A New General, and a New War, in Afghanistan

The headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul looks more like a college campus than the nerve center of a military operation involving more than 90,000 troops from 41 countries, its staff officers roaming the halls in each nation’s distinct patterns of camouflage. On July 3, on a wooden deck at the back of his office in the compound, shaded by trees and a garden umbrella, U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, who recently became ISAF’s commander, and that of U.S

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Roadside bombs ‘No. 1 threat’ to troops in Afghanistan

Insurgents’ use of roadside bombs has increased dramatically in Afghanistan this year, according to Pentagon statistics, and the United States’ top military official is calling them the "No. 1 threat" to troops there. In June there were 736 incidents in Afghanistan involving roadside bombs, called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, and 82 “effective attacks,” ones that caused casualties among coalition forces, the figures show.

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British Army builds mock Afghan village in English countryside

The aroma of freshly baking flatbread wafts through the air as a unit of British soldiers position themselves for a quick patrol around the village of Sindh Kalay. Market vendors hawk grapes and melons, as a group of village elders sit smoking water pipes and suspicious-looking men lurk beside battered motorcycles

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New York Times reporter escapes Taliban

A New York Times reporter who was held by the Taliban for seven months has escaped, the newspaper reported Saturday. David Rohde told his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, that he and a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, climbed over the wall of a compound late Friday where they were being held in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

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