WASHINGTON: Seeking a new direction in a war that has gone downhill, the Obama administration is replacing the top U.S. general in Afghanistan with a commander who has special-forces experience.Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a senior administrator with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will take the place of Gen. David McKiernan once confirmed by the Senate. Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez will become McChrystal's deputy with the Senate's approval, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked be granted as soon as possible. ``Today we have a new policy set by our new president. We have anew strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador,'' Gates said Monday as a news conference. ``I believe that new military leadership also is needed.'' McKiernan's exit after less than a year comes as more than 21,000 additional U.S. forces begin to arrive in Afghanistan, dispatched by President Barack Obama to confront the Taliban more forcefully this spring and summer.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
Comments