Summary: Months after Pakistani troops chased them from South Waziristan, Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have regrouped, establishing a new base of operations in North Waziristan near the Afghan border under the protection of insurgent leader Gul Bahadur, who in the past has cut deals with the Pakistani army. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Taliban militants had extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from the Swat Valley where the government had agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: The Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs, and plotting attacks as NATO and Afghan forces prepare for a summer offensive. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 18, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Congress would begin hearings on an energy and global warming bill that could revolutionize how the United States produces and uses energy, in an effort to reduce pollution said to be responsible for heating up the planet.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: U.S. troops opened fire on a bus carrying Afghan civilians, killing five people and setting off anti-American protests in Kandahar, where coalition forces hope to rally the public for a coming offensive against the Taliban. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 12, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that about 150 militants armed with rockets and automatic weapons attacked a transport terminal in northwestern Pakistan along a key supply route used by U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: The Taliban has released a video of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier captured in Afghanistan in June 2009, showing him pleading for his freedom and to be returned home. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann issued a warning that a new bill expanding the AmeriCorps community service agency could lead to the “brainwashing” of America’s youth. Said Bachmann: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concern is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go and work in some of these politically correct forums.”

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: President Barack Obama’s foreign policy appears to be working in one area vital to U.S. national security: Pakistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on March 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman examined what might have happened if companies deemed “too big to fail” had been allowed to do just that.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: The arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — second in the Taliban only to one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammed Omain — has reportedly infuriated Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is said to have been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban’s No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan in February 2010. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on March 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured a live video feed of the closing arguments in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate recount trial to decide the winner of the race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Insurgents say deadly bomb attacks in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar are a warning to NATO’s top commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, that the Taliban are ready for a coming offensive in their heartland. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on March 14, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Jeff Kass, one of the first reporters on the scene of the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, had completed the definitive work on the tragedy, “Columbine: A True Crime Story.” (Immelman collaborated on the project, developing psychological profiles of shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.)

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: The Taliban’s top military commander has been captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces. The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 17, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that North Korea marked the 67th birthday of its leader, Kim Jong Il, by claiming it had the right to “space development” — a term it has used in the past to disguise a missile test as a satellite launch.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Bombs and booby traps slowed the advance of thousands of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers moving through the Taliban-controlled town of Marjah — NATO’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip over their southern Afghanistan heartland. NATO said two of its troops were killed on the first day of the operation — one American and one Briton. Afghan authorities said at least 20 insurgents were killed. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 13, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told a Senate panel that if the economic crisis lasted more than two years, it could cause serious damage to U.S. strategic and national security interests. “The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee, as Congress prepared to vote on a $789 billion stimulus package.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: U.S. Marines fired smoke rounds and armored vehicles maneuvered close to Taliban positions to test insurgent defenses ahead of an anticipated attack on Marjah, the biggest militant-controlled town in southern Afghanistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 10, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported a new poll showing plummeting support among the Afghan people for the Kabul government and U.S. and European troops trying to bolster it against the Taliban insurgency.

  ::  Read Comments (0)