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Afghanistan Controversy: Karzai Warns US over Night Raids - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued his clearest demands yet that the US end its controversial night raids in his country.

Afghanistan Controversy: Karzai Warns US over Night Raids - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

And he suggested that, should they not be met, ongoing negotiations over a US military presence in the country beyond 2014 could suffer. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Karzai even said that the talks over the so-called US Afghanistan Strategic Partnership could even break down should US forces not change their modus operandi in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Speaking about the night raids carried out by US Special Forces, seen by US military leaders as crucial for the fight against the Taliban, Karzai said the rules for such missions had to be changed immediately. Power Plays in Afghanistan: Laying the Groundwork for Civil War - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. There is a new weapon in Afghanistan's dog-eat-dog war.

Power Plays in Afghanistan: Laying the Groundwork for Civil War - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

It is invisible and omnipresent. The Afghan intelligence service, NDS, has authorized the use of firearms against the force of this weapon, but this has already led to deaths. Damning details?: ‘Nato assault lasted two hours, pleas went unheard’ Prime minist­er strike­s grave note on ties with US.

Damning details?: ‘Nato assault lasted two hours, pleas went unheard’

“This (apology) is not good enough. We strongly condemn the attacks and reserve the right to take action. We do not accept it because such kind of attacks have been taking place in the past…,” Major Abbas referring to the apology issued by Nato chief. The alleged details of the Nato cross-border air strike on Pakistani military posts are more startling than the strikes themselves.

Perhaps this is why the prime minister has vowed no more “business as usual” with the United States. According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas, the air assaults that claimed the lives of at least 24 Pakistani soldiers were not quick strikes, which could be chalked down to logistical mistakes – but attacks that lasted almost two hours. “This is not true. A Veteran Commits Suicide Every 80 Minutes, Center for a New American Security Study Reveals. With insufficient attention and systems in place, it may be that we're losing the battle against military suicide, a new study suggests.

A Veteran Commits Suicide Every 80 Minutes, Center for a New American Security Study Reveals

Military suicides have increased since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Center for a New American Security Suicide report. In the fiscal year 2009 alone, 1,868 veterans of these wars have made suicide attempts, according to armytimes.com. A veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes, a fact the study attributes to the VA. These staggering figures underscore the need for the VA to develop more mental-health programs and an accurate system for recording the number of veterans and service members who take their lives.

"America is losing its battle against suicide by veterans and service members," authors Dr. Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home. Our Man in Kandahar - Magazine. Abdul Raziq and his men have received millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. training and equipment to help in the fight against the Taliban.

Our Man in Kandahar - Magazine

But is our ally—long alleged to be involved in corruption and drug smuggling—also guilty of mass murder? Above: Afghan General Abdul Raziq, seen here with American forces during a joint 2009 patrol near the Pakistan border (Emilio Morenatti/AP) Shyly, at times smiling with weak adolescent bravado, the two young men recounted to me how they were beaten and tortured. Women, War & Peace Series Trailer. Mobile. Lens: Photographs From a Decade in Afghanistan. “I am a photographer working for a newspaper, and to ignore this American war, or any other war that we are involved in, would be an unfulfilling way for me to work.”

Lens: Photographs From a Decade in Afghanistan

Tyler Hicks, a staff photographer at The New York Times, voices in a simple and understated way the reasons he keeps going back to Afghanistan after over 10 years of covering the war there. But his experiences in that time have been anything but simple or understated. As C.J. Chivers writes of Mr. Hicks in a Lens post accompanying a selection of the photographer’s work: “Alternately brutal and compassionate, chaotic and calm, projecting bravado or emanating fear, informed by hate or imbued with love, the moments he has recorded were ephemeral, fragmentary and easily lost. CODEPINK: Take Action Now! McChrystal: after 10 years, Afghan war only half done. General Stanley McChrystal on a flight to Kandahar.

McChrystal: after 10 years, Afghan war only half done

Haqqani network senior commander captured. A U.S. military helicopter flies over the Paktiya province of Afghanistan in July.

Haqqani network senior commander captured

Haji Mali Khan is the senior leader in Afghanistan for the Haqqani networkHe was captured on Tuesday, but it took a few days to verify his identityThe Haqqani network is blamed for recent attacks (CNN) -- The senior Haqqani network leader in Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan, was captured during a joint NATO-Afghan forces operation, the International Security Assistance Force said Saturday. Vanity, machismo and greed have blinded us to the folly of Afghanistan. The first remembrance field dedicated solely to British military personnel who have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.

Vanity, machismo and greed have blinded us to the folly of Afghanistan

Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Ten years of western occupation of Afghanistan led the UN this week to plead that half the country's drought-ridden provinces face winter starvation. Democracy Now! Mobile. Shadow Government.

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