KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Rising death tolls, military timetables slowed. Infighting in the partner Government. War-weary allies packing up to leave — and others eyeing an exit.

Events this spring — from the battlefields of Helmand and Kandahar to the halls of Congress — have served as a reality check on the Afghan war, a gruelling fight in a remote, inhospitable land that once harboured the masterminds of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Taliban have proven resilient and won’t be easily routed. Good Afghan Government won’t blossom any faster than flowers in the bleak Afghan deserts. Phrases like "transition to Afghan control" mask the enormous challenge ahead to make those words reality.  Read more... (1206 words, 1 image, estimated 4:49 mins reading time)

The CIA has been accused of ordering the kidnapping of a former Pakistani intelligence officer, who turned human rights campaigner to defend al-Qaeda suspects.

The wife of Khalid Khawaja claims that her husband, who was once a confidante of Osama bin Laden, was taken at the request of the American intelligence service as he travelled through Pakistan‘s lawless tribal belt.

On Monday a group calling itself the Asian Tigers released videos of Mr Khawaja, and the colleague he was captured with, saying that they were in “Taliban custody” and demanding the release of arrested militant leaders. The kidnapping has baffled analysts who believe the two men were instrumental in fostering close ties between Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and radical Islamist groups.  Read more... (411 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

ISLAMABAD—Militants ambushed a Pakistani army convoy traveling in a tribal region that is mostly home to insurgent groups focused on the war in neighboring Afghanistan, killing eight soldiers, the military said Friday.

The attack could raise pressure on Islamabad to wage an offensive in North Waziristan, which has largely escaped Pakistani army action in recent years despite U.S. pressure for a crackdown. Militant attacks on troops in the region have also been rare.  Read more... (459 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

At least seven soldiers have been killed in an ambush by militants in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, officials say.

The insurgents ambushed the troops on Thursday in the Dattakhel area. At least 16 soldiers were injured.

The area is part of the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan and is a Taliban and al-Qaeda stronghold.

Meanwhile suspected Taliban militants in the same region have killed four men they accused of spying for the US.

The BBC’s Haroon Rashid in Islamabad says that all of North Waziristan is extremely tense and a curfew has been imposed there.  Read more... (160 words, 1 image, estimated 38 secs reading time)

The London conference on Afghanistan was being billed as a dud – hastily conceived, under prepared and potentially a political face-saver for two unpopular leaders, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.

Instead the conference has united the international community for a further commitment to Afghanistan’s future – albeit for a shortened period.

Even more significant, there is broad agreement that talking to the Taliban is the only way to bring the insurgency to an end.  Read more... (720 words, 1 image, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. border agents spotted possible extremist links of the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner and had singled him out to be questioned when the plane landed, an administration official said.

In a routine check of passengers scheduled to arrive in the country, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in a federal database of people who may have ties to terrorists and decided to interview him before allowing him admission to the U.S., the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.  Read more... (778 words, 1 image, estimated 3:07 mins reading time)

Janet Napolitano says the system worked. No, we were brave and lucky.

A U.S. government that has barred the phrase “war on terror” has nonetheless acknowledged that a failed Christmas day bomb attack on an airliner was a terrorist attempt. Can we all now drop the pretense that we stopped fighting a war once Dick Cheney and George W. Bush left the White House?  Read more... (866 words, 1 image, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

Fears that al-Qaeda is planning a wave of suicide attacks with syringe bombs have been heightened after it emerged that a Somali man tried to board an aircraft last month carrying the same type of device as that used by the Detroit bomber.

Police in Somalia said the terrorist was caught “red handed” in Mogadishu trying to take powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe onto a commercial airliner bound for Dubai. The suspect had 1kg of chemical powder – more than 12 times as much as the Detroit bomber – though the exact composition of the chemicals is not yet known.  Read more... (561 words, 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Britain has been accused of being a “menace to the outside world” as American anger over the UK’s perceived failure to tackle Islamic extremism intensified.

Senior policymakers in the United States said the attempted suicide bomb attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is thought to have become radicalised in London, was further evidence that one of the biggest threats to US security came from Britain, where the capital has been dubbed “Londonistan” by critics.  Read more... (536 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Still small in numbers, but it reaches Saudi Arabia, Somalia and now U.S.

SANA, Yemen – Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has rapidly evolved into an expanding and ambitious regional terrorist network thanks in part to a weakened, impoverished and distracted Yemeni government.

While Yemen has chased two homegrown rebellions, over the last year the Qaeda cell here has begun sharing resources across borders and has been spurred on to more ambitious attacks by a leadership strengthened by released Qaeda detainees and returning fighters from Iraq.  Read more... (1825 words, 1 image, estimated 7:18 mins reading time)