The civilian victims of airstrikes“Troops in Contact” - Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan - Human Rights Watch
Afghanistan: Civilian Deaths From Airstrikes - Airstrikes Cause Public Backlash, Undermine Protection Efforts - Human Rights Watch
Evidence Points to Civilian Toll in Afghan Raid - To the villagers here, there is no doubt what happened in an American airstrike on Aug. 22: more than 90 civilians, the majority of them women and children, were killed , by Carlotta Gall - NYT
Precision, what precision? - They call it 'precision' bombing, but it is killing so many civilians that the US and Nato risk losing the battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan , by Richard Norton-Taylor - Guardian
Does killing Afghan civilians keep us safe? - Western airstrikes target terrorists, but innocents are caught in the crossfire , by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann - LAT
Slaughter, Lies, and Video in Afghanistan - The Value of One, the Value of None. An Anatomy of Collateral Damage in the Bush Era , by Tom Engelhardt - Tomdispatch.com
Afghanistan blames vendetta for civilian deaths - An American military operation that killed up to 90 civilians was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill "a single Taliban" , by Jason Straziuso - AP
Taking sides
Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul - While clashes in remote Helmand dominate the headlines, another battle is being waged by the insurgents on Kabul's doorstep. There, the Taliban are winning support by building a parallel administration, which is more effective, more popular and more brutal than the government's , by Jason Burke - Guardian
Lost War in Afghanistan - ...There are thousands of others who are routinely killed as Taliban, without so much as meriting a passing mention in the Western media; let alone raising questions if they were really militants or innocents caught in the crossfire , by Aijaz Zaka Syed - Middle East Times
Selling the Taliban - ...However, an insurgency is at its heart a battle of wills and staying power, not of military might. Insurgents in Afghanistan appreciate this and have created a sophisticated propaganda operation that both targets what is seen as weakening support back in foreign capitals and seeks to mold perceptions among the Afghan population , by Joanna Nathan - WSJ
Afghan Insurgency Diversifies As Taliban Forges Alliances With Other Factions - "There has been a growing body of people who are opposed to the central government and are opposed to the presence of foreign forces here. Some are ready to make alliances among themselves, at least in the short term. That does not mean that they are all Taliban." , by Ron Synovitz - RFE/RL
Mistakes By Afghan Translators Endanger Lives, Hamper Antiterrorism Effort - ...And what is lost in translation can hurt efforts by NATO and the U.S.-led coalition to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. In the worst cases, innocent civilians can be arrested or wrongly targeted as Taliban fighters , by Ron Synovitz - RFE/RL
Afghans fed up with government, US - The bearded, turbaned men gather beneath a large, leafy tree in rural eastern Nangarhar province. When Malik Mohammed speaks on their behalf, his voice is soft but his words are harsh. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country , by Kathy Gannon - AP IMPACT
Helmandis Fear Taleban Noose Tightening - They suspect insurgents are close to taking full control of province, despite official claims that they are being pushed back. The Helmand authorities and international officials appear to be struggling to keep a lid on mounting local panic over a recent Taleban offensive which is said to have taken them to the very outskirts of the provincial capital - IWPR
Britain pays for surge of spin doctors in Kabul to counter Taliban propaganda - A former Downing Street spokesman who once worked alongside Alastair Campbell has helped mastermind a revamp of the Kabul government's notoriously slow public relations operation. Some 15 new spokesmen are now being hired, with the chief of a newly built media centre starting work this week , by Nick Meo - Telegraph
Afghan villagers flee from Taliban - Refugees set up tent camps as fighting rises in the south. Heavy fighting across southern Afghanistan over the past two years has forced thousands of families to flee backcountry villages caught between the firepower of coalition forces and a resurgent Taliban , by Jason Motlagh - Washington Times
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