After Bin Laden Hit, U.S. Aides Raise Dubious Hopes for Peace

Barack Obama and top administration officials have taken advantage of the killing of Osama bin Laden to establish a new narrative suggesting the event will pave the way for negotiations with the Taliban for peace in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden Coup Could Mark New Beginning for Obama

Five days after U.S. Navy Seals shot and killed Osama bin Laden at his secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, U.S. President Barack Obama is enjoying a significant boost in public approval, as well as a transformation in his public image.

OP-ED: Gunfight at Abbottabad: Dismantling the Myth of an American Hero

In Hollywood Westerns, the sheriff engages in a shootout with bad guys and wins. Such was the story of Wyatt Earp, who killed rustlers in the "Gunfight at OK Corral". Then there is the American cowboy, represented by John Wayne - tall, handsome, Anglo-Saxon – who rides into town whistling before he dispatches the "bad guys" sometimes represented by "Indians" like Geronimo, the Apache, who supposedly terrorised innocent settlers.

CIA Feared Pakistan Would Alert Bin Laden

U.S. officials were concerned that Pakistan could jeopardise the Osama bin Laden operation and "might alert the targets", if Islamabad took part in the mission, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, has said.

Osama the Symbol Not So Easy to Vanquish

Far from concluding the war on terror, both Western and Muslim-majority countries - many emerging or still embroiled in months of popular protests – will continue to face a threat from extremist ideology after the United States' decade-long campaign to capture or kill Osama bin Laden has come to an end, most analysts say.

A Fork in the Road of U.S.-Pakistani Ties

The U.S. discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden in a compound some 50 kilometres from Islamabad is a "defining moment" for a U.S.-Pakistan relationship fraught with duplicity and dashed expectations.

U.S. Refusal of 2001 Taliban Offer Gave bin Laden a Free Pass

When George W. Bush rejected a Taliban offer to have Osama bin Laden tried by a moderate group of Islamic states in mid- October 2001, he gave up the only opportunity the United States would have to end bin Laden's terrorist career for the next nine years.

INDIA-PAKISTAN: Osama’s Death Changes Little

Osama bin Laden’s killing by U.S. troops, in a safe house adjacent to a Pakistani military academy in Abbottabad, may vindicate India’s charges that its neighbour is a haven for jihadist groups, but it will do little to change that reality.

EU-PAKISTAN: Bin Laden’s Death May Sour Relations

In a surprise address late Sunday night, U.S. President Barack Obama declared Osama bin Laden - leader of the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda and the world’s most wanted fugitive - dead. According to Obama, bin Laden was captured and shot in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city, just north of Islamabad. Within minutes of the announcement, leaders across the globe began to issue statements expressing their views on bin Laden’s death.

U.S. Celebrates Controversial Justice

By a few minutes before midnight on May 1, huge jubilant crowds had amassed outside the White House in Washington D.C. and around Ground Zero and Times Square in New York City.

U.S.: Bin Laden’s Killing Could Alter Af-Pak, Other Policies

Sunday's killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by a small, helicopter-borne team of U.S. Navy Seals could result in significant impacts on U.S. relations and strategy both in Pakistan, where the raid was carried out, and neighbouring Afghanistan, where it was launched, according to policy experts here.

Why U.S. and NATO Fed Detainees to Afghan Torture System

Starting in late 2005, U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan began turning detainees over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), despite its well-known reputation for torture.

Pakistan Moves to Curb More Aggressive U.S. Drone Strikes, Spying

The Pakistani military's recent demands on the United States to curb drone strikes and reduce the number of U.S. spies operating in Pakistan, which have raised tensions between the two countries to a new high, were a response to U.S. military and intelligence programmes that had gone well beyond what the Pakistanis had agreed to in past years.

AFGHANISTAN:: New Therapy Battles Soaring Drug Addiction

A pioneering drug substitution programme in conflict-wracked Afghanistan has been hailed as a resounding success as local doctors and international health organisations battle soaring heroin addiction rates and an HIV/AIDS epidemic.

U.N. Member States Falter in Protecting Staffers, Peacekeepers

The United Nations has remained virtually helpless as hundreds of its staffers, mostly peacekeepers, are killed, kidnapped or victimised by unbridled violence worldwide.

U.S.: Long-term Afghan Presence Likely to Derail Peace Talks

The announcement by U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defence Michele Flournoy in Congressional testimony Mar. 15 that the United States would continue to carry out "counter-terrorism operations" from "joint bases" in Afghanistan well beyond 2014 signaled that President Barack Obama has given up the negotiating flexibility he would need to be able to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban leadership.

New Bid to Break Afghanistan Stalemate

As the Barack Obama administration seeks to limit its involvement in a third Muslim conflict in Libya, efforts are intensifying to help it find a political solution to the longest U.S. war – in Afghanistan.

U.N. Reported Only a Fraction of Civilian Deaths from U.S. Raids

The number of civilians killed in U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids last year was probably several times higher than the figure of 80 people cited in the U.N. report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan published last week, an IPS investigation has revealed.

Ancient Buddhas Will Not Be Rebuilt – UNESCO

Afghanistan's historic Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban 10 years ago, will not be reconstructed despite claims the 1,500-year-old statues could be repaired, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said Thursday.

Pakistan Minorities Minister Killed

Pakistan's minister for minorities has been shot dead by armed men in Islamabad.

Bill Would Aid Afghan Women Caught in U.S.-led War

As conflict continues to rage in Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress is gearing up to debate a bill that could support the country's long-oppressed women in their struggle to achieve gender equality, even in the years after the U.S. military occupation ends.