The US Department of Justice announced that it has charged Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimulla Mehsud in connection with the deadly Dec. 30 attack on CIA outpost in Afghanistan.
In its latest quarterly report to Congress, the US watchdog for Afghan reconstruction finds that the security situation is at an all-time low since monitoring began. Since the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) began tracking district control in 2015, Afghan government-controlled or "influenced" districts have declined 16% to 55.5%. In the same period, areas of insurgent control or influence rose 5.5% while "contested" districts increased 11%. As of late July, the US military assessed that the Kabul government controls or influences 226 of Afghanistan's 407 districts, while the Taliban controls/influences 49. The remaining 132 districts are identified as "contested." Since the prior quarterly report, Operation Resolute Support downgraded eight districts from "government influenced" to "contested." SIGAR said Afghan security forces "made minimal or no progress in pressuring the Taliban" in the period covered by the report. (Photo via Stars & Stripes)
At least six militants were killed in a presumed US drone strike in Miranshah, in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region. The missiles hit minutes before the Ramadan fast was broken.
A couple were stoned to death for adultery in a Taliban-controlled village in northern Afghanistan, just as the Taliban is demanding a joint investigation with NATO and the UN into civilian casualties.
A crowd of about 300 villagers blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan and chanted “Death to the US!” The protest came after a raid by US forces in which they said three villagers were killed.
The Taliban should be prosecuted for war crimes, Amnesty International said, following the release of a UN report showing a rise in targeted killings of civilians by insurgents in Afghanistan.
Dozens of Afghan refugees have been reported missing and thousands displaced by severe floods in Pakistan over the past two weeks, according to refugees, aid workers and officials.
Amid the US military documents released by WikiLeaks are nearly 200 involving Task Force 373, a unit charged with killing combatants in Afghanistan, but also responsible for numerous civilian deaths.
US drones killed 18 in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region. A count by the BBC Urdu service says nearly 2,500 have been killed in Pakistan by drone strikes and Taliban attacks since January 2009.
By the end of 2011, 81 US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents will be deployed in Afghanistan, up from 13 just three years ago, according to the agency’s chief of operations Tom Harrigan. “Afghanistan is the most prolific producer… Read moreDEA boosts Afghan anti-opium force
A mosque and adjoining shrines were destroyed in an explosion at Ashkail village in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal region, near the Afghan border. Some shrines held the remains of Sufi saints.
Twin suicide attacks on a Sufi shrine in Lahore left 44 dead and 175 injured. The Taliban have repeatedly threatened the Data Darbar, one of the oldest Islamic sites in Pakistan.
