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The State Department issued a little noticed statement on Saturday warning of an “imminent complex attack” on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, telling Americans to avoid the area around the embassy. “As of February 2015, militants are preparing an imminent complex attack against the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul City, Afghanistan, from a location near Massoud Circle. The U.S. Embassy is taking this threat seriously and advises American citizens to avoid the area.” Massoud Circle was the location of a deadly suicide bomb attack last September claimed by the Taliban. ... As the Kabul Embassy staff prepares for an...

BREAKING: TALIBAN CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR MURDER OF THREE AMERICANS AT KABUL AIRPORT On Wednesday White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz argued that the Taliban is not a terrorist group, but instead an “armed insurgency.” On Thursday White House Spokesman Josh Earnest doubled-down on the idiocy. Earnest told reporters: “They have a different classification. They have a classification that does allow us to place financial concessions against them that have succeeded in limiting their capability. They’ve been effective. And that is different than an organization like Al-Qaeda that has much broader global aspiration to carry out acts of violence and...

Three American contractors were killed in an apparent insider attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, an Afghan air force official told Reuters news agency. "It is unclear yet why he shot these advisers and no one else was there to tell us the reason," the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to give statements to the media. "An investigation has been opened." The international force in Afghanistan also confirmed the shooting took place on Thursday evening. A rise in so-called "insider attacks" in Afghanistan has eroded trust between Afghan and international troops in the...

Kabul - Cornered against a wall and with a steel hook pushed around his neck, the dog emits a savage howl in a desperate attempt to fight free, but poison will soon be forced into his mouth as Kabul's cull of strays claims another kill. About 17 600 dogs were poisoned last year by municipal workers in the Afghan capital in an effort to protect residents from disease and to control the rocketing population of canines that roam the city's streets and open ground. The method of killing is brutally effective. Teams of dog-catchers wearing orange suits use long steel...

RUSH: Now, there's a very upsetting story out of the Afghanistan war today. Headline: "United States Army Major General Killed by an Afghan Soldier -- A United States Army major general was shot and killed at close range on Tuesday by a man dressed as an Afghan soldier at a training academy on the outskirts of Kabul..." By the way, you might hear it pronounced "Kah-BOOL," but it isn't. It's "KAH-bull," K-a-b-u-l. "The officer was the highest-ranking member of the American military to die in hostilities in the Afghanistan war. The coalition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and...

An Afghan soldier killed a U.S. general and wounded 14 coalition troops in a machinegun attack at a military training facility in Kabul, a top Western and senior Afghan official said on Tuesday. -snip- Seven other Americans and five British troops were among the wounded, according to the Afghan official. -snip- The gunman was using a light machinegun according to a U.S. official.

Two blasts struck a convoy carrying Afghan presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah after a campaign event Friday in Kabul, killing six civilians but leaving the candidate himself unharmed, officials said. The attack came just over a week before a runoff vote is to be held as Afghans choose a new leader to replace President Hamid Karzai. The Taleban have vowed to disrupt the balloting, although the first round on April 5 was relatively peaceful. Friday’s attack was the first to directly target one of the candidates in Kabul. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the violence started with a suicide bombing...

President Obama made a surprise appearance in Afghanistan on Sunday. There is now buzz that the White House revealed the name of the CIA station chief in Kabul to a pool of reporters:

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan confirmed Thursday that three American doctors were killed by an Afghan security guard who opened fire at a Kabul hospital. The shooting at Cure International Hospital in the western part of the Afghan capital was the latest attack on foreign civilians in the city this year. Two others, including an American nurse, were wounded, according to Afghanistan's Health Ministry. "With great sadness we confirm that three Americans were killed in the attack at CURE Hospital," said a statement posted on the Embassy's Twitter page. "No other information will be released at this time." Afghanistan Minister...

KABUL, Afghanistan — As country director for the International Monetary Fund, Wabel Abdallah spent years navigating the shoals of scandal in Afghanistan’s financial sector. Vadim Nazarov, a top political officer at the United Nations, dedicated himself over the past nine years to looking for a peaceful solution to the Afghan war. Dhamender Singh Phangurha, a British candidate in the coming elections for the European Parliament, was here on a consulting contract. All three happened to be dining Friday at a popular Lebanese restaurant in downtown Kabul, where they were among 21 people killed in an attack for which the Taliban...

Link to video: Kabul restaurant attack: UN reaction to Taliban strike Two Britons and two Americans were among at least 21 people killed when a suicide bomber and gunmen attacked one of Kabul's most popular restaurants. The head of the International Monetary Fund's Afghanistan office and three UN staff of the were also killed in the attack on Friday evening, along with the Lebanese restaurant owner, several Afghans, and two Canadians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the well protected district in Kabul where most foreign workers live and work. A suicide bomber blew himself up at the...

At least 21 people, including foreigners, killed in suicide assault in heavily fortified district of Afghan capital. At least 21 people - 13 foreigners and eight Afghans - were killed in an apparent Taliban suicide bomb and gun attack on a restaurant in a heavily fortified area of Kabul. The assailants targeted Taverna du Liban, a Lebanese restaurant popular with expatriates and diplomats, in a neighbourhood of Kabul where many embassy buildings and offices of non-governmental organisations are located. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, strongly condemned Friday's attack through his spokesman, who said: "Such targeted attacks against civilians are completely...

Up to 15, mostly foreigners, killed in Kabul suicide attack Reuters IMF representative killed in Kabul, Fund says Reuters 'No possible justification' for Kabul restaurant attack: US AFP [$$] Kabul Bombing Targets Foreigners The Wall Street Journal UN staff, US academic among 21 dead in Kabul attac - A Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 21 people including three United Nations staff and the International Monetary Fund's top representative in Afghanistan. Gunmen burst into the Lebanese restaurant spraying diners with bullets after the bomber blew himself...

At least 14 people -- including four U.N. personnel, an International Monetary Fund representative and a British contractor -- were killed Friday in a suicide bombing and shootout at a restaurant in the center of Kabul, authorities said. The suicide attacker's bomb exploded at the restaurant's gate about 7:30 p.m. Two armed men then entered the restaurant and started shooting, Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Mohammed Ayoub Salangi said. Afghan security forces killed the gunmen during a shootout, according to Salangi.

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan says its compound was hit by indirect fire just before dawn on Christmas Day. It says no Americans were injured. […] The Taliban claimed they fired four rockets at the embassy on Wednesday and inflicted heavy casualties. But the insurgents often exaggerate their claims. …

If Mohammed Ibrahim Caravan smells fear about Afghanistan's future, he doesn't show it. He strolls around like a country squire in the glittering new gated community he helped build, dressed in a spotless white shalwar kameez tunic, stylish shades and polished wingtips. "Worried?" the 28-year-old asked. "Hah — not me. I'm confident in the future. If you don't invest in your own country, who will?" Caravan's company is plunging $160 million into the family-run Saleem Caravan City, with its rows of salmon-colored villas with balconies and rose gardens, like some ersatz Miami Beach condo community. He's moved his family into...

Phyllis Chesler is a psychologist and academic whose writings we have quoted from time to time over the years. Ms. Chesler has always had a rather skeptical attitude toward Islam, in particular with regard to its treatment of women. Now we know why: Chesler has published a new book titled An American Bride In Kabul. You can read an excerpt from An American Bride in the New York Post. Chesler’s horrifying story begins in 1959 when, as an 18-year-old college student, she meets and falls in love with an older, wealthy and cosmopolitan Afghan man. Two years later, they agree...

Fifty years ago this week, Duke Ellington and his band played in a concert he later called one of the most memorable of his life. The performance was in Kabul, in Afghanistan, and even though Ellington was at the height of his fame, almost all traces of it have been lost. For the organiser, Faiz Khairzada, and hundreds of Afghans in the audience, the concert was a high point of the early 1960s. "It was very exciting for me to have him in Kabul," says Khairzada, then head of Afghanistan's cultural affairs organisation. It was he who met Ellington at...

In wake of Benghazi attack, internal probe finds Afghanistan posts vulnerable. U.S. diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan have serious security lapses that pose “unnecessary risk to staff,” including poor emergency preparedness and inadequate protections that might allow classified materials to fall into the hands of attacking enemies, according to an internal report that raises fresh questions about the State Department’s commitment to safety in the aftermath of the Benghazi tragedy. The confidential State Department inspector general’s report, obtained by The Washington Times under the Freedom of Information Act, directly criticizes the department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security for failing to perform a...

SNIP A Reuters reporter at the palace said the attack began soon after 6.30 a.m. (0200 GMT) on the building's east gate. Reporters were gathering for a press event with President Hamid Karzai. SNIP