Summary: A total of 46 students and nine teachers were treated in a Kabul, Afghanistan, hospital after what an official at the education ministry described as “an apparent poisoning” attack by “the enemies of women’s education.” However, the pattern of the reported illness bears the hallmark of a group psychological reaction known as mass hysteria. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced a joint town hall forum with Rep. Ron Paul as her guest. He also reported a summer of setbacks for the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, with rising casualties, a divisive election, and growing public doubt about the war.

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Summary: A majority of Americans see no end in sight in Afghanistan, and nearly six in 10 oppose the nine-year-old war, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 20, 2009 Aubrey Immelman featured a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that a majority of Americans viewed the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, with just a quarter saying more U.S. troops should be sent to Afghanistan.

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Summary: The number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict rose 31 percent in the first six months of 2010, with anti-government forces causing about three-quarters of the casualties, according to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 13, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Marines surging into Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, to protect citizens ahead of the August 20 national election were meeting fierce resistance from the Taliban.

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Summary: Ten members of a Christian medical team — six Americans, two Afghans, one German, and a Briton — were gunned down in a gruesome slaughter in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan, that the Taliban said they carried out, alleging the aid workers were spying and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 8, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that the sheer weight and volume of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s assault on reason may have reached critical mass, crossing the tipping point beyond which Minnesota media could no longer tune out the insanity or avert their gaze from “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in embarrassed silence.

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Summary: Public support for President Obama’s Afghanistan war policy has plummeted amid a rising U.S. death toll, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, which also shows Obama’s handling of the war in Iraq at record-low approval. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 4, 2009 Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases.

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Summary: July 2010 has become the deadliest month of the nearly 9-year-old Afghanistan war for U.S. forces, surpassing the previous record of 60, set in in June 2010. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 31, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that bombs exploded near five Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 29 people, in an apparent coordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving Friday prayers.

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Summary: A six-year archive of classified military documents released on the Internet by an organization called WikiLeaks offers an unvarnished picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 26, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that North Korea expressed an interest in holding direct talks with the United States and provided an abridged summary of his psychological profile of Kim Jong-Il, developed for the U.S. government.

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Summary: Two U.S. Navy personnel have gone missing in action in Afghanistan. According to a Taliban spokesman, on sailor was killed in a brief firefight and the other captured. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 25, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that Taliban fighters armed with suicide vests and automatic weapons, for the second time in a week, attacked a provincial capital in eastern Afghanistan, triggering hours-long gunbattles that left seven militants dead.

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Summary: As concerns grow about the war in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the nearly 9-year-old conflict. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 17, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that three Minnesota National Guardsmen were killed in an attack on a U.S. base in Basra, Iraq.

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Summary: Eight American troops were killed in a series of attacks in the Kandahar offensive in southern Afghanistan. So far in July, 45 international troops have died in Afghanistan, 33 of them Americans. June saw more than 100 troops killed — the bloodiest month of the nine-year-old war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 14, 2009 Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … He also reported that July 2009 was shaping up to be the deadliest month of the Afghanistan war for U.S.-led international forces, with the number killed by mid-month already matching the highest full-month toll of the nearly eight-year conflict.

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