KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan security forces knew Taliban militants were planning an offensive near the southern city of Kandahar last week but were distracted by a mass prison break, a senior army officer said on Saturday.
Read More »Five foreign troops killed in Afghanistan
KABUL (Reuters) – An improvised explosive device (IED) killed four U.S.-led coalition soldiers on Saturday in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the scene of a large anti-Taliban offensive and an insurgent jail break.
Read More »Afghans count Taliban dead in valley near Kandahar
MONARAI, Afghanistan (Reuters) – NATO and Afghan forces held mopping up operations, hunting Taliban fighters and burying the dead on Friday, after an air and ground offensive routed hundreds of insurgents from a valley near Kandahar city.
Read More »U.S. helicopter engines stolen en route to Pakistan port
KABUL (Reuters) – Four U.S. helicopter engines worth more than $13 million have been stolen while they were being trucked from Afghanistan to a port in Pakistan to be shipped home, the U.S. military said.
Read More »Hundreds flee as battle looms in Afghan south
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of families fled their homes in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as foreign and Afghan forces prepare to drive out Taliban insurgents who have overrun several villages, officials and witnesses said. About 600 Taliban insurgents took over several villages in Arghandab district in the south on …
Read More »Afghanistan and Iraq drive up global refugee toll
GENEVA (Reuters) – The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan drove up the number of world refugees for a second straight year in 2007, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said there were 11.4 million refugees under its responsibility at the end of 2007, …
Read More »More than 15 Taliban killed in Afghan prisoner hunt
KABUL (Reuters) – U.S-led and Afghan forces killed more than 15 insurgents in a search for hundreds of prisoners, including Taliban, who broke out of jail after comrades blew up the gates, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
Read More »Afghanistan conference to raise cash and set strategy
PARIS (Reuters) – Ministers will pledge funds for Afghanistan and review their development strategy for the fragile Central Asian state at a donors conference which got underway in Paris on Thursday. More than six years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime that sheltered al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, …
Read More »FACTBOX: Breakdown of troop numbers in Afghanistan
(Reuters) – Afghanistan meets international donors on Thursday in Paris, where President Hamid Karzai will ask for $50 billion to fund a development plan that his government has drawn up. Here is a breakdown of current national deployments within the 40-nation NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which …
Read More »Britain pledges $1.17 billion in Afghan aid
PARIS (Reuters) – Britain will provide about 600 million pounds ($1.17 billion) in reconstruction aid to Afghanistan through 2012/2013, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday. “In the period up to 2012/13, the U.K. will be committing about 600 million pounds to the Afghan reconstruction effort,” Miliband told reporters …
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