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Some basic facts and figures about Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Thursday to a second five-year term:
The Obama administration has a simple-sounding strategy for the problem that is Hamid Karzai: Work with him and around him at the same time.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton lauded the newly sworn-in Afghan president for outlining a plan to crack down on corruption in his inaugural speech Thursday, but warned that Washington and the international community would hold him to his promises.
Bomb attacks and a firefight killed four U.S. troops in 24 hours in Afghanistan, the military said Monday, adding to the growing toll as NATO and the U.S. consider whether to send more forces to the war.
Afghanistan's newly unveiled anti-corruption unit drew guarded praise Monday from a wary international community, which has heard President Hamid Karzai promise before to end the graft and thievery that's bleeding his nation.
European Union officials questioned Monday whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government can face up to the country's challenges but did not echo a U.S. pledge to withhold civilian aid without more accountability.
The United States has issued a clear warning to Afghanistan's president that he must fight corruption, or may not get significantly more U.S. troops. But the Obama administration has a weak hand as it seeks to play tough — with few other options if President Hamid Karzai refuses to go along.
Germany will send more than 100 extra troops to Afghanistan in January, the country's defense minister said Friday.
French forces say the death toll from rockets fired at a crowded market northeast of Kabul where the head of French forces in Afghanistan was holding a meeting with tribal elders has increased to 12.
The United States and Germany stepped up pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday to implement major reforms and crack down on rampant corruption.
The U.N. Security Council joined calls Friday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to fight corruption, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling the country's political situation "delicate" following deeply flawed elections.
The embattled Afghan president pledged Sunday that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his new administration — a demand made by Washington and its international partners as they ponder sending more troops to confront the Taliban and shore up his government.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says it's up to Afghan officials to decide the way ahead after the top challenger to President Hamid Karzai pulled out of next weekend's runoff election.
President Hamid Karzai's leadership is weak, his government corrupt and nearly a third of the votes he won in the August election were thrown out as fakes.
Talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah have broken down, and Abdullah is likely to pull out of next week's presidential runoff, a person with knowledge of the talks said Friday.
For two hours, a civilian contractor held off Taliban commandos with an AK-47, saving the lives of 24 people in a Kabul, Afghanistan, guest house. But while others are praising Chris Turner’s courage, the 62-year-old former hippie refuses to be called a hero.
President Barack Obama greeted Hamid Karzai's election victory with as much admonishment as praise on Monday, pointedly advising America's partner in war he must make more serious efforts to end corruption in Afghanistan's government and prepare his nation to ultimately defend itself.
The U.N. chief made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday as international pressure mounted for a quick resolution to the country's electoral turmoil following the withdrawal of President Hamid Karzai's only challenger.
Quotes from The Associated Press interview with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., on Wednesday, a few hours after he returned from Afghanistan, where he helped persuade President Hamid Karzai to accept a runoff election.
The United States built pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday, signaling that a troop increase could hinge on a successful runoff election and that the Obama administration would be receptive to a power-sharing deal between Karzai and his chief rival.
President Barack Obama's relief at the agreement that could quiet the political crisis over Afghanistan's spoiled election masks his predicament as he weighs an expansion of the unpopular Afghanistan war.
The U.N. chief calls a second round of Afghan elections a "huge challenge" while commending Afghan President Hamid Karzai for endorsing a runoff next month.
U.S. officials expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to concede on Tuesday that he fell short of the 50 percent vote share in August's election that he needed to win outright, but it was unclear Monday whether that would lead quickly to a runoff election with his nearest challenger, a U.S. government official said.
The U.S. military says 14 Americans have been killed in a series of helicopter crashes in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai needed high-level American arm-twisting over several tense days — and meals that included "gallons of tea" and endless platters of lamb — before he finally agreed to a run-off vote in the country's fraud-plagued presidential election.
Critics of Afghanistan need to look in mirrorPARIS -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swept into Kabul last Thursday to rain on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's second-term inauguration parade.
A rejoinder to Dr. Subhash Kapila's articleIndian political leaders, writers and media analysts and intelligence agencies are past masters in creating doubts and misgivings between groups, communities, political parties and institutions to fan ethnic and sectarian tensions, political polarization and foment fissiparous te …
Karzai back at helm, with a battered imageHamid Karzai once was called "the chic-est man on the planet" and hailed as Afghanistan's leader. Now, about to start a second term, the president is beset by insurgency and western criticism.
Disillusionment in AfghanistanThe international community is increasingly concerned about whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai can be an effective partner. Karzai recently won another term after an election fraught with accusations of fraud; his previous term was beset with allegations of corruption.
Washington hunts a way out of AfghanistanFinally, it seems, the penny has dropped. America's 'good war' cannot be won militarily. Signs indicate that the US president, who was so gung ho on Afghanistan before taking office, has got the message. More troops just won't cut it.
Administration Lowers Bar for Success in Afghanistan War, Seeks Exit Strategy. by FOXNews.com November 15, 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the administration has 'no illusions' about the Afghanistan war. Officials say the administration wants to make sure the U.S. commitment in the country is not 'open-ended' as the president drafts a new strategy.
Undecider-in-ChiefWhen the tall, skinny guy from Illinois was elected president a year ago, many Americans were hoping for another Honest Abe. Ironically, they seem to have gotten George McClellan -- the timorous general Lincoln had to fire for refusing to fight the Civil War.
The U.S. needs to teach Hamid Karzai a thing or twoHamid Karzai begins another term as Afghanistan's president with a long to-do list. The Obama administration has made clear to him that he must crack down on corruption, install a team of technocrats to run the country and weed out warlords and narco-traffickers.
Israel's Role In Destabilizing PakistanWhen waging war "by way of deception," the motto of the Israeli Mossad, well-timed crises play a critical agenda-setting role by displacing facts with what a target population can be deceived to believe.
Pull the plug on the Afghan surgeAlthough the aborted electoral run-off in Afghanistan has further weakened the country's already troubled government, the Obama administration has little choice but to work with President Hamid Karzai.
Our Man in KabulWith the cancellation of Afghanistan's runoff election, Washington is left with Hamid Karzai as its partner in Kabul. How did Karzai come to power in the first place, and what might that say about his ability to rule?
Afghan policeman kills five British soldiers LONDON (Reuters) - An Afghan policeman killed five British soldiers at a checkpoint in Afghanistan and the Taliban said he was one of their fighters who had infiltrated the force.
Legitimacy Questions in AfghanistanAfghanistan's planned November 7 presidential runoff was supposed to help confer more legitimacy to a marred presidential election on August 20, and its assumed winner, incumbent Hamid Karzai.
On Afghanistan, time's upSo what's the delay now? The White House says an an nouncement on whether President Obama will give Gen. Stanley McChrystal the 40,000 troops he's asked for in Afghanistan is weeks away.
Afghan President Karzai Gets Another Term - WSJ.comAfghanistan's messy election ended yesterday with President Hamid Karzai securing another five-year term after his challenger withdrew and a run-off was called off.
So, Uh. How Much CIA Money Inadvertently Funds The Taliban?The New York Times reports that Hamid Karzai's brother, who has long been suspected of running a drug ring in southern Afghanistan — I mean, I asked Said Jawad, the Afghan ambassador to the U.S., about Ahmed Wali Karzai's ties to opium trade in 2007 for TPM — is actually …
Cost of War in Afghanistan $229,453,573,956 and counting!
Nearly a Third of Afghan President's Votes VoidedKABUL (AP) -- U.N.-backed fraud investigators on Monday threw out nearly a third of President Hamid Karzai's ballots from Afghanistan's disputed August election, setting the stage for a runoff.
Obama's Afghanistan strategyAFGHANISTAN could be the most important decision of Barack Obama's presidency. Maybe that's why he is, in effect, making it twice.
Anti-Americanism rises in Pakistan over U.S. motivesFor weeks now, the Pakistani media have portrayed America, its military and defense contractors in the darkest of lights, all part of an apparent campaign of anti-American vilification that is sweeping the country and, according to some, is putting American lives at risk.
What I Saw at the Afghan ElectionBefore firing me last week from my post as his deputy special representative in Afghanistan, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon conveyed one last instruction: Do not talk to the press. In effect, I was being told to remain a team player after being thrown off the team.
The so-called 'Quetta shura'The US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W Patterson, has told the Washington Post that "the United States has now turned its focus to Quetta", claiming that the area has now become a major Taliban base from where "Mullah Omar and his commanders plan and launch cross-border stri …
UN 'to Remove Afghanistan Envoy'"A senior UN official in Afghanistan is to be removed from his post following a row about the country's presidential election, the BBC has learned."
Mixed messages from Pentagon on Afghan troop plansWASHINGTON (Reuters) - An assessment by the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan that more forces are needed won public backing on Wednesday from the military's top leaders, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates has yet to decide on next steps, officials said.
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