POLITICS: U.N. Infighting Threatens to Upstage Afghan War

The increasingly deadly battle between Western military forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan is on the verge of being upstaged by a growing political brawl between two senior U.N. officials overseeing the battle-ravaged South Asian nation.

POLITICS-US: Obama Weighs Options as Afghan War Enters Ninth Year

On the eighth anniversary of the launch of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama spent a good part of Wednesday deliberating with his top advisers on what is likely to be one of the most momentous decisions of his tenure: the future of U.S. involvement in that war.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Disgruntled as Obama Fails to Deliver

Since before taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama has been no stranger to being in the crosshairs of Republican pundits who have accused him of everything from bring a "secret communist" to a tax-and-spend liberal who would oversee huge expansions in the federal government.

AFGHANISTAN: Fighting Reinvigorated Taliban Needs Regional Plan

As U.S. military strategists consider whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, there is little doubt among many Afghans and government officials that the Taliban has resurged with increasing strength and expanded its influence across the country.

US-PAKISTAN: Congress Approves Big Increase in Aid

While the foreign policy debate here has focused primarily on Afghanistan and Iran over the past two weeks, official Washington has been moving to tighten ties with a key neighbour of both countries, Pakistan.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Weighs in on Iran, Libya and Afghanistan

Addressing his monthly press conference Tuesday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refused to back a Western endorsement of a premature election victory for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, implicitly criticised Libyan Leader Muammar el-Qaddafi for denigrating the U.N. charter, and faulted Iran for lack of transparency in its nuclear programme.

U.S.: Fears of Blame for Defeat Shadow Afghan War Meetings

In a remarkable parallel with a similar turning point in the Vietnam War 44 years ago, President Barack Obama will preside over a series of meetings in the coming weeks that will determine whether the United States will proceed with an escalation of the Afghanistan War or adjust the strategy to reduce the U.S. military commitment there.

POLITICS: U.S. Afghan Campaign Plan Says Key Groups Back Taliban

The leak of the "initial assessment" of the war in Afghanistan by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander in the war, with its blunt warning that "[f]ailure to provide adequate resources" is likely to result in "mission failure", was part of an obvious effort to force the hand of a reluctant President Barack Obama to agree to a significant increase in U.S. troops.

AFGHANISTAN: Media Outrage Over Coalition Killing of Reporter

For many Afghans, slain Afghan journalist Sultan Munadi has become a symbol for all that is wrong with the United States-led war in Afghanistan.

POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: Battle for Balkh

Events currently unfolding in Afghanistan's northern province of Balkh may be a preview for the future.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Obama Confronts Democratic Scepticism

Growing scepticism among key Democratic lawmakers about the U.S. commitment to the war in Afghanistan is certain to pose one of the most difficult political challenges faced by President Barack Obama in his first year in office.

US-AFGHANISTAN: “New” Bagram Rules More of the Same?

Human rights activists and legal experts reacted swiftly Monday to disclosures that the U.S. government is planning to introduce new measures it claims would give inmates at Afghanistan's notorious Bagram prison more opportunities to challenge their detention.

AFGHANISTAN: More Civilian Deaths Unless U.S.-NATO Peace Keep

Each month since U.S. President Barack Obama has taken office, Afghanistan has seen a growing number of civilian and military deaths - a spiral of violence which has served to destabilise a nation already struggling to recover from its previous three decades of war.

POLITICS-US: Obama Struggles to Regain Early Momentum

The United States Congress returns to work Tuesday after a turbulent summer recess that has raised doubts over President Barack Obama's ability to face down domestic opposition from Republicans and enforce party cohesion on issues ranging from healthcare reform to troop commitments in the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan.

POLITICS-US: Gates Sells Afghan Strategy Amid Growing Unease

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) remained tight-lipped about the contents of a confidential report on the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in a wide-ranging Pentagon briefing on Thursday.

AFGHANISTAN: Best Left Alone for Democracy to Grow

If the numerous foreign diplomats, envoys and super envoys assigned to Afghanistan really want to help the country, the best thing they can do during these vote counting and election-fraud investigation days and maybe weeks ahead is to go on vacation.

POLITICS: Taliban’s Tank-Killing Bombs Came from U.S., Not Iran

In support of the official U.S. assertion that Iran is arming its sworn enemy, the Taliban, the head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Dennis Blair, has cited a statement by a Taliban commander last year attributing military success against NATO forces to Iranian military assistance.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/AFGHANISTAN: Poll Fraud Probe Will Decide Runoff

Partial results in Afghanistan's presidential polls tend to favour President Hamid Karzai with Abdullah Abdullah, former foreign minister, trailing in second place. Kabul lawmaker Ramazan Basherdost who is at third place, seems to have garnered more votes than former World Bank economist, Dr. Ashraf Ghani.

KYRGYZSTAN: A New Great Game Begins

A U.S. base located just 40km from a Russian base - it can happen in Kyrgyzstan, a new focal point in the great geopolitics of Central Asia where China and Turkey are beginning to show their cards as well.

POLITICS-US: Prominent Conservative Calls for Afghanistan Pullout

A prominent right-wing political pundit has called for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the latest sign of a growing disenchantment with the war in the U.S.

POLITICS-US: Afghan Elections Reveal Growing Doubts About War*

Washington continues to wait on results from last week's elections in Afghanistan, but few analysts here expect the outcome to provide much of a boost to the U.S.-backed campaign against the Taliban, regardless of who wins.