The New York Times
Monday, March 16, 2015 - 06:34
In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the price was steep — $5 million — and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money.
Monday, March 9, 2015 - 06:45
An oath of allegiance from Boko Haram to the Islamic State reinforces Western fears that the terrorist group is growing beyond its base in Iraq and Syria. These worries have prompted American and allied commandos to rush to train African counterterrorism troops to fight extremists on the continent.
Friday, March 6, 2015 - 06:50
Egypt’s interior minister, who played a central role in the military-backed government’s far-reaching and ruthless crackdown on political dissent, was removed from his post on Thursday in a cabinet shake-up announced by the president’s office.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 07:36
The Afghan Army lost more than 20,000 fighters and others last year largely because of desertions, discharges and deaths in combat, according to figures to be released Tuesday, casting further doubt on Afghanistan’s ability to maintain security without help from United States-led coalition forces.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 07:08
This is no longer an American war, regardless of how many United States Special Operations forces continue to sweep the mountains for insurgents or how many American warplanes fire missiles into remote desert camps. That war, by most accounts, has been lost. In the face of endless violence, the Taliban have not been killed off. The nation is not pacified, the political future remains deeply uncertain and the death toll has never been higher. For the central government in Kabul, the real fight is to persuade the population, not to kill insurgents. And the police, local and national, are the only ones who can win it.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 06:42
Tensions between Iraq and the United States over how to battle the Islamic State broke into the open on Tuesday, as Iraqi officials declared that they would fight on their own timetable with or without American help, and as United States warplanes conspicuously sat out the biggest Iraqi counteroffensive yet amid concerns over Iran’s prominent role.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 07:18
More than a year after South Sudan’s leaders plunged their country into a nasty civil war, the nation has become something of a test of diplomacy between the United States and China, raising the question: Can Washington and Beijing turn their mutual interests in South Sudan into a shared strategy to stop the bloodshed?
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 07:09
The Afghan Army lost more than 20,000 fighters and others last year largely because of desertions, discharges and deaths in combat, according to figures to be released Tuesday, casting further doubt on Afghanistan’s ability to maintain security without help from United States-led coalition forces.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 07:04
Former CIA station chief in Islamabad, Robert Grenier, writes that “ultimate victory in the fight against violent extremism inspired by Islam will require wisdom and patience of an unaccustomed sort.”
Monday, March 2, 2015 - 07:25
Cuba’s spot on the American list of states that sponsor terrorism is emerging as a major sticking point in the effort to restore diplomatic ties with the United States and reopen embassies that have been closed for nearly five decades.