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Central Asia

Official: Syria fires Scud missiles at rebels
Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, escalating the 2-year-old conflict against rebels seeking to overthrow ...
Pakistan extends refugee status for Afghans
The Pakistani government says it has extended refugee status for over a million Afghans in the country by six months. The government said in a ...
Panetta in Afghanistan to meet with Karzai
President Barack Obama will decide shortly how many U.S. troops he wants to keep in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led coalition military mission ends in ...
UN: Over 2 million Afghans at risk this winter
More than 2 million Afghans are at risk from cold, disease and malnutrition this winter as an international appeal for funds to help one of the ...
Panetta: Obama weighing US presence in Afghanistan
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that President Barack Obama will decide in the next few weeks how many U.S. troops will stay in ...
Taliban popular where US fought biggest battle
Nearly three years after U.S.-led forces launched the biggest operation of the war to clear insurgents, foster economic growth and set a model for the ...
US: Afghans resisting efforts to track cash exodus
A U.S. watchdog agency said Tuesday that Afghan officials were resisting U.S. efforts to help track billions of dollars being flown out of Kabul ...
Kazakh border guard convicted of killing comrades
The crime was grisly, the trial was bizarre and the defendant's confession was widely doubted — but border guard Vladislav Chelakh was convicted ...
UN: Despite law, Afghan women still suffer abuse
Afghan women are frequent victims of abuse, despite some success by authorities in prosecuting rape cases, forced marriages and domestic violence ...
Panetta says Syria chemical threat has slowed
The Syrian government seems to have slowed preparations for the possible use of chemical weapons against rebel targets, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon ...
Iran closes down consulate in Herat, Afghanistan
Iran's official news agency is reporting the country has closed its consular section in the western Afghan city of Herat, after anti-Iranian protests ...
Afghan attacks down overall, insider threat rises
The U.S. Army is updating its handbook for soldiers on how to detect and prevent so-called insider attacks, providing detailed warning signs to watch ...
Attacks kill Afghan police chief, official
A Taliban bombing killed an Afghan provincial police chief and gunmen fatally shot an official in charge of women's affairs on Monday — the latest ...
Taliban to attend Paris meeting on Afghanistan
The Taliban will attend a meeting in France to talk about Afghanistan's future but will not discuss peace and reconciliation, the militant group's ...
Father Frost gets cold shoulder in Uzbekistan
Taking a leaf out of a Dr. Seuss story, the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan is reportedly stealing Christmas by keeping the local version of Santa ...
Kazakhstan mulls ending Russia's cosmodrome lease
The head of Kazakhstan's space agency said Monday that Russia's lease of a launch facility in the Central Asian nation, the only site worldwide ...
Obama praises special ops forces after rescue
A member of a U.S. special operations team was killed during a weekend rescue mission in Afghanistan that freed an American doctor abducted by the ...
Military: US service member killed in Afghanistan
The U.S. military says one of its service members has been killed in eastern Afghanistan. The U.S. force says in a statement that the service member ...
US-led coalition: US doctor rescued from Taliban
An American doctor abducted by the Taliban five days ago was rescued Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led military coalition said. Dr.
Karzai: Afghan spy chief bomber came from Pakistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that the recent assassination attempt on the country's intelligence chief was planned in Pakistan, but ...
US: 200 teens have been detained in Afghan war
The U.S. military has detained more than 200 Afghan teenagers who were captured in the war for about a year at a time at a military prison next to ...
Bombing wounds Afghan intelligence chief
A Taliban suicide bomber posing as a messenger of peace blew himself up near Afghanistan's newly appointed intelligence chief on Thursday, seriously ...
Clinton fears efforts to 're-Sovietize' in Europe
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Thursday about a new effort by oppressive governments to "re-Sovietize" much of Eastern Europe ...
Mongolia finds China can be too close for comfort
After years of testy debate, Mongolia broke ground this spring for a railroad that will haul coal across the pebbled Gobi desert to China, but with ...
Pentagon begins planning for massive budget cuts
The Defense Department has begun planning for the roughly $500 billion in personnel and program cuts over a decade that will be needed if Congress and ...