Afghanistan War News Updates -- September 30, 2010

CHAK CHECK - U.S. Army Pfc. David Boucher provides security in the Chak district, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Sept. 24, 2010. Boucher is assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Donald Watkins

Petraeus Fights Time, Enemy In Afghanistan -- Washington Times

Brings methodological approach to haphazard land

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan | Army Gen. David H. Petraeus trudges across a gravel helicopter-landing area with his aides, looking purposeful but a bit grim, as he reaches a village outpost in the violent Afghan province of Helmand.

He's here to chart progress, or lack thereof, in a war that's running at the pace of a horse cart, in a world that runs at the speed of a text message.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

Foreign soldier killed in south Afghanistan: NATO -- AFP
Marine combat cameraman from Camp Pendleton killed in Afghanistan -- L.A. Times
Top Al Qaeda figures reported killed -- L.A. Times
NATO Confirms Senior Al-Qaida Commander Killed -- New York Times/AP
NATO says Strike on Al Qaeda Successful in Eastern Afghanistan -- FOX News
Car Bomber in South Afghanistan Kills 3 Civilians -- ABC News
Suicide Bomber Reportedly Targets NATO Convoy Near Kandahar -- Radio Free Europe
NATO airstrike kills Afghan civilians -- CNN
Coalition wants more troops for Afghanistan -- ABC News (Australia)
Thousands of Afghans displaced by fighting -- AFP
Thousands of Afghans displaced by fighting -- Rawa News
Grisly allegations in war-crimes probe of Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs -- Washington Post
U.S. soldier kept count of killings in tattoo -- National Post
'Kill squad' fallout: How many US troops in Afghanistan use hashish? -- Christian Science Monitor

Afghan opium production 'halved' -- BBC
UN: Afghan Opium Production Halved in 2010 -- New York Times/AP
Opium price jump may tempt back Afghan farmers -- The Guardian
Afghan opium output drops 50 percent: UN -- AFP

Taliban downplay Afghan gov't backed High Council for Peace -- Xinhuanet
Taliban deny high-level contact with Afghan government -- CNN
Taliban contacts still at embryonic stage: NATO envoy -- Reuters

UN Says Afghan Election a Positive Sign -- New York Times/AP
Most Canadians agree it's time to leave Afghanistan: Global poll -- Montreal Gazette/Global News
Polish troops to leave Afghanistan by 2014 -- Polish Radio
Afghan Insurgency Can Be Reduced Over Time -- NPR (Audio)
Plan to convert Taliban, create defense force has promise and peril -- Stars And Stripes
Admiral Mullen intent on fighting Afghanistan war, not fighting about it -- Christian Science Monitor
Obama’s Afghan war has ‘echoes of Vietnam’ -- Paul Koring, Globe And Mail
'Obama's Wars': The gang that couldn't shoot straight -- or shut up -- Eliot Cohen, Washington Post
Tearful Karzai warns of youth exodus from Afghanistan. Here's why. -- Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor
The White House's Afghanistan defeatism -- Jackson Diehl, Washington Post