Summary: Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, died unexpectedly at the age of 69 following surgery for a tear in his aorta. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 14, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that computer technicians found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush. The Bush White House e-mail archiving problems became publicly known in 2006, when federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disclosed the irregularities during his criminal investigation of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

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Summary: Unmanned U.S. aircraft launched two missile strikes in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border, killing nine people. The U.S. carried out 21 such strikes in September, nearly double the previous monthly record, and has already launched 16 in October. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the wave of anti-government violence in Pakistan had escalated to the level of low-intensity guerrilla war.

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Summary: Continuing a surge in CIA-run, drone-fired attacks, the U.S. conducted two missile strikes in the northwestern Pakistan tribal region along the Afghan border today, killing nine suspected militants. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that there were indications Afghanistan could become the theater for a proxy war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

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Summary: Pakistan’s shutting of a key supply line for coalition troops in Afghanistan and the apparent ease with which militants are attacking the stranded convoys are shaking an already uncomfortable relationship between Washington and Islamabad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades nearly overran a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and capturing more than 20 Afghan security forces in the deadliest assault against U.S. troops in more than a year.

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Summary: Militants attacked and set fire to at least 20 tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the third such strike inside Pakistan in as many days. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama had met with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, as he pondered whether the U.S. should send tens of thousands more troops to crush the Taliban in a broad counterinsurgency strategy, or shift to a narrower antiterrorism focus on al-Qaida in neighboring Pakistan.

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Summary: Pakistan has blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier troops. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Princeton, Minn., police and fire departments and bomb squads from Minneapolis and Crow Wing County were responding to reports of suspicious packages at the Princeton post office, high school, and public utilities building. It was later established that the packages contained “inert powders” and no hazardous materials — an apparent hoax. Police ultimately took two local teenagers into custody a couple of days after the incident.

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Summary: A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region has killed five alleged militants in northwestern Pakistan, the fourth such attack on suspected insurgent targets there in 24 hours. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Michele Bachmann testified that God told her to run for Congress and then, after being elected, said she would run for president if called by God. But she topped that assertion by claiming that Democrats want to take her down because they fear she could become the first woman president of the United States.

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Summary: The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim procession rose to 65 as critically wounded people died in hospitals, while a suspected U.S. missile strike killed seven insurgents. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Associated Press’ publication of a photo of dying Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard had prompted controversy, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and John Bernard, father of Lance Cpl. Bernard, weighing in.

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Summary: A report by Harvard University fellow Matt Waldman, published by the London School of Economics, asserts that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) not only funds and trains Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but is officially represented on the movement’s leadership council, giving it significant influence over operations. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 13, 2009 Aubrey Immelman featured the daily summary of security developments in Afghanistan, as reported by Reuters.

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Summary: Al-Qaida’s third in command, Mustafa al-Yazida (AKA Sheik Saeed al-Masri), has been killed in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan in one of the most severe blows to the terror movement since the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida began in 2001. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 2, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that two roadside bombs killed four more American troops in Afghanistan as violence continued to mount and U.S. casualties climbed to record levels.

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