afghanistan
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Canada moves to solve Afghan helicopter shortageOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will overcome a critical shortage of military transport helicopters in Afghanistan by buying six used machines from the United States as well as leasing six Russian-made aircraft, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Thursday.
Canada has no transport helicopters in Afghanistan and, in MacKay's words, has been reduced to "hitching rides with allies". Canada has 2,500 troops in the southern city of Kandahar on a mission that is due to end in 2011.
Ottawa will buy six used Boeing Co Chinook helicopters from the U.S. government for a sum not exceeding C$292 million ($278 million). The aircraft are already in theater and will be available for operations by February 2009.
Source : topix.net | 08-Aug-2008 00:22
French troops sent to troubled Afghan region
KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of French troops have deployed to train and mentor Afghan security forces in a key southern province wracked by the Taliban-led insurgency, NATO said Thursday.
Source : topix.net | 07-Aug-2008 19:57
Taliban gaining control, strength
As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base.
Source : topix.net | 07-Aug-2008 15:18
Officials: 25 militants, 2 troops dead in Pakistan
An attack on a Pakistani military checkpost by some 200 pro-Taliban militants triggered intense fighting that killed 25 insurgents and two paramilitary soldiers near the Afghan border, security officials said ...
Source : topix.net | 07-Aug-2008 10:53
Pakistan must curb 'out of control' elements
KABUL: Afghanistan is keen to work with Pakistan to fight Islamic extremism, but Islamabad must rein in elements in the government that are "out of control," the Afghan foreign minister said yesterday.
Source : topix.net | 07-Aug-2008 06:13
NC-based Marine killed in Afghanistan
The military says a Marine based at Camp Lejeune has died from injuries suffered while fighting in Afghanistan.
Source : topix.net | 07-Aug-2008 01:33
A surgeon's guidebook to the horrors of battle
The pictures show shredded limbs, burned faces, profusely bleeding wounds. The subjects are mostly American GI's, but they include Iraqis and Afghans, some of them young children.
Source : topix.net | 06-Aug-2008 20:52
France assumes command of 5,000 NATO-led troops deployed in Kabul
KABUL: France took command Tuesday of about 5,000 NATO-led soldiers deployed in Kabul and surrounding areas with the aim of handing over to Afghan forces within a year, a French general told AFP as a roadside ...
Source : topix.net | 06-Aug-2008 16:21
Dr Aafia was detained, tortured for 5 years: sister
Dr Aafia's sister, Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday with HRCP's Iqbal Haider.
Source : topix.net | 06-Aug-2008 11:43
Austin National Guardsman Killed in Afghanistan
" Sgt. Jaime Gonzalez, , from Austin, Texas, died Aug 3, 2008 while conducting duties as part of a security team.
Source : topix.net | 06-Aug-2008 07:11
Taliban threaten to increase suicide attacks in Pakistan
KHAR, Pakistan : A spokesman for the Taliban warned the Pakistani government on Tuesday that if it does not end a military crackdown against insurgents in a restive northwestern mountain valley then it should ...
Source : topix.net | 06-Aug-2008 02:31
Two clerics die as suicide vests go off
An Afghan woman waits with her son, whose legs have been amputated, for alms on a street in Kabul yesterday KABUL: Militants killed four policemen in an attack on a security post overnight while more than a ...
Source : topix.net | 05-Aug-2008 22:02
India extends $450-m aid to Afghanistan
Political Bureau Posted online: Tuesday , August 05, 2008 at 00:04 hrs Updated On: Tuesday , August 05, 2008 at 00:04 hrs Even as India and Afghanistan vowed to fight the menace of terrorism jointly, New Delhi ...
Source : topix.net | 05-Aug-2008 17:25
5 Taliban die in clash with Afghan police
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan : A series of clashes in southern Afghanistan killed 16 Taliban militants and wounded five police officers, officials said Tuesday.
Source : topix.net | 05-Aug-2008 12:47
US Attorney Charges Afghan Woman With Attempting to Kill US Officers
LawFuel - MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, MARK J. MERSHON, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , ...
Source : topix.net | 05-Aug-2008 08:13
Marines get longer Afghanistan tours
Approximately 1,200 Marines serving in southwestern Afghanistan will have their tours of duty extended by 30 days, Pentagon and Marine officials said.
Source : topix.net | 05-Aug-2008 03:37
Jury Begins Deliberations At 1st Gitmo Trial
America's first war crimes trial since World War II went to the jury Monday as a panel of six U.S. military officers began deliberating whether to send Osama bin Laden's former driver away for life.
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 23:13
'British Muslims fighting own troops'
LONDON: British Muslims are part of the Taliban force fighting against the country's troops deployed under the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, a British General said in an ...
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 18:47
Afghan, NATO forces kill 17 militants in south
Afghan and NATO troops targeted a group of Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, killing 17 militants and wounding six others, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday.
Four police were killed separately in a militant ambush in central Ghazni province, a provincial official said.
The joint force clashed with militants in the Marjah district of Helmand province Sunday, the ministry said in a statement. The troops recovered militants' weapons and ammunition and 132 pounds of drugs after the clash, it said.
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 14:06
Now a ragtag insurgency, Taliban still show tenacity
Six years after being driven from power, the Taliban are demonstrating a resilience and ferocity that is raising alarm here, in Washington and in other NATO capitals, and engendering a fresh round of ...
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 09:37
US warns Pakistan of serious action
Blaming the ISI for "masterminding" the suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul, US President George W Bush has warned Pakistan of "serious action" if one more attack in Afghanistan or elsewhere is traced ...
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 05:16
Burning poppy crops not the solution to Afghanistan's poppy crisis: Emerson
Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson says burning poppy crops in southern Afghanistan is not the way to stem the tide of opium and heroin coming out of the war-ravaged region.
Source : topix.net | 04-Aug-2008 00:43
Afghan mothers keep their kids with them in prison
Three-year-old Wahid nervously clutched a dirty blue stuffed bunny, as the other children in the prison huddled around.
'Are you taking us to an orphanage?' he wanted to know.
Asked by some visitors if he wanted to go, Wahid waffled between yes and no, unable to decide which was worse _ moving to an orphanage or staying in prison with his mother.
Wahid is one of 226 young children who live in Afghanistan's prisons, with mothers who are among the country's 304 incarcerated women. These children have committed no crime. But their mothers have decided prison is the best option for them in a poor, war-torn country where a safe, comfortable home is a rarity.
Source : topix.net | 03-Aug-2008 20:13
Al-Qaida says 4 leaders killed in Afghanistan
Al-Qaida confirmed in a Web statement Sunday the death of a senior commander known as a top explosives and poisons expert, who is believed to have been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week.
The statement said Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in an American airstrike last Monday on a compound near the Afghan border.
Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in that strike, in the country's lawless South Waziristan tribal region.
Source : topix.net | 03-Aug-2008 15:33
War sends families searching for safety in Kabul
More refugees are arriving at a camp on the outskirts of Kabul, a sign of the deepening conflict with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Source : topix.net | 03-Aug-2008 10:57
Pakistani Taliban deny Zawahri death report
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani Taliban spokesman denied on Saturday a U.S. media report that al Qaeda number two, Ayman al Zawahri, might have been killed or wounded in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's border region last Monday.
"Zawahri has been killed by them several times. But once again this claim is wrong. This is baseless," Maulvi Omar told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The whereabouts of Zawahri and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have not been known to their enemies since U.S.-led forces waged a campaign to hunt them down in Afghanistan following the al Qaeda attacks on the United States on September11, 2001.
Source : topix.net | 03-Aug-2008 06:17
'I want to kill Canadians,' says Afghan whose children died in shooting
Canwest News Service 08/01/2008 By Graham Thomson [Printer Friendly Version] KANDAHAR - The father of two children accidentally killed by Canadian soldiers says he wants revenge.
Source : topix.net | 03-Aug-2008 01:54
Gillani for collective action against terrorism
Colombo: Identifying extremism and terrorism as "major challenges" confronting South Asia, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gillani today asked SAARC countries to fight the menace "individually and collectively." ...
Source : topix.net | 02-Aug-2008 21:32
Kabul bookseller wants to spur on reading habits
By Sayed Salahuddin Muhammad Rais is trying to bring the books to readers, rather than getting the reader to books SHAH Muhammad Rais is the biggest bookseller in Afghanistan, but while business is good, he ...
Source : topix.net | 02-Aug-2008 17:10
India-Pakistan unease hangs heavy over South Asia summit
By Krittivas Mukherjee
COLOMBO (Reuters) - A worsening of relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan hangs heavy over a summit of South Asian leaders beginning on Saturday, where discussions on terrorism will precede negotiations on trade and food security.
Leaders of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are set to sign four agreements, including one on legal cooperation to combat terrorism.
The two-day summit will also frame a declaration on food security for a region which is home to a fifth of humanity.
Source : topix.net | 02-Aug-2008 12:32
UK Muslims found aiding Taliban war
British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan, says the former commander of UK forces.
Source : topix.net | 02-Aug-2008 08:01
Pakistan border fighting worsens
Fighting escalated on Thursday in a scenic valley in Pakistan's troubled northwest, killing at least 17 civilians, including seven members of a family whose home was hit by a mortar shell, local officials said.
Source : topix.net | 02-Aug-2008 03:26
4 : Canadian ambassador says civilian deaths in Afghanistan are decreasing
The accidental shooting deaths of two Afghan children by Canadian troops and threats of revenge from their father are unfortunate but such incidents are becoming increasingly rare, says Canada's outgoing ...
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 22:51
For now, Iraq's future looks promising
There is a growing confidence among officers, diplomats and politicians that a constitutional Iraq is going to make it.
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 18:17
Militants kidnap 2 police in northwestern Pakistan - AP
Police say militants have overpowered a security post in northwestern Pakistan and kidnapped two officers.
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 13:53
Terror to be high on SAARC summit agenda
In the backdrop of attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, the SAARC summit beginning in Colombo on Saturday will consider a regional framework for cooperation in tackling terrorism amid India's keenness for ...
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 09:14
Civilians under threat of worst Afghan violence yet
By Jon Hemming
KABUL (Reuters) - Violence in Afghanistan has reached its worst level since 2001 with more than 260 civilians killed in July alone, a group of 100 aid agencies said on Friday while calling on all sides to respect the lives of non-combatants.
The number of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan was greater in both May and June than in any month since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, said the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), an umbrella group of non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan.
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 04:45
Drilling for votes in Afghanistan
Sometimes in politics, particularly in campaigns, parties get so wedded to slogans that no one stops to think about what they're saying, whether the reality has changed and what the implications would be if ...
Source : topix.net | 01-Aug-2008 00:04
Now, Pak blames India for causing unrest
ISLAMABAD: Facing intense US pressure to act against militants thriving in its restive tribal region, Pakistani has blamed India and Afghanistan for stirring trouble in its northwestern areas and Balochistan ...
Source : topix.net | 31-Jul-2008 19:40
British Casualty Is Named By MoD
A British soldier who died in an explosion in Afghanistan days before he was due to return to the UK for a family visit has been named.
Source : topix.net | 31-Jul-2008 15:04
Bin Laden's driver denies making loyalty oath
A former driver for Osama bin Laden denied Wednesday that he had sworn a loyalty oath to the al-Qaida leader, contradicting potentially damaging testimony from a Defense Department interrogator.Salim Hamdan, a ...
Source : topix.net | 31-Jul-2008 10:35
3 : Canada will lease Russian-made helicopters for Afghan mission: MacKay
Defence Minister Peter MacKay says Canada will lease six to eight Russian-built helicopters to ferry troops around the battlefield in Afghanistan until it can purchase new U.S. aircraft.
Source : topix.net | 31-Jul-2008 05:55
Kiowa pilot one of two sisters in Afghanistan
Flying is a family tradition for the two sisters from White Salmon, Wash., who found themselves assigned as pilots at the same to Afghanistan.
Source : topix.net | 31-Jul-2008 01:08
Pakistan clash kills 25 Taliban, 5 soldiers
By Junaid Khan
MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Twenty-five Taliban militants and five Pakistani soldiers were killed in a fierce clash in the troubled Swat valley in Pakistan's northwest on Wednesday, the military said.
The fighting broke out after about 70 militants attacked a security post in the Ucharai Sar area near Matta, a known stronghold of militants in the region.
"The attack was successfully repulsed, resulting in the death of 25 miscreants," the military said in a statement.
Source : topix.net | 30-Jul-2008 20:29
US combat deaths in Iraq plunge
The number of US soldiers killed in combat in Iraq has dropped sharply this month, putting July on track to have the lowest casualties for the military since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
Source : topix.net | 30-Jul-2008 16:06
DND offers diplomats, development staff training to handle capture by Taliban
The Canadian Forces plans to offer civilians deployed in Afghanistan specialized training in how to handle themselves if they're ever captured by the Taliban.
Source : topix.net | 30-Jul-2008 11:49