Summary: Fuel oil tankers destined for U.S. and allied NATO forces in Afghanistan have been attacked and torched yet again by Islamic militants in Pakistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 22, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the proposed mosque near the site of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center drew hundreds of demonstrators to Lower Manhattan in New York.
Summary: In Afghanistan, Taliban suicide bombers stormed the British Council compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood, killing at least eight people during an eight-hour firefight. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 20, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll a majority of Americans saw no end in sight in Afghanistan and nearly six in 10 opposed the then nine-year-old war.
Summary: The U.S military estimates $360 million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of the very people the American-led coalition has spent nearly a decade trying to defeat in Afghanistan: the Taliban, criminals, and power brokers with ties to both. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 17, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Summary: Militants attacked a fuel tanker depot outside Kandahar Air Field, the main international military base in southern Afghanistan, killing four four private security guards. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 16, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported on a campaign visit by Independence Party (IP) gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner to St. Cloud.
Summary: The Pentagon has released the names of 30 U.S. service members killed Aug. 6, 2011 when a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a Taliban insurgent downed their Chinook helicopter on a combat mission — the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 13, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghanistan war 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).
Summary: The possibility that power brokers and warlords in Afghanistan might be what keeps the country from unraveling has had analysts concerned, but the recent assassination of Ahmad Wali Karzai, one of the most powerful strongmen in Afghanistan, and the ensuing struggle in Kandahar for power, has brought the issue into sharp relief as the U.S. begins to draw down forces. Though much of the international effort in Afghanistan has focused on strengthening democratic institutions, foreign forces have often had to lean on strongmen. As a result, a new generation of warlords has risen to power, fueled by U.S. money. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Taliban insurgents gunned down ten members of a Christian medical team — six Americans, two Afghans, one German, and a Briton — in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan.
Summary: A military helicopter has been shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos and an Afghan translator. It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 7, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Justice Department announced the indictment of 14 people — 12 of them Minnesota Somalis, many of them U.S. citizens — accused of funneling “money, personnel, and services” to the Shabab, the Islamist terrorist group fighting an insurgency in Somalia.
Summary: A suicide attacker killed 12 Afghan policemen and a child in the southern city of Lashkar Gah when he detonated a car bomb in the heart of a city that was recently handed over to Afghan security forces. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 30, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the results of a July 2010 KSTP/SurveyUSA poll showed Republican Michele Bachmann with a significant lead of 9 points over Democrat Tarryl Clark, with 8 points combined for Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson and unaffiliated independent Aubrey Immelman, and 5 percent undecided.
Summary: The first half of this year was the deadliest six months for civilians in Afghanistan since the decade-old war began, according to the country’s U.N. mission. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that civilian deaths hit a record high in the first half of this year, up 15 percent on the first six months of 2010, due to roadside and suicide bombings, increased ground fighting, and more deadly air strikes. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 17, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that as concerns grew about the war in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton headed to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the then nearly 9-year-old conflict.
Summary: Ahmad Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and one of the most powerful men in Afghanistan, has been assassinated by a bodyguard recruited by the Taliban. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 13, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.