26 February 2010

Peace with Taliban Remains Elusive, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 26 February 2010

EXCERPT: "'If there's an atmosphere of trust, I'd like to meet the Afghan president and brief him,' a ranking Taliban commander recently told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on condition of anonymity. The leader of a band of about 40 fighters in Afghanistan's most violent province, Helmand, indicated that, given the chance, he would tell Hamid Karzai...

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26 February 2010

German Lawmakers Troop Increase for Afghanistan, Deutsche Welle, 26 February 2010

EXCERPT: "The lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, voted on Friday to approve a plan to raise the number of Bundeswehr soldiers in Afghanistan. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet had approved the plan two weeks ago, in which an additional 850 troops would be sent to Afghanistan, boosting the number of soldiers on the ground to around...

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26 February 2010

Suicide Bombers Target Kabul Hotels Killing Seventeen, The Telegraph, 26 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Up to nine Indians, an Italian diplomat and a French film maker were among the dead in the worst assault on the Afghan capital for several months. Witnesses said a four-hour battle began with a car bombing and included suicide bombers and Taliban fighters throwing grenades. Guests were knocked from their beds by the early morning explosions...

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26 February 2010

Karzai Overturns Law that Reserves Seats for Women MPs, Times Online, 26 February 2010

EXCERPT: "President Karzai has given his election cronies the authority to find new ways of filling women's seats in forthcoming parliamentary ballots, in a move that critics fear will erode constitutional safeguards designed to guarantee female MPs. A unilateral decree issued last week gave the Independent Election Commission, which ran the fraudulent...

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