A leaked NATO report suggests that the Pakistani security services are helping the Afghan Taliban in their insurgency program, and that even Afghan lawmakers want to sign up with the Taliban. The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC. The leaked [...]

The Defense Department has identified the four Marines who urinated on dead Taliban soldiers in an infamous video that turned up this week. The military may charge the Marines with war crimes, though a final decision has not been made. As investigators begin the job of determining who is guilty of what crime, the Marines [...]

Taliban negotiators approaching discussions on a peace deal with the United States claim that the talks will not be derailed by the emergence of a new video showing Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers. The video, released near the 10th anniversary of the opening of the terrorist prison at Guantanamo, was released anonymously on YouTube. [...]

Let’s follow up on today’s item about the Taliban opening an office in Qatar, to begin work on a peace and reconciliation deal in Afghanistan. The counterpart to this action was supposed to be the transfer of several Taliban detainees at Guantanamo into Afghan custody. Because of the constraints placed by Congress on the movement [...]

The Taliban has agreed to open an office in Qatar, seen as a precursor to peace talks in Afghanistan. In a statement, Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said that along with agreeing to set up the office in Qatar, the group was asking that Taliban detainees held at the American prison in Guantánamo [...]

The future of peace talks with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan war may hinge on thetransfer of a prisoner from Guantanamo Bay. This sign of goodwill could pave the way for broader talks aimed at reconciliation for the Taliban and integration into the Afghan government. But the US is not convinced that they should [...]

The US Embassy in Kabul was the site of a sustained attack that resulted in six deaths and many more wounded. None of the deaths were from embassy personnel, the embassy reported. The BBC reports that the Haqqani network is responsible for the attack, according to the Kabul police chief. The Taliban has also taken [...]

The President went to Dover Air Force Base to visit with families of the returning US forces killed in a helicopter shoot-down in Afghanistan. 30 Americans died in the crash, including 22 Navy SEALs from the same team as the one that participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden. There was no media coverage [...]

The late-night Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed up to 31 Americans and 7 Afghans killed over 20 Navy SEALs, including members of Seal Team Six, the same unit that participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. “It’s a big loss” for the SEALs,” one of the officials said. The numbers are [...]

Walter Pincus was the guy at the Washington Post known for writing skeptical stories about the Iraq debacle that wound up on page A17. He still gets that level of respect today, even when he’s got better information than anyone else. In this case, Pincus advances the story of permanent bases in Afghanistan (I’m calling [...]

Since Scott Wilson and Karen DeYoung broke the suspense, I guess I’m free to say now that the President will announce tonight the removal of all 33,000 second surge troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, by September 2012. This would include a reduction of 10,000 troops by the end of the year, with the other [...]