Afghanistan War News Updates -- April 12, 2011

SCHOOL GATE - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Will Gingras pulls security at the gate of the Shah Joy Boys School in Afghanistan's Zabul province, April 9, 2011, while engineers from Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul inspect construction at the new school. Gingras is assigned to the team's security Force. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson

The Most Wanted Taliban Commanders In Afghanistan -- Long War Journal

As the spring fighting season begins in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force will employ a two-pronged approach in seeking to blunt the Taliban's expected offensive. While maintaining pressure on the Taliban in its southern strongholds in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, ISAF will intensify special operations raids against the Taliban's top military and political commanders throughout the country.

Over the past year, ISAF has killed several thousand low-level fighters and hundreds of low and mid-level commanders during special operations raids and combat operations, but most of the Taliban's top military commanders have eluded death or capture.

Read more ....

More News On The War In Afghanistan

The Dirty Dozen -- Newsweek

Afghanistan: Drone missile 'killed two US soldiers' -- BBC
2 U.S. troops killed by 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan -- L.A. Times
Two dead in first friendly-fire drone strike -- Military Times

Afghanistan: Gen. David Petraeus Honors Fallen Heroes in Kunar Battle -- ABC News
U.S. troops await Taliban in south Afghan valley -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Bomb kills 2 Afghan police; insurgents kill 3 kids -- AP
Combined Forces Capture Taliban Facilitator -- U.S. Department of Defense
Taliban 'executioner' caught in Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AFP
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban rue ambulance attack -- IRIN
Afghan rules of engagement force U.S. soldiers to free insurgents caught red-handed -- Washington Examiner
50 Afghan insurgents switch sides in southern Kandahar -- Alertnet

Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai blames foreign advisers for near-collapse of Kabul Bank -- Washington Post
Afghan president hammers West over bank crisis -- Yahoo News/AP
Afghan president says he'll resolve Kabul Bank crisis -- L.A. Times
Accusations Of Corruption Rampant In Afghanistan -- NPR

How the U.S. kills civilians in Afghanistan -- Salon
Afghanistan: Should the Canadian mission continue to 2014? -- CBC
An Endgame for Afghanistan -- David Miliband, New York Times