Free Republic

Amrullah Saleh, 48, is the former vice president of Afghanistan, who escaped Kabul as the Taliban advanced to join Ahmad Massoud and the National Resistance Front in the Panjshir Valley. The remote, 70 mile long valley, bordered by high mountains, is a geographical stronghold and the last province in Afghanistan to hold out against the Taliban. After peace negotiations failed, battle has now been joined with each side claiming territorial gains and heavy casualties in the past 48 hours. In a courageous and moving dispatch from the frontline, Saleh - whose leader, President Ashraf Ghani, fled Kabul for the UAE...

Afghan intelligence had told Islamabad nearly four years back that the most hunted al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in an area near Abbottabad, but nothing was done about it as the claim was rejected by then president Pervez Musharraf, a former top spy has said. Osama bin Laden was shot dea d by US commandos who stormed his hideout in Abbottabad city May 2. Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told The Guardian newspaper in Kabul that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) sleuths had come to the conclusion as early as in 2004 that the world's...

COMPLETE TITLE: Former top Afghan spy on Pakistan, bin Laden Amrullah Saleh tells "60 Minutes" he traced bin Laden in 2007 to within 12 miles of where U.S. forces eventually killed him ### The news that Osama bin Laden had been hiding in plain sight in a Pakistani military town surprised many Americans, but it came as no surprise to the man you'll hear from. His name is Amrullah Saleh and four years ago he told Pakistan's president that bin Laden was living in that very area. At the time, Saleh was at the height of his power as Afghanistan's...

The Anti-Taliban ConstituencyThe key to success in Afghanistan To turn the tide against insurgency in Afghanistan, the Obama administration has pursued a three-pillar strategy: First, it has used both carrots and sticks to secure Pakistan’s cooperation; second, it has sought to bolster Afghan government institutions; and, third, it has embarked on a military surge to defeat the Taliban. However, Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai resorts to religious and nationalist rhetoric to avoid the hard work needed to deliver services to the populace and to create the political narrative necessary to justify the military mission. Washington, too, has failed to articulate to...