Tag - central-asia

 
 

CENTRAL ASIA

WORLD
Nov 9, 2013
Afghanistan to free 80% of high-security detainees, Pentagon says
The Afghan government has moved to release 80 percent of the high-security detainees who were handed over this year by the U.S. military and evaluated by an Afghan review panel, according to a Defense Department report released Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 4, 2013
As U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, poppy trade it spent billions fighting still flourishes
The United States is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan having lost its battle against the country's narcotics industry, marking one of the starkest failures of the 2009 strategy the Obama administration pursued in an effort to turn around the war.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 23, 2013
U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan sees world's biggest garage sale
The armored trucks, televisions, ice cream scoops and nearly everything else shipped to Afghanistan for the U.S. war against the Taliban are now part of the world's biggest garage sale: Every week, as the American troop drawdown accelerates, the U.S. is selling 5.4 million to 6.4 million kg of its equipment...
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 11, 2013
U.S. 'forcibly' took custody of militant leader, Afghans say
The United States recently seized a senior Pakistani Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan, snatching him from the custody of Afghan intelligence operatives who had spent months trying to recruit him as an interlocutor for peace talks, Afghan government officials charged Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2013
U.S. Marine generals fired for Afghan security lapses
The commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday took the extraordinary step of firing two generals for not adequately protecting a giant base in southern Afghanistan that Taliban fighters stormed last year, resulting in the deaths of two marines and the destruction of a half a dozen U.S. fighter jets.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 1, 2013
Few winners in Afghan village flattened by U.S.
It took 22,500 kg of American explosives to level Niaz Mohammad's village. It had become a Taliban stronghold, a virtual factory for bombs that killed and maimed American soldiers. At the height of the U.S. offensive in late 2010, commanders chose what they considered their best option: They approved...
WORLD
Aug 19, 2013
Efforts to close 'Second Guantanamo' in Afghanistan prove problematic
Of all the challenges the U.S. faces as it winds down the Afghanistan war, the most difficult might be closing the prison nicknamed "The Second Guantanamo."
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 31, 2013
U.S. soldier to admit Afghan massacre to avoid execution
Seattle AP A U.S. Army staff sergeant charged with killing 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 18, 2013
Karzai embarks on a high-stakes quest for Afghan sovereignty
As Afghanistan's second presidential election loomed in early 2009, President Hamid Karzai described his once-genial relationship with the U.S. as a "gentle wrestling match" that he hoped to win.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2013
NATO to follow order to halt Afghan airstrikes
The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said Sunday he would comply with an intended order by President Hamid Karzai that prohibits Afghan forces from calling in NATO airstrikes on residential areas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2013
U.S. expert urges Japan role in Afghan stability
Japan should get involved in rebuilding Afghanistan by encouraging the international community to broker a peace settlement once the U.S.-led NATO forces withdraw from the country, according to a top American scholar on the Middle East.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past