Special
invitation: Join the New America Foundation on Monday at 12:15pm for a
presentation by Gen. Montgomery Meigs (U.S. Army-Ret.), the former
director of JIEDDO, and Alec Barker, author of a newly-released policy paper on
roadside bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan (NAF).
Aircraft down
Three
U.S. troops and one civilian employee were killed earlier today when an
aircraft that takes off like a helicopter but flies like an airplane,
the CV-22 Osprey, crashed near Qalat city in the restive southern Afghan
province of Zabul (AFP, AP, ISAF, Pajhwok, NYT). The Taliban immediately took responsibility,
but the claim could not be confirmed and the cause of the crash is
unknown. Pajhwok reports that as announced, U.S. Marines have assumed
control of Musa Qala district in Helmand from the British (Pajhwok).
The commander of Joint
Special Operations Command yesterday went to make reparations to the
family of five people killed in a Special Forces raid in February in
eastern Afghanistan who the military initially claimed were insurgents
or already dead before the raid (Times, ABC, CSM). Vice Admiral William McRaven
offered the head of the family, Haji Sharabuddin, two sheep -- the
cultural equivalent of begging for forgiveness. The investigation into
the Feb. 12 raid in Gardez has put a spotlight on Special Forces
operating in Afghanistan, said to be responsible for a disproportionate
number of civilian casualties (LAT).
NATO chief Anders Fogh
Rasmussen yesterday called Afghan President Hamid Karzai "the man with
whom we can and will and must cooperate," and said that in general, NATO
has "very good cooperation" from the Afghan leader (AP).
U.S. President Barack Obama made similarly encouraging comments about
the relationship to ABC News, but referred to Karzai as a "partner"
rather than an "ally" (ABC, AP). And Special Representative to the
region Richard Holbrooke has gotten the all-clear from his doctors to
leave for Afghanistan later this week, after the news two days ago that
he was being treated for clogged arteries (Reuters, Pajhwok).
Reform and security in Pakistan
As
Pakistani media reported yesterday, Pakistan's lower house of
parliament has unanimously passed a package of constitutional reforms
known as the 18th amendment that strips the office of the president of
the ability to dissolve parliament without the advice of the prime
minister, impose unilateral emergency rule, appoint judges, and other
powers acquired over years of military dictators (CNN, AP, BBC,
Wash Post). The bill is expected to pass the upper
house of the Pakistani parliament without any trouble, and Pakistani
President Asif Ali Zardari will then sign it into law, a move which
could lessen tension on the embattled leader, who critics like
opposition figure Nawaz Sharif claim was too slow to relinquish the
powers (Dawn, The News, Geo). The
bill is reportedly making its way to the Senate on Monday (Geo).
On the security front, 15 militants
were killed in the nearly three-week-old offensive in Orakzai after
insurgents attempted to overrun a security checkpoint and were repelled (AFP, Geo,
Reuters). Two dozen militants were
killed in brief clashes with security forces in Swat and Dir, the site
of a major Pakistani military offensive in 2009 that officials claim
cleared the region of insurgents (Daily Times). Pakistani fighter jets
bombed the private prison of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant group in Khyber
agency led by Mangal Bagh (Daily Times). And in Lakki Marwat,
where a massive bombing killed more than 100 people on New Years Day
this year, Pakistani police killed two would-be suicide bombers (AFP, Geo).
Spike!
A volleyball team from
the Afghan province of Nangarhar has emerged victorious over teams from
Kunar and Laghman in a tournament (Pajhwok). In the final match, Nangarhar beat Kunar 3
to 1.
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