[DAWN] The prospect of peace in Afghanistan raises its own risks to rebuilding efforts, a US watchdog said on Thursday, citing reintegrating Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... fighters, spurring the economy and protecting women's rights as major issues to be dealt with. Damned if we do, damned if we don't, as usual.
"A peace agreement would be welcomed by the long-suffering Afghan people," the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko said in Washington.
"But it could bring its own challenges to sustaining what the United States, coalition partners and the Afghan government have achieved."
The United States has spent $132 billion since 2002 on training Afghan forces, strengthening institutions and other initiatives.
US-led forces deposed the Taliban in 2001 after the September 11 attacks in the United States but the bully boyz regrouped and have steadily extended their influence during 17 years of war.
Peace talks between US and Taliban officials began late last year, raising hopes for an end to the conflict. The latest round ended this month with both sides citing progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[KhaamaPress] A Pak Minister has branded the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan a ’little pygmy’ in latest Twitter row which erupted following Prime Minister Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... ’s remarks regarding Afghan grinding of the peace processor and establishment of an interim government in Afghanistan.
The Human Rights Minister of Pakistain Shireen Mazari made the remarks in response to a Twitter post by Ambassador Bass regarding PM Imran’s recent controversial statement.
"Some aspects of #cricket apply well in diplomacy, some do not. @ImranKhanPTI, important to resist temptation to ball-tamper with the #Afghanistan grinding of the peace processor and its internal affairs," Ambassador said in a Twitter post.
In response to Ambassador Bass’s remarks, Mazari wrote in her Twitter "Clearly you little pygmy your knowledge of ball tampering is as void as your understanding of Afghanistan and the region! Clearly in your case ignorance is certainly not bliss! Another sign of Trumpian mischief a la Khalilzad style!"
"Haha! Haters gonna hate! But seriously what diplomatic norms? US dips have been violating them all day today from Zalmay to this moron!" she wrote in another Twitter after being accused of violating diplomatic norms.
The latest Twitter row between U.S. and Pak officials erupted after controversial remarks of PM Imran Khan regarding Afghanistan.
The Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier suggested an interim government setup in Afghanistan to help end the impasse in Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
Speaking with local journalists at his office on Monday, PM Khan claimed that the Afghan government was a hurdle in grinding of the peace processor as it was insisting on direct talks with the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... group.
He also added that a neutral interim government can help with the success of grinding of the peace processor in Afghanistan by holding a free and transparent election.
[DAWN] The corpse count from Saturday’s attack by button men on villagers in central Mali has risen to 157, a government front man said, confirming it as one of the worst recent atrocities in a country beset by ethnic violence.
The attack, in which women and kiddies were burned in their homes, marked an escalation in violence between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders that killed hundreds of civilians last year and is spreading across Africa’s Sahel, the region between the Sahara to the north and the continent’s savannas to the south.
"The official corpse count is 157," government front man Amadou Kotia said late on Tuesday. Officials on Saturday said that about 134 had been killed, though they expected that number to rise.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, said this week that the crimes may fall under the court’s jurisdiction and that a delegation will be sent to Mali. A UN Security Council mission was already visiting the former French colony to seek solutions to the violence when the attack took place.
An official from a nearby town said on Saturday that gunnies, dressed as traditional Dogon hunters, attacked villages populated by Fulani herders. The Dogon suspect the Fulani of harbouring Islamist bad boys, charges the Fulani deny.
The attack came less than a week after an assault by jihadists on an army post killed at least 23 soldiers, also in Mali’s central region. That attack was claimed by an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)
["No F-35s for YOU!"
[Jpost] ISTANBUL - Turkey will honor its air defense deal with Russia, Ankara said on Friday after four US senators introduced a bill to ban the planned delivery of F-35 fighter jets if Turkey ignored US opposition and accepted the S-400 system.
"We have agreed with Russia in the end and signed an agreement. This agreement is valid (and) we are discussing when the delivery will be," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said following a meeting with his Russian counterpart. "This agreement is a done deal." Turkey out of NATO!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/29/2019 08:02 ||
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#1
F35 purchase an undone deal? Or do the Beltway Bandits want to cut America's throat for a few pieces of silver?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/29/2019 8:15 Comments ||
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#2
No F-35s, no more military equipment and move our airbase to somewhere less likely to get overrun. Then kick their ass out of NATO. (or better yet dissolve NATO)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/29/2019 11:01 Comments ||
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#4
All us forces and equipment out of Turkey NOW. Want to rub salt into the Turks at the same time? Move all those forces and equipment to Greece - specifically Crete and and the Greek part of Cyprus. Establish air and naval bases there.
[DAWN] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... said on Wednesday it was time to rename Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia as a mosque, saying that it had been a "very big mistake" to convert it into a museum.
"Hagia Sophia will not be called a museum. It will be taken out of that status. We will call Hagia Sophia a mosque," Erdogan told A Haber television during an interview.
"Those who come to Hagia Sophia will visit Hagia Sophia mosque," he said.
The former church and mosque, now a museum, often sparks tensions between Christians and Moslems over Islamic activities held there, including the reading of verses from the Holy Koran or collective prayers.
Its secular status allows believers of all faiths to meditate, reflect or simply enjoy the astonishing architecture of a building dating back to the sixth century.
Erdogan is campaigning for votes for his Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of municipal elections on March 31.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[DAWN] The Canadian province of Quebec will ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols during work hours, in legislation introduced on Thursday, a controversial move that critics say targets Moslem women who wear hijabs or other head coverings.
The proposed law sets the province's right-leaning Coalition Avenir Qubec (CAQ) government on a collision course with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promotes religious freedom, in a federal election year with Quebec a vital battleground.
"It is unthinkable to me that in a free society we would legitimise discrimination against citizens based on their religion," Trudeau told news hounds in Halifax on Thursday.
The legislation, which is expected to pass, will cover public workers in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and coppers. It exempts current babus government employees and civil servants in the mainly French-speaking province.
Governments in Quebec have been trying for years to restrict civil servants from wearing overt religious symbols like headscarves and Jewish skullcaps at work in an effort to cement a secular society.
A ban on full face coverings on anyone giving or receiving public services in Quebec passed in 2017, but was suspended by a Canadian judge last June and remains in legal limbo.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
How can it be discrimination if equally applied to all groups?
Crybabies.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/29/2019 9:59 Comments ||
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#2
If kippah and crucifixes are forbidden, guess what - so ar the hijabs and burkas.
While we are glad that strong and swift action has been taken against the torturers of Asma Aziz, we note with dismay the alarming rise in reported cases of violence against women. Systemic change to protect women is necessary. Action can’t only be taken on a case-by-case basis. pic.twitter.com/IQSOEpMUd9
— Amnesty International South Asia (@amnestysasia) March 28, 2019
That would be the Azma Aziz from yesterday, whose husband and his employees stripped and beat her for not dancing for them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday told foreign diplomats that India's allegation that Pakistain-based elements were involved in the Pulwama attack could not be corroborated by the dossier sent by New Delhi in February.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal, in a briefing to foreign diplomats, said that in order to cooperate with India in the probe, Sherlocks had examined Adil Dar's 'confessional' video and had also requested details from mobile service providers of numbers India mentioned in the document to analyse the exchange of messages.
The United States authorities have also been contacted for information of messages exchanged through WhatsApp, FO officials said.
Dr Faisal told the diplomats that India had sent a dossier comprising six parts spread over 91 pages, out of which only parts two and three were related to the Pulwama incident. The others, he said, contained "generalised allegations".
Pak authorities had detained and interrogated 54 people but so far, no evidence regarding their involvement in the Pulwama attack has emerged, the spokesperson said. He also said that the dossier made no mention of Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... , the organization which allegedly grabbed credit for the attack.
The spokesperson further said that no holy warrior camps had been found on the 22 locations pointed out by India, and offered access to these places on a request by request basis.
He also told the diplomats that more information and evidence was required for Pakistain to continue its investigation into the Feb 14 attack. "Oh, yasss! Ever so much more information!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#BREAKING#Israel has reportedly given the order for a #Gaza ground operation if the border fence is breached this weekend. Preparations have begun to evacuate residents living near border.
[IsraelTimes] A group of Paleostinians in the Gazoo Strip damage the security fence separating the coastal enclave from Israel, according to Hebrew media reports. Channel 13 says the Paleostinians fled after Israeli troops fired warning shots.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
It's not often I find myself rooting for the Paleostinians, but in this case I will make an exception.
#UPDATE: 1/2 Al-Mayadeen sources: Gaza Factions ‘absolutely refuse’ to stop the border marches & to keep rioters 300m from the fence. However they agree to stop the night confusion units & Molotov/IED balloon launches in return for Israeli concessions https://t.co/SFXph1bbMc
IDF was not the only one to finish the preparations for Saturday’s events , Hamas was working hard too: - people will be bussed to the border from 38 points in the strip by hundreds of buses - 5 large tent cities along the border equipped with power, food , water#Gaza#Israel
“Just a little warning, guys. Don’t want you to feel blindsided when we get to that point.”
[Rudaw] United States President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s administration is not prepared to grant new waivers to the buyers of Iranian oil, a senior US Department official said on Wednesday, hinting that favorable market conditions in 2019 could lead to zero crude exports from Tehran.
In April 2018, a month before Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal, Iran exported 2.5 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). By February 2019, exports were halved, to 1.25 million bpd, and inflation spiked, causing the Iranian currency, the rial, to lose over 60 percent of its value.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
hardliners in Tehran who claim the ultimate aim of the US government is regime change in the country.
No, no, no! It'd be much easier all around if y'all would just straighten up and fly right. But I ain't holdin' my breath.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/29/2019 11:47 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
[DAWN] The Canadian province of Quebec will ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols during work hours, in legislation introduced on Thursday, a controversial move that critics say targets 
[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday told foreign diplomats that India's allegation that Pakistain-based elements were involved in the Pulwama attack could not be corroborated by the dossier sent by New Delhi in February.
