“According to a threat assessment map provided by the Afghan National Security Forces to the United Nations in April 2009, 40 percent of Afghanistan was now either under direct Taliban control or a high-risk area for insurgent attacks. These high-risk and Taliban-controlled areas were located primarily in the troubled south and east of the country, […]
4/14/2009
“In February 2009 the NWFP [Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province] provincial government and the [Pakistani] army signed a peace deal with the Taliban in Swat that allowed sharia courts to be set up in the province in return for the army’s withdrawing and the Taliban’s disarming–which they promptly refused to do. Despite complaints by Pakistan’s […]
4/9/2009
“In April [9] 2009…CIA Director Leon Panetta issued a statement to CIA personnel, wherein he stated that the ‘CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites, and has proposed a plan to decommission the remaining sites.’ ” – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Pages 167-168 […]
3/27/2009
“On March 27, 2009, [President Barack] Obama announced his plan to send an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan. His goal was ‘to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.’ He doubled the number of civilian advisers and experts and increased funds […]
3/27/2009
On March 27, 2009, “President Barack Obama unveils a new US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. This involves sending an extra 4,000 US personnel to train and bolster the Afghan army and police, and increased support for civilian development.” – Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Page 271 […]
3/27/2009
“Immediately on assuming office [on January 20, 2009], the Obama administration conducted several rapid reviews of US policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and after consulting with all branches of the US government, especially the military, unveiled its strategy on 27 March 2009. The new policy promised that major attention would be paid to what was […]
3/27/2009
President Barack Obama “more than doubled the number of American troops in Afghanistan during his first year in office. Having ordered an increase of 21,000 troops in [February 17 and] March [27] 2009, raising total force levels to 68,000, he approved a surge of 30,000 more, plus 3,000 support troops, in December [1] 2009.” – […]
3/27/2009
On March 27, 2009, President Barack Obama “warned, it is not just America that is at grave risk from al Qaeda but the entire world: ‘If there is a major attack on an Asian, European or African city it’s likely to have ties to al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan.’ “ – Bruce Riedel, Deadly Embrace, […]
3/27/2009
On March 27, 2009, President Barack “Obama announced that the goal of his campaign in South Asia was ‘to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.’ “ – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Page 315 […]
3/27/2009
” ‘Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan,’ [President Barack] Obama said [on March 27, 2009]. ‘And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged, that country will again be a base […]