Kabul

Steven Edwards: Despite pledges, Kabul to side with Iran on rights vote at UN

Full Comment (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009

Just a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged that respect for women's rights is among his top agenda items, Afghan diplomats at the United Nations will oppose a Canadian-led bid to highlight serious human rights abuse in Iran. As if that's not enough, Afghanistan and other states will side with Iran's bid to avoid censure after votes in another part of the UN Thursday saw Arab and Muslim...

OEF Summary, Nov. 20, 2009: Forces in Afghanistan Kill Militant, Detain Suspects

THE TENSION (Free subscription) | yesterday

D ispatches from the Front: KABUL, Nov. 20, 2009 -- Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan killed an enemy militant and detained several terrorism suspects today, military officials reported. A combined Afghan-international security force killed an enemy militant in Takhar province while pursuing a facilitator for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan terrorist organization who is responsible...

Debate Shifts to Afghan Exit Plan

Muslims Against Sharia (Free subscription) | yesterday

By PETER SPIEGEL and YOCHI J. DREAZEN WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the U.S. and its allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out. The shift has unnerved some U.S. and foreign officials, who say that planning a pullout now -- with or...

• Planning for defeat in Afghanistan - PrairiePundit

Afghan police are weak link in security force

Boston Herald (Free subscription) | yesterday

KABUL - Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense...

• Afghan police are weak link in security force - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Afghan police are weak link in security strategy - Denver Post

Quote du Jour: Man Without a Conscience

liberal catnip (Free subscription) | yesterday

Hillier minimizes detainee abuse: Mr. Hillier derisively compared the political uproar that surrounded Mr. Colvin's parliamentary testimony to people “howling at the moon” and said nobody ever raised torture concerns with him during the 2006-2007 period in question. “I don't remember reading a single one of those cables [from Mr. Colvin] ... He doesn't stick out in my mind,”...

• Tories work to undermine diplomat who blew whistle on torture - Globe and Mail

Canadian diplomat alleges troops in Afghanistan were complicit in torture

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

Senior diplomat formerly stationed in Kabul claims troops 'handed over for severe torture a lot of innocent people' The Canadian government was fending off calls for a public inquiry on torture today after allegations from one of its senior diplomats that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghan detainees. Richard Colvin, who was second in command at Canada's Kabul embassy in 2006 and 2007, said...

Suicide Bomber Kills 16 In Western Afghanistan

The Huffington Post (Free subscription) | yesterday

KABUL — A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed 16 people, including two children and a policeman, and wounded at least 23 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, officials said. Provincial Gov. Rohul Amin said the blast occurred about 55 yards (50 meters) from his compound in a crowded square in Farah. Afghan police shouted "Stop! Stop!" at the motorcyclist...

More Politics for Treasures of Afghanistan, but Ottowa Hopeful of End to Strike

Heritage Key blogs (Free subscription) | yesterday

As Heritage Key reported yesterday , it has been nearly one month since Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, opened at the Canadian Museum of Civilization , in Ottawa Canada. For that entire period of time there has been a strike at the museum - with nearly 400 workers (including tour guides and educational staff) manning the picket lines. Anyone who wants to visit the museum...

Suicide bombing, roadside blasts kill 16 people in Afghanistan

The Earth Times Online Newspaper (Free subscription) | yesterday

Kabul - A suicide attack in western Afghanistan killed 10 civilians and three policemen on Friday, while three other civilians were killed in a roadside blast in the country's eastern region, officials said. A bomber riding an explosive-laden motorbi...

Suicide bomber kills 13 in western Afghanistan

Houston Chronicle (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009

KABUL — An Afghan police official says the death toll from a suicide bombing in western Afghanistan has increased to 13. Chief of police of Farah province, Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askar, says the suicide bomber was on a motorcycle and blew himself up in a crowded square near a bus station. Thirty people were wounded.

Death toll from Afghan suicide blast rises to 13

Reuters (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009

KABUL (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday almost doubled to 13, including three police officials, a provincial police chief said.

Afghan minister: Taliban can be defeated

CNN (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009

The war in Afghanistan is winnable, and corruption will be fought, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, as President Hamid Karzai was being sworn in for a second five-year term in Kabul.

Oh, So Now U.S. Soldiers Are 'A Pretty Good Photo-op'; Let's See How This Obamism Gets Covered

NewsBusters (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009

The Washington Posts's Anne Kornblut ( saved here in case her report is modified or disappears) captured a comment Obama made to U.S troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea while heading back to Washington after his Asian trip. I believe that the comment (bolded) could be seen as shining a less than flattering light on the president's mindset: Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m....

Suicide attacks kill two US soldiers, 10 Afghan civilians - Summary

The Earth Times Online Newspaper (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009

Kandahar/Kabul - Two suicide bombers targeted a NATO-led military base and a police station in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing two US soldiers and ten Afghan civilians, officials said. The attacks came as President Hamid Karzai said Afghan ...

Afghanistan's Karzai sworn in for second five-year term - Summary

The Earth Times Online Newspaper (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in Thursday for a second term in office amid tight security at Kabul's presidential palace as authorities feared attacks by Taliban milita...

Drug Rehab Center - Mountainside Cites That Heroin And Opiate Use Is On The Rise. Heroin Use And Prevalence Increases As Does The Number Of Deaths From It's Use

eprnetwork | 11/02/2009

The numbers of individuals entering inpatient drug rehab for heroin and opiate addiction continues to increase. In Afghanistan and Pakistan the opium (heroin) trade is tightly controlled by al Qaeda and the Taliban, and despite the war the efforts, the production of heroin and opium has dramatically increased - heroin is still dirt-cheap and readily purchased on the streets of Kabul and sold in short

Afghanistan: First blogging workshop in Kabul

meri72 | 04/11/2008

The Afghan Association of Blog Writers (Afghan Penlog) overcame financial difficulty and obstacles like electricity shortages to organize the first blogging workshop in their history. The workshop was held in Kabul on April 3-4, in association with Nasim Fekrat and Masoumeh Ebrahimi [Fa], two active Afghan bloggers.

• For The First Time: Blogging Workshop in Kabul - meri72

For The First Time: Blogging Workshop in Kabul

meri72 | 04/11/2008

For the first time in Afghanistan , a two days Blogging workshop was organized by the Afghan Association of Blog Writers . The participants were an Afghan journalist, a University teacher, a poet and writers from different provinces and of various ethnic backgrounds. The main goals of this workshop are better access of journalists to weblogs and other digital media. Since Afghan print and internet