“Rosy official statements” from top US military brass are misleading the American people into believing our occupation of Afghanistan is yielding solid results toward building a sustainable democracy. Instead, says Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis – who traveled more than 9,000 miles and “talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, [...]
Interview conducted by Jason Leopold and originally published on Truthout. The Iraq war isn’t over. For tens of thousands of soldiers returning from the battlefield, it never will be. Some of these men and women will turn to alcohol and drugs to ease their mental injuries; some will end up homeless, unemployed and divorced. Some [...]
When the Taliban dishonored their word and exploited the trust of the Afghan government by assassinating Afghanistan’s High Peace Council Chair and its former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai was left with no choice but to approach the peace process with a pragmatic view. Mr. Karzai stated that Afghanistan will no longer enter [...]
Reporting by Jason Leopold. Originally published on Truthout. Rob Richer, the No. 2 ranking official in the CIA’s clandestine service, paid a visit to Glenn Carle‘s office in December 2002 and presented the veteran CIA operative with an urgent proposal. “I want you to go on a temporary assignment,” Carle recalls Richer telling him. “It’s [...]
The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) has released its October 2011 report on “Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan” (PDF). Ten years after the US invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, and ostensibly dismantle the Al Qaeda forces linked to the 9/11 attacks, the regime in place is not only hopelessly corrupt and [...]
The people of Afghanistan know who was flying the two helicopter gunships that brutally hunted down and slaughtered, one by one, nine boys apparently as young as seven years old, as they gathered firewood on a hillside March 1. In angry demonstrations after the incident, they were shouting “Death to America.” Americans are still blissfully [...]
Alleged WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been in US custody since last May, after he reportedly told a former hacker that he had passed thousands of classified US military documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, had 22 new charges filed against him on Tuesday by the US Army, including a capital offense — [...]
I’ve been struggling these past few weeks. I read a book written by a former Guantanamo detainee named David Hicks titled “Guantanamo: My Journey.” It’s a powerful and heartbreaking memoir and it made a profound impact on me emotionally. I interviewed Hicks after I read his book. We spoke about a half-dozen times over the past two months. This is the first interview he’s granted since he was released from the “least worst place” in 2007.
Editor’s Note: Click here to read Jason Leopold’s story on David Hicks and click here to read an excerpt from Hicks’ book, “Guantanamo: My Journey.” This report was originally published on Truthout.org David Hicks was one of the first “war on terror” detainees to be sent to Guantanamo the day the prison facility opened on [...]
Just as troubling is the role of Pakistan in supporting extremism and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan by allowing them sanctuaries in its territory, the Islamic Republic of Iran plays a more serious and dangerous role in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs. This could eventually dictate the outcome of US engagement in Afghanistan to an invidious conclusion. Here is [...]
