Kosovo officially launched its new military, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to replace the civilian Kosovar Protection Service, which was made up chiefly of separatists from the 1998-99 war against the Serbian government. NATO will support the recruitment drive for...
Karzai Presses NATO for More Control Over Operations
Yesterday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told lawmakers that his government had sent a draft agreement to NATO headquarters, designed to give him more control over future NATO deployments. Among other things, the agreement would bar NATO forces from searching Afghan...
Obama Asks Military For ‘Responsible’ Iraq Pullout Plan
President Barack Obama met with top military commanders today to get a full update on the situation in Iraq and to ask them to begin drawing up an Iraq exit strategy. "I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible...
Gen. Odierno: Iraq Elections Key to US Pullout
While President Barack Obama has already pledged that the United States will "responsibly leave Iraq to its people," and is planning to ask the military to draft a plan to get troops out in 16 months, but comments from General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in...
United Nations Security Council to Press Israel on Gaza School Attacks
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded a full explanation from Israel regarding its attacks on UN schools and other facilities during the 22-day war in the Gaza Strip, which he called "outrageous." After the statement by Secretary General Ban, the...
Obama Drafts Order to Close Gitmo
President Obama will reportedly sign a new executive order calling for the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to be closed within a year, and will also halt the war crimes trials in the meantime. It remains unclear when he will sign the draft, however. The draft says...
Israeli High Court Overturns Ban on Arab Parties
The Israeli High Court of Justice today overturned the Knesset(Israeli Parliament)'s attempt to ban the two Arab political parties with Knesset representation from contesting next month's elections. The decision was unanimous in favor of lifting the ban on the United...
Gaza Toll Passes 1,400 as More Bodies Are Recovered From Rubble
Bodies continued to be pulled from the rubble that used to be the cities of the Gaza Strip today, and the death toll in Israel's 22-day way has now passed 1,400. 5,500 others were also wounded. In addition, two children in Gaza City were killed when they found an...
Petraeus: US Has Permission to Use Russian Land Route for Afghan Supplies
The Khyber Pass closed briefly again yesterday after a grenade attack on a Pakistani army camp, just the latest in a long string of closings which have threatened NATO's ability to use the route, through which roughly three quarters of all supplies for the war in...
Obama Promises to Seek ‘New Way Forward’ with Muslims
Addressing an enormous crowd at his inauguration, President Barack Obama spoke on a number of issues and told Muslims that "we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," a nod to international hopes that the United States will embark on a...