Free Republic

Despite the lingering demonstrations and disorder in Tehran, Iran’s ruling mullahs are confident anew in their country’s ability to surge to a hegemonic position in the Middle East without a major war. The main reason for the mullahs’ confidence is their interpretation of the appeasement policies of the US Barack Obama Administration. Most significant is the undeclared – yet widely projected – profound change in US policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran and all other regional governments are convinced that the US now strives to “contain” a nuclear Iran rather than continue the declared objective to prevent the nuclearization of...

UZBEEN VALLEY, Afghanistan (AFP) – More than 1,100 soldiers, including 800 French legionnaires as well as US and Afghan commandos, launched a major operation Thursday east of the Afghan capital, military officials said. Military officials said five US special forces were wounded in the fighting in the Uzbeen Valley, a Taliban stronghold where 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush in August 2008.

URGENT -- HUGE BLAST ROCKS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN. MORE TO COME

KABUL -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in this war-torn country Tuesday morning on an unannounced visit, prepared to offer U.S. troops a message from Washington after President Obama's decision to boost troop levels significantly: "We are in this thing to win." "A big piece of it, of my conversations especially with the soldiers, will be just to thank them for their service, for their sacrifice and to tell them we are in this thing to win," Gates, speaking to reporters traveling with him, said before his arrival here. Gates, the first senior U.S. official to travel to Afghanistan...

Afghan election officials said Thursday that there will be more voting centres for next week's presidential runoff than in the fraud-tainted first-round vote in August, rejecting U.N. recommendations to eliminate sites to prevent cheating. The Aug. 20 presidential poll was so tainted by widespread ballot-box stuffing and distorted ballot tallies that fraud investigators threw out more than a million votes, enough to force President Hamid Karzai into a second round against his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Observers and U.N. advisers attributed much of the fraud to so-called ghost polling stations that never opened but returned results or...

Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election. Heavy gunfire reverberated through the streets shortly after dawn and a large plume of smoke rose over the city following the attack in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman said seven people were killed, including some attackers. U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that three U.N. staff were among the dead and one was...

When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified. Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated — and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims’ flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan. What the grieving...

A powerful car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in the busy center of Afghanistan's capital early Thursday, killing at least 12 people, destroying vehicles and blowing off the walls of shops, officials said. Eleven of the dead were civilians and one was an Afghan police officer, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. At least 84 people, including members of Afghan security forces, were wounded in the attack, which struck a shop-lined road between the Indian Embassy and the Interior Ministry, said Health Ministry spokesman Ahmad Farid Raaid.

Note: The following text is a quote: Warden Message: Afghanistan Travel Concerns: Kabul to Logar Province CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Afghanistan 29 Sep 2009 U.S. Embassy Kabul issued the following Warden Message September 29, 2009: The U.S. Embassy has received information that, as of late September 2009, Taliban members in Logar Province, Afghanistan, were planning on an unspecified date to ambush and capture unidentified Americans who routinely travel between Kabul City and Logar Province. The Taliban reportedly intend to follow the Americans’ vehicle from Kabul and stop the car en route. The U.S. Embassy urges Americans...

Special Dispatch - No. 2505 August 25, 2009 Pakistan Taliban Commander: We Have 'Thousands of Suicide Bombers' Who Can 'Target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul' On August 25, 2009, a Pakistani Urdu-language newspaper reported that Waliur Rehman, the commander of the Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan Agency, had said that his group has "thousands of suicide bombers" who can "target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul."

Afghan police have killed at least three gunmen who stormed a bank building in Kabul this morning in the latest of string of Taleban attacks designed to disrupt tomorrow’s presidential election. Police were searching for any remaining attackers after a short gun battle at the building, which is just a few hundred metres from the presidential palace compound where President Hamid Karzai lives. A Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack which followed a suicide car bombing yesterday that killed eight people and wounded more than 50 in Kabul. He also claimed that 20 armed suicide attackers wearing explosive vests...

A large suicide car bomb which exploded in the Afghan capital of Kabul this morning has killed at least seven civilians and wounded 91.The attack, which took place outside the main gate of the Nato headquarters in the heavily fortified Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, comes ahead of the country's upcoming presidential election on Thursday. The Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said: 'It was a suicide bombing carried out in a car right in front of ISAF (the Nato-led peacekeeping force).' A blaze can be seen in the immediate aftermath of the suicide car bomb which...

A large blast ripped through the centre of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, and smoke could be seen rising above the city's diplomatic quarter. . .

KABUL (AP) - Afghan army officers and witnesses say one of the five rockets that has slammed into Kabul fell near the American Embassy. The rocket's impact could be seen about 200 meters (yards) down from the U.S. Embassy on a main road in central Kabul. Security officers say the rocket hit the house of a senior Interior Ministry official but caused no casualties. At the scene, Maj. Ghulam Rasul of the Afghan national army said he believed the five rockets that hit early Tuesday were fired from a long range.

A New York Times reporter known for making investigative trips deep inside dangerous conflict zones escaped from militant captors after more than seven months in captivity by climbing over a wall, the newspaper said Saturday. David S. Rohde was abducted Nov. 10 along with an Afghan reporter colleague and a driver south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. He had been traveling through Logar province to interview a Taliban commander, but was apparently intercepted and taken by other militants on the way. The Times reported that Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahi Ludin on Friday climbed over the wall of a compound...

Note: The following text is a quote: Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, a 35-year-old resident of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, entered his plea of guilty this afternoon before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in federal court in Minneapolis. At sentencing, which was set for 1:30 pm on July 9, 2009, Warsame faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Kabul Serena Hotel and Victory Day Threats CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Afghanistan 22 Apr 2009 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 11 Feb 2009 KABUL SUICIDE COMBINED-ARMS ATTACKS 11 Feb 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: ATTACKS ON AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS 10 Feb 2009 AFGHANISTAN 2009 CRIME AND SAFETY REPORT 24 Nov 2008 TERRORIST TACTICS: ATTACK ON INDIAN EMBASSY IN AFGHANISTAN U.S. Embassy Kabul released the following Warden Message on April 22: Recent intelligence reporting indicates that insurgents...

Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history. The protest by about 200 women called for amendment of the controversial Shia Family Law, passed last month by the Afghan Parliament, and enforcement of article 22 of the Afghan constitution, which gives equal rights to men and women. It provoked a furious reaction from local men and a mob quickly surrounded the protesters amid violent scenes close to the...

SNIPPET: "The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new audio recording from Al-Qaida Deputy Commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri released on February 22 and titled, "From Kabul to Mogadishu.""

The President-Elect's intention to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan has been bolstered by Robert Gates agreement to stay on as Defence Secretary. Mr Gates is a strong believer in an Afghan surge, which would not only put thousands more boots on the ground but involve negotiations with malleable branches of the Taliban. It would also aim to boost co-operation with Iran and Pakistan where some elements have supported the anti-Western insurgency. The need for more US troops in addition to the 32,000 already serving, has been accelerated by the Afghan presidential election in September 2009,...

A suspected suicide bomber has struck close to the entrance to the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, witnesses and police say. It is unclear so far whether there are any casualties. Reports said the bomber detonated explosives about 200m from the heavily guarded entrance to the US compound. Security in Afghanistan has become a key concern for foreign troops and officials, as the country faces an increasingly strong Taleban insurgency.

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. Special Forces soldiers freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers during a nighttime mission last week — a rare hostage rescue in a country where ransom abductions have become increasingly common. The American, who had been working on U.S. government-funded infrastructure projects, was abducted in mid-August and had been held just 30 miles west of Kabul with no public notice of his abduction. The dangerous mission to free the U.S. contractor killed several insurgents, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. Taliban militants have kidnapped several international aid workers and journalists in recent...

Taliban gunmen killed a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday, and the militant group said it targeted the woman because she was spreading her religion. The dual South African-British national worked with handicapped Afghans and was killed in the western part of Kabul as she was walking to work around 8 a.m., officials said. The gunmen, who were on a motorbike, shot the woman in the body and leg with a pistol, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the slaying. "This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan," militant...

The Taliban have shot dead a British aid worker in Afghanistan because she was "preaching Christianity." Gayle Williams, who had been in the troubled country for three years, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle as she walked to work in the capital of Kabul. She recently moved from Kandahar back to Kabul because it was seen as safer. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, which took place at 8am local time. Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Miss Williams had been shot in the body and leg with a pistol. "Two armed men sitting on a...

A British woman working for a Christian charity helping disabled Afghans was shot dead in Kabul as she walked to work early this morning, officials and the group said. Gayle Williams worked for SERVE Afghanistan, which describes itself as a Christian charity, confirmed the incident but would not give any details.'Our people carried out this attack in District 3 of Kabul this morning at 7am,' the Taliban's spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed told The Times. 'The reason that we killed her was because she was spreading Christianity." 'Two armed men sitting on a motorbike shot her dead. Some bullets hit her body...

Five Afghanistan scholars visiting the University of Washington have been reported missing. UW officials say the five scholars are in Seattle for a three-month research and training program.

Five Afghanistan scholars visiting the University of Washington to work on their master's theses were reported missing after failing to show up for a week of training sessions, university officials said today. The five were among 38 mid-career government and nonprofit officials in Seattle for a three-month research and training program. They are working toward a master's degree in public policy and administration at Kabul University. The program is in its second year through the Evans School of Public Affairs. It's also the second time Afghani scholars have gone missing. SNIP The five men, who are all 30 or younger,...

Afghanistan: A warlord Hekmatyar claimed the ambush against the French KABUL - The Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the ambush in which ten French soldiers were killed near Kabul on August 18 and acknowledged the death of ten of its own fighters in this battle, in a video received Monday by a private news agency Afghan. The attack had previously been claimed by the Taliban, which form a separate group Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic party, HIG) to Hekmatyar. On 18 August, a French patrol fell into an ambush mounted by 140 to 170 well-armed insurgents in the valley Uzbeen...

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul August 20, 2008. President Sarkozy said on Wednesday he had no regrets about sending 700 more troops to Afghanistan, after insurgents killed 10 French soldiers, the biggest single loss for foreign forces in combat since 2001. REUTERS/Olivier Laban-Mattei/Pool (AFGHANISTAN)

AP NewsAlert - KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan governor says militants try to storm US military base in eastern Afghanistan

Obama's Balancing Act Abroad In The Middle East, Obama Juggles Troop And Territory Issues That Are Delicate And Potentially Explosive AMMAN, Jordan, July 21, 2008 (CBS) This week is more than a series of photo ops. Barack Obama hopes to convince voters back home that he's comfortable on the world stage and can juggle a number of delicate and potentially explosive foreign-policy issues, CBS News anchor Katie Couric reports. During the primaries, Obama built his candidacy on the premise that he believed the Iraq War was a mistake he opposed all along. As he said: "a war that never should have...

Brack Obama launched his week-long world tour with a brief stop in Kuwait and then began a longer visit to Afghanistan, ahead of planned stops in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. The highly anticipated trip was launched in secrecy, with Obama’s campaign refusing to confirm that he had left the country, citing security reasons. The campaign announced early Saturday morning that Obama was on the ground in Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S. military later said Obama was greeting U.S. troops at Jalalabad airfield in eastern Afghanistan. Obama made a secret stop in Kuwait and visited U.S. service members, then...

Afghan official suggests Pakistan linked to bomb By AMIR SHAH The Associated Press Tuesday, July 8, 2008; 7:23 AM KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan officials have evidence that foreigners were behind a massive suicide bombing against India's embassy in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Tuesday, implying that Pakistan orchestrated the attack. The spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, did not name Pakistan's intelligence agency but told reporters it was "pretty obvious" who was behind Monday's bombing, which killed 41 people and wounded 150. An Afghan security report released earlier Tuesday found that the bombing could not have succeeded without the support of foreign...

KABUL: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian embassy in Kabul, leaving at least 40 people dead, officials and a witness said. ( Watch video ) "The number of deaths at this time is 28, while 141 people were wounded, half of them hospitalised," health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said, adding that the figure was based on information from several hospitals. The blast destroyed about four cars outside the embassy in the heart of the city, and flesh and broken limbs were scattered at the scene, an Afghan witness said. The bomber hit the...

Russia joins the war in Afghanistan By M K Bhadrakumar Jun 25, 2008 Moscow is staging an extraordinary comeback on the Afghan chessboard after a gap of two decades following the Soviet Union's nine-year adventure that ended in the withdrawal of its last troops from Afghanistan 1989. In a curious reversal of history, this is possible only with the acquiescence of the United States. Moscow is taking advantage of the deterioration of the war in Afghanistan and the implications for regional security could be far-reaching.

First lady Laura Bush, on a mission to highlight signs of rebirth in war-weary Afghanistan, ventured outside of Kabul on Sunday to an area that symbolizes both the destruction of war and Afghanistan's attempt at rebirth. Mrs. Bush, on her third unannounced visit to the country, flew into the Afghan capital then immediately boarded a helicopter for a 50-minute flight to Bamiyan Province, the farthest she has traveled from Kabul. Her chopper touched down in a dusty field at a provincial reconstruction team compound operated by New Zealand. From there she could see the empty niches in a cliffside where...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed Sunday after militants attacked a high-profile military parade with rockets and gunfire, killing three people including an MP and wounding a dozen. The extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the daring attack, denying however that it was an assassination attempt on Karzai. Bullets struck into the back of a stage where the president and Afghan leaders, including the most senior international representatives here, were seated to review the country's most important annual military parade. There were also several large explosions, with one -- likely from a rocket-propelled grenade -- landing just in front of...

via translation - ALERT - Explosions in Kabul during a military parade KABUL - Explosions and gunfire have occurred during a military parade Sunday in Kabul and security forces evacuated the site of President Hamid Karzai, reported an AFP journalist.

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Arsonists set fire Friday to a radio station near Kabul accused of being un-Islamic, and two poppy eradication policemen were killed in Afghanistan's southwest, officials said. Four gunmen broke into the offices of Radio Zafar before dawn, tied up two security guards and then set the station's equipment ablaze, said Paghman district police chief Abdul Razaq. The station's director, Najibullah Nassir, said militants have accused Radio Zafar of being morally corrupt and un-Islamic. Its programming includes shows on Islam, sports, news and music.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on an unannounced visit, reports say. Mr Cheney is expected to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai ahead of a meeting of Nato partners. Reports say this is Mr Cheney's fourth vice-presidential trip to Afghanistan. Mr Cheney arrived from Iraq and the Middle East, where his visit coincided with the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Explosion reported, no further word on injuries or exact location. Just the title and "More soon" on the BBC site.

Excerpt - KABUL, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband arrived in Kabul on Thursday for an unannounced visit to Afghanistan. ~ snip ~

Yesterday's coordinated small-arms attack and suicide bombings at the five-star Serena hotel in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul has been traced back to a senior Taliban commander based out of northwestern Pakistan, according to Afghanistan's intelligence chief. Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the dangerous Haqqani network, has been implicated in the Serena strike. The details of the attack are still being sorted out. At least seven people were reported killed, including two guards, three hotel employees and a Norwegian reporter. Strategic Security Solutions International, the company responsible for security at the Serena, said four attackers were involved. The Taliban fighters were...

KABUL, Afghanistan - A Taliban spokesman warned Tuesday that militants would increase attacks against restaurants in Kabul frequented by Westerners, a day after eight people died in a brazen assault on a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital. Afghan officials said they had arrested four men following Monday's assault on the Serena Hotel a heavily guarded and high-profile property frequented by Western workers and officials. Among those detained was one of the attackers disguised in a police uniform. "We will target all these restaurants in Kabul where foreigners are eating," Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press by...

KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion went off Monday at a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners, reverberating throughout Kabul, police said. It was not clear if the explosion was inside the Serena Hotel or in its large courtyard where the parking lot is located. Police kept journalists and onlookers far from the building. -snip-

via translation - KABUL - Four people were killed and six injured Monday evening in an attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul, Serena, announced the spokesman of the Interior Ministry, Zamarai Bashary. "There was first a suicide attack at the entrance to the hotel, followed by a second explosion," he told AFP. "There were subsequent exchange of fire," he added. "Four people were killed and six injured," he added.

via translation - Afghanistan: The two arrested were British Europeans KABUL - Two Europeans were arrested in Afghanistan after being accused of posing a threat to national security are British nationals, said Tuesday an official who requested anonymity. "They were British and were arrested five days ago," he told AFP. When questioned, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Kabul was unable to comment on this information. The arrest for threat to the national security of two Afghan Europeans "high-ranking" was previously announced unspecified government source on the nationality of the two men. They should be expelled from the country....

via translation - Unannounced visit of President french Nicolas Sarkozy in Kabul The french president Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Kabul for a five-hour visit to Afghanistan. He will meet french soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai. The presidential aircraft landed at Kabul international airport at around 10:00 local (06h30 Swiss). The head of state is accompanied by french Defence Minister Herve Morin and the Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade. The former minister Jean-Francois Poncet and the philosopher Andre Glucksman is also the journey. Bernard Kouchner, arrived from India, the president was waiting at the airport...