Afghanistan

Al Franken joined 12 other Democratic senators and one Republican in asking Senate leaders to act fast on Haiti.

While President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan has been met with mixed reactions, one local company sees an upside to troop escalation. Edina-based ATK, formerly Alliant TechSystems, expects to see demand for bulletproof vests go up — and, after U.S. troops leave, a surge in ammunition sales to the Afghan army.

Flow charts can simplify any contentious issue, domestic or international. Take the gay marriage debate and Afghan war strategy  … please.

Minnesota’s Congressional delegation weighed in on President Obama’s plans for the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday with a mix of skepticism and cautious praise.

At Ft. Hood Army Base today, President Obama honored the thirteen people killed Thursday in a shooting spree there, including St. Paul’s Pfc. Kham Xiong. Obama told of Xiong, a 23-year-old married father of three, who “came to America from Thailand as a small child” and later “followed his brother into the military because his [...]

As University of Minnesota bioethicist and torture expert Dr. Steven Miles was researching the deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, he noticed something strange. Although the Department of Defense had in the past issued press releases when detainees died at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in 2006, he says, the “entire prisoner death reporting system was turned off in Afghanistan.” Although at that time deaths in Iraq were still being reported, he says, that system was “turned off” at the beginning of 2008.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty got a choice seat near Afghan President Hamid Karzai at an international security conference in Munich, Germany, earlier this month. Today’s he’s in Washington, D.C., as part of a large group of governors meeting with President Obama. But in photos from the event, he’s not sitting nearly as close to Obama as [...]

As Afghanistan’s profile rises in America’s foreign-war portfolio, political progressives — both nationally and closer to home — are putting increasing emphasis on questions of troop escalation and United States policy there. In Minnesota, progressive activity on Afghanistan is taking the form of discussion, demonstrations and formation of a new coalition focused on pressuring the state’s congressional delegation on peace issues.

George W. Bush videoconferenced with military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan Thursday morning. “I must say, I’m a little envious,” he said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.”

When Bush was younger and [...]