Afghanistan
Revealed: Rogue US soldier dressed in Afghan clothes and wore night goggles to embark on mission of murder
Source : Daily Record/UK | 13 Mar 2012
The rogue US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan villagers disguised himself in local clothes before the gun rampage.
The 38-year-old staff sergeant, who the Pentagon refused to name, also wore night vision goggles as he went house to house, trying doors and looking for victims.
man at scene of shootings in kandahar by rogue us soldier afghanistan
He murdered four men, three women and nine children, four of them girls under six.
American soldier kills 16 Afghan civilians
By Heidi Vogt | AP | Balandi | 11 Mar 2012
President Hamid Karzai said a US service member killed 16 people — nine of them children and three women — in a shooting spree Sunday that he condemned as “an assassination.”
Afghan-US deal struck on prison control — officials
By Heidi Vogt | AP | Kabul | 09 Mar 2012<,/cite>
A last-minute agreement has been reached on how to handle the transfer of US detention facilities in Afghanistan to the Kabul government, Afghan and Western officials said Friday.
The issue — along with night raids by international forces in Afghan villages — has threatened to derail a long-term partnership between the two countries. They are in negotiations to formalize a role for US forces after NATO’s scheduled transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government by the end of 2014.
Afghans boil over Qur’an desecration as anti-US protests spread to Pakistan
By Reuters | Kabul | 25 Feb 2012
Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Holy Qur’an at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.
The burning of the copies of the Holy Qur’an at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of NATO forces struggling to stabilize Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.
Obama issues apology for Quran burning as Taliban calls for revenge killings
By Al Arabiya & Agencies | 23 Feb 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama sent Afghan President Hamid Karzai a letter of apology over the burning of copies of the Quran at a U.S. military base, Karzai’s office said Thursday.
Thousands of Afghans protest over "NATO Koran burning"
Source : Reuters | 21 Feb 2012
More than 2,000 Afghans protested outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan over reports that NATO troops had set fire to copies of the Koran.
More than 2,000 Afghans protested outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday over reports that NATO troops had set fire to copies of the Koran.
The Koran is the holy book of Islam.
U.S. helicopters fired flares to try to break up the demonstrators, some of whom were chanting anti-foreigner slogans and throwing stones.
U.S. super-sizing Afghan jail it promised to abandon
By Spencer Ackerman | Danger Room | Wired.com | 20 Feb 2012
There once was a plan to turn over the main U.S. detention center in Afghanistan to control of the Afghans in 2011. That’s out the window. Instead, the military is offering millions to vastly expand the center’s inmate intake.
US Marines posed with logo resembling Nazi symbol
By Julie Watson | AP | San Diego | 10 Feb 2012
The Marine Corps once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS — a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.
The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the Marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 will not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naive mistake.
US, Taleban meet spurs talks
By Agencies | Kabul/Washington/Islamabad | 08 Feb 2012
Washington’s chief envoy to Afghanistan met Taleban leaders in Qatar as part of US efforts to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table, a senior Afghan official said on Wednesday.
The talks between the Taleban and Marc Grossman came in late January, after he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, the official said.
Civilian deaths in Afghan war hit record high
By Kay Johnson | AP | 04 Feb 2012
Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs, the United Nations said Saturday.
Taleban-affiliated militants were responsible for more than three-quarters of the civilian deaths in 2011, the fifth year in a row in which the death toll went up, the UN said.
