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Afghanistan
Former UN envoy criticizes Taliban arrests
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The UN’s former envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, has strongly criticized Pakistan’s recent arrest of high-ranking Taliban leaders. Eide told the BBC the arrests had completely stopped a channel of secret communications with the UN. Pakistani officials insist the arrests were not an attempt to spoil talks. Jason Margolis reports. Download MP3
Richard Holbrooke on the fight against the Taliban
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For years Pakistan’s northwest has been plagued by Islamist violence fueled by anger over the war in Afghanistan and Islamabad’s alliance with Washington. A Pakistani military offensive that began in October against the Pakistani Taliban spurred attacks that killed more than 600 people. Marco Werman talks with Washington’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, about US policy in the region. Download MP3(Photo: Martha Stewart/Harvard’s Institute of Politics)
Is the Afghan Army ready for prime time?
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the bombings in Kabul which killed up to nine Indians, a Frenchman and an Italian as a terrorist attack. The Taliban said they carried out the attacks. The assault comes as NATO and Afghan forces continue ‘Operation Moshtarak’ to combat the Taliban in the south of the country. Reporter Ben Gilbert looks at the battle readiness of the Afghan troops. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert) Afghanistan’s “radio war”
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The United States government is mounting a counter-propaganda offensive in Afghanistan to combat the Taliban’s media successes. Journalist Douglas Wissing reports on the “radio war” raging in eastern Afghanistan. Download MP3 (Photo:Douglas Wissing)
Behind Taliban lines
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Last fall, veteran Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi put out word that he would like to interview one of the new Taliban commanders leading a growing insurgency in the country’s northern provinces. His trip is documented in the edition of Frontline airing tonight on PBS. The reporter is Najibullah Quraishi, Marco Werman talks with him. Download MP3 (Photo: courtesy of Frontline) NATO causes more civilian deaths in Afghanistan
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At least 27 civilians died in a NATO air strike in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan cabinet says. NATO said it hit a suspected insurgent convoy, but ground forces later found “a number of individuals killed and wounded”, including women and children. Civilian deaths in strikes have caused widespread resentment in Afghanistan. Matthew Bell reports. Download MP3 (Photo: POOL/AFP/Getty Images)
Coalition offensive against Taliban continues
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US, NATO and Afghan forces are now in the sixth day of their offensive against Taliban forces in Helmand Province. NATO officials say that militants battling coalition troops are running out of ammunition. An Afghan general said Taliban fighters were increasingly using civilians as “human shields.” We hear from The Washington Post’s Joshua Partlow in Kabul. Download MP3 Photo: POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Taliban commander “seized in Pakistan”
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A man described as the top Afghan Taliban military commander and named as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been captured in Pakistan, US officials say. The government has yet to confirm the arrest; the Taliban have denied it. Pakistani authorities have beefed up security at the Afghan border (AP Photo: Shah Khalid) after NATO launched Operation Moshtarak against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3
Who is Mullah Baradar?
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Ron Moreau is South East Asia correspondent for Newsweek magazine. He profiled Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar last summer and managed to communicate with him through emails. Katy Clark talks with Moreau, who is in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Download MP3
Afghan civilians scared by US effort to stop roadside bombs
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Ben Gilbert reports on US efforts to stop the use of roadside bombs by insurgents in Afghanistan, and why Afghan civilians fear those efforts.
Taliban ‘forced from strongholds’
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US Marines are making steady progress in one of the biggest NATO offensives in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, but areas infested with roadside bombs are bogging them down, a spokesman said on Monday. On day three of Operation Moshtarak, senior Afghan officers said areas around Marjah and Nad Ali were being cleared of insurgents. The campaign aims to bring the areas back under Afghan government control. Anchor Katy Clark speaks with Rod Norland of the New York Times in Kabul. Download MP3 (Photo:Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images)On IED patrol in Afghanistan
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Download MP3Improvised Explosive Devices, or IED’s are now responsible for 70 % of the US troop fatalities in Afghanistan. One way the US led coalition is trying to combat them is by finding the bombs before they blow up. In part two of our series on IEDs, reporter Ben Gilbert is embedded with Task Force Thor in southern Afghanistan.
IEDs in Afghanistan
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Improvised explosive devices – or IEDs – are crude but deadly devices that have cost thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. US military commanders say they’re the primary threat facing troops there. Ben Gilbert has the first of several stories on IEDs in Afghanistan and the effort to counter them.
NATO prepares big offensive against Taliban
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Hundreds of villagers living in a Taliban-controled area of southern Afghanistan are leaving before a major NATO-led offensive gets under way. It is expected to be one of the largest counter-insurgency operations since the Afghan conflict began in 2001. The operation to clear insurgents from the southern town of Marjah, in Helmand province, is expected to begin soon. The BBC’s Frank Gardner is 90 miles east of Marjah in Kandahar. Download MP3
Pakistan girl ‘forced to become suicide bomber’
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In Pakistan a shocking account of life with the Taliban has emerged from a 13 year old girl, who says her own family tried to turn her into a suicide bomber. The girl, named Meena, says her brother is a Taliban commander who trained many bombers. There’s no independent verification of her account, but police say they believe she is telling the truth. Meena told her story to the BBC’s Orla Guerin. Download MP3
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