Taleban now controls Swat’s emerald mines

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has said that 50 to 80 per cent of the Taleban would probably stop fighting if they were given jobs and added that he was all for reintegrating them into Afghan society. However, he cautioned that such a mission called for "patience, resolve and time".The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully," he said, speaking at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

August 31st, 2009 LONDON - The British special forces in Afghanistan have destroyed their second Chinook helicopter, after it crash-landed with 19 people on board, to prevent it from being accessed by the Taliban. The Chinook, with a crew of four, was ferrying soldiers from the 2nd Battalion when it landed heavily, east of Sangin in northern Helmand, suffering severe damage to the undercarriage, nose and front rotor, The Times reported.

July 18th, 2009 LONDON - A Brit train driver may lose his job following claims that he pleasured himself at the controls of a 125mph locomotive. The driver has been accused of ogling porn and performing a sex act while operating on one of the country's busiest lines, and a colleague allegedly wandered into his cabin mid-journey and spotted that his privates were exposed.

July 6th, 2009 3 British soldiers killed in southern AfghanistanKABUL — Insurgent attacks killed three British soldiers in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of U.S. Marines pushed forward with the American military's biggest anti-Taliban offensive since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled.

July 5th, 2009 16 UN deminers kidnapped in eastern AfghanistanKABUL — Gunmen abducted 16 mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said Sunday. The men were kidnapped as they traveled between Paktia and Khost provinces on Saturday, said Paktia's police chief Azizullah Wardak.

July 5th, 2009 2 British soldiers killed in southern AfghanistanKABUL — Insurgent attacks killed two British soldiers in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of U.S. Marines pushed forward with the American military's biggest anti-Taliban offensive since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled.

July 4th, 2009 Afghan mine clearers rescue artifactsBAMIYAN, Afghanistan — On a rocky hillside in central Afghanistan, men in visored helmets and protective blue smocks gently scratch the earth for land mines — or shards of pottery from the sixth century. Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

June 28th, 2009 Violence delays mine clearing in AfghanistanKABUL, Afghanistan — Kneeling in the hot morning sun, a few men carefully poke and prod at the baked earth on the outskirts of the Afghan capital. As cars and trucks drive past just a few yards away, one man unearths a deadly mine and puts explosives on it.

May 29th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan has released Scottish charity worker James McLintock, nearly three months after he was arrested without any charge. Dubbed the 'Tartan Taliban', McLintock, was kept behind bars for three months for his alleged links with Al-Qaeda, but authorities failed to furnish any evidence in this regard.

May 6th, 2009 Pakistan targets militant-held valleyTAKHT BAI, Pakistan — Pakistan launched air and ground attacks against up to 7,000 Taliban militants entrenched in a northwestern valley Wednesday, killing dozens holed up at emerald mines and on forested hillsides following urgent U.S. demands to step up the fight against the insurgents.

May 6th, 2009 Pakistan pounds Taliban; fighters pour into SwatMINGORA, Pakistan — Helicopter gunships and mortar teams pounded militant strongholds Wednesday, killing dozens outside emerald mines, the military said, as Taliban reinforcements poured down from their mountain hide-outs and seized homes and government buildings. The army began taking the fight to militants entrenched in both the Swat Valley and in Buner, just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the capital, as Pakistan's leader prepared to hear demands from President Barack Obama for forceful action from a struggling ally.

April 29th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday pledged 665 million pounds over the next four years to help Pakistan with counter-terrorism operations as well as education and economic assistance. Of this amount 125 million pounds will be earmarked for supporting education projects in the border area 'in an effort to stop the spread of extremism.' One of the primary aims of UK support, he said, would be to "stop young people falling under the sway of violent extremists." Unveiling in the House of Commons what is being touted as Britain's new policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan but which mirror's US President Barack Obama's policy for the same announced in March, Brown said there was a 'chain of terror' linking the border area between the two countries to the UK.

April 5th, 2009 LONDON - The emerald mines in the Swat Valley which were shut down years ago, have been taken over by the Taliban to finance strikes on the allied forces in Afghanistan, and carry out terror activities across the world, The Telegraph reported. The Taliban has once again started the mining work in two of the mines in Mingora and Shangla Districts, which it recently captured.

March 26th, 2009 Jandola (South Waziristan, Pakistan), - At least twelve people were killed in a suicide bomb blast at a restaurant in South Waziristan's Jandola town on Thursday. A BBC report said that 20 people were injured in the explosion.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON/KABUL - A Taleban commander and a former detainee at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, who was released from prison in Kabul last year, has warned that he will target British troops deployed in Afghanistan. According to The Times, Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, who spent six years inside GITMO, has resurfaced as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, the Taleban's new operations chief in Helmand and the architect of a new offensive against British troops.