NATO

Source : Agencies | 02 Oct 2012

Russia told NATO and world powers on Tuesday they should not seek ways to intervene in the Syrian war or set up buffer zones between rebels and government forces.

The statements from Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was one of Moscow's most specific warnings yet to the West and Gulf Arab leaders to keep out of the 18-month-old conflict.

Source : AFP | 28 Sep 2012

The Afghan government will collapse and Taleban are likely to retake power after the US and NATO pull their troops out in 2014, a renowned international scholar has said.

The withdrawal of international forces will in some respects leave the country worse off than it was before a US-led invasion toppled the Taleban nearly 11 years ago, Afghan expert Gilles Dorronsoro of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.

“In the end the withdrawal is the result of a failed strategy,” he wrote in an analysis published this week.

By Jim Lobe | IPS | 27 Sep 2012

With all foreign troops due to leave Afghanistan just two years from now, the news out of the Central Asian nation is becoming increasingly gloomy.

Source : Agencies | 22 Sep 2012

NATO does not believe that military intervention in Syria would bring any improvement in the security situation there, a senior alliance official said yesterday.

Germany’s Manfred Lange, Chief of Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), said the military was telling leaders that there was no good case for military action and the political process had to be pursued.

Source : AFP | 18 Sep 2012

NATO was forced onto the defensive yesterday over a humiliating attack on one of its most heavily guarded bases in Afghanistan that destroyed six US fighter jets in unprecedented damage in the 10-year war.

At a weekly press conference given by the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at its closely guarded headquarters, chief spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz was pressed on Friday night’s assault.

Source : AFP | 17 Sep 2012

NATO was accused of killing eight women yesterday in an airstrike, capping a black weekend in which six soldiers were shot dead by presumed Afghan colleagues and a Taleban assault caused unprecedented losses on one of the biggest military bases in the country.

The US-led International Security Assistance Force initially said an airstrike targeted around 45 insurgents, but later expressed its sincerest condolences over “possible ISAF-caused civilian casualties” numbering five to eight.

By Giuliano Battiston | IPS | 08 Sep 2012

More than a decade after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is still in the midst of an irregular war. Talking peace is difficult because no one quite knows who to talk to.

The efforts gain significance coming ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting Sep. 14 on promoting a culture of peace. As officials talk, more ground-level efforts are being led by civil society groups.

Source : Agencies | 03 Aug 2012

One of the key strategies touted by US and NATO military officials for securing appropriate conditions for a withdrawal of coalition soldiers from Afghanistan is the training of Afghan forces strong enough to provide their own defense and security against Taliban forces.

By Missy Ryan | Reuters | 09 Aug 2012

The Obama administration, in a move aimed at reviving Afghan peace talks, has sweetened a proposed deal under which it would transfer Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for a U.S. soldier held by Taliban allies in Pakistan.

The revised proposal, a concession from an earlier U.S. offer, would alter the sequence of the move of five senior Taliban figures held for years at the U.S. military prison to the Gulf state of Qatar, sources familiar with the issue said.

Source : Agencies | 08 Aug 2012

War-ravaged Afghanistan has been occupied by US and NATO troops for over a decade.

Now, with no end of the war in sight and according to new polling by Gallup, the misery and hopelessness of Afghans remains near its lowest point since similar polling was first conducted in 2008.