War Glance
Aides to Mr. Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali — the leader of the Kandahar provincial council and the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan — detained the governor of Shorabak, Delaga Bariz, and shut down all of the district’s 45 polling sites on election day. The ballot boxes were taken to Shorabak’s district headquarters, where, Mr. Bariz and other tribal leaders said, local police officers stuffed them with thousands of ballots.
TVNL Comment: This is the government our kids are dying for. Why? Just asking.
After nearly eight long years, we seem to be no closer to the end of the war in Afghanistan. In fact, given the current buildup of U.S. troops and the possibility that even more may be deploying soon, many Americans, and many Afghans, wonder what we hope to achieve—and when our service members will start to come home.
The cost of running the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is projected to rise in the coming years as the world's largest diplomatic mission weans itself from the support it receives from the U.S. military, the State Department's acting inspector general said in a report this week.
The American service member died in an insurgent attack Sunday, the U.S. military said without providing details. Estonia's Defense Ministry said two soldiers were killed after their unit stumbled on a roadside bomb in southern Helmand province.
A CIA decision to hire contractors from Blackwater USA for a covert assassination program was part of a broader constellation of connections between the agency and the widely criticized security firm.
