Daily News Channel
A top Taliban commander has issued a new threat to foreign aid workers, saying that under the insurgent group’s new "constitution" they will execute them as spies or hold them in exchange for the release of Taliban fighters. In an exclusive telephone interview Friday night with CNN, Mohammed Ibrahim Hanafi said the Taliban intelligence wing was actively gathering information on foreign aid workers. “If we get someone, that is how we will deal with it under our new constitution,” he said
In a dramatic break with the Bush administration, the Justice Department on Friday announced it is doing away with the designation of "enemy combatant," which allowed the United States to hold suspected terrorists at length without criminal charges. In a court filing in Washington, the Justice Department said it is developing a new standard for the government’s authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
President Obama says the United States is open to reaching out to some moderate voices in the Taliban, but critics say that’s not the right approach. In an interview published in the New York Times this weekend, Obama said some military leaders believe that part of the success in Iraq has come from reaching out to Sunni militants there. The president said while the situation in Afghanistan is much more complex, there may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Researchers with a Malaysian university said they have uncovered evidence of an iron industry that dates to the 3rd Century, A.D., and proves that ancient civilizations in Southeast Asia were more advanced than once thought. In its annual report on human rights, the U.N. warned conditions were deteriorating in the war-ravaged country despite U.S.-led efforts after the 2001 removal from power of the hardline militia.
On the Friday after he was inaugurated, Barack Obama held a full-scale National Security Council meeting about the most serious foreign policy crisis he is facing — the deteriorating war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “It was a pretty alarming meeting,” said one senior Administration official.
At least six security personnel were confirmed killed and six members of Sri Lanka’s cricket team hurt Tuesday after gunmen attacked the team’s bus in Lahore, Pakistan.
Gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan national cricket team Tuesday morning as it approached Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for a match against Pakistan, wounding six or seven players, authorities and team officials said. “When we spoke to the team manager, it appeared that there are a couple of gunshot wounds and a couple of shrapnel wounds,” said Charith Senanayake, the team’s media manager.
The "most worrisome" part of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has become the havens the Taliban and other insurgents have carved out in neighboring Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. Gates said the United States had a similar perch in Pakistan when U.S.
The Pakistani government recently announced a truce with the Taliban and allowed it to set up Islamic courts in the country’s Swat Valley. Reports abound that girls will no longer be allowed to go to school, that brutal beatings are taking place for minor infractions, and the list goes on. NEW YORK (CNN) — The Pakistani government recently announced a truce with the Taliban and allowed it to set up Islamic courts in the country’s Swat Valley
The Obama Administration may be pressing Pakistan to intensify its efforts against Islamic militants on its soil, but Islamabad has its own ways of tackling the issue — most recently in the form of truces with local Taliban forces, a development that has raised eyebrows in Washington.