Mullah Omar Signals Willingness to Talk Peace
19 April 2010
Taliban's Supreme Leader Signals Willingness to Talk Peace, Times Online, 18 April 2010
EXCERPT: "The supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has indicated that he and his followers may be willing to hold peace talks with western politicians. In an interview with The Sunday Times, two of the movement's senior Islamic scholars have relayed a message from the Quetta shura, the Taliban's ruling council, that...
Read the post »
Afghanistan Frees Italian Aid Workers Held over "Plot"
19 April 2010
Afghanistan Frees Italian Aid Workers Held over "Plot", BBC News, 18 April 2010
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan has freed three Italian aid workers held on suspicion of plotting to kill a provincial governor, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says. The three members of the medical charity Emergency were arrested on 10 April in Helmand province. Afghan officials had claimed they were bribed by insurgents to bring suicide bomb...
Read the post »
Karzai Appoints New Elections Chief
19 April 2010
, AFP, 17 April 2010
EXCERPT: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday appointed a new head to the country's main electoral body, a move the United Nations said would help towards free and fair elections later this year. Fazel Ahmad Manavi is the new chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which was tainted by claims of bias in last year's fraud-hit presidential...
Read the post »
Marines Pay Afghan Farmers to Destroy Opium
19 April 2010
Marines Pay Afghan Farmers to Destroy Opium, Reuters, 15 April 2010
EXCERPT: "With heavy fighting in the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah now largely reduced to sporadic gunfights, U.S. Marines in the area have turned their focus toward eliminating the insurgents' cash source: opium. But instead of eradicating the illicit poppy fields themselves, the Marines have begun piloting a new method over the past week -- paying farmers...
Read the post »