Afghanistan News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan  – Taliban gunmen on motorbikes gunned down a woman provincial legislator in Afghanistan Sunday as authorities said they had killed 40 more Taliban in their battle to defeat the extremists. Legislator Sitara Achikzai, a high school teacher and women’s rights activist in her 50s, was shot dead outside …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A female provincial official known for fighting for women’s rights was gunned down in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, following a day of fighting in the region that left 22 militants dead, officials said. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Afghan government won’t allow any law that would force women to have sex with their husbands or prevent them from leaving their homes, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Washington said yesterday. “Definitely not,” Ambassador Said Jawad said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend. …

Afghanistan  – Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province Friday, killing six policemen and wounding another seven, the provincial government said.mi The attack occurred in the Nawa district, just outside the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. “This morning (the) Taliban …

The Army is building $1.1 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year, according to Col. Thomas E. O’Donovan, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan District. Massive construction of barracks, training areas, …

A suicide bombing at a crowded Shiite mosque south of Pakistan’s capital killed 26 people, the latest evidence of how security in the U.S.-allied nation is crumbling well beyond the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters thrive. The violence came Sunday as a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said …

President Barack Obama hailed “strong and unanimous support” from NATO allies on Saturday for his stepped-up anti-terror strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and welcomed their “down payment” promises of 5,000 fresh forces. The allies rebuffed U.S. appeals for more combat forces to join the war, but the backing Obama did …

European leaders enthusiastically praised President Barack Obama‘s new Afghan strategy at a NATO summit Saturday but held their ground on a central disagreement and offered only military trainers and extra security forces for upcoming elections. Violent anti-war protests that marred the alliance’s 60th anniversary celebrations were a stark reminder that …

President Barack Obama on Friday will present his new strategy for Afghanistan to NATO allies who are increasingly reluctant to commit more ground troops to the escalating war effort. The military alliance‘s annual summit this year coincides with NATO’s 60th anniversary. While NATO leaders have emphasized that the meeting Friday …

A joint team of Afghan and U.S. coalition forces battled a large group of suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province before calling in an air strike that killed 20 insurgents, the coalition said in a statement Thursday. The coalition said dozens of insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and …