Salem-News.com Afghanistan articles Page 4

99 Afghan Taliban Give up Fighting, Blast Rocks Kabul

A total of 80 armed militants give up fighting and handed over their weapons to government in the northern Baghlan Province on Sunday, provincial governor Sultan Mohammad Abadi said.

(KABUL Xinhua) - A total of 99 Taliban militants gave up fighting in the northern and western parts of Afghanistan over the weekend, while the militants organized a suicide attack in the capital city Kabul, injuring at least six police personnel.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Afghan capital Kabul, killing himself and injuring six others on Sunday, police said.

Defending Good and Evil

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. --George Orwell

(MANAMA, Bahrain) - Typically, people argue to defend what they do (or believe), attacking opposing views where they can, and ignoring arguments they haven't considered.

The more that kind of activity serves as American foreign policy--whether it’s in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria or Iraq, the more the USA can expect revenge from understandably vengeful victims of American terrorism.

Afghan Taliban Denies Role In Case Of `Suicide Attack` Girl

The 10 year old girl detained by police on January 6 in the southern province of Helmand, said she refused to carry out the attack. Authorities say they are searching for her brother.

(KABUL Radio Free Europe/Radio Libert) - A Taliban spokesman has denied any involvement by the group in the case of a young girl who says her Taliban brother dressed her in an explosives-filled vest and told her to carry out a suicide attack against Afghan police.

Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi denounced the story as "propaganda" from the Afghan government.

Poll: US, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan Biggest Threats to World Peace

United States was ranked as the greatest threat to the world peace by 24 percent of the countries, according to the survey report.

(KABUL) - According to a new poll report, United States of America, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are the top four nations which poses threats to the world peace.

WIN/Gallup International conducted the global survey, where residents of 68 countries were questioned on everything from the global economy to politics and living conditions.

Are US Policy Makers Really that Stupid, or are they Evil?

Is it a surprise that in a world poll this week the US was voted the biggest threat to peace in the world?

(JAMESTOWN, RI) - Are US policy makers really stupid or do they have a natural talent for creating violence and hatred? The latest world poll shows the US is considered the biggest threat to world peace and our government’s daily actions and decisions assure us of a continued “number one”.

Iraq for example, just suffered its worst year of violence since 2008 with almost 9,000 deaths in a country that is a failed state wracked with civil wars, sectarian strife, and infested with large Al Qaeda groups, all trying to impose their will and agenda on a devastated nation.

650 Inmates Released from Bagram Prison

While nearly one year ago the Afghan government took over Bagram prison and there were 3,000 inmates, including 50 foreign inmates.

(KABUL Tolo News) - The Investigating Fates of Prisoners Committee (IFPC) on Tuesday revealed that 650 inmates previously housed in Bagram Prison have been released. The IFPC said that in total over 760 inmates at Bagram are being vetted for possible early release.

The committee said that most of the inmates were accused of involvement with the Taliban and the Hezb-e-Islami group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, both anti-government groups, but there was insufficient evidence to hold them on those charges.

NATO Forces Casualties in Afghanistan Lowest in Six years

At least 1,788 US troops have been killed and some 19,541 in various incidents since the start of the U.S. invasion in 2001 through Dec. 30 in Afghanistan, according the US Defense Department.

(KABUL) - The US-led coalition security forces suffered the lowest number of casualties in Afghanistan in 2013, as compared to the past six years, the Associated Press reported.

However, Afghan national security forces casualties have significantly during the year, as Afghan forces took security responsibilities and combat lead across the country.

Photos Capture Afghanistan in the 1960`s

From Kabul's steep earthen neighborhoods to lush green countryside, snow capped mountains and agriculture, see Afghanistan before it was ravaged by 30+ years of war.

(SALEM) - I have posted a collection of photographs that document Afghanistan as it appeared during the late 1960's. The collection was given to me while I was covering the war in Afghanistan during the winter of 2006 and 2007 by soldiers at Camp Phoenix, the U.S. Army military base in Kabul.

I do not know the photographer, the assumption is that they were shot by a British diplomat based here at that time. I hope maybe the photographer will let us know their name at some point, we would enjoy knowing more, particularly the year or years the photos were taken.

Rocky Future for Afghanistan, US Intelligence Warns

U.S. officials have said that unless a deal is reached to keep up to 8,000 U.S. troops, Taliban insurgents might stage a major comeback and al-Qaida could regain safe havens in the country.

(WASHINGTON, DC Voice of America) - A leading U.S. newspaper says an intelligence report on Afghanistan predicts gains made by the United States and its allies will be lost by 2017, with the Taliban and other groups becoming increasingly influential as international forces leave.

The Washington Post reports the new National Intelligence Estimate says Afghanistan will quickly fall into chaos if Washington and Kabul do not sign a security pact to keep an international military contingent in the country beyond 2014.

OpEd News: Screaming for Help at Ganjgal

The book Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War by Dakota Meyer and Bing West, reveals the dangerous refusal of officers responsible for aiding the men who fought and died alone.

(SALEM) - Ganjgal village in Afghanistan was the scene of a brutal ambush on the 8th September 2009, that claimed the lives of four U.S. Marines, an American soldier, and eight Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers.