Tolo News: The Afghan Ministry of Interior and Afghan analysts on Saturday said Pakistan should be pressurized further by the United States in order to step up the anti-terror mission inside Pakistani soil – instead of paying the country a package of at least $1 billion in aid. Click here to read more (external link). Related
VOA News December 9, 2016 U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday that “America is, and will remain, committed to a sovereign and secure Afghanistan.” Carter made the comments Friday in Kabul at a joint news conference with President Ashraf Ghani, amid questions on how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will handle the 15-year war. The
Carla Babb VOA News December 9, 2016 PENTAGON — The U.S. Army has opened a criminal investigation of a soldier who confessed on national television to killing an unarmed Taliban detainee, a senior Army official told VOA Thursday. The investigation of former Major Mathew Golsteyn, first reported by The Washington Post, began earlier this month, according
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 8, 2016 ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban has demanded official recognition for its political office in Qatar, direct talks with the United States and removal of senior members from a U.N. blacklist, describing these as preliminary steps to peacefully ending its insurgency. A Qatar-based Taliban spokesman, Sohail Shaheen, has asserted the presence
The Guardian (UK): The US military in Afghanistan is increasingly trying to control public information about the war, resulting in strained relations with western organisations offering different versions of events to official military accounts, the Guardian has learned. In a recent incident, the most senior US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John W Nicholson, considered banning or
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 4, 2016 A U.S. Army sergeant charged with desertion for leaving his combat post in Afghanistan in 2009 has asked President Barack Obama for a pardon. The White House confirmed on December 3 that Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had asked for the presidential pardon before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on
Khaama Press: The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump vowed support under his upcoming administration to help unearth Afghanistan’s massive natural resources which include some of the world’s rare earth elements. Trump made the commitment during a telephone conversation with the Afghan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 3, 2016 ISLAMABAD — The “malign influence” of Pakistan, Russia and Iran with the Taliban-led insurgency, and concerns about future political stability of the Afghan government threaten international efforts aimed at stabilizing the war-raved country, warns a top U.S. commander. “We’re concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist
Press TV December 2, 2016 US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that retired Marine General James Mattis, an outspoken critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, will serve as his secretary of defense. “We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense. But we’re not announcing it until Monday so don’t tell
Michael Hughes: The US State Department was practically insulted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) dared to suggest Americans committed war crimes in Afghanistan through the systematic employment of enhanced interrogation techniques – otherwise known as torture. Not only are the crimes themselves appalling, but US officials legitimately believe international law does not and should not