Afghanistan War News Updates -- January 18, 2009

Afghan policemen and US soldiers work at the site of a suicide attack in front of the German embassy in Kabul. Two suicide bombs claimed by Taliban insurgents exploded in Afghanistan Saturday, killing five civilians and a US soldier, as another foreign troop died when a chopper came down in gunfire, officials said.
(AFP/Massoud Hossaini)

Afghanistan Held Back By Weak Leadership:
NATO -- Yahoo News/Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NATO's top official took issue on Sunday with Afghanistan's sluggish forward progress, placing blame more on the country's weak leadership than on the Taliban-led insurgency.

"Afghan leadership is not some distant aspiration -- it's something that we need as soon as possible and on which we must insist," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer wrote in an opinion piece published in Sunday's Washington Post.

Seven years ago the United States sent troops to Afghanistan in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks by al Qaeda, toppling the leading Taliban group that had been sheltering al Qaeda's leaders.

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More News On The Afghan War

Nato chief faults Afghan leaders -- BBC
Wealth of Afghan elite sows bitterness amid wide poverty -- Boston Globe
Displaying rift, NATO leader turns tables on Afghan government -- AFP
Afghani allies 'equally responsible' -- The Australian
Al Qaeda threatens German soldiers in web video -- Reuters
Suicide Car Bomb Kills 5 Outside US Base in Kabul -- Voice of America
Suicide Blast Kills 5 in Afghanistan -- New York Times
US Soldier, Afghan Civilians Die in Kabul Car Bombing -- Washington Post
US Soldier Among Five Killed in Kabul Suicide Attack -- Los Angeles Times
Kabul Embassy Bomb Kills 5 -- Daily Telegraph
US, Afghanis Are Killed in Two Attacks -- Wall Street Journal
British soldier killed in southern Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AFP
US to change tactics in Afghanistan -- Radio Netherlands
Afghanistan troop decisions await Obama -- MSNBC
US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 567 -- Yahoo News/AP

Opinions, Commentaries, Editorials

Afghanistan: We Can Do Better -- Washington Post opinion
The Central Front -- Washington Times opinion
Afghanistan: War-Room Debate -- New York Times