Afghanistan War News Updates -- August 1, 2010

URGENT REQUEST - Afghan Air Force airmen and U.S. Air Force advisors respond with two Mi-17 helicopters and crews to an urgent request to rescue civilians affected by rising flood waters at the Kabul and Laghman rivers about 11 miles west of Jalalabad in Laghman province, Afghanistan, July 28-30, 2010. Crews rescued more than 2,100 people from the flood, most under the threat of Taliban and insurgent fighters. U.S. Air Force photo by Col. Kennetgh Madura

Burden Of War In Afghanistan Shifts Even More To The U.S. -- L.A. Times

U.S. troops now account for about two-thirds of the NATO force in Afghanistan, and Americans make up more than two-thirds of July's Western military fatalities.

Reporting from Forward Operating Base Kunduz, — The platoon sergeant was inspecting the gaping crater left by a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan when a second thunderous blast went off just 20 feet away.

A choking dust cloud enveloped him. He had no feeling in his left leg. When the soldiers who rushed to his rescue shouted questions at him, he couldn't hear them.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

Gates: Small 2011 troop pullout from Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AP
Afghan Official: 3 Die in Kunduz Suicide Bombing -- ABC News
Afghan roadside bomb kills six civilians in Kandahar -- CNN
Roadside bomb kills six in Afghanistan -- AFP
Afghans protest civilian deaths, American presence and NATO bombardments -- Washington Post

Dutch troops end Afghanistan deployment -- BBC
Dutch withdraw from Afghanistan -- Deutsche Welle
Dutch troops leave Afghanistan after four years -- AFP
Netherlands - first NATO member to leave Afghanistan -- Radio Netherlands

UK troops Out: Crisis as 2,000 quit in just two months -- Mirror.co.uk
Amid backdrop of uncertainty, crucial battle begins in southern Afghanistan -- Kansas City
New Afghanistan focus targets insurgents, not 'nation-building' -- Seattle Times/New York Times
U.S.-led coalition finds 'success' elusive in Kandahar -- McClatchy News

Afghan Women: Fearing a Taliban Future -- New York Times
Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban -- Time Magazine
How Pakistan Helps the Taliban -- Newsweek
Afghanistan election will still include suspected war criminals -- Christian Science Monitor
Flash floods kill at least 65 in Afghanistan -- Asia One
Iran transforming Afghan war -- National Post
Afghanistan: The unsustainable in pursuit of the unbeatable -- David Randall and Jonathan Owen, The Independent
Rethinking the Afghanistan War’s What-Ifs -- David Sanger, New York Times