The United States will keep up to 1,000 more soldiers than previously planned in Afghanistan into next year, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Saturday, in a recognition of the still formidable challenge from Taliban insurgents. Hagel, confirming a change in the U.S. drawdown schedule first reported by Reuters in November, said the […]
ISIS has a new ally in Pakistan
A spokesperson for Jundullah , a splinter group of Pakistan’s Taliban, confirmed on Monday the group’s support to Islamic State (Isis). “They (Islamic State) are our brothers, whatever plan they have we will support them,” Jundullah spokesperson Fahad Marwat told Reuters. The allegiance was announced after Jundallah met a three-man IS delegation led by al […]
U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan to end this spring
President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that most U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan would end this spring, signaling a quickening troop drawdown that will bring the decade-long war to a close at the end of 2014. “Our troops will continue to fight alongside Afghans when needed, but let me say it as […]
Conflicting reports over beheading of 17 Afghan civilians
Officials in southern Afghanistan say Taliban insurgents have beheaded 17 Afghan civilians, including two women. The Interior Ministry says the civilians were killed in the Kajaki district of Helmand province late Sunday.
40 Taliban insurgents killed, 30 arrested in Afghanistan, report
About 40 Taliban insurgents were killed and 30 others detained in military operations within the past 24 hour in different Afghan provinces, the country’s Interior Ministry said Sunday morning.
HSBC exec resigns at money laundering hearing
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA)’s head of group compliance, David Bagley, told a Senate hearing he will step down amid charges the bank gave terrorists, drug cartels and criminals access to the U.S. financial
U.S. declares Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally
Washington declared Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally on Saturday, a largely symbolic status reinforcing its message to Afghans that they will not be abandoned as the war winds down. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the decision, made by President Barack Obama, during her unannounced visit to Kabul where she met President Hamid Karzai
Deadly standoff ends at Afghan hotel, hostages freed
Taliban militants attacked a hotel near Kabul on Friday and seized dozens of hostages, sparking a fierce gunbattle with Afghan and NATO troops that left 26 people dead, authorities said. The standoff, which lasted 11 hours, ended with the deaths of all seven militants, police said. The militants killed 15 civilians, a police officer and […]
SAS frees hostages in daring Afghan raid
A flawless operation by Nato special forces led by the SAS freed a British aid worker and her three colleagues from the clutches of Taliban kidnappers in a remote part of northern Afghanistan yesterday. They had been held for 11 days in a cave by a group who were armed with heavy machine guns, assault […]
Obama says defeat of al Qaeda is “within reach”
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday reminded Americans that he has wound down two unpopular wars since taking office more than three years ago and said the defeat of al Qaeda is “within reach.” “My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war.