https://www.scmp.com/rss/277305/feed The Afghan war between US-lead Nato forces and Taliban insurgent groups was triggered by the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It has cost more than 3,000 lives on the Nato side and some 13,000 civilian lives. On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, a major target of the war, was killed by US special forces. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A blast at a voter registration centre in Afghanistan’s restive east on Sunday killed or wounded at least 30 people, officials said, capping a bloody week in the war-torn country. The bomb had been placed in a tent being used to register voters on the grounds of a mosque, marking the latest attack on preparations for the long-delayed legislative elections. “A crowd of people who had come out of the mosque had gathered to register” when the blast took place, said Khost provincial police chief... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2144906/dozens-killed-or-wounded-after-blast-afghanistan-voter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2144906/dozens-killed-or-wounded-after-blast-afghanistan-voter?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 May 2018 13:43:14 +0000 Villagers in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz said they had buried dozens of victims of an air strike on a Taliban controlled district, in an incident the United Nations described as “disturbing”. The event underlined the risks of greater use of air power under a new US strategy announced last year to try to force the militant group to the negotiating table. Sayed Jaan, a resident of the district of Dasht-i Archi, said he took part in two mass funerals of almost 40 people, adding that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2140115/one-16-and-another-21-afghan-children-among-dozens-buried?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2140115/one-16-and-another-21-afghan-children-among-dozens-buried?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Apr 2018 09:00:46 +0000 A suicide bomber killed at least two and wounded seven in an attack claimed by Islamic State in the diplomatic area of Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday, and at least 18 soldiers died in a separate attack on a checkpoint by Taliban insurgents in the country’s west, authorities said. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the Kabul attack took place in the Shash Darak area near Nato headquarters and not far from the US embassy. Danish said the initial casualty count could rise. Islamic... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2134564/dozens-killed-taliban-launch-multiple-attacks-across?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2134564/dozens-killed-taliban-launch-multiple-attacks-across?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 08:01:24 +0000 A bomb hidden in an ambulance killed at least 95 people and wounded 158 in Afghanistan on Saturday when it blew up in an area of the capital near foreign embassies and government buildings. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, a week after it claimed an attack on the a hotel in Kabul in which more than 20 people were killed. “It is a massacre,” said Dejan Panic, coordinator in Afghanistan for the Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a nearby trauma hospital. In a message on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2130852/scores-killed-and-wounded-bomb-blast-afghan-capital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2130852/scores-killed-and-wounded-bomb-blast-afghan-capital?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jan 2018 11:20:51 +0000 US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States has “foolishly” handed Pakistan more than US$33 billion in aid over the last 15 years while getting nothing in return and pledged to put a stop to it. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2126430/trump-complains-us-has-got-nothing-pakistan-aid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2126430/trump-complains-us-has-got-nothing-pakistan-aid?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jan 2018 15:30:45 +0000 A suicide bomber struck in a crowd of people in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Thursday killing at least eight, officials said, in an attack that underscored worsening security. The bomber approached the crowd of dozens on foot in the provincial capital Jalalabad as they were demonstrating in support of a local police commander who had been sacked and calling for his reinstatement, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said. “Unfortunately, eight people were killed, all of them... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2121351/8-killed-suicide-bomb-attack-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2121351/8-killed-suicide-bomb-attack-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Nov 2017 18:15:30 +0000 The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said on Friday she is seeking an investigation of alleged war crimes committed in the war in Afghanistan, an unprecedented probe that could encompass American troops. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement that a preliminary examination found “a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity” were committed in Afghanistan after US-led troops moved in following the September 11 attacks. Once the prosecutor... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2118364/hague-seeks-investigate-war-crimes-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2118364/hague-seeks-investigate-war-crimes-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:16:34 +0000 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday there is a place for moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan’s government as long as they renounce violence and terrorism and commit to stability. He also delivered a blunt warning to neighbouring Pakistan, insisting Islamabad must step up action against terrorist groups that have found safe haven within its borders. Speaking on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan where he met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2116649/tillerson-says-room-taliban-afghan-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2116649/tillerson-says-room-taliban-afghan-government?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Oct 2017 16:35:31 +0000 At least 152 Afghans sent to the United States for military training during the course of the war against the Taliban have gone AWOL, and the problem, which worsened last year, is unlikely to improve soon, US inspectors said on Friday. AWOL Afghans are considered a security risk in the US because they have military training and are of fighting age, and relatively few are ever arrested or detained, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2116398/report-shows-152-afghan-trainees-have-gone-awol-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2116398/report-shows-152-afghan-trainees-have-gone-awol-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Oct 2017 09:35:14 +0000 Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the capital as Afghan officials on Saturday raised the number of casualties from the attack to at least 39 dead and at least 41 wounded. In a statement on its website late Friday, IS said claimed its fighter Abu Ammar al-Turkmani “detonated his explosive vest among the apostates” during Friday prayers in the Imam Zaman mosque in western Kabul. The attack was one of two on mosques in the troubled, war-torn country. A... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2116364/suicide-bombings-afghanistan-hit-mosques-killing-63?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2116364/suicide-bombings-afghanistan-hit-mosques-killing-63?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:34:59 +0000 The Taliban have killed at least 58 Afghan security forces in a wave of attacks across the country overnight, including an assault that nearly wiped out an army camp in southern Kandahar province, officials said on Thursday. The attack on the army camp took place late on Wednesday and involved two suicide car bombs, said spokesman Dawlat Wazir. It triggered hours of fighting, killing at least 43 soldiers. Nine other soldiers were wounded and six have gone missing, Wazir said, adding that 10... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2116188/58-killed-taliban-attacks-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2116188/58-killed-taliban-attacks-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Oct 2017 18:55:30 +0000 Parked at a military runway in Afghanistan near other aircraft used in the fight against the Taliban, the grey-green helicopter appears unremarkable at first blush. A second look at the UH-60 Black Hawk reveals a vital distinction: the US Army’s insignia has vanished, replaced by the triangular logo of the Afghan security forces. The fully refurbished chopper arrived here at Kandahar Airfield last month, the first of 159 the United States plans to give the Afghans to help turn the war in their... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2115435/afghan-air-force-gets-first-159-us-black-hawks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2115435/afghan-air-force-gets-first-159-us-black-hawks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Oct 2017 08:35:24 +0000 Former hostage Joshua Boyle said upon arriving back in Canada that the Haqqani network in Afghanistan had killed his infant daughter and raped his American wife during the years they were held in captivity. Boyle gave the statement soon after landing in Canada late Friday with his wife, Caitlan Coleman, and three young children. The couple was rescued Wednesday, five years after they had been abducted by the Taliban-linked extremist network while in Afghanistan as part of a backpacking trip.... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2115349/canadian-says-child-murdered-american-wife-raped?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2115349/canadian-says-child-murdered-american-wife-raped?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Oct 2017 06:05:22 +0000 An American woman, her ­Canadian husband and their three young children have been released after years of being held captive by a network with ties to the Taliban. US officials said Pakistan ­secured the release of Caitlan Coleman of Stewartstown, ­Pennsylvania, and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, who were abducted five years ago in Afghanistan and held by the Haqqani network. Coleman was pregnant when she was captured. The couple had three children while in captivity, and all had been... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2115153/family-held-taliban-linked-militants-released-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2115153/family-held-taliban-linked-militants-released-after?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:56:16 +0000 The classroom wall is adorned with colourful children’s drawings and riddled with bullet holes. This is not the first time Arnaud de Baecque has visited a war zone, but it is his first in Hong Kong. A lawyer by training, the Frenchman is the deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He has been dispatched to conflict zones from Afghanistan to the Central African Republic since he joined the Geneva, Switzerland-based organisation in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2112029/why-red-cross-wants-show-peaceful-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2112029/why-red-cross-wants-show-peaceful-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Sep 2017 10:47:43 +0000 In 1992, when Pakistan first came under international diplomatic pressure to halt terrorist attacks on India emanating from its territory, Islamabad’s chief diplomat and the architect of its modern-day strategic alliance with China, Akram Zaki, told me: “Pakistan’s foreign policy is in a minefield without a map”. It still is. By naming Pakistan-based terrorist groups in the declaration issued at the end of the BRICS leaders meeting in Xiamen on Monday, China has publicly reminded its all-weather... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2110392/first-trump-then-china-pakistan-loses-support-it-should-lose?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2110392/first-trump-then-china-pakistan-loses-support-it-should-lose?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Sep 2017 06:30:50 +0000 US forces apologised on Wednesday for dropping leaflets in northern Afghanistan depicting a dog with a Koranic verse written across its body – an image highly offensive to Muslims. A photo of the alleged leaflet circulating on social media shows a lion chasing a white dog – the same colour as the Taliban’s flag – with the holy verse “there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is the messenger of Allah” superimposed on its body. Dogs are seen as unclean creatures by some Muslims and the association... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2110025/take-back-your-freedom-these-dogs-us-military-apologises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2110025/take-back-your-freedom-these-dogs-us-military-apologises?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:20:06 +0000 A 106-year-old Afghan woman who made a perilous journey to Europe, carried by her son and grandson through mountains, deserts and forests, is facing deportation from Sweden after her asylum application was rejected. Bibihal Uzbeki is severely disabled and can barely speak. Her family has appealed the rejection. Their journey made headlines in 2015, when they were part of a huge influx of people who came to Europe from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. They travelled by foot and on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2109819/106-year-old-afghan-woman-who-fled-war-faces-deportation-sweden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2109819/106-year-old-afghan-woman-who-fled-war-faces-deportation-sweden?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Sep 2017 06:07:20 +0000 At the lowest ebb of the last annus horribilis for US-Pakistan ties in 2011, soon after the special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan brandished the China card: if relations with Washington were going into a tailspin, Islamabad would turn to Beijing instead. They were rebuffed. China discreetly made it clear to both the United States and Pakistan that the “all-weather friendship” was already as deep as they wanted it to be and that Islamabad needed to focus on... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2108345/trump-beware-pakistans-luck-playing-china-card-turning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2108345/trump-beware-pakistans-luck-playing-china-card-turning?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Aug 2017 06:32:23 +0000 China’s top diplomat voiced support for ally Pakistan on Wednesday after the United States accused Islamabad of being a safe haven for terrorists. In a phone call with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, State Councillor Yang Jiechi also urged Washington to carefully manage differences between the world’s top two economies. Yang said the two countries should “properly settle differences” and prepare well for US President Donald Trump’s proposed visit to China later this year, according to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2108072/china-committed-help-bring-peace-afghanistan-pakistans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2108072/china-committed-help-bring-peace-afghanistan-pakistans?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Aug 2017 05:00:30 +0000 A Russia-led initiative involving China and Pakistan that seeks a political settlement to Afghanistan’s civil war has the makings of a diplomatic alliance that could supplant the United States as the leading power in Central Asia. The grouping was unveiled after a third meeting in Moscow late last month and may be expanded to include regional powers Iran and Turkey, which formed a separate tripartite grouping on Syria with Russia in talks preceding the parleys on Afghanistan. The Afghan... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2060032/afghanistan-putin-courts-china-search-another-syria?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2060032/afghanistan-putin-courts-china-search-another-syria?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jan 2017 02:00:58 +0000 As China watches Afghan peace talks flounder and Islamic militants make inroads in parts of its troubled neighbour, Beijing is taking its most concrete steps yet towards assuming a direct security role in the country. In recent weeks, China has pledged US$70 million in military aid to Afghanistan and proposed a four-nation security bloc including Pakistan and Tajikistan. The partnership – floated by top Chinese general Fang Fenghui and endorsed by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul last... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1935410/china-boosts-security-role-afghanistan-counter-growing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1935410/china-boosts-security-role-afghanistan-counter-growing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Apr 2016 05:08:57 +0000 An Afghan iteration of the popular “Be Like Bill” internet meme has gone viral online, with its Facebook posts extolling good Samaritan deeds resonating widely with the war-torn country’s youth. “Be Like Qodos” has attracted more than 66,000 likes on its Dari Facebook page in over two weeks, a sizeable number in a country where few have access to the internet. Qodos, a fictional name for a model Afghan citizen, takes a self-righteous stand on a variety of social ills – from corruption to street... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1907539/be-qodos-afghan-version-western-be-bill-meme-goes-viral-society-trying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1907539/be-qodos-afghan-version-western-be-bill-meme-goes-viral-society-trying?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jan 2016 13:45:03 +0000 China will play mediator in Afghanistan’s peace talks and urges Pakistan to take part in the process too, the foreign minister says. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a joint press conference with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani on Tuesday that the peace talks were the “right way towards enduring peace and tranquility” in Afghanistan. READ MORE: Afghan Foreign Minister’s China trip is a chance for peace talks China, which is part of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, will... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1905461/china-plays-mediator-urges-pakistan-join-afghan-peace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1905461/china-plays-mediator-urges-pakistan-join-afghan-peace?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Jan 2016 11:12:38 +0000 Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani is in Beijing on a four-day trip as China steps up efforts to use its limited influence to broker peace talks in Kabul. Rabbani’s arrival in the Chinese capital on Sunday follows a trip last week to Kabul by Deng Xijun, Beijing’s special envoy on Afghan affairs, to take part in a Quadrilateral Coordination Group meeting. The group, which also includes representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States, is urging Taliban militants to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1905275/afghan-foreign-ministers-china-trip-chance-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1905275/afghan-foreign-ministers-china-trip-chance-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jan 2016 15:45:15 +0000 At least four Afghan policemen and one Spaniard were killed in an hours-long Taliban siege near the Spanish embassy in Kabul, the latest high-profile insurgent attack. Multiple blasts and gunfire rocked Kabul’s diplomatic quarter after the brazen raid began on Friday evening, just hours after President Ashraf Ghani voiced optimism that a peace process with the Taliban would resume within weeks. “Afghan special forces have killed four attackers who were involved in the terrorist attack in Kabul,”... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1890191/five-killed-during-taliban-attack-and-hours-long-siege-diplomatic-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1890191/five-killed-during-taliban-attack-and-hours-long-siege-diplomatic-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Dec 2015 05:11:56 +0000 A man wearing Afghan uniform shot dead three US soldiers on Saturday in the east of the country, officials said, in the latest apparent example of an “insider attack The strike came on the same day that one Italian soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a grenade was thrown into their armoured vehicle in the western province of Farah. Scores of foreign soldiers have been killed in insider attacks, breeding fierce mistrust and threatening to derail the process of training Afghan... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1256581/3-us-troops-killed-afghan-insider-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1256581/3-us-troops-killed-afghan-insider-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jun 2013 13:07:57 +0000 Watching the solemn parade of special-forces soldiers climb into their trucks, blessed by a priest, and drive into the grey Afghan night, Australian artist Ben Quilty wondered if they would ever return. Quilty, winner of Australia's prestigious Archibald portrait prize in 2011, spent 24 days embedded with troops in Kandahar and Tarinkot as the nation's official war artist, sketching, photographing and filming life as a modern soldier. It is an "often very mundane existence, spiked with these... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1223760/artist-paints-personal-picture-afghan-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1223760/artist-paints-personal-picture-afghan-war?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Nato said on Thursday that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is being won, despite reports by other agencies of a sharp upsurge in insurgent attacks this year. “While numerous challenges remain, there are some basic facts that highlight the improved security across the country,” said US General Joseph Dunford, head of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Dunford said in a statement that almost eight million children are in school, 40 per cent of whom are girls,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1222849/nato-says-war-against-afghans-taliban-being-won?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1222849/nato-says-war-against-afghans-taliban-being-won?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:13:23 +0000 Two US soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in a suspected insider attack in Afghanistan on Monday, after President Hamid Karzai accused Washington of colluding with the Taliban to justify its presence in the country. The attack in the flashpoint eastern province of Wardak by an individual in an Afghan army uniform also killed several Afghan soldiers and wounded a number of others, military officials said. Karzai stunned US officials with his remarks on the Taliban on Sunday during a visit by... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1188787/two-us-troops-killed-afghan-insider-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1188787/two-us-troops-killed-afghan-insider-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:30:47 +0000 A Soviet soldier who disappeared more than 30 years ago on the battlefield in Afghanistan has been found alive and well and living under the name of Sheikh Abdullah in the western Afghan city of Herat. Russian officials attempting to trace soldiers still missing from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan said they had discovered Bakhretdin Khakimov, last seen in September 1980. Khakimov, then aged 20, had been serving with the 101st motorised rifle unit, stationed near Herat. He was seriously... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1183750/soviet-soldier-found-alive-afghanistan-after-30-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1183750/soviet-soldier-found-alive-afghanistan-after-30-years?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Angry over civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai announced plans on Saturday to ban Afghan security forces from requesting international air strikes on residential areas. If he issues the decree as promised, the move would pose a significant new challenge to government troops who have relied heavily on foreign air power to give them an advantage against insurgents on the battlefield even as the US and other countries prepare to end their combat mission in less than two years. The declaration... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1152262/afghan-president-ban-requests-foreign-air-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1152262/afghan-president-ban-requests-foreign-air-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Feb 2013 03:33:34 +0000 US General Joseph Dunford assumed command of Nato forces in Afghanistan on Sunday, taking over from General John Allen as the coalition prepares to withdraw the bulk of its combat troops by next year. Marine General Dunford will likely be the last commander of the United States’ longest war, tasked with bringing forces home after more than 11 years and overseeing the transfer of Afghan security duties to local forces. Despite the persistence of the Taliban’s bloody insurgency against President... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1147463/dunford-takes-charge-nato-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1147463/dunford-takes-charge-nato-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Feb 2013 09:39:26 +0000 Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, who has just ended a deployment with the army in Afghanistan, said he killed Taliban fighters there to "take a life to save a life". The prince, 28, a gunner in Apache helicopters, said he had taken the enemy "out of the game" during his stint. He served in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, supporting allied troops fighting the Taliban at close quarters and accompanying British Chinook and US Black Hawk helicopters on casualty... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1133796/prince-harry-killed-taliban-southern-afghanistan-save-lives?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1133796/prince-harry-killed-taliban-southern-afghanistan-save-lives?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Taliban insurgents launched a major attack on Sunday, against a Nato base located in an Afghan city airport with car bombs, suicide bombing, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms fire. The Taliban claimed insurgents had entered the airport in Jalalabad, near the eastern border with Pakistan, but this was denied by Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “Insurgents including suicide bombers attacked the perimeter of the Jalalabad air base this morning,” a spokesman... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1095614/nato-base-attacked-taliban-attackers-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1095614/nato-base-attacked-taliban-attackers-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Dec 2012 05:21:38 +0000 From a live video feed half a world away in Afghanistan, in an extraordinary night court session, descriptions of chaos and horror poured into a military courtroom an hour south of Seattle. "Their brains were still on the pillows," said Mullah Khamal Adin, 39, describing the 11 members of his cousin's family he found dead in the family compound - most of their bodies burned in a pile in one room. Adin was in the US Army's preliminary hearing that began late last Friday, in the case against Staff... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1080111/grisly-details-emerge-hearing-against-us-soldier-accused-afghan-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1080111/grisly-details-emerge-hearing-against-us-soldier-accused-afghan-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Before a packed courtroom in the capital, a judicial panel found four members of the Afghan Local Police guilty of involvement in the rape of a shepherd's daughter in a case that tested the judicial system's ability to hold the controversial force accountable. The four police officers, who are from Kunduz province in the north of Afghanistan, were sentenced to 16 years in prison for the sexual assault in May of Lal Bibi, a woman of about 18. The men and their defence lawyer said they would... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1077941/justice-acquitted-court-jails-four-afghan-policemen-teenagers-rape?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1077941/justice-acquitted-court-jails-four-afghan-policemen-teenagers-rape?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Police apologise after blind man tasered LONDON - British police apologised for using a stun gun on a blind man after officers mistook his white cane for a samurai sword. Officers were responding to "a number of reports that a man was walking through Chorley armed with a samurai sword", when they confronted Colin Farmer in the northern English town. When Farmer, 61, did not respond to their calls to stop, one of the officers used his taser stun gun, which delivers a 50,000 volt shock. After... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1063457/briefs-october-18-2012?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1063457/briefs-october-18-2012?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A suicide truck bomb attack on a joint Nato-Afghan army base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday caused several casualties to Afghan forces, the International Security Assistance Force said. Reports by Afghan officials of the number of soldiers wounded in the attack – claimed by Taliban insurgents – varied from 10 to 45, but there were no reports of any deaths. “This morning a joint ISAF-ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) combat outpost in Zurmat district in Paktiya province was attacked by... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1063216/suicide-truck-bomb-hits-nato-base-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1063216/suicide-truck-bomb-hits-nato-base-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:26:26 +0000 Five of Britain’s elite Royal Marines have been charged with murder following an engagement with an insurgent last year, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. British military police had arrested seven Royal Marines last Thursday on suspicion of murder in connection with the incident. Two more marines were arrested, one on Friday and one on Saturday, taking the total number of arrests to nine, an MoD spokesman said. Four have since been released without charge. “The Royal Military Police has... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1060981/five-british-marines-charged-afghanistan-murder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1060981/five-british-marines-charged-afghanistan-murder?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:29:41 +0000