War In Afghanistan, Middle East | featured news

As the Obama administration debates whether to shift its aims in Afghanistan, officials at the Pentagon and National Security Council have begun developing "middle path" strategies that would require fewer troops than their ground commander is seeking.

Pakistani jets pounded militant hide-outs along the Afghan border overnight as hundreds of thousands of civilians fled South Waziristan ahead of an expected government offensive, officials said Wednesday.

Britain is ready to raise troop numbers in Afghanistan by 500 to 9,500, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday, providing certain conditions are met.

Afghanistan's insurgent Taliban mark the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion saying they will continue fighting as long as America and its allies remain in the troubled nation.

Barack Obama prepares to meet senior advisers as the US marks eight years of military operations in Afghanistan.

NATO forces said Tuesday they had killed more that 100 fighters in a huge weekend battle in eastern Afghanistan in which eight Americans died, the deadliest firefight for U.S. troops in more than a year.

As Obama's team works on its plans, McChrystal and other advisors are asked to keep the process more private. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that President Obama's advisors should keep their guidance private, in effect admonishing the top commander in Afghanistan for publicly advocating an approach requiring more troops even as the White House reassesses its strategy.

On July 13, 2008, nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 27 were wounded in one of the war's bloodiest attacks, driving a strategic reassessment.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by the Washington Post.

The commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan has finished his review of the war and that it is now being sent up the chain of command to the Pentagon and NATO headquarters, NATO says.