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Afghans Lend Hand To Anti-Taliban Efforts (USA Today)
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Afghans who had been under the rule of the Taliban for years in Marjah are starting to offer help to U.S. and Afghan troops, pointing out the locations of buried roadside bombs as fighting continues in the town.
“Most of the people know where they are already,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Rule, [...]
WILLIAM MCGURN/OPINION: Biden Tries To Rewrite History (Wall Street Journal)
It’s easy to pile on Joe Biden. Vice presidents, after all, acquire reputations in Washington they never really shake. Dick Cheney was Darth Vader, and now Joe Biden is the embarrassing uncle you try to keep away from the microphone.
Neither is entirely fair. Still, when Mr. Biden claims success for a victory won by a [...]
WAR UPDATE: Taliban Fighters Said to Flee Under Coalition Pressure (New York Times)
KABUL, Afghanistan — A large number of Taliban fighters have fled the city of Marja, their former stronghold in Helmand Province, under pressure from United States and Afghan forces and may have crossed the border into Pakistan, the Afghan interior minister said on Monday.
At a news conference held by senior Afghan officials and Gen. Stanley [...]
AFGHANISTAN UPDATE: NATO Forces Face The Resistance Of The Taliban (Associated Press News – Salon.com)
It could take weeks to reclaim the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a top Marine commander said Sunday as thousands of U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers fought for a second day in NATO’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on Afghanistan’s dangerous south.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean an intense gun battle, but it probably [...]
Obama’s War Update: Slow Progress In U.S. Surge Against Taliban in Afghanistan (Washington Post)
MARJA, AFGHANISTAN — U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers encountered pockets of stiff resistance and extensive minefields as they sought to press into this Taliban sanctuary in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Numerous gunfights with insurgents and painstaking efforts to clear roads of makeshift bombs slowed the advance of many coalition units and delayed them from reaching some [...]
TESTING THE OBAMA WAR STRATEGY: Marines Launch Offensive In Southern Afghanistan Town (L. A. TIMES)
The long-discussed operation against the Taliban in Marja is one of the biggest of the war. Along with targeting the insurgents’ grip on Helmand province, it’s a test of the Afghan army’s abilities.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and The Outskirts Of Marja, Afghanistan — Thousands of U.S., British and Afghan troops moved to seize the Taliban [...]
Obama Tells NASA To ‘Stay On The Ground’ – Plans to Ax Moon Mission (Orlando Sentinel)
NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way.
When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to [...]
THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF THE DAY: Mr. Obama, The Next Jimmy Carter? (Foreign Policy)
Neither a cold-blooded realist nor a bleeding-heart idealist, Barack Obama has a split personality when it comes to foreign policy. So do most U.S. presidents, of course, and the ideas that inspire this one have a long history at the core of the American political tradition. In the past, such ideas have served the country [...]
OVERLOOKED STORY OF THE DAY: UN Official Tells US It Risks Afghan Defeat (Financial Times)
Time is running out for US-led forces in Afghanistan and their Afghan government allies to reverse the Taliban insurgency, the United Nations outgoing envoy to Kabul said on Wednesday.
Expressing deep worry about negative trends after almost a decade of international operations in Afghanistan, Kai Eide told the UN Security Council he was concerned about the [...]
Charles Krauthammer/Opinion: Obama Continues To Deny The “War On Terror” (Washington Post)
Janet Napolitano — former Arizona governor, now overmatched secretary of homeland security — will forever be remembered for having said of the attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit: “The system worked.” The attacker’s concerned father had warned U.S. authorities about his son’s jihadist tendencies. The would-be bomber paid cash and checked no luggage [...]
