Afghanistan War News Updates -- July 15, 2010

Afghan President Karzai Approves Plan For Local Defense Forces -- Washington Post

In a welcome step forward for the Obama administration's beleaguered war strategy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has approved a U.S.-backed plan to create local defense forces across the country in an attempt to build grass-roots opposition to the Taliban, U.S. and Afghan officials said Wednesday.

The program calls for hiring as many as 10,000 "community police" officers, who would be vetted and paid by the Afghan Interior Ministry, according to a senior Afghan government official. Karzai had objected to plans that did not place all elements of such a force under direct government control.

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More News On Afghanistan

Afghans to Form Local Forces to Fight Taliban -- New York Times
Local Afghan security forces 'temporary solution': Pentagon -- AFP
Karzai Approves Plan to Keep Taliban Out of Villages -- U.S. Department of Defense

Afghan attacks kill 8 US troops in 24 hours -- AP
Eight U.S. service members killed in series of attacks in southern Afghanistan -- Washington Post
8 U.S. soldiers killed in 3 attacks in Afghanistan -- L.A. Times
In last two days, 12 coalition troops killed in Afghanistan -- CNN
Hunt continues for renegade Afghan soldier who killed three British soldiers -- The Guardian
Killings shock troops on joint patrols vital to Afghanistan exit strategy -- The Guardian

Expelling the Taliban: No Easy Task for U.S. Soldiers -- ABC News
Afghan health team abducted; local official killed -- AP
U.S. Wounded Toll in Afghanistan for Half of 2010 Nearly Matches All of 2009 -- ABC News
Elusive Game in Afghanistan -- New York Times

Senators urge clarity on Afghan war -- Al Jazeera
U.S. Senators Voice Doubts on Afghanistan Plan -- New York Times/Reuters
Nato chief urges UK to 'stay course in Afghanistan' -- BBC

What Kandahar residents say about the Afghanistan war: It's complicated -- Christian Science Monitor
U.S. Rebuilds Power Plant, Taliban Reap a Windfall -- Wall Street Journal
The Taliban War on Women Continues -- RAWA

Remind Me Again: Why Are We in Afghanistan? -- Tom Engelhardt, CBS News
Can Local Militias Save Afghanistan? -- Max Fisher, The Atlantic
We must stand with the Afghan soldiers -- The Telegraph opinion
Afghanistan: an open-ended commitment? -- Clive Williams, ABC News (Australia)