Event Notice: Jihad and Politics in North Africa. MONDAY, May 20. 12:00-1:30PM (NAF).

Friday explosions rock Malakand

Two bombs exploded near different mosques in the Bazdara area of Malakand in northwest Pakistan after prayers on Friday, killing 10 and injuring at least 20 others, though the number of casualties is expected to rise (Dawn, ET). Emergency and rescue teams are at the scene and investigations into the incident are underway. Elsewhere, the driver of a NATO supply truck was shot and killed by gunmen on Thursday as he drove through the Jamrud area of Khyber, one of seven districts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Dawn). There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack. 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected Imran Khan's request to recount votes in Lahore's NA-122 constituency (ET). On Thursday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman gave the ECP three days to accept his parties demand to recount votes in six different constituencies. No word was given about the other recount requests.  The ECP also rejected the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's request to re-poll the entire NA-250 constituency of Karachi (ET).  

Police on Friday arrested Wazir Gul, the head of an inter-provincial gang of kidnappers suspected of capturing Ali Haider Gilani, though there is still no sign of former prime minster Yousaf Raza Gilani's son (Dawn, ET).  On Thursday, security personnel rescued one captive and arrested four abductors, including Gul's brother, Mullah. The search for Gilani continues in Nowshera, where Thursday's arrests occurred, and Charsadda, where Gul was arrested.

Deadliest month

The death toll from yesterday's suicide bombing in Kabul now stands confirmed at 15, with an additional 42 wounded (Dawn, Guardian, LAT, Pajhwok).  Two NATO soldiers (whose nationalities remain unknown), four American contractors, and nine Afghan civilians, including two children on their way to school, were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a military convoy Thursday morning. With this attack, May has become the deadliest month for coalition forces in Afghanistan; 18 service members have been killed in the last 17 days (Post).

Hezb-i-Islami, the militant group responsible for yesterday's suicide bombing, said Thursday's attack marked the start of a stepped-up campaign against foreign troops in Afghanistan and promised more such assaults (NYT). While Haroon Zarghoun, a group spokesman, said U.S. military advisors were the specific targets in this attack, another spokesman, Zubair Sediqqi, stated they would also target Afghans working with foreigners (Guardian, LAT). A group once allied with the United States and considered to be more moderate than the Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami is formally split into two different factions - one that is embedded in the Afghan government and includes the ministers of agriculture, education, and economy, and one that reports to leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Pakistan (Post).  

An Afghan woman whose husband was killed in the March 2012 massacre of 17 civilians that was allegedly carried out by U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales broke with tribal traditions to tell journalists from the Associated Press her account of the grisly murder (AP). Masooma, who like many Afghans only goes by one name, described how a U.S. soldier in military uniform dragged her husband out of their bedroom and then shot him before returning to the room, where he punched her 7-year-old son in the head repeatedly, shook her two-year-old daughter by her pigtails, and put the barrel of his pistol in the mouth of her crying infant. The Army is seeking the death penalty in Bales' court-martial.

Two insurgent groups in northern Balkh and Faryab provinces have joined the Afghan peace process, according to the National Security Directorate, Afghanistan's intelligence agency (Pajhwok). The 45 fighters turned in their weapons on Friday and asked about work opportunities in their areas.  They join the more than 6,000 other militants who have reportedly joined the peace process since 2010, 4,500 of whom have been provided with work opportunities.

Speedy recovery

After fracturing three vertebrae, cracking a rib, and cutting his scalp during a 15-foot fall from a forklift ten days ago, PTI leader Imran Khan will likely walk out of the hospital in the next 10 to 12 days, according to PTI Vice President Asad Umar (Dawn). While Umar said Khan might participate in protests against election rigging after his release, it seems fairly certain he will be doing so from ground-level.

-- Jennifer Rowland and Bailey Cahall 

The Rack: Mohsin Hamid, "Pakistan: Why Drones Don't Help" (NYRB).

On the offensive

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in the Zhare district of Kandahar on Tuesday when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy (NYT, RFE/RL). Considered one of the most violent districts in Afghanistan, Zhare has seen an increased Taliban presence as the American force there has been cut over the past year.  The attack was the second successful assault on coalition forces in as many days. As the United States and its NATO allies hand over responsibility for security operations to the Afghans, the U.S. and Afghan Special Forces contingents are taking on increasing amounts of combat (NYT). U.S. Special Operations forces are expected to make up almost one-third of the American troop presence in Afghanistan by next February, while the specially trained Afghan commandos will be heavily relied upon to fill the gap left by outgoing NATO troops.

Violence continued on Wednesday in Nangarhar province with back-to-back explosions that killed one police officer and wounded 10 civilians (Dawn, Pajhwok).  The first bomb went off close to the Sherzai Stadium, and near the provincial governor's compound, in Jalalabad and the second was detonated shortly after police reached the scene. As with the other attacks this week, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

The four remaining Turkish engineers held hostage by the Afghan Taliban were released on Tuesday in a "goodwill gesture toward Turkey" and as an "Islamic and humanitarian gesture of respect" (Pajhwok, Reuters, RFE/RL).  Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said he hoped the release of the eight Turkish captives would help bring the two Islamic nations even closer. Still no word was given about the fates of the Afghan interpreter or the two pilots who were also captured when their helicopter made an emergency landing in April.

In addition to freeing the eight Turkish hostages, the Afghan Taliban released a statement earlier this week asking members "not to create any kind of trouble" for health workers participating in the country's polio eradication program (CBC).  Though they said they would not tolerate foreigners participating in the eradication program, the group recognized the science behind the vaccine and the need for preventative medicine (Tel, CBC).  Since the Taliban has previously blocked eradication program, Afghan observers say it is clear the move is as much for political reasons as it is for humanitarian ones.   

Coming together

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's president-elect, visited opposition leader Imran Khan in the hospital on Tuesday, saying they had "made peace" and would "work together to get the country out of a quagmire of problems" (NYT).  While Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party gained control of the regional government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, most independent candidates appeared to be aligning with Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), strengthening his party's position in both the National and Punjab Assemblies (Dawn, ET).

The PTI claims it has identified "significant rigging instances" in as many as 20 Punjabi constituencies and will be lodging complaints with the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court (Dawn).  Some have suggested this is a case of the party's followers being "sore losers," but others are taking the allegations seriously (ET).  On Wednesday, seven men allegedly involved in rigging polling stations in the Darakhshan section of Karachi were arrested and the election in that area, which was postponed on Saturday due to widespread complaints of irregularities, has been rescheduled for May 19 (Dawn).

Speaking at the New America Foundation on Tuesday, Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, stated that U.S. claims it is in a global armed conflict with al-Qaeda and can kill its members wherever it finds them are not widely accepted among its European allies (NAF, WT).  Making his first public comments in Washington since launching an investigation into the U.S. drone program in January, Emmerson called for more transparency from the Obama administration, not only to ease public concerns about the targeted killing campaign but also to combat exaggerated claims against it.

Courage under fire

The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museums on Monday honored Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban last year for supporting women's education, and awarded her the annual Reflection of Hope Award (OKC). Accepted by her father, Ziauddin, the award is given in honor of the 168 people who died in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

-- Jennifer Rowland and Bailey Cahall 

The (Virtual) Shelf: "Bird of Chaman, Flower of Khyber" by Matthieu Aikins, a new ebook from Foreign Policy (FP). 

Pakistan rocks the vote

Though votes are still being counted, two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif appears poised to claim the post for an unprecedented third time (BBC, Post). Projections indicate that Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will claim at least 130 seats in the National Assembly, bringing it close to a simple majority in the 272-seat assembly, and it is believed alliances with smaller parties and independent candidates will put it over the top. Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party won about 30 seats each.

Allegations of vote rigging, however, particularly in Karachi, will severely delay the final vote-count. Officials in Karachi said armed supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People's Party had forcibly taken over some polling stations in the southern port city (NYT).

After a campaign season that saw over a hundred people killed or injured in election-related violence, at least 38 people died on Saturday-Election Day-in attacks in Karachi and Quetta, as well as several in Balochistan (NYT). Two bombs targeting Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Amanullah Mehsud exploded in Karachi, though Mehsud was unhurt (UPI).  And in separate incidents in Balochistan, gunmen opened fire near a polling station in Soorab, killing two soldiers from the Frontier Corps and wounding four, while in Chaman, four people were killed and 10 wounded in a shootout between supporters of rival local candidates (ET). 

Violence continued in Quetta on Sunday where eight people died when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the convoy of Inspector General Police Mushtaq Sukhera, who escaped the attack (Dawn, AFP). 

Despite threats of violence, Pakistanis turned out in droves on Saturday to vote in the national election.  According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 60% of the country 86 million voters chose the "ballot as an alternative to the bullet," the highest turnout since 1970 (Dawn, Post). Female voters were also eager to vote and activist group "Aware Girls" fielded the first citizen election observer team consisting of women aged 12 to 27.  Based in Peshawar, the "girls" monitored female-only polling stations to track campaign law violations and efforts to intimidate voters or tamper with ballots (USA Today, Post).

Ten killed, four freed

As the "fighting season" in Afghanistan picks up, 10 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed and a dozen wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Arghistan district of Kandahar on Monday (AP, Pajhwok). A popular tactic for insurgents, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb.

Afghan officials are seeking the arrest of Zakaria Kandahari, a man they say is an American Special Forces soldier who tortured and killed civilians in Wardak Province (NYT). American officials say U.S. forces are being blamed for the actions of a rogue Afghan unit, while Afghan authorities say they have evidence of significant American involvement.

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met with Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul in Kabul on Saturday to try to negotiate the details of the U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership agreement signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai last May (NYT). The agreement is a framework for American commitments to Afghanistan over the next ten years, and details that remain unknown include the amount of money the United States will give to the Afghan security forces each year, as well as the specific demands made on the Afghan government to fight corruption and protect human rights.

Four Turkish engineers captured last month in Logar province by the Afghan Taliban were released on Sunday in a "gesture of goodwill towards fellow Muslims" (RFE/RL, Reuters). A total of eight Turks were captured, along with an Afghan translator and two pilots, when their helicopter had to make a hard landing in bad weather and the Afghan Taliban says it will soon release the remaining four hostages as well. However, no mention was made of the translator or the pilots, who are from Russia and Kyrgyzstan.  

Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhelwal appeared before Afghanistan's lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, on Monday to reveal the names of legislators he previously accused of making illegal demands on the government (Pajhwok). Zakhelwal identified at least five members of parliament who he said had been involved in the smuggling of alcohol, fuel, and flour, and sought the illegal acquisition of land and license plates. 

All the news that's fit to print?

While much of the world heralded Saturday's landmark election in Pakistan, there were signs the country's security and intelligence establishment remains strong.  Claiming Declan Walsh, the New York Times bureau chief in Pakistan, conducted "undesirable activities," the government revoked his visa and expelled him (NYT, WSJ).  While further explanation has not been forthcoming, it is a sobering reminder that the country still has a way to go in becoming a full democracy, supportive of a critical press.

-- Jennifer Rowland and Bailey Cahall 

Chaos in Kandahar

Afghan police forces stand accused of killing 10 protesters and wounding 14 others after opening fire on a demonstration in Kandahar Province's Maiwand District (NYT, AP, Pajhwok). Officials claim Taliban insurgents had joined the gathering and shot at the police, prompting the return fire that killed 10 people, but demonstrators disputed that statement, saying the casualties were all protesters. There was also disagreement amongst officials over whether the protest was a pro-government one in response to the recent border clashes with Pakistan, or an anti-government one in response to night raids.

This incident came as the U.S.-led coalition announced it had opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct by NATO troops during an April 28 encounter with insurgents in Zabul Province. No other details on the possible misconduct were made public.

President Hamid Karzai announced Thursday that the United States will be allowed to keep nine bases in Afghanistan after the NATO combat mission ends in December 2014 (AP). Karzai conditioned his announcement on a U.S. commitment to support Afghanistan's security, strengthen its armed forces, and work toward long-term political development.

Taken

The militant threats plaguing Pakistan's secular parties continued on Thursday with the kidnapping of Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former prime minister and Pakistan People's Party leader Yousef Raza Gilani, as he headed to an election rally in Multan (BBC, Reuters, ET). The gunmen remain unidentified and no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but the elder Gilani blamed his political enemies.

Gilani has been campaigning for his three sons in Multan, where the family is banking on their extensive patronage networks to garner the votes needed to secure seats in parliament (NYT). Particularly in rural areas, Pakistani voters see their representatives as bosses who can provide protection through handouts, influencing the police, and leaning on corrupt local officials.

Many are hailing Pakistan's upcoming parliamentary elections, the first time one elected government will be replaced by another, as a momentous achievement, but Pakistan's minority groups are not celebrating (AP).  Facing increasing intolerance from religious radicals over the past five years, many of the country's Christians, Hindus, Shiite Muslims, and others believe it will only get worse after Saturday. Several Islamic extremists are candidates themselves, and the mainstream secular parties have campaigned with radicals to garner their votes.  

With Pakistan's national election rapidly approaching, many analysts are saying the results are too close to call (Dawn).  In a recent Herald poll, 25.7 percent of respondents said they intended to vote for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and 25.0 percent say they will vote for Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI).  The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) comes in third, likely a result of voter fatigue with the current ruling party, with 17.7 percent of respondents saying they will vote for them.

It's getting hot in here

On Wednesday, Pakistan's current prime minister released the official summer dress code for federal government employees, as the use of air conditioners in government offices will be banned beginning May 15 (Dawn). Discontinuing the use of air conditioners is part of the government's austerity drive but with temperatures in Pakistan often reaching triple digits in the summer, it looks like it's going to be a humid start for the next civilian government.

-- Jennifer Rowland and Bailey Cahall

Deadly politics

At least 25 people were killed on Monday when a massive bomb tore through a political rally for Munir Khan Orakzai in the tribal agency of Kurram near the border with Afghanistan, in the latest, and deadliest, attack of this election cycle (NYT, Reuters, AP, ET).  Unlike other attacks, which have primarily targeted secular, liberal party candidates, this targeted Orakzai, a candidate for the religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.  Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed that Orakzai was targeted because he has supported the Awami National Party and the Pakistan People's Party and in the past (Dawn). 

A suicide bomber targeting a campaign rally for the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Tuesday killed at least 11 and wounded 35 in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (ET/AFP, Dawn). Yet another bomb blast, this one during an election rally on Tuesday for a candidate of the Pakistan People's Party, killed six people in Lower Dir (ET, Dawn).

According to data compiled by Pakistan's Centre for Research and Security Studies, in the first four months of this year, some 2,674 people have lost their lives in 1,108 incidents of political violence across the country.  An additional 2,386 have been injured (ET).  In the last three weeks alone, there have been around 50 bomb blasts which have killed more than 80 people, including two candidates, and more than 350 people have been injured (Guardian).

Increasing tensions

Following the second border clash between Afghan and Pakistani forces in less than a week, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry warned Pakistan that it will "bear the responsibility for any consequences" coming from further clashes (Reuters). Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in Kandahar chanting "Death to Pakistan" to protest the incidents, and Afghanistan also filed a formal complaint with Pakistan (AP, Pajhwok, AP).

As the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan, the coalition's goal is narrowing to focus on readying Afghan forces to withstand the Taliban regardless of the country's economic and political troubles.  In a recent interview, ISAF commander General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. was optimistic, saying: "I think the Taliban are going to come out of the gate [this fighting season] and they are going to run into a brick wall-and that brick wall is...going to be the Afghan security forces" (NYT).

Seven Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday: six in two separate bomb blasts in the western province of Farah; and one in a clash with the Taliban in the eastern province of Paktika (Pajhwok).

Rules of the warlords

The United States entered Afghanistan in 2001 hoping to model the country after Western democracy. Instead, the U.S. has increasingly done business according to the "rules of warlords" (Bloomberg).  Corruption is tolerated, "ghost money" is transferred in suitcases and plastic bags, and the American public is bankrolling a large share of the Afghan budget.  They always did say absolute power corrupts absolutely but in Afghanistan, it appears to be the dollar. 

-- Jennifer Rowland and Bailey Cahall  

Political violence continues

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Chaudhry Zulfikar, the lead prosecutor investigating the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as he drove to work on Friday in Islamabad (AP, ET/Reuters, Dawn, NYT). In addition to the Bhutto murder case, in which former President Pervez Musharraf has been accused of involvement, Zulfikar was in charge of prosecuting militants linked to the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

In Karachi on Friday, Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Sadiq Zaman Khattak was shot and killed along with his four-year-old son as he left a mosque (ET, Dawn). Authorities decided to postpone elections in Khattak's constituency following the shooting. Members of the Taliban posted fliers on public buildings in Peshawar warning people not to vote in next week's elections, saying that democracy is against the teachings of Islam (ET). And militants attacked a Pakistani military checkpost in South Waziristan on Friday, killing one security officer and prompting a retaliation that killed four militants (Dawn).

Just a day after an Indian man died from wounds suffered during an attack at the Pakistani prison where he was being held, a Pakistani man has been attacked in an Indian prison in Jammu, receiving severe head wounds and putting him in intensive care (Dawn, Reuters). Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry called the attack "obvious retaliation to the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh"

Tensions on high

Afghan security forces said Thursday that they had overrun and burned a Pakistani-held border crossing - which President Hamid Karzai complained earlier this year had been built without Afghanistan's permission -- during a clash with Pakistani troops on Wednesday night, and also took back five Afghan police posts that had been occupied by Pakistani forces (NYT, Pajhwok, Pajhwok). Meanwhile, the funeral procession for the Afghan border policeman killed in Wednesday night's clash turned into a nationalist demonstration, with Afghans pouring out onto the streets to show their support, and many declaring the clash a victory over Pakistan.

President Karzai on Thursday urged the United States to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and release all Afghan nationals being held there (AP, AFP). President Barack Obama spoke earlier this week about renewing his efforts to work with Congress and make good on his campaign promise to close the prison, as reports from Guantanamo indicate that the number of prisoners on hunger strike continues to rise (NYT). Some detainees have been on a hunger strike for months, and prison doctors are now using nasal feeding tubes just to keep them alive, which has raised questions about the ethics of forced feeding (Post).

A confidential assessment of the Afghan government's finances by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found that even reaching the modest target of covering less than half of its own bills this year appears to have become a major challenge for the government of Afghanistan (NYT). The report attributes this difficulty to widespread tax evasion that is supported by government officials, the increased skimming of customs revenue by provincial governors, and faltering economic growth.

Finally, eight Afghan Local Police personnel were killed Thursday night by a roadside bomb in central Logar Province (Pajhwok).

-- Jennifer Rowland

Editor's note: A new HBO documentary, MANHUNT, based on the book of the same name by Peter Bergen, airs TONIGHT on HBO. Read reviews here: NYT, WSJ, Washingtonian, Hollywood Reporter, NY Post.

Barred for life

The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday banned former president Pervez Musharraf from running for public office for life (AP, ET, Dawn). Musharraf's lawyer Saad Shibli said he would challenge the ban on the grounds that, "About 500 officials at different levels and institutions were part of Musharraf's actions [while he was president], and if those actions come under scrutiny, all those people should be involved in this matter."

Pakistan's powerful Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani may have alluded to the military's unhappiness with the way Musharraf has been treated by the courts when he said, "In my opinion, it is not merely retribution, but awareness and participation of the masses that can truly end this game of hide and seek between democracy and dictatorship" (Reuters).

Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has not appeared to be a major target for the Pakistani Taliban, who have regularly attacked other candidates in this year's election season, and he said this week, "When I came to politics 17 years ago, I had already conquered my fear of dying" (AFP). Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has busied itself holding massive rallies around the country to drum up support, but even he was forced to cancel a public rally in Karachi last weekend after attacks on other candidates took the lives of 20 people.

A suicide bomb attack on National People's Party candidate Imbrahim Jatoi on Wednesday reportedly injured two people, though Jatoi escaped unharmed (Dawn, ET/AFP). Pakistani fighter jets strafed militant hideouts in Orakzai Agency on Wednesday, killing four militants and destroying two of their camps (Dawn).

Danger persists 

A roadside bomb killed three British soldiers and nine Afghans in the southern province of Helmand on Tuesday, in the deadliest day for British troops in Afghanistan in more than a year (NYT, BBC, Guardian). Taliban militants in Helmand's conflict-ridden Gereshk District ambushed the convoy of a senior member of the Afghanistan High Peace Council, Malim Shahwali, who was killed in the attack along with two of his bodyguards (Reuters, Pajhwok).

During a visit to Estonia on Tuesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul blamed the sharp increase in Afghanistan's cultivation of poppies on the global demand for narcotics (AFP). Afghanistan grows 90 percent of the global opium supply, and a United Nations report released in April predicts record production levels this year.

An Afghan civilian and two of his children were killed on Tuesday evening when the vehicle they were travelling in struck a roadside bomb in the Charchino District of central Uruzgan Province (Pajhwok). Three female members of his family were wounded in the explosion. The spokesman for Kunar Province's governor, Wasifullah Wasfi, said Tuesday that more than 40 missiles had been fired from across the border with Pakistan onto Afghan territory (Pajhwok). No casualties were reported.

To shari'a or not to shari'a?

A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that South Asia leads the Muslim world in its desire to see the implementation of shari'a law (Pew). Large majorities of respondents around the world expressed support for shari'a, but they disagreed about which aspects of the religious law should be applied, from family law governing marriages and divorces to the lopping off of the hands of thieves.

-- Jennifer Rowland

Attacks unabated

A bomb exploded outside an election office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi on Thursday evening, killing five in the latest Taliban-claimed attack on Pakistan's secular political parties (AP, ET, Dawn). Responding to a call from the MQM for a citywide strike, Karachi's schools, restaurants, and stores closed their doors on Friday to mourn those killed in the blast.

Pakistani officials announced Friday that they will seal the border with Afghanistan and restrict the movement of Afghan refugees inside Pakistan during the May 11 election, in an effort to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks on polling stations (AP, Dawn).

An antiterrorism court in Rawalpindi ordered former president Pervez Musharraf into custody for four days at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse on Friday, during which a team of investigators from the Federal Investigation Agency will interrogate him about his role in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto (AJE, Dawn, ET). Musharraf is already under house arrest for allegedly jailing the country's top judges while he was still in power in 2007.

Deadly crash

Officials in the southern province of Helmand said Friday that 45 people had been killed when their bus collided with the burning wreckage of a truck set on fire in the middle of the road by the Taliban (Pajhwok, Dawn). And five Afghan Local Police officers were drugged and then killed Thursday night in the northern province of Kunduz (Pajhwok).

Human Rights Watch issued a report on Thursday urging the Afghan government to build separate, lockable toilets and changing rooms for Afghan policewomen to protect them from sexual harassment at work (AP). The spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, Sidiq Sidiqi, responded to the report by saying the government is working to fix the problem, but that it should also be commended for defying cultural norms and recruiting female police officers at all.

Something fishy

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Fisheries Department takes a new approach to its official responsibilities by noting its own failure to do anything about the fact that, "The main junction of the River Indus and River Kabul is heavily fished by people who use electricity produced by generators to catch fish. This practice goes on day and night while the river banks are also disturbed by dynamite" (ET). Of course, the department's director notes that he hasn't had a chance to check the department's website because he only took charge six months ago.

-- Jennifer Rowland

Debate comes to the fore

In an unprecedented public hearing on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from six experts (including our own Peter Bergen) on the "Constitutional and Counterterrorism Implications" of the covert U.S. drone program. Many of the panelists warned that the drone strikes are engendering deep anti-Americanism in the countries where they are taking place (Post, NYT). Among those experts was Yemeni youth activist Farea al-Muslimi, who said a drone strike hit his native village of Wessab six days ago, sparking fear and anger in the residents. "What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village, one drone strike accomplished in an instant: There is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America," al-Muslimi said.

The U.S. soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians in a middle of the night rampage last March, Sgt. Robert Bales, appeared in court again on Tuesday for a hearing that focused primarily on who would be able to testify at his sentencing if he is convicted, negotiations that could determine whether he receives the death penalty (AP).

NATO commanders in eastern Afghanistan said Wednesday that 13 insurgents had been killed in joint operations with Afghan forces in Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces (AP, ). Speaking before a gathering of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Pakistan must play a positive role in bringing long-term peace and stability to Afghanistan, and urged Pakistani authorities to take concrete action against militants launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan (Reuters, Pajhwok).

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed with a call from a group of conservative clerics for the banning of television programs that are "vulgar, obscene and un-Islamic and are counter to social morality," according to a statement he made on Wednesday (Reuters). And four children of one family were killed while one teenage girl was seriously wounded when a Taliban-planted bomb exploded while they were playing in the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday (Pajhwok).

Blasts across Pakistan

A suicide bomber who appeared to target a prominent leader of Pakistan's ethnic Hazara minority in Quetta, Balochistan, killed six and wounded many others on Tuesday (Reuters). That attack was just one of four explosions in the provincial capital on Tuesday, which were followed by two more bomb attacks on Wednesday, one on a police station and one outside a private hospital.

In all, eight blasts were reported in three of Pakistan's provinces from Tuesday evening through Wednesday (Dawn, ET/AFP). In addition to the two Quetta blasts on Wednesday, a bomb killed at least five people at a roadside campaign office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi late Tuesday night, an explosion near the home of a Pakistan People's Party leader in Peshawar wounded three on Wednesday, and two remotely detonated roadside bombs exploded as a convoy of election candidates moved through Dera Ismail Khan, though no casualties were reported (ET, ET).

Propaganda play?

On Monday, Pakistan's Supreme Court released a list of journalists who received funds from the government totaling over $1.8 million, which was used to cover everything from hotel stays and plane tickets to vague "special assignments" (WSJ). According to some, this is known as a "bribe."

-- Jennifer Rowland

Taliban play politics

In Pakistan's northwest, the secular Awami National Party is coming under sustained fire from the Taliban, with deadly attacks and threats forcing ANP candidates to stage small, tense meetings rather than the large-scale rallies that usually define Pakistani politics (NYT, AP). Even in the southern port city of Karachi, some 40 ANP activists have been killed over the past six months, effectively stifling the party's campaign there. Asad Munir, a retired Army brigadier who worked for Pakistan's intelligence agency, says, "The most effective campaign is being run by he Taliban. They are holding the state of Pakistan hostage, and doing their activities as they want." Bonus read: Daud Khattak, "Pakistani Taliban's deadly game of politics" (AfPak).

An antiterrorism court in Islamabad on Saturday ordered former president Pervez Musharraf held for another two weeks until May 4, when he will face charges over his detention of the country's top judges while he was in power in 2007 (NYT, NYT, Post, Reuters, AFP). Pakistani officials said Musharraf would be placed under house arrest at his fortified compound outside the capital, declaring it a "sub-jail," and no visitors will be allowed. The country's caretaker government said Monday that it will not file treason charges against the former president, but will leave the decision to do so up to the government elected in national election on May 11 (AP, ET).

Prime Minister hopeful Imran Khan told thousands of supporters at a rally in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday that he would order a pullout of Pakistani troops from North Waziristan and, "The money that is spent on the war in the tribal areas will be spent on the welfare of the people" (ET). Pakistan "will not be a slave to anyone," he told the cheering crowd. Pakistan's Ahmadis say they will not participate in the upcoming elections because they are still forced to identify themselves as non-Muslims on their ballots (ET). The campaign of radical Sunni Muslim cleric Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi is making Pakistan's Shi'a Muslims uneasy; they accuse Ludhianvi of rhetoric that has fueled sectarian attacks on Shi'as for decades, and fear that if he wins a seat in parliament he will be able to incite even more of these deadly attacks (Reuters). Ludhianvi's main opponent in the district of Jhang, in the heart of Punjab Province, has been banned from the race.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Iran last week also almost entirely demolished the small Pakistani town of Mashkel near the Iranian border, and aid has been slow to reach the isolated victims (AP, BBC). Four Pakistani soldiers were killed and six injured in a roadside bombing in North Waziristan on Sunday (The News, ET/AFP). Militants in Balochistan launched grenade attacks on the homes of an Election Commission of Pakistan official (injuring his teenaged daughter), and the president of the Baloch National Party on Sunday (ET). And gunmen killed two workers of the Awami National Party in the Pishin district of Balochistan.

Worrying stats

Taliban attacks have increased 47% in the first quarter of 2013 from their level during the same period last year, from1,581 to 2,331, according to the well-respected, independent monitoring group, the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (NYT). The U.S. military and the Afghan Ministry of Defense have so far refused to release their statistics on attacks this year, but the sharp increase in attacks has been widely documented in the media and by groups like the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, raising concerns that the Taliban is launching a concerted attempt to test the Afghan security forces as they take the lead on security from NATO troops in the country.

Insurgents killed six police officers at a checkpoint in the eastern province of Ghazni on Sunday, while a suicide bomber killed three civilians at a market in neighboring Paktika Province (AP). And Taliban militants cut off hands and feet of two men they accused of helping escort NATO convoys. Members of the Taliban in eastern Logar Province said they had captured all eight Turks and one Russian who were on board a NATO-contracted helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing in bad weather late on Sunday (Reuters, Pajhwok).

NATO military officials say that Taliban militants were able to blow up a half-dozen U.S. Marine fighter jets and kill two Marines in an attack on Camp Bastion in Helmand Province last fall because the base commanders had scaled back patrols of the perimeter and left watchtowers unmanned (Post).

The pot industry in Pakistan

Politicians are not the only ones suffering at hands of the Taliban in Pakistan's northwest. The country's hashish producers in the fertile Tirah Valley report that the Taliban have largely taken control of the area, and with it they have obtained control of the marijuana crops and the lucrative hashish trade (Post).

-- Jennifer Rowland

On the lam

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf fled the High Court in Islamabad on Thursday after a judge ordered his arrest in a case challenging his imprisonment of the country's top judges while he was in power in November 2007 (NYT, Reuters, ET/AFP, Dawn). In a statement on Musharraf's official Facebook page, a spokesperson said the state security apparatus escorted Musharraf from the courtroom "in the face of specific and credible physical threats to his life by the enemies of Pakistan."

Officials of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said Wednesday that "a horde of 100 miscreants" attacked KHAN'S home and beat his brother-in-law, and blamed the government for failing to provide security to the politician and his family (AFP). But Islamabad police chief Bani Amin denied that there had been a break-in at Khan's home, saying that, "If anything has happened at Imran Khan's home, it may have been because of his workers who are demonstrating at his house for party tickets." PTI members have been protesting outside Khan's home over what they see as the unfair allocation of constituencies to certain PTI candidates.

Fighting season

At least 24 people were killed in five separate attacks across Afghanistan on Wednesday, including seven women and children who died when their bus hit a roadside bomb in Herat Province (AP). In the eastern province of Ghazni, another roadside bomb killed five men who worked for a local government security force. In the eastern province of Laghman insurgents attacked a checkpoint, killing four local policemen. In the northern province of Jawzjan insurgents opened fire on a group of village elders, killing two health workers who were caught in the crossfire. And six Afghan soldiers were killed by the Taliban after being kidnapped while travelling home for vacation in Jawzjan.

At least 17 high school girls lost consciousness and were hospitalized after a suspected poison gas attack on their school in the northern province of Takhar on Thursday (Pajhwok). ISAF troops reportedly killed a village elder and injured his wife during an operation in the southeastern province of Paktia on Wednesday (Pajhwok). ISAF said in a statement that the operation had targeted a Haqqani Network leader.

The northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif has seen a much-needed business boom in recent years, but that economic uplift has been accompanied by a troubling expansion of the city's sex trade (NYT). Mazar-i-Sharif is less conservative than other parts of Afghanistan, and brothels once flourished openly there. Now, the prostitutes, most of whom have been forced into the trade by poverty, divorce, or the death of their spouse, operate through a secretive network and often host clients in nondescript apartments around the city, or even their own homes.

Man on the run 

As Musharraf ran for his Chak Shazad residence following the high court's issuance of arrest orders, Twitter saw a flurry of posts criticizing and mocking the former president (ET).  Some compared his speed to that of Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter known as the fastest man in the world, while others commented that he had taken "running for president" literally.

Deadly disaster

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 40 in Iran and 12 in Pakistan's Balochistan Province (ET/Reuters/AFP, Dawn, NYT). Buildings were evacuated all over Pakistan, with Karachi reporting damage and some injuries, but no further deaths. 

Ex-Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has been rejected from all four constituencies in which he wanted to run for a seat in parliament (ET/AFP, Dawn). The decision of one district to approve his nomination papers, Chitral, was overturned by the Peshawar High Court. The rest were rejected outright. Meanwhile, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Balochistan chapter Sardar Sanaullah Zehri was attacked while driving as part of a convoy from an election campaign in Zehri, Balochistan (ET, Dawn). He escaped but three of his family members were killed.

CNN's Nic Robertson reported Monday that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on drones, Ben Emmerson, who recently visited Pakistan to investigate the legality of the CIA drone campaign there, told him that "The consequence of drone strikes has been to radicalize an entirely new generation" (CNN). The Sabaoon School for boys in the Swat Valley is the Pakistani military's answer to this radicalization and to the persistent presence of militant Islamist groups in the country's northwest. The school admits boys aged 8 to 18 who have previously been recruited by the Taliban, and teaches them basic skills so that they might make a living without turning to the insurgents.

An independent report by an 11-member panel convened by the legal research and advocacy group the Constitution Project has concluded that "it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture" in the years after 9/11, and that high-level officials authorized such practices (NYT). The panel was led by two former members of Congress who also have experience in the executive branch: Republican Asa Hutchinson and Democrat James R. Jones. Their report concludes that torture "reduced our capacity to convey moral censure when necessary and potentially increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive."

Some success

Afghan commandos killed 22 insurgents on Monday when they raided a village in the eastern province of Nangarhar to capture Taliban commander Jamal Faroqi (AP). Faroqi was one of those killed in the raid, while ten other militants were captured. Separately, NATO said a joint Afghan-coalition Special Forces team captured a senior leader of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the eastern province of Ghazni, which is, like Nangarhar, a major thoroughfare for militants crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan and back again.

At least some parts of the Afghan Army are having success as they take the lead from NATO troops, such as the 203^rd Thunder Corps, which recently completed a 13-day operation to secure strategic highways leading out of Kabul, and to garner the support of villages along the way by standing up local police to protect them from insurgent attacks (AP). The Afghan National Security Forces are supposed to take the lead on all security operations across the country later this spring, and many analysts and officials in Washington have worried that they will not be up to the task, but NATO military officials say the Afghan forces have so far surpassed their expectations.

One industry on the decline in Afghanistan is the production of the Afghan burqa, which has been replaced in large numbers by Western dress and a simple headscarf (AP). And the makers of handspun burqas are also facing competition within their shrinking market from cheaper Chinese imports.

Event notice: CIA veteran and New America fellow Philip Mudd will discuss his new book, Takedown: Inside the Hunt for Al Qaeda, on MONDAY, April 15, 2013, 1:00-2:30PM (NAF).

Admit one

In an interview with CNN's Nic Robertson this week, ex-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted that his government had signed off on CIA drone strikes in the country, becoming the first Pakistani official, former or current, to acknowledge the Pakistani government's approval of the drone campaign (CNN). Musharraf caveated that he signed off on strikes "only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and no chance of collateral damage," but the admission still diverges sharply from the statements of most past and present Pakistani officials, who have said they oppose the strikes as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.

Musharraf is facing charges for allegedly jailing 62 judges without evidence, and for his alleged role in the assassinations of former governor of Balochistan Nawab Akbar Bugti and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (Dawn). A Pakistani court extended Musharraf's bail on Friday until April 18, when the case of the illegally detained judges will be resumed.

Former agriculture minister from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Arbab Ayub Jan escaped a bomb attack in Peshawar on Thursday night as he was returning home from an election rally (Dawn). Jan is affiliated with the secular Awami National Party, the leader of which urged Pakistani officials to provide more security to his candidates. And Pakistani police defused a bomb near a mosque in Karachi on Friday after someone reported a suspicious package (Dawn, ET).

Lazy laws

The inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, John Sopko, said Thursday that weaknesses in a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act added by Congress last year to prevent U.S. funds from reaching militant groups in Afghanistan are rendering the new law ineffective (AP). IG Sopko said militants are still receiving U.S. funds because some new contracts simply do not include the language from the new provision, and because some contracting firms have not been informed about updates to the U.S. military's list of militant groups.

Taliban militants attacked an Afghan Army post in Kunar Province near the border with Pakistan on Friday, killing 13 soldiers (AP). Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, putting the death toll at 15 soldiers and saying the Taliban took control of the base and seized weapons and ammunition.

Big money

Karachi has been in the news lately for its spiraling sectarian and political violence, but Pakistan's largest city was also home to one of the five best performing markets in the world in 2012 (Reuters). Of course, much of that was due to President Asif Ali Zardari's announcement that individuals would be allowed to buy stocks with no questions asked about where they got the money. In a city wracked by corruption, criminal gangs, and militant groups, many experts say that move simply allowed people a get out of jail free card for money laundering.

New Post: Arsla Jawaid, "Failed city? Karachi's violent spiral" (AfPak).

Valley redoubt

Pakistan's military is struggling to push the Taliban out of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, where some 30 soldiers and 100 militants died in five days of fighting recently (NYT). The Taliban remain entrenched, though, using a combination of honed guerrilla warfare tactics and extensive tribal connections to avoid defeat, which current and former Pakistani officials worry will allow the insurgents more influence over the upcoming elections.

The Taliban defeated a local pro-government militia in the Tirah Valley last month, then joined forces with another militant group, Lashkar-e-Islam, and on Tuesday made local tribal leader Mangal Bagh the supreme leader of both groups (Dawn). In neighboring Orakzai Agency, at least two Pakistani security forces and eight militants were killed in clashes on Tuesday (Dawn).

Meanwhile, Taliban threats continue to prevent Pakistan's main secular parties from convening large campaign rallies, even in the country's urban centers, forcing them to conduct small-scale door-to-door campaigns for votes (ET).

A Pakistani policeman was shot and killed while escorting a group of health workers administering polio vaccinations to children in the northwestern town of Mardan (AFP, Dawn). Three members of a human trafficking ring have been arrested in Balochistan for their roles in illegally smuggling almost 100 Pakistani Hazaras last June from Indonesia to Australia, on a boat that sank and killed 94 of the asylum seekers (ET).

Just hangin' around

The eight or so Taliban officials who flew to Qatar in 2010 to begin a process of peace negotiations with the United States remain there even though peace talks have been stalled since early 2012 over a proposed prisoner exchange of five Taliban leaders being held at Guantanamo Bay in return for U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (NYT). "They are just living here enjoying the air-conditioning, driving luxury cars, eating and making babies," according to one Afghan diplomat in Qatar who sees the Taliban officials when they come to the Embassy to register the birth of a child. "It's all they can do; they have no work to do."

A helicopter crashed in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, killing the two U.S. service members on board (Reuters, AP). An Afghan National Army soldier reportedly shot and wounded two Lithuanian forces on Sunday in what appears to be the latest insider attack (Pajhwok). And one Afghan civilian was killed when NATO forces opened fire on a vehicle in the western province of Herat on Wednesday (Pajhwok).

Party platform? Everything

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) unveiled a 13-page manifesto on Tuesday that presents a buffet of lofty promises to the Pakistani people (ET). Under the PTI, "there will be no difference between rich and poor," corruption will be eliminated within 90 days after the party comes to power, the nation will withdraw completely from the U.S.-led "war on terror," and Pakistan's women, minorities, impoverished, dispossessed, and disabled will see justice.

-- Jennifer Rowland