Event invitation: Join or tune in for former Afghan president
candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah at the New America Foundation today at 12:15pm in a discussion moderated by
Steve Coll (NAF).
The bloody course of war
A
Taliban suicide bomber rammed a Toyota minivan filled with more than
1,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. military convoy outside an Afghan
Army recruitment center in the Afghan capital of Kabul earlier this
morning, killing at least 12 Afghan civilians and six service members
including five Americans, and injuring around four dozen during a busy
rush hour (AP, AP, BBC, Reuters, AJE, Pajhwok, CNN, NYT). It is the deadliest attack for
NATO since September, and the first major attack in Kabul since
February, coming shortly after the Taliban announced a 'spring
offensive' called Al Fatah --
Arabic for 'victory' or 'to conquer' -- against coalition forces (WSJ).
As Afghan and
international forces gear up for major operations in Kandahar, an Afghan
military investigation has accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai's
half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, an influential and controversial figure
in Kandahar, of stopping Afghan officials from reclaiming 150 acres of
military land in the southern province that are being used by some of
Wali Karzai's allies (McClatchy). Wali Karzai shut down
Kandahar's provincial council in response.
Carlotta Gall has
today's must-read describing the governor of Afghanistan's northern
Balkh province, Atta Muhammad Noor, who is viewed by some as a " thinly
disguised warlord who still exercises an unhealthy degree of
control across much of the north and who has used that influence to grow
rich through business deals during his time in power since 2001" but
who nonetheless has managed to bring some measure of development and
security to the area (NYT).
Hundreds more military
trainers may be needed by early next year in order to bolster Afghan
security forces, which are slightly ahead of recruitment goals for the
month of March (Reuters). The Post profiles a recent
night raid in eastern Nangarhar province, which NATO maintains killed
"ruthless Taliban insurgents" and relatives say killed only civilians (Wash Post). Five U.N. workers who were
kidnapped in Baghlan province last month were freed in a rescue
operation that included the capture of five Taliban who were responsible
for the abductions (Pajhwok).
A dangerous day
A
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman took responsibility for a bicycle
bomb that detonated as a senior police officer drove by and left 12
people dead in the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan (AP, AFP, Geo,
Dawn/AFP, CNN, BBC, NYT). Hundreds of thousands of
Pakistanis sought refuge in D.I. Khan from the tribal areas after the
Pakistani military began major anti-Taliban operations there last year,
when more than three million were displaced across the country (Reuters, NRC).
Pakistan suffered the highest number of internally displaced people
last year, more than three times the second-place Democratic Republic of
Congo (Reuters). And clashes continue in Orakzai agency (Dawn, Daily Times).
National Security
Adviser Gen. James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta left DC for
Islamabad last night to press the Pakistani government about the
investigation into the failed Times Square car bombing and express
concern over potential future attacks emanating from Pakistan (Wash Post, NYT). The U.S. officials may ask
Pakistan to "push harder into North Waziristan;" tomorrow, they are
meeting with Pakistan's president, prime minister, army chief, and head
of the country's spy agency. Bonus:
read the AfPak Channel's takes on whether it is time to go into North
Waziristan (FP).
Yesterday
Pakistan's embattled president, Asif Ali Zardari, pardoned a close
ally, the country's interior minister Rehman Malik, who recently lost an
appeal against his 2004 conviction and sentencing for corruption
charges in the Lahore High Court and thus could have been arrested -- a
move sure to be unpopular (ET, Daily Times, AFP, The News, Daily Times). Zardari is facing his
own legal challenges, as yesterday the Lahore court asked him to explain
how he can hold both the positions of president and co-chief of his
political party (Reuters).
V-i-c-t-o-r-y,
15 points, triple word score?
Pakistani Scrabble champion
Muhammad Sulaiman took down former world champion, Nigel Richards, a
New Zealander, at a competition in Malta (ET). Two of Sulaiman's winning words were 'intines'
and 'coerces,' for 70 and 94 points.
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