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In this security vacuum, the resurgent Taliban laid siege to the highway. Attacks on LBG road crews intensified — fueled in part, Afghan officials told me, by grievances over the company’s failure to hire local workers and consult tribal elders. In February 2004, militants shot down an LBG helicopter, killing the pilot and injuring three employees. Meanwhile, travelers were increasingly stopped at gunpoint and shaken down. State employees were often summarily executed on the roadside. The Taliban made a special effort to destroy fuel and supply trucks that serviced the main NATO military bases at Bagram and Kandahar. In one infamous 2008 attack in Ghazni province, a convoy of more than 40 trucks was blown up and left to burn. “The highway was a vehicle graveyard,” says the senior U.S. officer, who returned to Afghanistan after serving in Iraq. “We tried to send logistics guys to move all the carcasses of the dead trucks off the road as fast as … [Read more...] about Highway to Hell: A Trip Down Afghanistan’s Deadliest Road

When the war began in 2001, U.S. military planners saw the Taliban as a ragtag movement that could be bombed into oblivion for harboring the Al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11th attacks. But with each passing year, civilian casualties from U.S. and NATO airstrikes climbed steadily. By 2008, the death toll from the airstrikes reached a then-high of 552, according to the U.N., with overall civilian deaths jumping nearly 40 percent from the previous year. Public outrage helped propel a Taliban resurgence in the backcountry and inflamed tensions with the Afghan government, compelling U.S. war planners to take civilian harm more seriously. The next summer, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, introduced new counterinsurgency tactics that championed boots-on-the-ground engagement and protecting civilians at all costs — a “tactical directive” to limit airstrikes that were corroding public support. … [Read more...] about America’s Longest War Takes a Deadly New Turn

But, it's not all bad news for Taylor, who as of this month is free to re-record songs from her first 5 Big Machine-issued albums. The goal here's for fans to stream her re-recorded version instead of the ones owned by the new owner. Same goes for commercial business ... like when TV shows/commercials, for example, decide which versions they want to license. … [Read more...] about Taylor Swift Rips Scooter Braun For Selling Her Masters For $300M

When actress Alia Bhatt made her grand Bollywood debut with Karan Johar's Student Of The Year in 2012, she was constantly in the headlines for her alleged affair with her co-star Sidharth Malhotra, who also made with his Bollywood debut with the same film. After four years, in 2016, when Alia reunited with Sidharth for Shakun Batra's Kapoor & Sons, gossipmongers couldn't stop talking about their onscreen and offscreen romance. On that note, we bring to you an old interview of Alia, wherein Alia had confessed about 'loving' Sidharth. Want to know what she had said? Keep reading... … [Read more...] about When Alia Bhatt Confessed About Loving Sidharth Malhotra: I Love Him, There’s No Stress; I’m Not Nachaoing Him

Ratings revealed: Netflix continues to give us sporadic insights into how its top shows are performing. We were told this week that French original Lupin is on course to be watched by 70M households in 28 days, making it more popular than the wildly popular Bridgerton, which is projected to be watched by 63M households. While it’s nice to have the transparency, there are two things we’d say on this: 1) Netflix made these forecasts with around 10 days of viewing data. We have no idea how Netflix arrives at these projections, or if shows actually meet them. 2) Don’t compare these projections with bonafide ratings Netflix has disclosed for other international hits, such as The Queen’s Gambit, which had an actual audience of 62M after four weeks. … [Read more...] about International Insider: Netflix By Numbers; Cannes Question Marks; Epic Games’ Movie Push; Bye-Bye ‘Peaky Blinders’