Monday, August 10, 2009 KABUL: The Taliban are advancing out of traditional strongholds in Afghanistan's south and east into the north and west, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in the country said in an interview published on Monday. U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, who will soon present an assessment of the war, said the resurgent Taliban would force a change of tactics on foreign forces and warned that record casualty figures would remain high for some months. "It's a very aggressive enemy right now," McChrystal told The Wall Street Journal newspaper in an interview in Kabul. "We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work." Violence across Afghanistan this year had already reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led Afghan forces in 2001 and escalated dramatically after major offensives were launched in the south over the past two months. With thousands of U.S. Marines and British soldiers aiming to push Taliban fighters out of populated areas in southern Helmand province, July quickly became the deadliest month of the war for troops in the country. McChrystal said he planned to push more troops into Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban adjacent to Helmand. "It's important and so we're going to do whatever we got to do to ensure Kandahar is secure," he said. There are now about 101,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, with U.S. numbers at about 62,000. Washington has been pouring in thousands of extra troops this year, in part to help secure Aug. 20 presidential and provincial council elections.
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