Topic: Afghanistan

The U.S. and the Taliban Are Actually Going to Talk About Peace

Muhammad Naeem (L), a spokesman for the Office of the Taliban of Afghanistan speaks during the opening of the Taliban Afghanistan Political Office in Doha June 18, 2013.
REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous

For the first time since their 12-year war began, the Taliban and United States have agreed to sit down together and negotiate a peaceful end to the war in Afghanistan. You don't just brush a decade years of horrific violence and even older grudges under the table.

By John Hudson

Sep 21, 2012

The U.S. Suffered Its Worst Airpower Loss Since Vietnam Last Week and No One Really Noticed

The Taliban attack on an air base in southern Afghanistan on Friday drew coverage for the way the insurgents cloaked themselves in U.S. army uniforms to gain a tactical advantage, but few have taken note of the historical proportions of the damage inflicted.

Comments | 136,534 Views

By John Hudson

Sep 21, 2012

A Timeline of the Benghazi Attacks

While the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has dominated headlines for more than a week, the facts of what actually happened during the Sept. 11 assault are still far from settled. But new media reporting is beginning to piece together the sequence of events.

Comments | 4,002 Views

By John Hudson

Sep 21, 2012

The Troop Surge in Afghanistan Is Officially Over

It never lived up to the renown of the Iraq War troop surge, and now it's officially over.

Comments

By Esther Zuckerman

Sep 19, 2012

Trimming the Times

Wisconsin, a Subway Ad, and Le Cirque

A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.

Comments | 1,207 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Sep 18, 2012

Latest Afghan Suicide Bomb Tied to Anti-Muslim Video

A suicide bomber targeting foreign workers in Kabul has killed 14 people, and the group responsible is trying to tie the attack to the still ongoing protests over the anti-Muslim video.

Comments | 345 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Sep 17, 2012

American Troops Are Sick of Getting Killed By Their Afghan Allies

After yet another green-on-blue attack left four Americans dead on Sunday, U.S. troops have suspended their joint operations with Afghan security forces.

Comments | 2,630 Views

By Connor Simpson

Sep 16, 2012

Four U.S. NATO Troops Are Dead After 'Insider' Attack

Four U.S. NATO troops were killed when an Afghan police officer turned his gun on them at a routine checkpoint early Sunday morning in what's being called an "insider" attack, but no one's sure why. 

Comments | 808 Views

By Adam Martin

Sep 10, 2012

The Taliban Say They're Gunning for Prince Harry

Prince Harry landed in Afghanistan on Friday and this time the British Army decided not to keep his assignment a secret, so the news that he's the Taliban's biggest target came as no surprise Monday. In fact, it almost seems late.

Comments | 7,273 Views

By Adam Martin

Sep 7, 2012

Prince Harry Finally Allowed Back to Afghanistan

Prince Harry's naked Las Vegas jaunt in August takes on a bit of a different tone with the news on Friday that he's landed in Afghanistan to begin a deployment with the British army in Helmand province.

Comments | 171 Views

By Adam Martin

Aug 27, 2012

No Discharge for Koran-Burning Soldiers, Corpse-Desecrating Marines

Marines who urinated on Afghan corpses and soldiers who burned Korans won't do time or get discharged, but they will probably still lose their jobs after receiving administrative punishments on Monday.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Aug 27, 2012

Taliban Killed 17 People in Afghanistan

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan murdered and possibly beheaded 17 people over the weekend, reportedly for throwing a party with music, dancing, and mingling of men and women.

Comments | 4,158 Views

By John Hudson

Aug 23, 2012

Ambassador Crocker Arrested for DUI, Hit and Run

He's had to deal with the worst conflict zones in the world, but now former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker has a headache to deal with at home: Hit-and-run and intoxicated driving charges.

Comments | 938 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Aug 22, 2012

Trimming the Times

Afghanistan Casualties, 'Call Me Maybe,' and Michael J. Fox

A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.

Comments | 469 Views

By Adam Martin

Aug 21, 2012

How American Troops Die in Afghanistan

To mark the deaths of 2,000 U.S. service members in Afghanistan, The New York Times has a large-scale and quite moving look at how, where, and when they died, and who they are, including an elegantly produced photo series of all who have been identified.

Comments | 775 Views

By Adam Martin

Aug 21, 2012

Taliban Wants as Much Credit as it Can Get for Dempsey Attack

The U.S. military is playing down the Taliban's dubious claim that attackers had "exact information" about where Gen. Martin Dempsey's plane would be when it was attacked on Monday night.

Comments | 348 Views

By John Hudson

Aug 17, 2012

Why Do Afghan Police Keep Killing U.S. Troops?

This year, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are dying at a rate of one per day thanks in part to the dramatic escalation of Afghan security forces turning their weapons on U.S. allies in so-called green-on-blue attacks.

Comments | 2,151 Views

By Adam Martin

Aug 16, 2012

Seven U.S. Troops Confirmed Dead in Afghan Helicopter Crash

It's worth a pause this morning to think about how dangerous things are for those still serving in Afghanistan, as 11 people were killed in a helicopter crash there, including seven international service members, all of whom may have been American.

Comments | 172 Views

By Serena Dai

Aug 14, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Tuesday Columns

Michael R. Bloomberg on immigration reform and the economy, Dexter Filkins on the troubled Afghanistan, Charles Lane on the financial health of senior citizens, Margaret Carlson on Paul Ryan, and George Monbiot on biofuels and the African famine. 

Comments | 1,640 Views

By John Hudson

Jul 30, 2012

A Day in the Life of a U.S. Drone Operator

You wouldn't think of suburban New York as a battlefront for the war in Afghanistan, but for the growing number of U.S. drone operators at the Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, that's exactly what it is.

Comments | 1,489 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jul 23, 2012

Trimming the Times

Spying at the Olympics, The Virgin Mary in Jersey, and 'Uncle Vanya'

A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.

Comments | 750 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jul 20, 2012

Stat of the Day

Leaving Afghanistan by 2015 Requires Shipping a Container Every 7 Minutes

How could NATO get supplies out of Afghanistan in time for the drawdown? A shipping container worth of gear sent every seven minutes, all day, every day. 

Comments | 1,351 Views

By Adam Martin

Jul 10, 2012

At Least NPR's Plagiarizing Intern Went to the Event He Wrote About

Ahmad Shafi, the NPR intern whose story about witnessing an execution in Kabul was taken down because it too closely resembled another story from 2001 won't be leaving the network or facing any disciplinary action, at least until a review of the rest of his work concludes.

Comments | 5,631 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jul 8, 2012

Taliban Member Reportedly Executes Woman for Adultery

There's a disturbing new video of Taliban forces in Afghanistan shooting and killing a woman at point blank range for allegedly committing adultery with two Taliban members. 

Comments | 5,174 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jul 7, 2012

The U.S. and Afghanistan Are Best Friends Now

Ten years can change a lot. In the ongoing effort to build a relationship with Afghanistan, Hilary Clinton said the country is officially America's newest ally.

Comments | 454 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jun 28, 2012

Trimming the Times

Egypt's New First Lady, Aging Supreme Court Justices, and Snooki

A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.

Comments | 1,186 Views

A Look at Obama's Other Secret National Security Policies

Inspired by The New York Timesexposé on Obama's "secret 'kill list,'" we collected some of the best pieces of watchdog journalism on Obama's national security policies.

Comments | 1,724 Views

By Adam Martin

May 29, 2012

Are Reports of Afghan Student Poisonings Really 'Mass Hysteria'?

This is the worst trend ever: Afghan police say yet another poisoning attack at a school -- the fourth this year and the second in a week -- has put 160 female students in the hospital as Taliban militants try to keep women from getting an education.

Comments | 333 Views

By John Hudson

May 22, 2012

The NATO Summit's Biggest Losers

The much-hyped NATO Summit in Chicago this weekend wasn't a complete boondoggle. The alliance forged a formal agreement on withdrawing from Afghanistan, but elsewhere, a number of world leaders left the Windy City without much to say for their stay.

Comments | 850 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 20, 2012

Pakistan Is Stealing the NATO Spotlight from Afghanistan

The NATO summit in Chicago started on Sunday, and while the focus of the summit is supposed to be on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, a rift between the U.S. and Pakistan is taking center stage. 

Comments | 718 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 19, 2012

Meet the New "More Radical" Insurgent Group in Afghanistan

There's a new insurgent group called the Mullah Dadullah Front in Afghanistan and they're being billed as "more radical" than the Taliban, The New York Times reports

Comments | 2,154 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 13, 2012

What We Know About the Assassination of an Afghan Peace Official

A top Afghan peace official was killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday. Arsala Rahmani was a member of the High Peace Council, and was considered one of the countries biggest assets for negotiating peace talks with the Taliban.

Comments | 979 Views

By John Hudson

May 10, 2012

Parents of POW at Odds with the Senate's Most Famous POW

Much has been made of the parents of POW Bowe Bergdahl, who criticized President Obama's efforts to free their son this week and spearheaded their own efforts to release him from his Taliban captors. But what's less publicized is one of the major impediments to their son's release: Senator John McCain.

Comments | 2,257 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 7, 2012

Soldier Dies Mysteriously While Talking to His Wife on Video Chat

The U.S. Army isn't providing any details about the death of Army nurse in Afghanistan whose wife witnessed him collapse while they were talking over a Skype video chat.

Comments | 5,143 Views

By John Hudson

May 2, 2012

Looking Ahead to the Afghan War's Next Decade

If you thought that President Obama's speech last night signaled the beginning of the end of the war in Afghanistan, you weren't alone. Unfortunately, the pact he signed with Afghan president Hamid Karzai will keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan for another decade.

Comments | 1,150 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 2, 2012

The Taliban Strikes Kabul Hours After Obama Leaves Afghanistan

Seven people were killed by a suicide bomb attack in Kabul that came just hours after President Obama's surprise trip to the region. 

Comments | 230 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 1, 2012

Obama Doesn't Win Wars, He Ends Them

On the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, Obama gave a surprise speech from Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan Tuesday night in which he made the case for a timeline for pulling out of the Afghan war. 

Comments | 3,245 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 1, 2012

President Obama Is In Afghanistan After All

After a morning of mysterious reports and odd denials, President Obama did indeed make a surprise trip to Afghanistan today on the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death.

Comments | 1,762 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 23, 2012

Cartoon

Another Depressing Military Revelation

Cartoonist Nick Anderson on the latest military blunder.

Comments | 1,037 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 18, 2012

Report: U.S. Soldiers Posed with Limbs of Dead Afghan Insurgents

This isn't going to help things over there. A soldier has given the Los Angeles Times 18 photos of U.S. soldiers posing with the limbs of Afghan insurgents. Yes, limbs.   

Comments | 4,153 Views

By John Hudson

Apr 16, 2012

Practice, Cashews, and Friends: How the Taliban Pulled Off Its Spring Offensive

The Taliban's brazen 18-hour offensive is over and now NATO and Afghan officials are scrambling to figure out how the insurgency struck at the heart of Afghanistan's capital.

Comments | 715 Views

By Seth Abramovitch

Apr 15, 2012

Revenge of the Taliban

Employing a small army of suicide bombers and gunmen, the Taliban unleashed a multi-tiered assault today that targeted Afghanistan's foreign embassies, parliament and NATO headquarters.

Comments | 1,558 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 12, 2012

Poll Watch

It Only Took Three Weeks To Dissolve Racial Unity Over Trayvon

In late March, there was broad agreement that George Zimmerman should be arrested for killing Trayvon Martin. Now white people and black people are divided over whether Martin was unjustly killed. Here's our guide to today's polls and which ones matter.

Comments | 3,060 Views

By John Hudson

Apr 10, 2012

With Night Raids Agreement, U.S. Helps Karzai Save Face

It's difficult to interpret the widely-touted deal between the U.S. and Afghanistan over night raids in any way other than as a political gift to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Comments | 408 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Mar 27, 2012

Poll Watch

Americans Didn't Notice the Etch A Sketch Moment

Two polls show the 2012 election campaign in a curious moment: the candidates are talking about one thing few voters noticed -- who's more like an Etch A Sketch -- and not talking about one thing voters are upset about, the Afghanistan war. Here's our guide to today's polls and why they matter. 

Comments | 849 Views

By Lena Groeger, ProPublica

Mar 20, 2012

No Test Can Read Robert Bales' Mind

The aftermath of last week's killing of 16 Afghans has prompted a flurry of speculation into the mind of 38-year old U.S. combat staff sergeant Robert Bales. In particular, the injuries to it.

Comments | 1,397 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Mar 19, 2012

'Hajji' Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

The media is struggling to understand who Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is, and why he allegedly shot 16 Afghan civilians. However, the details being held up as insights into a troubled mind are just descriptions of Army life.

Comments | 3,896 Views

The End of the Afghan War and a Battle of Semantics

For war-weary Americans who mostly want to know when the Afghan war is over, the answer apparently depends on what the definition of “is” is.

 

Comments | 74 Views

By John Hudson

Mar 19, 2012

Afghans Are Convinced of a U.S. Cover-Up in Massacre

From everyday Afghans to the Taliban insurgency to the highest elected officials, accusations that the U.S. covered-up the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians have gone mainstream in Afghanistan. 

Comments | 1,108 Views

By Seth Abramovitch

Mar 18, 2012

Charges Against Robert Bales Are Likely Imminent

As the military prepares its case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a picture continues to emerge of the man as a model soldier and loving husband pushed to the brink by a fourth tour of duty.

Comments | 2,267 Views

By Seth Abramovitch

Mar 17, 2012

What We Know So Far About Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the Afghanistan Shooter

A picture is emerging of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, as a decorated soldier and family man reluctantly on his fourth deployment to a war zone in the Middle East. 

Comments | 10,016 Views

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App