Michael Hughes: The United States is not satisfied with simply intensifying airstrikes and loosening rules of engagements to terrorize the Afghan population because now it appears the White House is tempted to launch a CIA-run covert drone war. “The C.I.A. is pushing for expanded powers to carry out covert drone strikes in Afghanistan and other
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 5, 2017 Afghan officials say an air strike by “foreign forces” killed two people and wounded three others attending a wedding in the province of Kabul. The incident occurred late on September 4 when a suspected drone strike hit the wedding after some people at the ceremony began firing celebratory
Press TV May 24, 2017 At least three people have lost their lives when a US drone carried out a strike in the eastern part of Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan. Kamran Afridi, a local official in the Pakistani border town of Miran Shah, said the deadly drone strike was carried out on the Afghan
Noor Zahid VOA News April 2, 2017 WASHINGTON — As Afghan security forces continue their military operations against the Taliban and Islamic State-backed militants in the country, the government plans to improve its security forces in the next few years to help beat the growing threat posed by militant groups, Afghan officials said. As part of
Press TV March 14, 2017 The administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to roll back limitations that tie the Pentagon’s hands in carrying out lethal drone strikes around the world, officials say. Trump’s experts are in the final stages of reviewing Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG), a series of strict rules on targeted killing
Michael Hughes: Former President Barack Obama left behind for his predecessor a covert extrajudicial drone targeting program that affords the executive unchecked power to employ American military force anywhere in the world with little to no accountability or congressional oversight. The type of program that secretly makes Dick Cheney jealous. In other words, Obama left the
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 20, 2016 Afghan officials say a top commander of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has been killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in eastern Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial governor said Mullah Bozorg, a leader of the IS group in Afghanistan, was killed along with seven
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 28, 2016 U.S. air strikes in eastern Afghanistan killed several Al-Qaeda militants, including two Arabs and four Pakistanis, Afghan officials said on October 27. Although the officials said they could not definitively identify the militants slain in a remote area of Kunar province on October, they likely included two top
VOA News/ October 26, 2016 A U.S. drone strike this week targeted the top al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan and his deputy, the Pentagon said Wednesday. A U.S. official called Sunday’s operation against Faruq al-Qatani and Bilal al-Utabi the most significant al-Qaida strike in Afghanistan in several years. The official said accounts from the ground described
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News October 12, 2016 ISLAMABAD — Afghan Taliban appear to be facing financial pressure since the death of their former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was more adept at managing money, according to the spokesman of NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. “The evidence we’ve seen of that is an increase in their