This morning, The Wall Street Journal broke the deeply disturbing news that insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan have the capability to monitor the video feeds from unmanned US observation and strike aircraft – the Predators and Reapers – using software that costs just $26. U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last […]
Insurgents killed a Christian and a store owner, and wounded a child during separate attacks in Mosul. A cleric in Fallujah averted an assassination attempted after security forces found a ‘sticky bomb’ attached his car. Iraqi troops arrested the leader of an al Qaeda cell known as the Aisha Battalion and three other terrorists during […]
US reconstruction coming to an end
Two beheaded bodies were found in the central town of Galkayo. Shabaab issued an edict that suspended operations of the United Nations Agency Mine Action in Somalia. African Union peacekeepers arrested two government officials suspected of selling weapons to insurgents.
Afghanistan: Value of opium exports slumps says UN
McChrystal praises Canada™s Afghanistan contributions
Zuhaib al Zahibi, “a well-known commander” in the Lashkar al Zil, was among the seven Arabs reportedly killed in the strike.
Security Council to tweak al Qaeda, Taliban sanctions
The Taliban killed five civilians in an IED attack in Kandahar, and wounded four civilians and four soldiers in a suicide attack in Uruzgan and four soldiers in an IED attack in Khost. US and Afghan forces detained several Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders, facilitators, and fighters in Paktia, Nangarhar, and Wardak. Afghanistan’s Attorney General […]
Security forces claimed to have killed 34 al Qaeda fighters and detained 17 more during operations in Abyan in the South and in Arhab, north of the capital Sanaa. The Yemeni Air Force and ground forces struck training camps and hideouts after receiving intelligence that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula planned on carrying out […]
Mainstream media (here and here) and some bloggers are looking at a new question: why is US President Obama ignoring the Taliban’s latest offer of a “legal guarantee if the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan”? For now, I’m staying with the “I’m not buying it” crowd. Why? Although the Dec. 8 statement on the Voice […]
UN officials say American offered plan to replace Karzai
Insurgents hack US drones
Two insurgents were killed in Datta Khel and 16 more were killed in Degan and Ambor Shaga.
Western nations condemned Iran’s latest ballistic missile test. President Ahmadinejad arrived in Denmark for the Copenhagen climate talks. An Iranian official called on Pakistan to detain the leader of Jundallah and extradite him to Iran.
Qaeda, Taliban leaders in Pakistan: Mullen
Iran’s missile test angers the West
Security forces killed 27 Taliban fighters in Kurram, 22 in Arakzai, and six more in South Waziristan. One soldier was also killed in South Waziristan. The Taliban killed four concertgoers in Khyber, torched two fuel tankers in Dera Bugti, and fired rockets on Peshawar.
Pakistan turmoil deepens as President Zardari faces corruption charges
As thousands flee regime, Eritrea goes it alone
Mullen tours reclaimed Pakistani province
Thais investigate destination of weapons cache
Afghanistan – Surge focus is roads, police
The Frontier Corps claimed 49 Taliban fighters were killed during battles in the tribal agencies where the Taliban regrouped after the South Waziristan operation.
A military prosecutor charged 15 troops with plotting attacks against Lebanese soldiers and having links to al Qaeda-linked Fateh al Islam. “We suspect they were coordinating their acts with a Fatah al Islam ring based in the Ein al Hilwah Palestinian refugee camp,” the prosecutor said.
In “Surat al-Fil” (“The Elephant”)–one of the Holy Qur’an’s shortest chapters–God sends a flock of birds to destroy the followers of Sultan Abraha, because of their plot to destroy the Kaaba, a holy monument in the center of Mecca that was built by Father Abraham himself. God equips the birds with baked clay stones, which […]
] Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, from the July 2009 propaganda tape. The Taliban will release a new video of captive US soldier Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, according to a trusted source. The video is reportedly titled “One of Their People Testified.” Bergdahl was captured by the Haqqani Network on June 30 after leaving […]
Two Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in a bus bombing in Baghdad. Security forces detained 13 wanted men in Basrah, 10 insurgents in Kirkuk, eight members a sleeper cell in Karbala, and two Hezbollah Brigades members in Baghdad.
Marines take on training role in Afghanistan
The Taliban killed five policemen in Herat, six civilians in Nangarhar, and an Estonian soldier in Helmand. Coalition and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander in Kunduz and detained two Taliban commanders and a fighter during operations in Wardak and Kandahar.