U.S. and Afghan commanders gave their troops pep talks Tuesday ahead of a planned assault on the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a push touted as the largest of the 8-year-old war.
British troops have launched air and ground operations in preparation for a "major offensive" in southern Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said Thursday.
At least 16 Taliban members were killed during an Afghan/NATO-led military operation in southern Afghanistan, a local official told CNN on Saturday.
Thirty-two Taliban insurgents and three Afghan soldiers were killed in fighting between security forces and militants in southern Afghanistan, a local government official told CNN Thursday.
The Taliban may have reached the peak of their military achievements in the war in Afghanistan, one of the world's top authorities on the Taliban said.
As talk emerged about a secret meeting of U.N. and Taliban officials, the battlefield lit up in Afghanistan, with a joint Afghan-international force and Afghan soldiers exchanging fire when both sides mistook the other for enemy combatants.
A plan by the Afghan government to reintegrate members of the Taliban into law-abiding society got strong support Thursday at a conference on Afghanistan.
France will not send any more combat troops to Afghanistan, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told CNN Thursday, reinforcing his country's opposition to joining the U.S.-led surge there.
As Afghan authorities announced the arrest of an alleged militant for planning last week's assault on Kabul, a bomber targeted a U.S. base outside the capital, the latest attempt by militants to strike the seat of Western and Afghan power.
A December 22 briefing, prepared by the top U.S. intelligence official in Afghanistan and obtained by CNN, maps out the strategy and strength of the Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan, and concludes that the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is increasingly effective.
U.S. and Afghan commanders gave their troops pep talks Tuesday ahead of a planned assault on the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a push touted as the largest of the 8-year-old war.
British troops have launched air and ground operations in preparation for a "major offensive" in southern Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said Thursday.
At least 16 Taliban members were killed during an Afghan/NATO-led military operation in southern Afghanistan, a local official told CNN on Saturday.
Thirty-two Taliban insurgents and three Afghan soldiers were killed in fighting between security forces and militants in southern Afghanistan, a local government official told CNN Thursday.
The Taliban may have reached the peak of their military achievements in the war in Afghanistan, one of the world's top authorities on the Taliban said.
As talk emerged about a secret meeting of U.N. and Taliban officials, the battlefield lit up in Afghanistan, with a joint Afghan-international force and Afghan soldiers exchanging fire when both sides mistook the other for enemy combatants.
A plan by the Afghan government to reintegrate members of the Taliban into law-abiding society got strong support Thursday at a conference on Afghanistan.
France will not send any more combat troops to Afghanistan, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told CNN Thursday, reinforcing his country's opposition to joining the U.S.-led surge there.
As Afghan authorities announced the arrest of an alleged militant for planning last week's assault on Kabul, a bomber targeted a U.S. base outside the capital, the latest attempt by militants to strike the seat of Western and Afghan power.
A December 22 briefing, prepared by the top U.S. intelligence official in Afghanistan and obtained by CNN, maps out the strategy and strength of the Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan, and concludes that the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is increasingly effective.
Allegations that NATO-led soldiers desecrated a Quran in a weekend operation against the Taliban spurred an angry protest Tuesday in southwest Afghanistan, authorities said.
The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officials and a Jordanian military officer last week in Afghanistan was a Jordanian double-agent, a former U.S. intelligence official told CNN Monday.
It was one of the worst blows ever to America's intelligence community -- a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan.
A blast ripped through Kandahar city Thursday, killing at least eight people and injuring three, a provincial security official said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spent the night among troops in Afghanistan, the first time he has stayed overnight in the war-torn nation.
Rank-and-file Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are tired and weakening, with some making offers to drop out of the conflict, the top U.S. commander there said.
Coalition forces can attain "success" in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials should wait until December 2010 before they can measure the progress of the troop surge, a top U.S. commander told a Senate committee Wednesday.
Two of the biggest goals for U.S. forces in Afghanistan are building up Afghan security forces and convincing Taliban fighters to lay down their arms -- and cash could come into play in achieving both.
Finding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and rolling back a resurgent Taliban are necessary steps toward winning the war in Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander there told a Senate committee Tuesday.
U.S. and allied troops have seized nine weapons caches, killed about a dozen militants and captured several others since an offensive began last week in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. Marines said Monday.
Top aides to President Obama on Sunday signaled that some U.S. troops could start coming home from Afghanistan as soon as July 2011, but most would likely remain there for several years.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the pledges by NATO members and other allies to send 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan to battle Taliban and al Qaeda extremists and train Afghan forces.
More than 1,000 troops have started a big push against insurgents in a militant stronghold of southern Afghanistan, the U.S. Marines said Friday.
President Obama announced Tuesday that he's sending about 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan over the next six months.
When President Obama announced plans Tuesday to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, it appeared to be a major escalation of the war in that country. But, foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria says that the United States may in fact be "scaling down" the goals of the military operation.
The non-U.S. members of NATO intend to commit at least 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan along with the American buildup just announced, the alliance's top civilian leader said Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
A former commander of Soviet forces in Afghanistan has warned history is being repeated in the war-ravaged country as the United States and its allies become increasingly mired in an "unwinnable war."
A day after President Obama announced his decision to send 30,000 more U.S. service members to Afghanistan, the top U.S. general there talked optimistically about the road ahead to an audience of troops.
President Obama's timetable for winding down the war in Afghanistan may be too short for the United States to achieve its war aims but too long to hold American public support, observers said Tuesday.
President Obama spoke Tuesday night at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, about the future of the U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan. The following is a transcript of his remarks:
President Obama just announced he plans to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, where hatred of the U.S. grows every day. Next door, nuclear-armed Pakistan tilts toward disaster. It's time for Americans to insist on a nonmilitary way out of this mess.
President Obama said Tuesday his strategy in Afghanistan will have three objectives: deny al Qaeda a safe haven, reverse the Taliban's momentum and strengthen Afghanistan's security forces and government.
President Obama said Tuesday that the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan is part of a strategy to reverse the Taliban's momentum and stabilize the country's government.
"Why are the Americans in our land? What can I say, we are powerless."
As a candidate and president, Barack Obama has distinguished himself as one of the most dynamic and enthralling orators in decades of American politics.
As President Obama prepared to explain his military strategy for Afghanistan Tuesday, his secretary of state said U.S. civilian efforts are just as critical to successfully getting Afghanistan back on its feet.
Britain announced plans Saturday to host an international conference on Afghanistan, a summit designed to formulate plans for transferring power to and bolstering the power of local authorities.
The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama's decision on the future of the eight-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday -- the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration for a second term -- that now is a "critical moment" for Afghanistan, because Karzai has a "clear window" to demonstrate what kind of government he will lead.
Increased fighting in Afghanistan has caused a drop in morale among U.S. soldiers while the reduction in combat in Iraq has bolstered morale, according to a new U.S. Army report released Friday.
A top Taliban political leader delivered a message Friday to U.S. President Obama, calling his attempt to lure away Taliban fighters with money "an old weapon that has failed already."
The recent suicidal violence in Pakistan coincides with a growing concern that President Obama might be tempted by the same folly that drove President Bush and massively increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan -- by up to 65,000 if he were to listen to some of his military advisers.
A State Department employee who resigned last month in protest over America's war in Afghanistan said Friday he has received an outpouring of support from Afghan-Americans and U.S. active-duty military.
The U.S. military suffered another day of heavy losses in Afghanistan on Tuesday as roadside bombs killed eight soldiers, two military officials told CNN.
The most dangerous threat for U.S. troops in Afghanistan has come from roadside bombs -- often referred to as IEDs, short for improvised explosive devices.
The most dangerous threat for U.S. troops in Afghanistan has come from roadside bombs -- often referred to as IEDs, short for improvised explosive devices.
We are losing in Afghanistan, on two fronts. The most important center of gravity of the conflict -- as the Taliban well recognizes -- is the American public. And now, most Americans are opposed to the war.
U.S. President Barack Obama says the war in Afghanistan isn't going to end up like Vietnam. A majority of Americans don't agree and don't want to get in any deeper, but even they don't like the alternative.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, plans to address NATO defense ministers Friday about the next steps for the military strategy.
Four U.S. service members died in a roadside bombing attack, and two civilians were killed in crossfire during a military operation, military authorities in Afghanistan said Friday.
France will not send more troops to Afghanistan, President Nicolas Sarkozy told the country's Le Figaro newspaper Thursday.
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution extending the mandate of NATO-led military forces in Afghanistan for a year, hours after a deadly bombing near the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
It hasn't been too often in the past couple of years that you could write about good news from Pakistan. But if there is a silver lining to the atrocities that have plagued the country in the past several years, it is the fact that the Pakistani public, government and military are increasingly seeing the jihadist militants on their territory in a hostile light.
Mountainous terrain and harsh weather in remote parts of Afghanistan have proven a deadly combination for the U.S. military in its push to reduce mounting violence in the country.
The flag-draped coffins of five U.S. soldiers killed during a weekend onslaught against a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan arrived Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the military said.
There is no immediate danger of Afghanistan falling to the Taliban, National Security Adviser James Jones said Sunday.
The Obama administration's national security team is working on alternative strategies for the war in Afghanistan that may not require tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops, a senior U.S. official told CNN Wednesday.
America's top commander in Afghanistan warns that more troops are needed there within the next year or the nearly 8-year-old war "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of a 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
The Taliban fight against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan "is forging ahead like a powerful flood," according to a purported online message posted Saturday by the Taliban's elusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said it would be "best" for the country's troops to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible after six were killed in a car bombing in Kabul.
Support for the war in Afghanistan is at an all-time low, according to a new national poll.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to approve sending thousands of additional forces to Afghanistan to deal with the growing threat from roadside bombs, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Friday.
Five members of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan died Sunday, the force said.
Success in Afghanistan will be measured by progress in training local military and police to take over their own security, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday.
The U.S.-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been a tough slog, a nearly eight-year conflict replete with gloom.
Making good on a threat of election day violence, the Taliban sliced off the index fingers of at least two people in Kandahar province, according to a vote monitoring group.
Police in northeast Afghanistan prevented two bomb attacks Thursday, as the country held presidential and provincial elections, authorities said.
Polls opened Thursday morning in Afghanistan, as the war-ravaged nation held its second-ever presidential and provincial council elections.
Security remains a top concern, as Afghanistan holds its second-ever presidential election Thursday, prompting the government to ask for a ban on media coverage of violence.
The Afghan capital, Kabul, came under attack Tuesday, two days before national elections. The violence included a rocket attack that damaged the presidential palace and a deadly suicide strike.
Despite high-profile suicide bombings and attacks by the Taliban, NATO commanders believe voter turnout will be strong in Afghanistan during Thursday's national elections.
An Afghan militant group is willing to "help" U.S. and coalition forces, if they prepare to leave Afghanistan, the group's leader said in a statement given to CNN on Monday.
A suicide car bombing exploded outside the NATO headquarters in Afghanistan early Saturday, killing seven people and injuring 91 just five days before the country holds presidential elections, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Elders and religious leaders in southern Afghanistan are in talks with local Taliban leaders in an effort to reach a truce ahead of next week's election, a top Afghan official told CNN on Friday.
Hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers have moved into southern Afghanistan to protect citizens during upcoming elections, military officials said.
It has been nearly eight years since U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan, but the war against the Taliban insurgency is bloodier than ever.
CNN's Barbara Starr reported last week that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as more military resources to deal with roadside bombs and explosives.
Civilian casualties resulting from Afghanistan's war have spiked, jumping some 24 percent above figures from last year, the United Nations reported Friday.
The United States and Britain said Wednesday they are committed to remaining in Afghanistan, despite increased military casualties and declining public support for the war effort.
At least seven Taliban insurgents wearing suicide vests and wielding machine guns struck at government targets Saturday in the eastern city of Khost, authorities in Afghanistan said.
A UK government minister on Wednesday reopened the dispute over support for troops in Afghanistan by insisting they had insufficient helicopters.
The death of a Canadian soldier in battle-scarred Afghanistan on Thursday brings this month's toll of international military fatalities in the war to 47, the highest monthly tally so far, a CNN count of official statistics shows.
Given its long history of warfare, the United Kingdom is not squeamish about fatalities in time of war and yet a debate has been ignited by the deaths of 15 British soldiers in Afghanistan over the last few weeks. The question now is whether this profound soul-searching results in a more efficient policy towards the war-torn country.
At least five people were killed when a helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province Tuesday, a local government official said.
The Pakistan military has declared that not only is it in contact with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar but that it can bring him and other commanders to the negotiating table with the United States.
The commander of the U.S. Marines conducting a push against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan said Wednesday that more Afghan security forces are needed to do the job.
A suicide car bombing Monday at the Kandahar airport killed two and injured 16, Afghanistan's military said.
Two separate militant assaults Saturday in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktika led to the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and at least 42 insurgents, military officials said.
U.S. Marines on Friday kept up a major push against entrenched militants in southern Afghanistan in an attempt to rout the Taliban from their stronghold in Helmand province, Marine Capt. William Pelletier said.
A Marine was killed in action and several others wounded Thursday in a major U.S.-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, the Marines said.
Tensions mounted between U.S.-led coalition forces and the Afghan government Monday, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded U.S. troops hand over private security guards suspected of involvement in the killing of a top Kandahar law enforcement official.
Coalition troops launched a massive assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan and were able to push militants out of some areas they had controlled, the coalition said in a statement.
Every time I come to Pakistan these days I see more security.
British troops killed a "most dangerous" Taliban leader responsible for the deaths of two British service members and likely hundreds of civilians, the defense ministry said Tuesday.
President Obama's nominee to command U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Tuesday that to be successful, an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign must minimize civilian casualties and collateral damage.
Sebastian Junger found him crouched on a battlefield in Afghanistan, fighting to stay alive.
Mohammed Ismail was released from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in early 2004 and sent back to Afghanistan to be set free.
As one of the right-hand men to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef was one of the first Taliban leaders arrested when the United States began military operations in Afghanistan.
American airstrikes earlier this month during a western Afghanistan battle with Taliban militants may have killed up to 30 civilians, an interim U.S. military report said on Wednesday.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
