Afghanistan

German soldiers admit to shooting Afghans

The German military on Friday admitted its soldiers in Afghanistan deliberately shot several people during a violent protest outside their base in the northern town of Taloqan. An investigation being carried out at the Provincial Advisory Team (PAT) base has so far established that German soldiers on Wednesday were shooting […]

Picture of the Day

A baker beckons customers to his shop bakery decorated with nan-i-afghani flatbread in Kabul on Sunday. Afghanistan’s national bread, which is baked in a tandoor, are also popular in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. (AP)

Commentators acquitted on all charges

By Rana Husseini AMMAN – The Amman Criminal Court on Sunday decided to acquit two commentators on charges related to political remarks they made in separate TV talk shows regarding Jordan’s involvement in Afghanistan. Presiding Judge Nas-ser Salamat declared Mwaffaq Mahadin, a columnist at Al Arab Al Yawm daily, and […]

Germany helps mediate US talks with Taleban

BERLIN – GERMANY is helping mediate secret, direct talks between the United States and the Afghan Taleban, with meetings taking place on German soil, Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday. Germany’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Michael Steiner is moderating the talks, the latest round of which took place on […]

What does Bin Laden death mean for Afghan war?

The US military commander in Afghanistan has said the killing of Osama Bin Laden may weaken al-Qaeda’s influence on the Taliban. Even so, warned Gen David Petraeus, Afghanistan could still become a potential refuge for international terror groups. Meanwhile, members of Congress have been calling for US troops to hasten […]

Beginning the End of America’s Longest War

In roughly two months, President Barack Obama is going to announce the beginning of the end of America’s longest war. He could not have known, when he initially set this summer for the beginning of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, that the timing would work out so perfectly. […]

NOAM CHOMSKY: MY REACTION TO OSAMA BIN LADEN’S DEATH

Via Guernica: It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law. There appears to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably could have been done by 80 commandos facing virtually no opposition—except, they claim, from his wife, who […]

Was killing bin Laden a mistake?

“He lived a hero, he died a martyr… if they killed one Osama, a thousand others will be born,” says a comment on a Facebook group called ‘We are all Osama bin Laden’. The group was formed one hour after US President Barack Obama’s announcement of the al-Qaeda leader’s death. […]

Pro-bin Laden protest in London

Protesters demonstrating yesterday, outside the US embassy in London, against the recent killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US military personnel. Photo: Leon Neal/AFP More than one hundred Islamic extremists rallied outside the US embassy in London yesterday to vent their fury at Washington over the […]

500 militants break out of Afghan prison

Kandahar, Monday Almost 500 Taliban prisoners escaped through a tunnel in an audacious overnight jailbreak in south Afghanistan which the president’s office called a security “disaster”. The Taliban said it was behind the operation to free the prisoners using a massive underground tunnel in its heartland of southern Kandahar, and […]