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A middle school principal in Virginia has called off an assignment that asked some students to represent the views of the Taliban in a mock United Nations debate.
The international Red Cross has made its first visit to Afghan prisoners held by the Taliban in the northwest of the country, the organization said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejects any suggestion that setting a transition date for withdrawing U.S. forces in Afghanistan will embolden the Taliban.
The Taliban's reclusive leader has issued a Muslim holiday message calling on Afghans to break off relations with the government, which he calls a "stooge" administration.
A battered taxi sped up a dusty road toward a squad of Afghan soldiers searching for bombs planted in the dirt. Army gunmen who had fanned out for protection readied for a suicide attacker. The car screeched to a halt.
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include:
Senior al-Qaida leaders are forging deeper relationships with Pakistani militants and often operating from their camps inside the Pakistan border, fueling Obama administration arguments for a shift in the Afghan war strategy that more narrowly targets the terrorists.
The Pakistani Taliban has criticized the decision to award Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize saying the U.S. president should have received a "villain of peace" award instead.
The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday.
U.S. policy in Afghanistan is clearly at a crossroads and a surge of troops -- similar to the one in Iraq - is being debated. Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, analyzes the situation.
Flanked by heavily armed fighters, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban sat on a blue blanket, amiable and relaxed as he cracked jokes and mixed in threats of vengeance for deadly U.S. airstrikes.
A London-based think tank says that nearly eight years after the U.S. drove the Taliban from power, the Islamist militia has returned to most of Afghanistan.
Local Afghan leaders told a top U.S. Marine commander Monday that they plan to step up efforts to reconcile with midlevel Taliban in the extremists' southern Helmand province stronghold, where U.S. forces launched a major offensive in recent weeks.
It wasn't enough for the Taliban to name judges in one stretch of southern Afghanistan.
Pakistanis' views on the Taliban have shifted dramatically in the past year, with 70 percent now opposing the militants, according to a new poll. The United States doesn't fare well either, with 64 percent of Pakistanis seeing Washington as an enemy.
U.S. and Pakistani authorities were investigating whether Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against Pakistan's government, was killed in a CIA missile strike.
In a voice barely above a whisper, I.H. stared at his feet as he recounted haltingly how the Taliban kidnapped him and a classmate as they played in the street. They cleaned dishes for a few days in a militant training camp in northern Pakistan before escaping during Friday prayers, he said.
The top U.N. official in Afghanistan called Sunday for talks with Taliban leaders at the highest level, another indication that parts of the international community are reaching out to the top echelons of the radical Islamist movement.
Insurgents have captured an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
Missiles, machine guns and strafing runs from fighter jets destroyed much of a Taliban compound, but the insurgents had a final surprise for a pair of U.S. Marines who pushed into the smoldering building just before nightfall.
Taliban fighters seeking money, rest and refuge from U.S. missile strikes are turning up in increasing numbers in Pakistan's largest city and economic hub, Karachi, according to militants, police officials and an intelligence memo.
The Pakistani teenager remembered recognizing her distant relative almost instantly, even though his head had been severed and placed on his back, punishment the Taliban claimed was for spying.
The head of the U.S. Central Command says Taliban militants are a "true threat" to the existence of Pakistan. But Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs) says he is confident that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is safe from militants.
Pakistan's army has a rare window of support for its latest campaign against Taliban militants near the Afghan border, and U.S. hopes are pinned on the military for bringing stability to both countries.
- Within a week of taking office, President Barack Obama had called his top national security officials and military brass together at the White House for an urgent meeting on a single subject — Afghanistan.
BBC News - Afghan aid fails to feed the hungryBy Peter Greste BBC News, Parwan province, Afghanistan It is not hard to see why Alla Gul is upset. Her two-year-old daughter cries weakly in her arms with barely enough energy to eat.
Militants blow up six shrines in Pakistan's North West Territoriesilitants exhumed the body of a spiritual leader and blew up six other shrines in the Stori Khel area of lower Orakzai Agency on Tuesday.
BBC News - Afghanistan and Pakistan face decisive yearGuest columnist Ahmed Rashid says 2010 looks like presenting Afghanistan and Pakistan with their most difficult set of challenges since the end of the Cold War. People in the South Asia region will be holding their breath in the new year.
Pakistan worried U.S. buildup in Afghanistan will send militants across borderISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- As 30,000 U.S. troops begin to deploy to Afghanistan, fears are rising in Pakistan that a stepped-up war just over the border could worsen the increasingly bloody struggle with militancy here.
Four Afghan War Veterans Look Back, and AheadJeff Courter, soldier and author of "Afghan Journal: A Soldier's Year in Afghanistan" (http://www.afghanistan-journal.com) is one of four Afghan war vets interviewed about their thoughts on President Obama's new strategy.
Village bloodied by bomb vows revenge on TalibanThe New Year's Day attack on the northwest village of Shah Hasan Khel was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that has taken more than 600 lives across Pakistan since October.
CIA Attacker a 'Flipped' Informant Driven in from PakistanThe suicide bomber who killed at least six Central Intelligence Agency officers in a base along the Afghan-Pakistan border on Wednesday was a regular CIA informant who had visited the same base multiple times in the past.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Over 700 killed in 44 drone strikes in 2009PESHAWAR: Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.
BBC News - Afghan CIA bomber 'was courted as potential informant'The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan had been courted by the US as a possible informant, US intelligence sources have said.
Dragon's Teeth: a Pakistani Journalist's view of the TalibanIN the ancient Greek myth, when Jason and the Argonauts are on their quest to find the golden fleece, one of the more terrifying dangers they face comes from the 'dragon's teeth'.
Obama political allies want new tax protecting Afghan opium fields, bribing Taliban Watson: "close allies of Barack Obama have proposed a new war surtax that will force Americans to foot the bill for the cost of protecting opium fields in Afghanistan, paying off drug lords, and bribing the Taliban."
BBC News - Pakistan suicide bomb kills scores at volleyball matchAt least 88 people have been killed by a suicide bomb attack at a volleyball court in the troubled north-west of Pakistan, local police say.
Slaughter on the volleyball field as Taleban wreak revenge on villagers - Times Online"It's just a disaster. I can see flesh, bodies and wounded all around," Fazl-e-Akbar, a witness, said. "It's dark.
While the areas along the Pak-Afghan border are in the grip of war and violence, and the socio-cultural heritage of the Pashtuns is subjected to a ruthless onslaught from different militant groups, the young and educated Pashto singers show guts to openly challenge the rising tid …
US Releases 'Dangerous' Iranian Proxy Behind Murder of US TroopsThe US has released the leader of an Iranian-backed Shia terror group behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007.
Time to Work with Warlords? What?I did not believe my eyes when I reviewed what the international media have printed about Afghanistan over Christmas: A fellow of a famous US university's Human Rights Policy(!) institute proposes that it is 'time to work with Afghan warlords' (maybe not his own headline) a …
Army Historians Document Early Missteps in Afghanistan"A Different Kind of War," which covers the period from October 2001 until September 2005, represents the first installment of the Army's official history of the conflict.
Is the War in Afghanistan Unconstitutional?"Anger is growing among Americans - who say less money should be spent on the country's overseas military campaigns and more on tackling the country's domestic problems. U.S.
BBC News - Pakistanis recount horror of suicide attacksTwo Pakistanis who have lost loved ones in recent suicide attacks share their stories and describe the impact terror has had on their lives. ALI MUSTAFA, DOCTOR, ISLAMABAD Ali Mustafa lost his best friend during the attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi on 4 December.
BBC News - Taliban claim bombing in KarachiPakistan's Taliban have said they carried out the suicide bombing which killed 43 people in the commercial capital, Karachi, on Monday. A spokesman threatened to carry out more such attacks in the coming days.
'Hundreds of al-Qaeda Militants Planning Attacks from Yemen'Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are planning terror attacks from Yemen, the country's Foreign Minister said today. Dr. Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said, "They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit. There are maybe hundreds of them — 200, 300."
Taliban Insurgents in Afghanistan Set-Up Shadow GovernmentCorruption and incompetence in President Karzai's Government — particularly at local level — have forced a growing number of Afghans to seek the services of the Taliban. This insurgent-run Taliban shadow government is not limited to justice.
The US: Favouring Freedom or Fuelling Feuds After 9/11?Americans - one way or the other - have always been influencing the world, may that be economically, politically, from human rights point of view or making peace or war.
BBC News - Funerals for Pakistan suicide bomb victimsThousands of people in Pakistan have attended funerals in the city of Karachi, a day after a suicide bomb that claimed the lives of 43 people. Firefighters are still extinguishing flames following rioting after the attack on a Shia Muslim march.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | The return of YazidAfter enjoying a little more than two years of relative peace, Karachi was rudely dragged back on the mutilated map of terror today.
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