Afghanistan War News Updates -- June 14, 2011

PATROL BREAK - A U.S. Army soldier looks at a mountain during a patrol through Malajat, Afghanistan, June 4, 2011. The soldiers are assigned to the 4th Infantry Division's Company D, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade. The purpose of the mission is to gather atmospherics from the local population and to distribute psychological operations products. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Canaan Radcliffe

Focus Of Afghan War Is Shifting Eastward -- Washington Post

KHOST, Afghanistan — The Afghan war is returning to the place it began: the violent eastern borderlands with Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda slipped out of American reach a decade ago and have organized their insurgency ever since.

In southern Afghanistan, the United States has succeeded over the past year in prying the Taliban’s grip from parts of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. But U.S. military commanders recognize they have far to go in the country’s east, where insurgents fight from the cover of craggy mountains, drive truckloads of weapons through illegal dirt-road crossings, and flee across the border into Pakistan to elude capture.

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More News On Afghanistan

Petraeus in Washington with Afghanistan troop drawdown recommendation -- CNN
Obama to mull pulling surge force from Afghanistan -- Reuters
Pentagon chief: Only modest US troop reductions would make sense this summer in Afghanistan -- Washington Post
Questions remain over the pace of US withdrawal from Afghanistan -- The Guardian

Two Marines from Camp Pendleton killed in combat in Afghanistan -- L.A. Times
Combined Force Captures Taliban Leader in Paktika -- U.S. Department of Defense
Afghanistan: Death penalty for Jalalabad bank massacre -- BBC
Afghan bank killers sentenced to death -- AFP
2 Afghan men sentenced to hang for killing 38 Jalalabad bank customers; Karzai must approve -- Washington Post/AP
Stress blamed for attacks by Afghan forces on NATO troops -- USA News
A decade on, Afghanistan lacks police force worthy of name -- NZHerald.co.uk

US establishes contact with Mullah Omar -- Express Tribune
U.S. seeks to split U.N. Taliban, Qaeda sanctions list -- Reuters
Afghans fearful of push to negotiate with Taliban -- L.A. Times

Secret US and Afghanistan talks could see troops stay for decades -- The Guardian
Russia, China, India concerned about strategic US-Afghanistan partnership -- Yahoo News/ANI

Pragmatic Afghan woman educates thousands -- Seattle PI/AP
FEATURE-Family, Taliban scare off actresses in Afghan film -- Reuters

Ten years on, still trying to frame the Afghan War -- Reuters
A sensible way forward for the U.S. in Afghanistan -- Michael A. Cohen and Michael Wahid Hanna, L.A. Times