Afghanistan War News Updates -- October 12, 2011

A U.S. Special Operations Forces team member fires at an enemy sniper position during a clearing operation in Chak district in Afghanistan's Wardak province, Oct. 9, 2011. Team members and Afghan commandos conducted the operation to disrupt insurgent activity in the area. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kaily Brown

Coalition Aims For Afghan Face On War By Spring -- Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON – With snow starting to dust the Hindu Kush, the allied coalition is planning to put a new face on the war in Afghanistan over the coming winter, said a top strategist, Australian Army Maj. Gen. Michael Krause.

“Our intent is that if there is the traditional cyclic pattern – return of the insurgency next year – that they will face not the coalition but the Afghan security force in the lead, who will be able to demonstrate their ability to retain key centers and expand their influence,” said Krause, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Deputy Chief of Staff, who was speaking Tuesday to reporters at the Pentagon by video uplink from Afghanistan.

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More News On Afghanistan

Taliban attacks down for first time: ISAF -- Space War
Bomb Blast Kills 6 Afghan Police, 1 Tribal Elder -- New York Times/AP
Roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan kills 6 police officers, tribal elder -- Washington Post
Taliban bomb kills 7 Afghans in Kandahar: officials -- AFP
Poland extends military presence in Afghanistan until Apr. 2012 -- RIA Novosti
GAO: Tracking supplies sent to Afghanistan remains problematic -- Stars and Stripes

Afghan Opium Output Surges -- Wall Street Journal
Afghanistan Sees Increase in Poppy Cultivation -- New York Times
Afghanistan still world's top opium supplier, despite 10 years of US-led war -- Christian Science Monitor
UN: Afghanistan’s Opium Production Set to Spike -- Voice of America
Afghan opium production 'rises by 61%' compared with 2010 -- BBC
Afghanistan opium production set to rise 61 per cent -- The Telegraph

AP Exclusive: Afghanistan obstructs graft probes -- Yahoo News/AP
Afghanistan government corruption remains despite President Karzai's pledge to root out graft probes -- New York Daily News
Afghanistan's vast mineral deposits could lift it out of poverty -- The Guardian
Watershed of Waste: Afghanistan’s Kajaki Dam and USAID -- Global Post

China factor in Afghanistan -- Huma Yusuf, DAWN
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S.: Repairing relations -- Michael O'Hanlon, Baltimore Sun