Afghanistan
Afghanistan – US PRT withdraws from Panjsher
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Al Qaeda
US Doubts Intelligence That Led to Yemen Strike
Iraq
US Military Sales to Iraq Raise Concerns
China
China Reveals Its Space Plans Up to 2016
Egypt
Islamists in Egypt’s tourist spots win surprise support
Boko Haram
Insight: Islamist attacks strain Nigeria’s north-south divide
Pakistan
Pakistan death squads go after informants to US drone program
Afghanistan
US Pulls Advisers from Afghan Government Media Center
Afghanistan
Rabbani murder probe: Kabul may withdraw from joint commission
Afghanistan
Airstrikes Report: Pakistan, US far from same page
CNN makes questionable claim that drone strike wounded Pakistani child
Contrary to the CNN report, there has never been a US drone strike in Pakistan’s settled district of Swat.
Syria
Syria – The World’s Worst Human Rights Observer
Syria
Observers monitoring the Arab League peace plan arrived in Homs. Protesters reported they were “ being slaughtered” but the chief observer said he saw “nothing frightening.” Human rights monitors questioned the observer’s judgment and accused Assad of hiding tanks until the observers leave.
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Factbox: Strait of Hormuz
Afghanistan
A district council chief and his son were shot dead in Helmand’s Musa Qala district. Coalition forces killed Mullah Abdul Rahim, a top Taliban commander in Helmand’s Nowzad district. Afghanistan signed its first major oil extraction contract with China.
Yemen
Labor strikes spread through Yemen as workers demanded reforms and dismissal of managers over alleged corruption linked to the country’s outgoing president. Two soldiers and three al Qaeda fighters died when government forces clashed with al Qaeda suspects in Zinjibar.
Iraq
Three security contractors, two of them US veterans and one from Fiji, were freed almost three weeks after being detained by the Iraqi Army. Militants fired a Katyusha rocket at a camp housing several thousand Iranian exiles in northeastern Iraq. Baghdad has not extended the end-of-year deadline to expel the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) […]
Nigeria
About 90,000 people have been displaced in clashes between militant Islamists and security forces in Damaturu city. Assailants threw a bomb into an Arabic school, injuring seven people. Another UN staff member has died from the Aug. 26 car bombing of its Nigeria headquarters, bringing the death toll to 25.
Iran
Iran’s navy chief threatened again that his country can easily close the Strait of Hormuz. The US warned Iran that it will not tolerate any disruption of maritime traffic through the Strait. Iran held the first trial session of Amir Mirza Hekmati, who was recently arrested on a charge of spying for the CIA.
Somalia
At least 10 Shabaab fighters were killed by Somali and Kenyan forces during a clash in the Burgabo village of Lower Jubba province. Somali officials said cutting off remittance flows could further destabilize the country. Somali pirates have hijacked an Italian cargo ship and its 18 employees and are holding them for ransom.
Philippines
Abu Sayyaf kidnappers demanded a ransom of A$22,600 for the release of Warren Rodwell, an Australian. The military and police searched for more bombs in Mindanao after two explosions injured five people last week in a terrorist campaign by an explosives expert with links to al Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Abu Sayyaf.
US scaling back expectations on Pakistan
The US seeks a limited relationship that focuses on counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda.
Afghanistan
Security units being shifted to Afghan control: Gen. Allen
United Arab Emirates
Yemen: Saleh ‘chose Abu Dhabi for exile
North Korea
North Korea Bids Farewell to Kim Jong Il
Al Qaeda
Somalia Faces Alarming Rise in Rapes of Women and Girls
Iraq
How to Save Iraq From Civil War
United States
Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing
India
Pakistan and India take steps to prevent accidental nuclear war
Israel kills ‘Global Jihad affiliated-terrorists’ in Gaza airstrikes
Three members of al Qaeda-linked Salafist groups in Gaza were killed in two airstrikes over the past day.