War in Afghanistan
Incoming Pakistani prime minister pledges loyalty to Washington
By Sampath Perera, 16 May 2013
Pakistan’s incoming prime minister has moved quickly to signal his readiness to work with Washington in prosecuting the AfPak War and with the International Monetary Fund in imposing punishing austerity measures.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part one
The Kill Team: The murderous reality of the US war in Afghanistan
By Joanne Laurier, 16 May 2013
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival recently concluded. The event this year screened 158 films from 51 countries, including 67 fiction features, 28 documentary features and 63 short films.
New revelations of torture and murder of Afghan civilians by US Special Forces
By Thomas Gaist, 15 May 2013
Further revelations of torture and murder by elite US soldiers in Afghanistan highlight the neo-colonial character of the occupation.
Karzai reveals US plan for permanent Afghanistan bases
By Bill Van Auken, 11 May 2013
The Afghanistan president’s statement underscores the intention of the Obama administration and the Pentagon to maintain a permanent military presence.
Eight US-NATO troops killed in one day
Crisis deepens for US occupation in Afghanistan
By Patrick Martin, 6 May 2013
Both the US-NATO occupation and the stooge regime of President Hamid Karzai are widely hated by the Afghan population.
What the CIA’s cash has bought for Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 1 May 2013
The report that the CIA regularly hands over sacks of cash to Afghanistan’s President Karzai is only the latest episode in Afghanistan’s long and tragic encounter with US imperialism.
UK base carrying out Afghan drone strikes
By Robert Stevens, 30 April 2013
A specially created mission base in Lincolnshire, England is directing drone strikes on Afghanistan.
The brutal face of neocolonialism in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 10 April 2013
The attempt to exploit the death of a young State Department official to cast the Afghanistan war as an exercise in US altruism is belied by the continuing murder and oppression inflicted upon the civilian population.
In Qatar, US-backed Afghan President Karzai makes overtures to Taliban
By Thomas Gaist, 2 April 2013
US-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai travelled to Doha to make political overtures to the Taliban, as Taliban officials open an office in the Qatari capital.
Kerry’s Middle East tour prepares endless war in Afghanistan, Syria
By Alex Lantier, 27 March 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry left Kabul for Paris yesterday, after a Middle Eastern tour to Jordan and Afghanistan to plan broader wars across the region.
US defense secretary’s Afghanistan trip a debacle
By Bill Van Auken, 12 March 2013
Obama’s newly confirmed defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, confronted suicide bombings, an “insider” attack and vitriolic criticism from the US-backed puppet, Hamid Karzai.
Afghan regime accuses US forces of torturing, murdering civilians
By Alex Lantier, 25 February 2013
The Afghan government asked US Special Forces to leave Wardak and Logar provinces after reviewing reports that they tortured and murdered Afghan civilians.
US/NATO occupation of Afghanistan unravelling
By Harvey Thompson, 18 February 2013
The US-puppet Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai is facing an increase in attacks by insurgents as the US/NATO occupation continues to unravel.
As Obama touts end of Afghan war, US strike kills 10 civilians
By Bill Van Auken, 14 February 2013
A US airstrike in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday killed 10 civilians, including five children.
“Green-on-blue” attacks continue in Afghanistan
By Harvey Thompson, 22 January 2013
All eight deaths among British soldiers on the current tour have been the result of attacks by uniformed Afghan security forces.
Obama-Karzai talks set stage for post-2014 US troop presence
By Bill Van Auken, 12 January 2013
White House talks between Obama and Karzai were aimed at laying the foundations for a continuing US military presence in Afghanistan after the 2014 withdrawal deadline.
Afghanistan: A model for 21st Century neo-colonialism
By Peter Symonds, 5 January 2013
Claims that the US occupation will end in 2014 are belied by plans for an indefinite American military presence in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan: Sharp rise in civilian deaths
By Oliver Campbell, 4 January 2013
Civilian deaths rose by 28 percent in the three months to October 31 compared to the corresponding period in 2011.
Ten girls die in Afghanistan explosion as US pushes for permanent presence
By Bill Van Auken, 18 December 2012
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a press conference in Kabul last week that “we are not departing Afghanistan.”
Labor steps up Australian commitment to Afghan war
By James Cogan, 2 November 2012
Prime Minister Gillard said additional Australian forces were likely to be deployed over the next year.
Four Afghan children killed in US raid
By Bill Van Auken, 24 October 2012
The killing of Afghan children in a US raid and the disappearance and murder of civilians at the hands of occupation troops have provoked growing anger and protests.
Afghan schools and clinics built by British military to be closed down
By Harvey Thompson, 23 October 2012
A recently leaked report reveals that schools and health clinics built by the British military across Helmand province are to be closed down by 2014.
Obama prepares protracted Afghanistan occupation
By Bill Van Auken, 20 October 2012
With the US presidential election little more than two weeks away, the Obama administration is quietly preparing to keep tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan.
US troop deaths in Afghanistan top 2,000
By Bill Van Auken, 2 October 2012
The 2,000th American soldier died in Afghanistan last weekend as the result of a so-called “insider” attack, underscoring the crisis of the 11-year-old US war.
Anti-US protests spread throughout Muslim world
By Alex Lantier, 18 September 2012
Protests that began one week ago at US embassies in Egypt and Libya against an anti-Islamic YouTube video are rapidly spreading throughout the Muslim world.
The US debacle in Afghanistan
By Patrick Martin, 20 August 2012
The proliferation of attacks on US soldiers by uniformed Afghan soldiers and policemen is an expression of popular hatred for the occupation regime.
US Army suicides nearly double from June to July
By Nick Barrickman, 20 August 2012
Reports received this month show that 26 active-duty members of the US Army died last month due to suicide. Though not all confirmed, the figure would be the highest amount in a single month on record since the military started tracking figures in 2009.
Afghan launches legal challenge over UK role in Washington kill list
By Harvey Thompson, 14 August 2012
An Afghan man has started legal proceedings against the Ministry of Defence and the Serious Organised Crime Agency to reveal whether the UK had a role in supplying information to a US military joint integrated prioritised target list in Afghanistan.
Afghan police chief kills three US special forces troops
By Bill Van Auken, 11 August 2012
The slaying Thursday night of three members of a US Marines special operations unit by a uniformed commander in the US-backed security forces brought to eight the number of Americans killed this week in Afghanistan.
US and Pakistan end standoff over Afghan supply routes
By Peter Symonds, 6 July 2012
The decision to lift the seven-month ban followed a limited apology by the Obama administration over the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in US air strikes last November.
US airstrike kills 18 Afghan civilians
By Bill Van Auken, 7 June 2012
At least 18 Afghan civilians, including seven children, were killed early Wednesday morning after US special operations troops called in an air strike on their homes.
NATO backs US plan on Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 22 May 2012
The NATO summit concluded Monday with a formal ratification of US plans for a phased drawdown of forces from Afghanistan over the next two and a half years, while laying the groundwork for an open-ended military presence in the country.
US bombings kills dozens of Afghan civilians
By Bill Van Auken, 8 May 2012
US bombardments claimed the lives of dozens of Afghan civilians, including women and children, prompting a formal protest from Karzai that such actions would render the recent pact he signed with Obama “meaningless”.
US makes a pact with its Afghan puppet
By Patrick Martin, 24 April 2012
The purpose of the deal is the clear the way for a NATO summit at which the Obama administration will pressure its European allies to cough up more money and manpower for the Afghanistan war.
Photos of US troops defiling corpses expose Afghan war’s savagery
By David Walsh, 19 April 2012
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times published horrific photographs of American troops in Afghanistan posing with dead and dismembered insurgents.
More US troops killed amid talks on permanent bases in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 5 April 2012
At least three US soldiers were killed and several others wounded in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan as US and Afghan officials continued talks on a permanent American military presence after 2014.
Afghanistan massacre: The product of a criminal war
By Bill Van Auken, 20 March 2012
Robert Bales, massacre, Afghanistan, PTSD, war, occupation
Questions mount over US account of Afghanistan massacre
By Patrick Martin, 19 March 2012
The official claim of a “rogue” soldier driven over the brink by marital difficulties and stress has been called into question by local villagers, Afghan President Karzai and those acquainted with the alleged attacker.
In wake of Afghan massacre, tensions mount between US and its puppet Karzai
By Bill Van Auken, 17 March 2012
President Karzai denounced the US military in connection with last Sunday’s massacre of 16 civilians, but Washington dismissed his demand that it speed up the transfer of security to Afghan forces.
Afghan troops kill two more US soldiers in Kandahar
By Patrick Martin, 2 March 2012
The incident was the third such killing of American soldiers by their Afghan “partners” in little more than a week.
Afghans besiege US bases in Koran protests
By Bill Van Auken, 24 February 2012
Two American soldiers and at least 15 Afghans have been killed as crowds besieged US and NATO bases for a third day Thursday, in an escalating protest over US troops burning copies of the Koran.
NATO bombing kills eight Afghan children
By Bill Van Auken, 11 February 2012
At least eight Afghan civilians, all children according to some reports, were killed Thursday when a NATO warplane bombed a village in Afghanistan's northeast Kapisa province.
France rules out rapid Afghanistan withdrawal
By Olivier Laurent, 28 January 2012
Sarkozy will keep French troops in Afghanistan despite rising popular opposition to the NATO occupation following the January 20 deaths of four French soldiers.
Pakistani elite preparing to restore full cooperation with US in Afghan War
By Ali Ismail, 27 January 2012
Despite the tough-sounding rhetoric from Islamabad and Rawalpindi over the NATO air strikes that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers, Pakistan’s civilian and military elite is moving to restore full and open cooperation with Washington.
Ten NATO troops killed in Afghanistan
By Alex Lantier, 21 January 2012
At least ten NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan when a US helicopter crashed and an Afghan soldier shot four French troops after a training session.
US resumes drone missile attacks in Pakistan
By Keith Jones, 12 January 2012
The US carried out a drone missile strike in Pakistan Tuesday, killing four people. It was the first drone attack since US forces killed 26 Pakistani soldiers in late November.
Afghan government accuses US of torture and false imprisonment
By James Cogan, 10 January 2012
The puppet government of President Hamid Karzai has accused the American military of torture and arbitrary detention at the largest US-run prison in the country.
US backs Taliban office in Qatar in bid for Afghanistan deal
By Bill Van Auken, 4 January 2012
US and Taliban sources have confirmed a deal to set up an office of the Islamist group in Qatar as part of Washington’s attempt to negotiate a settlement of its decade-old war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan continues to halt the supply of US forces occupying Afghanistan
By Sampath Perera, 21 December 2011
Pakistan is continuing to blockade shipments of fuel, food and other supplies to the US-NATO forces occupying Afghanistan in protest of a Nov. 26 US attack that killed more than two dozen Pakistani troops.
US generals balk at Obama’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan
By Bill Van Auken, 8 December 2011
In the latest round of conflict between Obama and his top military commanders, the senior US general in Afghanistan is opposing the administration’s plans for the withdrawal of troops from the US-occupied country.
Bonn conference on Afghanistan dominated by crisis and pessimism
By Bill Van Auken, 6 December 2011
A decade after the first international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, delegates returned to the former West German capital under conditions of growing regional crisis and increasing pessimism over the 10-year-old war.
Pakistani elite plunged into crisis over reputed secret offer to US
By Ali Ismail, 3 December 2011
Pakistan’s government has been shaken by allegations that its former ambassador to the US composed a memo pledging compliance with Washington’s demands, in return for help preventing a military coup.
Outrage spreads in Pakistan over NATO bombings
By Alex Lantier, 29 November 2011
US and Pakistani officials held intensive talks as outrage grew in the Pakistani population and army over the NATO bombing of two Pakistani border posts on Saturday.
Afghan army trainee kills three Australian soldiers
By Will Morrow, 4 November 2011
Far from “stabilising” Afghanistan, the continued presence of foreign troops is generating deep-seated enmity that will inevitably lead to further attacks.
UN report documents systematic torture of Afghan detainees
By Barry Grey, 12 October 2011
A report released Monday by the United Nations documents what it calls "systematic" torture at Afghan government prisons of suspected insurgents captured by US, NATO and Afghan authorities.
A decade of neo-colonial war in Afghanistan
By Peter Symonds, 8 October 2011
The war has been a disaster for the Afghan people and a tragic waste of the lives of American and allied soldiers. It has profoundly destabilised regional and world politics.
US-Pakistani relations worsen following accusations and threats from Washington
By Ali Ismail, 1 October 2011
The crisis in US-Pakistan relations continues to escalate more than a week after chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency of supporting the Haqqani network.
NATO admits killing BBC journalist in Afghanistan
By Harvey Thompson, 16 September 2011
NATO admitted last week that a US soldier shot dead BBC journalist Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak in Afghanistan in July.
Multiple deaths in attack on British Council compound in Kabul
By Harvey Thompson, 23 August 2011
The compound of the British Council headquarters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, came under a sustained guerrilla attack on Friday, resulting in nine deaths and 22 casualties.
US retaliation in Afghanistan in wake of helicopter downing
By Bill Van Auken, 11 August 2011
The Pentagon claimed Wednesday to have killed the Afghan fighters responsible for last week’s downing of a helicopter that resulted in the worst US losses to date in the decade-old war.
High profile assassinations continue in southern Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 3 August 2011
The Taliban government-in-exile has claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks last month in which assassins were able to circumvent the security surrounding their intended victims.
France announces partial troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
By Anthony Torres, 3 August 2011
During his visit to Kabul, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the withdrawal of a quarter of the French troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.
Second Karzai ally assassinated in Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 20 July 2011
The deaths of Karzai’s half-brother, and now Jan Mohammad Khan, are significant blows to the US puppet regime in Kabul.
Remote control murder: Afghan drones operated from Nevada and Virginia
By Julie Hyland, 15 July 2011
Last week’s admission that Britain’s Royal Air Force killed four civilians and injured two others in Afghanistan has highlighted the growing resort to remote-controlled “drones” as weapons of choice by the major powers.
US suspends aid to Pakistan
By Vilani Peiris, 15 July 2011
Washington suspended aid to Pakistan, trying to force it to do Washington’s bidding in the US “AfPak” war waged in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Killing of Karzai’s brother deepens US crisis in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 13 July 2011
The killing of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president’s half brother, represents a serious blow to US strategy in the key southern province of Kandahar.
Pakistani military launches offensive into Kurram agency
By James Cogan, 9 July 2011
The operation has been ordered to restore relations with the Obama administration following tensions that developed in the wake of the assassination of Osama bin Laden.
Kabul hotel attack shakes US occupation regime in Afghanistan
By Alex Lantier, 1 July 2011
The June 28-29 attack by Afghan insurgents on the luxury Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul has again exposed the political isolation of the US occupation regime in Afghanistan.
Richard Nixon as Obama’s role model
By Bill Van Auken, 29 June 2011
The proposal that the Obama administration model its policy in Afghanistan on Nixon’s strategy in Vietnam is a prescription for unspeakable new war crimes.
The Nation’s Tom Hayden falsifies Obama’s Afghanistan plan
By David Walsh, 27 June 2011
On the Nation web site, Tom Hayden, longtime Democratic Party operative, has posted a dishonest and contemptible article about Barack Obama’s June 22 speech on the war in Afghanistan.
Obama’s Afghanistan speech: An exercise in political duplicity
By Bill Van Auken, 23 June 2011
The American president’s proposal represented a tacit admission of the failure of the US intervention in Afghanistan and of the immense crisis of American capitalism.
Behind Obama’s Afghan withdrawal decision
By Bill Van Auken, 21 June 2011
While the media focuses on Obama’s anticipated announcement of a limited withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the US administration is carrying out behind-the-scenes negotiations for permanent bases in the country.
US and Britain seek accommodation with Taliban
By Harvey Thompson, 8 June 2011
The Guardian has reported that Britain and the US are pressing for the lifting of UN sanctions against 18 former senior Taliban figures.
After latest massacre, NATO to continue attacks on Afghan civilians
By Bill Van Auken, 1 June 2011
The US-led NATO command in Afghanistan brushed aside President Hamid Karzai’s demand for a halt to air strikes and night raids on Afghan homes after an attack that killed 14 civilians.
UK Afghan troop draw-down points to future deployments
By Julie Hyland, 21 May 2011
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that 450 British troops are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan over the next nine months.
Afghans killed in protest over NATO night raids
By Bill Van Auken, 19 May 2011
At least a dozen Afghan civilians were shot to death and another 85 wounded in mass protests over a US-led night raid that killed four members of a family in the country’s northern Takhar province.
Book Review
Guantanamo: My Journey—David Hicks exposes torture and government criminality
By Richard Phillips, 19 May 2011
Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks has written a valuable exposure of the barbarities perpetrated against him by the US military and Canberra’s role in his illegal detention.
New Zealand SAS troops implicated in Afghan war crimes
By John Braddock, 16 May 2011
An investigation provided damning evidence that the elite force is complicit in human rights abuses, with successive governments, including Labour, covering them up.
The Kabul airport killings: What are US troops dying for?
By Bill Van Auken, 29 April 2011
The execution-style slaying of eight US troops and a civilian contractor at a supposedly secure military facility at Kabul airport underscores the crisis of the nearly decade-old US war in Afghanistan.
500 Afghan insurgents escape from high-security Kandahar prison
By David Walsh, 27 April 2011
In an audacious operation, some 500 Taliban insurgents, including 100 commanders, escaped to freedom from an Afghan prison early Monday morning.
Pentagon rehabilitates Gen. McChrystal
By Bill Van Auken, 20 April 2011
The Pentagon’s exoneration of McChrystal in connection with remarks attributed to him and his staff in a magazine article points to continuing civililan-military tensions and raises the question of why he was really fired.
US occupation in Afghanistan hit by string of bombings
By Bill Van Auken, 19 April 2011
A series of bombings have signaled the beginning of a spring offensive by the Afghan resistance forces, while inflicting the greatest single-day casualties on US forces in nearly a year.
Mary Tillman condemns Obama’s appointment of McChrystal to head military families commission
By Tom Eley, 15 April 2011
Mary Tillman has condemned Obama’s decision to appoint General Stanley McChrystal, who led the cover-up of the killing of her son Pat Tillman by friendly fire, as head of a military families commission.
US Army clears “kill team” brigade commander of responsibility
By Naomi Spencer, 8 April 2011
An Army investigation into officers in charge of the brigade involved in killing Afghan civilians for sport concluded that its commander had no responsibility for the atrocities.
Afghanistan: More children killed in US-NATO air attacks
By Patrick O’Connor, 29 March 2011
The atrocity is the latest in a series of recent US-led bombing operations that have inflicted mass civilian casualties.
Rolling Stone publishes photos of US war crimes in Afghanistan
By Naomi Spencer, 29 March 2011
The gruesome “kill team” photos released by Rolling Stone reveal that the murder of innocent civilians as part of the US occupation of Afghanistan was commonplace, widely known about, and celebrated.
Afghan “kill team” soldier sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder
By Naomi Spencer, 25 March 2011
Army soldier Jeremy Morlock was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison for the murder of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.
Photos released of atrocities by US “kill team” in Afghanistan
By Jerry White, 22 March 2011
The German news magazine Der Spiegel published three photographs on Monday depicting atrocities carried out by members of a US Army unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Petraeus outlines indefinite Afghan occupation in congressional testimony
By Niall Green, 17 March 2011
General Petraeus, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, told Congress that the occupation of the Central Asian country would go on indefinitely, amidst reports of sharply increased civilian casualties.
Twenty-third Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan
By John Roberts, 28 February 2011
The Labor government greeted the death of two Australian soldiers in Afghanistan this month with further statements of unwavering commitment to the deeply unpopular war.
Dozens slaughtered by US forces in Afghanistan-Pakistan air attacks
By Patrick O’Connor, 23 February 2011
After a US air strike killed up to 51 civilians last Thursday in Afghanistan’s north-eastern Kunar province, General David Petraeus reportedly accused local residents of burning their children to fake evidence of civilian casualties.
German student arbitrarily detained in Afghan prison
By Marianne Arens, 18 February 2011
The US embassy in Kabul has claimed that the German government cooperated in the arrest and incarceration of a young German student in Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram prison.
Munich exhibition documents German army atrocity in Afghanistan
By Wolfgang Weber, 8 February 2011
Germany’s greatest post-World War II war crime has been comprehensively documented and exhibited by the two journalists who won the trust of the victims’ bereaved relatives.
Obama’s reign of terror in Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 4 January 2011
2010 was the bloodiest year of the now nine-year conflict in Afghanistan and the tribal border regions of Pakistan.
New Year begins with multiple US missile attacks in Pakistan
By Patrick Martin, 4 January 2011
At least 20 were killed in three separate strikes in the North Waziristan tribal region.
Huge rise in wounded Afghan civilians
By Harvey Thompson, 30 December 2010
Britain’s Channel 4 News has revealed a dramatic increase in the numbers of war-wounded civilians in southern Afghanistan, following the military troop surge initiated by US president Barak Obama earlier this year.
CIA drone strikes kill 25 in Pakistan
By Joseph Kishore, 28 December 2010
The latest slaughter took place in the North Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan and has been targeted by the majority of US missiles fired from unmanned aircraft over the past year.
Obama’s AfPak review: Endless war in face of mass opposition
By Bill Van Auken, 17 December 2010
The Obama administration’s review of its strategy in Afghanistan produced the predictable conclusion that the war and occupation will go on indefinitely, despite mass opposition.
NATO summit to embrace indefinite Afghan war
By James Cogan, 20 November 2010
The NATO summit that began yesterday in Lisbon has one primary objective in regards to the war in Afghanistan: to shelve all talk of President Obama’s July 2011 deadline for beginning the withdrawal of troops.
Former British ambassador forecasts 50-year foreign role in Afghanistan
By Harvey Thompson, 18 November 2010
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the former British ambassador to Kabul, has forecast a half-century role for foreign forces and outside agencies in Afghanistan.
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