliated with the US spy agency. Curious when you consider Karzai’s own links to the CIA. His brother was a known CIA asset and was heavily involved in the drugs business. He was assassinated in 2011: President Hamid Karzai is determined to curb CIA operations in Afghanistan after the death of a US agent and 10 Afghan children in a battle he believes was fought by an illegal militia working for the US spy agency.
  • Boston bombing suspect cites U.S. wars as motivation, officials say (Bush's fault)

    04/23/2013 1:55:24 PM PDT · by Brad from Tennessee · 33 replies
    Washington Post ^ | April 23, 2013 | By Scott Wilson, Greg Miller and Sari Horwitz
    The 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack, according to U.S. officials familiar with the interviews. --------------snip------------------------------ The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation, said Dzhokhar and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by police as the two attempted to avoid capture, do not appear to have been directed by a foreign terrorist organization. Rather, the officials said, the evidence so far suggests they were “self-radicalized” through Internet sites and U.S....
  • Holbrooke knew Pakistani Generals were lying on India ['Cutting US aid would increase distrust.']

    04/22/2013 11:27:40 AM PDT · by James C. Bennett · 8 replies
    PTI ^ | April 22, 2013 | PTI
    Late Richard Holbrooke, the first US special Af-Pak envoy, was fully aware that the Pakistani generals were lying to him on their support to the Islamic extremist groups against India, but he was against cutting off military aid to Islamabad, a new book has said. In his latest book "Beyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East", the two-time Pulitzer winner David Rhode said Holbrooke wanted massive aid for Pakistan and launch some signature big projects there, in the absence of which he increasingly became frustrated with the USAID. "While publicly praising the Pakistanis, he was tough- minded...
  • Kerry to host Afghan, Pakistan talks (Taliban,peace)

    04/22/2013 10:51:14 AM PDT · by haffast · 5 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Apr 22, 11:45 AM EDT | MATTHEW LEE
    BRUSSELS (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he would host a meeting of top Afghan and Pakistani officials this week in Brussels to discuss reconciliation with the Taliban and other issues. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his defense minister, along with Pakistan's military chief and foreign secretary, will attend Wednesday's meeting, Kerry said. "I will be meeting with President Karzai and General (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani and the civilian foreign minister from Pakistan while I am here," Kerry told reporters. He said the goal was to advance the peace process "in the simplest most, most cooperative, most cogent...
  • Afghan girls' school feared hit by poison gas

    04/21/2013 6:01:36 PM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 14 replies
    Reuters India ^ | Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:06pm IST | Folad Hamdard
    (Reuters) - As many as 74 schoolgirls in Afghanistan's far north fell sick after smelling gas and were being examined for possible poisoning, local officials said on Sunday. While instances of poisoning are sometimes later found to be false alarms, there have been numerous substantiated cases of mass poisonings of schoolgirls by elements of Afghanistan's ultra-conservative society that are opposed to female education. Local officials said the girls became ill after smelling gas at their school, Bibi Maryam, in Takhar province's capital, Taluqan. The city is about 250 kilometres north of the country's capital, Kabul. The Takhar governor's spokesman, Sulaiman...
  • Assad says West will pay for backing al Qaeda in Syria

    04/20/2013 5:32:48 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 42 replies
    Reuters ^ | Wednesday, April 17, 2013 | Dominic Evans and Mariam Karouny; Editing by Jon Hemming
    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Western nations will suffer the consequences for what he said was their support for al Qaeda militants in his country's civil war. "The West has paid heavily for funding al Qaeda in its early stages in Afghanistan. Today it is supporting it in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price later in the heart of Europe and the United States," he told Syrian television channel al-Ikhbariya, according to extracts published on the Syrian presidency's Facebook page on Wednesday. Assad was speaking a week after Syria's rebel al-Nusra Front, one of the...
  • Why we are still in Afghanistan. It's not about Al Qaeda anymore..

    04/20/2013 5:03:51 PM PDT · by inspector · 10 replies
    Eurasia Daily Monitor ^ | 2/19/2013 | Paul Goble
    United States plans to link the countries of Central Asia by new rail lines with Afghanistan. At the same time, Washington opposes neither the construction of a railway corridor from Central Asia through Iran, nor Chinese extensions of its national rail system into the area. Nevertheless, according to analysts at the Moscow Strategic Culture Foundation, these overlapping transportation development projects threaten to spark a new “railroad war” in the Central Asian region—one that in the absence of counter-efforts by the Russian Federation is likely to result in a sharp reduction of Moscow’s influence over the countries there.
  • Saudi pleasure "prisons" for terrorists

    04/20/2013 12:43:39 PM PDT · by MarkBsnr · 13 replies
    Islamic terrorists – some of whom fought and killed British soldiers in Afghanistan - caught in Saudi Arabia are to receive 'luxury rehabilitation'. The conservative oil rich state is hoping to steer jailed al-Qaeda militants away from religious extremism with counselling, spa treatments and exercise at a luxury rehabilitation centre in Riyadh, news agencies there are reporting. The luxury facilities, which the country has spared no expense on providing, include Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym and a television hall. Media representatives are given a tour of a new centre for the rehabilitation of suspected 'terrorists' and potential...
  • Obama's Peace Partners Urge Muslims To Buy Arms And Take Part In 'Jihad Against Jews And Christians'

    04/20/2013 8:37:28 AM PDT · by Perseverando · 9 replies
    Atlas Shrugs ^ | Arpil 20, 2013 | Pamela Geller
    Our troops are being sacrificed to the politically correct refusal to state the truth about Islam. Worse still, the Department of Defense lies about these murders in order to prop up their failed policy. The number of green-on-blue attacks has skyrocketed, but US policy remains the same. Our boys and girls are sitting ducks. In 2012 they accounted for 15% of Coalition deaths. 2013 will dwarf that. In 2011, green-on-blue attacks accounted for 6%; in 2010, 2%; in 2009, 2%; and in 2008, less than 1%. And still Obama stalks these cold-blooded jihadists for "peace," despite their relentless jihad. Where...
  • Ashley assumes command at Fort Huachuca

    04/20/2013 8:17:45 AM PDT · by SandRat · 13 replies
    HUACHUCA — A brisk wind welcomed the new commander of the Intelligence Center of Excellence and Fort Huachuca Friday morning. Assuming command was Maj Gen. Robert P. Ashley, who took the center’s flag from Lt. Gen. David G. Perkins, who commands the Combined Arm Center and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. It was nearly three months ago when Perkins took the flag from Maj. Gen. Gregg Potter, who relinquished the command before heading to Afghanistan to replace Ashley as the deputy chief of staff senior for the International Security Assistance Force. Potter also became director of intelligence for U.S. forces in that nation.Among Friday’s...
  • Hagel picks Navy vet as chief of staff (Mark Lippert)

    04/20/2013 6:14:12 AM PDT · by haffast · 18 replies
    Stars and Stripes ^ | April 19, 2013 | Chris Carroll
    WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday named Mark Lippert, a Navy veteran and Pentagon official, as his chief of staff. Lippert, 40, currently assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, takes over May 1 as Hagel’s right-hand man. Marcel Lettre, Hagel’s acting chief of staff for the moment, will become Lippert’s deputy, and later move to an still-undetermined senior position, officials said. A White House insider, Lippert has ties to both Hagel and President Barack Obama that stretch back years. He accompanied both men, when they were still senators, on a 2008 visit to Afghanistan,...
  • Dad, Daughter Deploying to Afghanistan Together

    04/18/2013 2:19:08 PM PDT · by Responsibility2nd · 21 replies
    Newser ^ | 04/18/2013 | By Evann Gastaldo
    As the child of two Army soldiers, Miranda Mogg grew up moving from place to place, her father often away. Now, the two will get a chance to be together for nine straight months, as they deploy to Afghanistan as members of the same brigade. Miranda, an intelligence analyst, will even be briefing her dad, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Michael Mogg, the master gunner. "For once she gets to tell me what to do," the elder Mogg jokes. He planned to retire after 29 years, but decided to stay on for his fifth deployment—since it would also be his daughter's...
  • White House Won't Rule Out American 'Terrorism' in Afghanistan (...What??...)

    04/18/2013 11:26:46 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 10 replies
    The Weekly Standard ^ | 1:23 PM, Apr 17, 2013 | DANIEL HALPER
    White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked at today's press briefing, in the context of the Boston bombings, whether U.S. bombings in Afghanistan last month that killed civilians were "terrorism." Carney gave a long answer, but never says "no."
  • Radical Egyptian Cleric: Boston Bombing Meant to Send a Message

    04/18/2013 1:13:40 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 19 replies
    INN ^ | 4/18/2013, 6:15 AM | Elad Benari
    A radical Egyptian Salafi cleric said that the terror attack in Boston this week was meant to send a message to the West, that terrorists are alive and well. The cleric, Sheik Murgan Salem, also warned that similar attacks were expected in France. Salem made the comments during an interview on Tahrir TV on April 16, 2013. The interview was translated and posted to the internet by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Obviously, I do not know who carried out that operation, but if it was done by the mujahideen, it serves as a message to America and...
  • Actual Salon Headline: 'I Still Hope the Bomber Is a White American'

    04/17/2013 9:29:05 PM PDT · by Kaslin · 36 replies
    NewsBusters.org ^ | April 17, 2013 | Noel Shepard
    As NewsBusters reported earlier, unabashedly liberal commentator David Sirota published an article at Salon Tuesday with the disgusting title, "Let’s Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber Is a White American." As a result of all the negative attention he's gotten due to this piece, rather than doing the right thing by apologizing, Sirota on Wednesday actually doubled down with a new article titled "I Still Hope the Bomber Is a White American."Sirota began by claiming that Fox News's Bill O'Reilly "effectively agreed" with his Tuesday article. "As O’Reilly put it," he wrote, "'If this is an international terror attack, the repercussions...
  • India, China to hold first dialogue on Afghanistan

    04/17/2013 7:49:52 AM PDT · by Pan_Yan
    The Times of India ^ | Apr 17, 2013, 07.18 PM IST | PTI
    BEIJING: India and China would hold their first-ever dialogue on Afghanistan here tomorrow aiming to cooperate to deal with the impact of US troops' pullout from the war-torn country by 2014 amid fears of return of Taliban and al-Qaida. The dialogue between the two countries signifies China's interest in seeking convergence with India on the emerging grim situation in Afghanistan even as it held similar talks with Russia and its close ally Pakistan. The meeting is taking place in the backdrop of talks between the National Security Advisors of India, China and Russia held in Moscow recently to discuss the...