Insecurity, Lack of Cash Threaten Development Projects
16 April 2009
'Insecurity, Lack of Cash Threaten Development Projects', IRIN News, 16 April 2009
EXCERPT: "Lack of funds and increasing insecurity are slowing and sometimes halting the progress of projects by the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), a community-based country-wide development initiative, the government has said. According to the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the NSP requires another US$200...
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Ex-Gitmo Cleric Urges Dialogue With Taliban
16 April 2009
'Ex-Guantanamo Cleric Urges Dialogue With Taliban', Adnkronos International, 16 April 2009
EXCERPT: "If western nations want to negotiate a political solution with the Taliban, they must recognise it as an opposition force, give its members immunity from prosecution, and offer them a safe haven. This is what a former Taliban ambassador and ex-Guantamo Bay inmate, Abdul Salaam Zaeef, told Italian daily La Repubblica on Wednesday....
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Afghanistan's National Security Forces
16 April 2009
Greg Bruno, 'Backgrounder: Afghanistan's National Security Forces', Council on Foreign Relations, 16 April 2009
EXCERPT: "In outlining his new strategy for the beleaguered Afghan military campaign, U.S. President Barack Obama put Afghanistan's nascent security forces front and center in the U.S. effort to right the mission. Obama announced the deployment of about four thousand additional U.S. troops to train Afghan soldiers...
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Western Troops Concede More Civilian Deaths
16 April 2009
'Western Troops Concede More Afghan Civilian Deaths', Reuters, 16 April 2009
EXCERPT: "Western forces in Afghanistan acknowledged on Thursday they had killed six civilians in an air strike, just days after apologising for a similar incident that killed five. Civilian deaths caused by foreign troops hunting the Taliban have become a major cause of friction between the Afghan government and its Western backers, and sapped support...
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