Afghanistan News Center

Afghanistan News February 5, 2012: Today's headlines.....

U.S. to elevate Special Operations forces’ role in Afghanistan
By Greg Jaffe, The Washington Post Sun Feb 5, 5:10 pm ET
The U.S. military is planning to elevate the role of Special Operations forces in Afghanistan as it shifts away from a combat focus to a mission that places greater emphasis on advising Afghan forces and raids to kill top insurgent leaders, senior U.S. officials said.

Pakistan vows to help peace efforts in Afghanistan
By Nasir Jaffry AFP via Yahoo! News - Sun Feb 5, 1:12 pm ET
Pakistan will support every effort to promote reconciliation in Afghanistan, a senior government official said ahead of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's visit to Qatar Monday to discuss peace efforts.

Pakistan seeks a place at Qatar Taliban talks
Financial Times By Matthew Green, Farhan Bokhari and Michael Peel February 4, 2012
Islamabad, Abu Dhabi - Pakistan’s premier will visit Qatar on Monday for talks about the Gulf State’s push to help the US and Afghan government start peace talks with the Taliban.

Car bomb kills nine in Afghan city Kandahar
KABUL (Reuters) - A car bomb in the south Afghan city of Kandahar killed at least nine people and wounded 19 on Sunday, the presidential palace said in a statement.

Afghan Taliban deny Mullah Omar wrote to White House
Reuters Sat Feb 4, 2012
KABUL - The Afghan Taliban denied on Saturday that the group's leader Mullah Omar wrote to the White House last year.

In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower
By SCOTT SHANE February 5, 2012 The New York Times
WASHINGTON — On his second yearlong deployment to Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis traveled 9,000 miles, patrolled with American troops in eight provinces and returned in October of last year with a fervent conviction that the war was going disastrously and that senior military leaders had not leveled with the American public.

Obama administration’s Afghanistan endgame gets off to bumpy start
By Karen DeYoung, Washington Post - Sun Feb 5, 2:41 pm ET
With war fatigue growing and an election looming, the Obama administration has bumpily embarked on its endgame in Afghanistan.

Panetta Urges International Community to Fund Afghan Forces
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 05 February 2012
The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Saturday urged the international community to help pay for strong Afghan security troops despite worldwide economic pressure.

Military comeback a distant dream for Afghan Taliban
Reuters By Rob Taylor Sun Feb 5, 2012
KABUL - A secret NATO report showing the strength of confidence among the Afghan Taliban is raising concerns from Kabul to Washington that the militant group might overrun the country again when foreign combat forces finally leave.

In Afghanistan, a new approach to teaching history: Leave out the wars
Washington Post By Kevin Sieff Sunday, February 5, 2012
KABUL - In a country where the recent past has unfolded like a war epic, officials think they have found a way to teach Afghan history without widening the fractures between long-quarreling ethnic and political groups: leave out the past four decades.

Avalanche kills 4 Afghans, wounds 6
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Four people lost their lives and six others sustained injuries as an avalanche hit some villages in the mountainous Arghistan district, Badakhshan province, 315 km northeast of Kabul on Saturday, an official said Sunday.