By Spencer Ackerman

An American-led military unit pulverized an Afghan village in Kandahar’s Arghandab River Valley in October, after it became overrun with Taliban insurgents. It’s hard to understand how turning an entire village into dust fits into America’s counterinsurgency strategy — which supposedly prizes the local people’s loyalty above all else.

But it’s the latest indication that Gen. David Petraeus, the counterinsurgency icon, is prosecuting a frustrating war with surprising levels of violence. Some observers already fear a backlash brewing in the area.

By Mike Ferner

The NGO’s offices were sparse and well worn, but they bustled with a palpable sense of purpose. Our host’s hospitality was unerring. For reasons that will become obvious, we will call him Dr. Ahmed Hasan. Everything else about him and his work is precisely as related.

Dr. Hasan is director of operations for an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) providing relief for “Internally Displaced Persons,” (IDPs) or refugees as they were once called. He said he coordinates an agriculture and livestock project, midwifery services, immunizations, women’s empowerment, women’s shelters and a “weatherization” program that consists primarily of distributing firewood and small, tin heating stoves to people living in mud huts that have blankets for doors.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place because of Washington's use of drones. That's according to Debra Sweet, the Director of The World Can't Wait who says "everything the U.S. is doing with these drones is making the world more dangerous."

By Glen Ford 

From India Vision 

By Chris Floyd  

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