Updated 11/20 9:45 PM EST The Pakistani government has summoned US Ambassador Anne Patterson to lodge a formal protest over yesterday's US missile attack in Bannu District. The strike, which is reported to have killed six people, is just the latest in a long series of...
Antiwar Groups Fear Hawkish Cabinet
As President-elect Barack Obama's national security team begins to take shape, there is increasing disquiet among antiwar activists that his appointees and rumored appointees have thus-far, without exception, favored the Iraq invasion and held hawkish foreign policy...
Pakistani Military to Tribesmen: Fight Against Taliban or Flee
Last week, the Pakistani government warned tribesmen in the restive Bajaur Agency to take action against the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), threatening military action against them if they refused. This week, the new policy seems to have spread to the Mohmand...
Intel Panel Report to Predict Fading US Role
The National Intelligence Council (NIC) is expected to release a draft copy of a report titled "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World" as soon as tomorrow. The report will predict a variety of changes to the global situation over the next 17 years, and predict an...
IAEA, Iran in Silent Standoff Over Nuclear Probe
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that Iran plans to start installing another 3,000 centrifuges for its uranium enrichment program, which would bring the total amount of centrifuges in operation or in the process of being put into operation to...
Gen. Kayani Reiterates Support for NATO Afghan Mission, Calls for Halt of Drone Strikes
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Parvez Kayani met with top NATO officials today, reaffirming his support for their Afghanistan mission and promising to do everything within his power to ensure that the NATO supply line through Pakistan is kept open. Shipment of...
Iraqi Parliament Debate on Pact Erupts in Chaos
The Iraqi Parliament's debate on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was expected to be contentious, but it would have been difficult to envision just how contentious things ended up today. Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc had firmly...
US Official: GIs to Leave if Iraq Won’t Sign Pact
The Iraqi parliament continues to debate the contentious Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States which would govern the operation of US forces in Iraq when the current UN mandate expires at the end of the year. Both the Iraqi and US governments had...
Opposition Threatens to Block Supplies as US Strike Kills Six in Bannu
A US drone strike hit Bannu District in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province today, killing six suspected militants. Bannu District borders both North and South Waziristan, the usual site of US missile attacks, but the strike was farther from the Afghan border than...
Georgia Struggles to Defend War Actions as Amnesty Issues Report
Amnesty International has issued a comprehensive new report on the August war between Russia and Georgia in which it details concerns regarding serious human rights violations and urges an investigation into the conduct of all parties. Serious accusations were once...