February 2010
31 posts
Film-maker Séverin Blanchet among 16 killed in... →
At least six Indians and an Italian diplomat were among 16 people killed yesterday when a Taleban suicide squad stormed central Kabul.
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Karzai overturns law that reserves seats for women... →
The Times Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent and Jerome Starkey in Kabul
President Karzai has given his election cronies the authority to find new ways of filling women’s seats in forthcoming parliamentary ballots, in a move that critics fear will erode constitutional safeguards designed to guarantee female MPs.
A unilateral decree issued last week gave the Independent Election...
Hunt down the spy behind deaths of our children,... →
The survivors of a night raid in eastern Afghanistan in December that left ten people dead, including eight schoolboys from one family, have still not received compensation and investigators are no…
Assault force killed family by mistake in raid,... →
It was dark when Mohammed Taleb Abdul Ajan woke to the sound of dogs barking.
8 weeks on, Nato admits 'terrorists' it killed... →
IT WAS dark when Mohammed Taleb woke to the sound of dogs barking down the valley in eastern Afghanistan. Then he heard boots crunching on gravel and men’s voices outside his bedroom. “Their guns,”…
Nato admits that deaths of 8 boys were a mistake →
A night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in which eight schoolboys from one family were killed was carried out on the basis of faulty intelligence and
Bicycle bomb kills seven near bus station in... →
A bomb concealed on a bicycle killed seven people in the capital of Helmand today and injured 14 others, officials said.
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Afghans call for Nato to leave after airstrike... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Kabul
Relatives of 27 people killed when Nato aircraft bombed a civilian convoy in southern Afghanistan have demanded that foreign forces leave the country.
Afghan officials said that at least four women and a child were among the dead. Twelve other civilians were wounded when three minibuses were attacked on Sunday in a remote part of Uruzgan province.
“They came...
'Leave now' – Afghan families' fury after Nato... →
RELATIVES of the 27 people killed when Nato aircraft bombed a convoy of minibuses in southern Afghanistan have demanded foreign forces leave the country amid growing fury over the civilian death…
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Hamid Karzai seizes control of Afghan Electoral... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Kabul
President Karzai has seized control of the independent election watchdog that ruled more than a million votes invalid in August’s polls.
Diplomats said that Mr Karzai issued a decree last week giving himself the right to appoint all five commissioners on the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
Under the old law the ECC was the only truly independent body....
Watch
Tackling opium is key to successful operation in... →
The fields of Marjah are bright green with poppy shoots; the drug lords’ “poppy palaces” that stand out a mile.
Afghan police called in to shore up coalition... →
HUNDREDS of Afghan police are being deployed to reinforce troops in Marjah, as “fierce” fighting and the threat of mines continues to hinder the coalition’s advance.
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Afghan police reinforce coalition in Marjah as... →
The Times Jerome Starkey at Camp Shorabak
Hundreds of Afghan police were preparing to reinforce troops in Marjah last night as fierce fighting and the threat of mines continued to hinder the coalition’s advance.
Brigadier-General Larry Nicholson, the commander of US Marines in Afghanistan, said he needed the police to free up his soldiers to fight the Taleban. “What I can’t afford is for all the...
Jerome Starkey in Afghanistan: Blast a timely... →
BRIGADIER General Larry Nicholson was busy praising Afghan troops for flushing out Taleban fighters when an incoming rocket sent his men diving for cover.
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US and Afghan officials say Taleban fighters far... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Marjah
Brigadier-General Larry Nicholson was midway through praising Afghan troops for flushing out Taleban fighters when a rocket sent his men diving for cover. “Incoming!” screamed a Marine as the missile screeched close overhead.
An Afghan colonel who had been briefing the general was abandoned for a moment as half a dozen men scrambled to safety in the dust of a...
War in Afghanistan: Innocents being used as... →
TALEBAN fighters are increasingly using civilians as human shields during the assault on the southern town of Marjah as military squads resume house-to-house searches in the Taleban stronghold.
US forces move swiftly to take control of region... →
US Marines moving from the north of Marjah have joined up with US troops who were dropped into the area by helicopter four days ago, helping to increase their control over a crucial area known as the…
Jerome Starkey in Afghanistan: Defence chief calls... →
AFGHAN security chiefs sought to exploit the apparent success of Operation Moshtarak yesterday by inviting defeated Taleban to swap sides.
War in Afghanistan: Defence chief calls on beaten... →
AFGHAN security chiefs sought to exploit the apparent success of Operation Moshtarak yesterday by inviting defeated Taleban to swap sides.
IEDs a threat now and long into the future for... →
Long after the guns fall silent on Operation Moshtarak, long after the insurgents flee, British, American and Afghan forces will still face weeks, if not months, of mortal danger.
US fears being bogged down in Marjah as snipers... →
US Marines and Afghan troops were making slow progress as they came under attack from snipers on the third day of a major offensive to seize the Taleban’s stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
Jerome Starkey in Afghanistan: 'The Taleban are... →
LINES of young men and boys sat squatting at the edges of their fields yesterday as wave after wave of helicopters swooped and banked over their mud-walled homes. Afghan transport helicopters were…
Army chief Sir Jock Stirrup: Afghan blunder is... →
The killing of 12 Afghan civilians by stray Nato rockets was “a very serious setback” to the Afghan mission, the head of the armed forces said today as it was announced that another British soldier…
'The Taleban are defeated,' said the general. Now... →
LINES of young men and boys sat squatting at the edges of their fields yesterday as wave after wave of helicopters swooped and banked over their mud-walled homes. Afghan transport helicopters were…
Taleban 'ready to talk' as Nato prepares for huge... →
TALEBAN go-betweens are trying to broker an 11th-hour peace deal with militants in Marjah, on the eve of a massive operation to clear the insurgents from their central Helmand stronghold.
British soldier from the Coldstream Guards killed... →
A British soldier was killed in a bomb blast yesterday while on foot patrol north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
Man with the money Charlie Wilson unleashed a... →
In helping to beat the Soviet menace, Charlie Wilson unleashed a monster.
Government-in-waiting aims to win hearts and minds... →
A “government-in-waiting” is poised to seize control in Marjah once thousands of Afghan and international soldiers force the Taleban from their central Helmand stronghold.
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Avalanches kill 28 and injure dozens near Salang... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Kabul
A series of massive avalanches have killed at least 64 people on Afghanistan’s busiest highway, officials said yesterday, as rescuers struggled to free more than 1,500 people trapped deep inside the Hindu Kush.
Dozens of cars were swept off a treacherous mountain pass on Monday when snowfalls caused more than three hours of avalanches near the Salang tunnel....
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Refugees flee to capital of Helmand to avoid huge... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Kabul, Tom Coghlan
As British troops count the hours until the start of the largest Nato offensive since the US-led invasion of 2001, Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is witnessing the arrival of a grim procession of frightened refugees desperate to escape the battle.
Nato forces have urged civilians to flee Marjah — one of the most heavily populated...
January 2010
23 posts
1 tag
President Karzai invites Taleban to join peace... →
The Times Jerome Starkey in Kabul
President Karzai announced a timetable for the first round of peace talks with the Taleban yesterday as US troops admitted that they may have bombed an Afghan army base by mistake.
The Afghan President said that a grand assembly would be convened within the next six weeks to give the Taleban and other insurgent groups the opportunity to speak face-to-face to the...