The Taliban denounced the Kabul International Conference which was attended by nearly 40 foreign ministers and other top representatives from donor organisations
The Taliban said in a statement that the "vague and terrible agenda" shows that the United States and its allies intend to abandon the country and blame the Afghan government for their ultimate defeat.
Representatives of about 60 countries met Tuesday in Kabul to endorse President Hamid Karzai's plan for Afghan police and soldiers to take charge of security nationwide by 2014.
Karzai also won a pledge from international backers to channel more of their financial aid through his government.
In a statement posted on its website, the Taliban said the conference showed that the US "has lost the initiatives and is unable to resolve the Afghanistan issue."
The statement appears as NATO reported on Wednesday that six Afghan police were beheaded in Baghlan Northern Province after the Taliban attacked their post on the same day the Kabul International Conference was held.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Chad has accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of only targeting African leaders, as it refused to implement the court's decision to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.
"We are with the rule of law and everybody has to pay for his mistakes and for any crime he commits but when it will be selectively and targeting only African leaders it should not be accepted," BBC quoted Chad's Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir as saying, after Chad declared it will not arrest the visiting Sudanese president.
The ICC, however, rejects the accusation of bias.
Omar al-Bashir traveled to N'Djamena on Wednesday in an attempt to normalize relations with Chad deteriorated since 2003 war.
"When you normalize [relations] with a country, you are not going to arrest the head of state," the Chadian minister stated.
On the eve of his visit to Chad, the Sudanese president expelled three Chadian militants in response to Chad's similar move of expelling the powerful leader of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement in February.
Last week, the ICC added three more counts of genocide to the list of charges against Bashir first issued in 2009. He has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war-torn Darfur region.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
I have a good friend living in Yemen. He has done very well. Married a local gal. He has good "street smarts," and their house is inside a wall with armed guards. so far so good. I told him, take the money and head back to Alaska or somewhere other than Yemen. He is smart, but has an inshallah attitude. I wish him good luck and good security.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Hooper Bay, Alaska ||
07/23/2010 22:57 Comments ||
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[Arab News] Immigration authorities in Jazan said on Wednesday that 2,454 Yemeni infiltrators, illegal residents and beggars were caught in the past one month.
"Infiltration of Yemenis into Saudi Arabia from the southern border is still continuing despite the heavy presence of border guards," said a written statement from the local Passport Department, pointing out that border officials have increased their vigilance since the conflict with Yemeni rebels earlier this year.
"Border guards have cut new passages in (mountainous) areas that were not accessible in the past in order to be able to patrol the area and prevent infiltration and smuggling," said the statement.
Saudi Arabia's long and porous border with Yemen is one of highest concern for the authorities. Last year, officials responded to more than 130,000 smuggling attempts, including weapons and humans, compared with about 140,000 such incidents in the rest of the Kingdom.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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The government has moved to modernise and strengthen the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) with formation of two more battalions and procurement of helicopters and bomb disposable equipments.
Home Minister Shahara Khatun said this in parliament while replying to lawmakers' queries.
She said since assuming power, the government has taken various measures to strengthen the elite force. As part of the measures, a process is underway to form two more new battalions in addition to the current 12 battalions, she said.
As long as each unit is issued its own shutter gun in the appropriate velvet-lined case, and a case of rounds of bullet, all will be well. And please to remember at least a ream of blank report forms, properly numbered to ensure not one of the traditional steps is accidentally skipped.
Sahara said the Executive Committee on National Economic Council has already approved a project to construct seven Rab complexes to resolve their problems of accommodation and office space shortage.
To increase their operation efficiency, she said the government has planned to purchase helicopters, modern bomb disposal equipments, high technology radio communication system and cameras.
She said a modern forensic lab is being set up to conduct fair and neutral investigation activities.
To be staffed by Dr. Bones and her team, forensic analogue to Dr. Quincy and Jim who labour so manfully at the morgue.
On the same day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, however, in her valedictory speech of the budget session said that the past BNP-Jammat alliance, by forming the RAB, had "killed around 400 people" in the first year of the formation of the elite force.
In a scripted reply to a query, the home minister said the current government is committed to stop extra-judicial killings and it is taking actions against such incidents on investigation.
The home minister also informed the House about the government's various measures to strengthen the police force to fight criminal activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Shutter Gun Industries LLC and DoRags Are Us up 2 1/2 on the news...
The mills of God grind slowly in Bangladesh (unless the Rab is involved), but they grind exceeding small.
A Dhaka court yesterday sent to the International Crimes Tribunal a case filed against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, its secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and seven others for killing freedom fighters in 1971.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Taibul Hassan passed the order after Officer-in-Charge of Keraniganj police station Mohammad Asaduzzaman, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted a petition before it seeking an order to transfer the case to the International Crimes Tribunal.
Other accused are two assistant secretaries general of Jamaat Mohammad Abdul Quader Molla and Muhammad Quamruzzaman, Keraniganj upazila unit Amir Haji Nazim Uddin, Islami Chhatra Sangha leader KG Karim Babla, and Abul Kashem, Foyzur Rahman Foyaz and Yasin. The last three were Al-badr, Razakar and Al-shams activists during the war.
Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka AKM Enamul Haque sent another case to the International Crimes Tribunal filed with Pallabi police station for killing 345 people during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
On December 17 of 2008, Mozaffar Ahmad Khan, Dhaka District Muktijoddha Unit commander, filed the case with Keraniganj police station accusing Nizami, Mojahid and seven others for killing his nephew and one of his comrades on November 25, 1971.
In yesterday's petition, Asaduzzaman said, the case is now treatable under the International Crimes Tribunal as it was filed for killing freedom fighters and other people during the Liberation War in 1971. So, the case should be transferred to the tribunal for its next course of action.
The complainant said on November 25 of 1971, the accused hacked Osman Gani and Golam Mostafa to death when they went to their houses to meet their parents and relatives.
PALLABI CASE
On January 25 of 2008, Mohammad Amir Hossain Mollah, a wounded FF and resident of Pallabi's Duaripara, filed the case with Pallabi police station accusing Nizami, Mojahid, five of their party men and three non-Bangalees for the massacre of 345 people during the Liberation War.
The other accused Quader Molla, Kamaruzzaman, Jamaat central leader and former Islami Chhatra Sangha president Sardar Abdul Salam and activist Khawza Ashim (now deceased), and Akhter 'Gunda', Newaz and Doma (non-Bangalees who later fled to Pakistan).
The complainant stated that the Jamaat men killed them in city's Mirpur area. The victims included 21 of his relatives, one colleague, 43 Mirpur residents and 280 others from different areas of the country on April 24 and December 18 in 1971.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Google Translate. For a map click here.
A message warning Mexican President Felipe Caldreon about the ongoing gun battles in Nuevo Laredo, was left on the hacked website of the Mexican Red Cross, according to Mexican press reports.
A hacker call himself "Etizx" warned that the Tamaulipas city of Nuevo Laredo was "hell."
Nuevo Laredo is currently undergoing a number of gun battles between civil and military authorities and drug gangs which have been raging since last week, including a hand grenade attack last Monday which killed one and wounded five.
Civilians in Nuevo Laredo are using Facebook and Twitter to communicate since information is so spotty about the firefights. Officials have been warning peopleliving in Nuevo Laredo to stay indoor while the battle continues.
Etizx asked "Where is the President(sic) of Nuevo Laredo?"
"If you (Calderon) come to Nuevo Laredo, no one is killing the Zetas, the Zetas are killing city dwellers."
Ther hacker warned the Mexican Red Cross not to remove the message.
A court late Friday evening ordered the arrest of 102 suspects in the investigation into the Sledgehammer Action Plan, a subversive plot allegedly prepared by a clique inside the military that included plans to crash Turkish jets and bomb large mosques at busy prayer hours to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) with the hope of eventually overthrowing it.
(CNN) -- A surprise appearance by WikiLeaks.org founder Julian Assange at the TED Global conference in Oxford, England, has cast new light on the activities of the site and its mysterious leader.
Assange's site, which released video of a U.S. air strike in Iraq that killed a dozen civilians, claims to have revealed more classified intelligence documents than the rest of the world's media combined.
Explaining during his appearance Friday why WikiLeaks has been keeping a lower profile since releasing the video, Assange said it was working on raising funds and strengthening its technical infrastructure to handle more traffic while accumulating "an enormous quantity of whistle-blower disclosures."
He later told reporters that "there are many things which are very explosive."
The U.S. Treasury Department has added three prominent members of the Taliban and its affiliate the Haqqani Network long after the Haqqani Network became a problem
to a list that prohibits any financial transactions with them by US citizens.
Those targeted "for supporting acts of terrorism" are Gul Agha Ishakzai, the head of the Taliban's financial commission; Amir Abdullah, former treasurer to senior Taliban leader Mullah Baradar; and Nasiruddin Haqqani but fails to blacklist the Haqqani Network as a whole in order to keep warm relations with Pakistan.
The Haqqani Network is based in Waziristan, one of Pakistan's remote tribal areas, and has recently been identified by US officials as one of the most effective and dangerous insurgent groups. It is led by Nasiruddin Haqqani's brother and has been blamed for several bomb attacks in Kabul in the last year. The Treasury Department says Nasiruddin has made several trips to the United Arab Emirates to raise zakat money for the Taliban.
US officials say Gul Agha Ishakzai is the head of the Taliban's financial commission and belongs to a council in Baluchistan, Pakistan that coordinates the collection of money. He is thought to be a close adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
According to a United Nations list, Amir Abdullah has traveled to the Gulf and Libya raising zakat funds for the Taliban.
Posted by: American Delight ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Thursday extended the term of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Paervez Kayani for three years starting from November 29, 2010. In a televised announcement, the Prime Minister said the decision to extend the term of COAS has been in consultation with the President Asif Ali Zardari Â'to ensure successful culmination of the ongoing war against terrorism'.
"The government is presently engaged in war against terrorism which is now in a critical stage," the Premier pointed out, adding, this requires continuity of military leadership under the present Army Chief who led successful operations in Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan.
He said the Army Chief, due to his professional capabilities and leadership qualities, is looked upon with respect and honor both domestically and internationally. The Prime Minister said the operations initiated against Army Chief remained engaged in the planning, execution and supervision of military operations, making possible success of the offensives launched against the militants.
General Kayani who succeeded Gen Musharraf as Pakistan's 14th army chief on November 29, 2007, is a recipient of Hilal-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) for his meritorious services. He served at various levels of command including his stint as Director General Inter Services Intelligence. Besides being Chief of Staff Corps, General Kayani has also held the coveted post of Director General Military Operations. General Kayani is a graduate of Fort Benning (USA), Command and Staff College Quetta, Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth (USA), Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii (USA), and National Defence College Islamabad. He possesses wide ranging experience in Command, Instructional and staff appointments and has commanded an infantry Battalion, Infantry Brigade, Infantry Division and a Corps.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will hold a meeting with the Head of al-Iraqiya List Iyad Allawi in the coming days, according to Adnan al-Seraj, a member of Dawlat al-Qanoon coalition.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had met Tuesday evening (July 20) for a second time since the vote with Ayad Allawi, a former interim prime minister and the head of the Iraqiya bloc.
Allawis mostly secular coalition won two more seats than Malikis Shiite State of Law coalition but neither won the majority needed to form a new government. Since the election, al-Malikis coalition merged with the other main Shiite bloc, the Iraqi National Alliance. But the mega-Shiite coalition still fell four seats short of a mandate.
Al-Maliki and Alawi agreed Tuesday to intensify dialog between the political blocs but both men say they should get the first chance to form a new government and both want to become prime minister. No deals were reached and the stalemate continues during a critical period for Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran fired a new salvo on Wednesday in what is becoming a bizarre propaganda war over the supposed defection and later return of an Iranian nuclear scientist, with Irans semiofficial media suggesting that he was a covert operative who had provided valuable information about the Central Intelligence Agencys inner workings.
American officials have said that the scientist, Shahram Amiri, was a C.I.A. informant for years in Iran, providing significant information about Irans nuclear program and voluntarily defecting to the United States in 2009. Mr. Amiri returned to Iran last week, saying he had been abducted and tortured by American authorities.
Iran now appears to be turning those claims around, casting Mr. Amiri whose fate seemed uncertain after his return last week as the double-agent hero of a plan to outwit American intelligence agencies and provide false nuclear data. His story is being made into a television movie by a company affiliated with Irans state network, said the semiofficial Fars news agency.
#1
...Was wondering if anybody over there has told Mr. Amiri that he'll be getting whacked soon by the 'CIA' in the form of guys who look a lot like Iranian security...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/23/2010 2:10 Comments ||
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#2
Somehow, I doubt he was a double agent. That implies he was working for both sides.
#3
Whatever happends, this guy is a dead man. The Mullahs will have him killed, and the CIA made sure that would happen by telling them how "helpful" he had been for years.
My guess that, as a double agent, he was a bust for the Iranians. Never got close enough to intel of interest to them to even speculate on it, let alone get first hand observation.
We should do this with the Gitmo detainees too. Make a big production of thanking them, give them each a hundred large, and send them home 1st class. They'd all be dead in a week.
The Islamofascisti all think just like Joe Stalin. Better they kill them than risk any possible threat to the regime, however small.
Posted by: B Dubya ||
07/23/2010 8:13 Comments ||
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#4
My guess that, as a double agent, he was a bust for the Iranians. Never got close enough to intel of interest to them to even speculate on it, let alone get first hand observation.
I don't think this was the Iranians' intent. Remember the politically disastrous CIA NIE from a few years back? I suspect he relayed all kinds of disinformation that the CIA lapped out of his hand in order to discredit W, probably to keep him out of their business. It also steered our ship in the wrong direction since then, getting us off the Iran's back for the last three years.
The only one going after him will be the CIA. Maybe.
i.e.: The CIA used it to keep W out of the CIA's business. Of course, they would have done that willingly, ignoring that pesky little consequences of Iran having an easier time getting the bomb.
But hey, what's more important? Turf wars or the safety of the American people?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday Lebanon's prime minister had informed him that a UN tribunal probing the 2005 murder of ex-Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri will accuse undisciplined members of his group.
"I was personally informed by Prime Minister (Saad) Hariri that the tribunal will accuse some undisciplined members" of Hezbollah, Nasrallah said in a press conference via video link.
In a speech earlier this month, Nasrallah accused Israel of interfering in the probe and slammed the tribunal's impending indictment as "fabricated."
Media reports last year said that evidence implicated Hezbollah in the assassination of former premier Hariri in a massive seaside bombing on February 14, 2005.
Nasrallah said the tribunal was part of a "conspiracy" against his group, Lebanon and the region, claiming that After Israeli and the United States failed to employ break up his group by force they are using other tactics to achieve that goal.
He added that Hezbollah would not hand in any of its members, disciplined or undisciplined, who may be accused by the tribunal. He accused international investigators of not being serious in their probe because they knew, he said, their probe was just procedural.
Nasrallah in March confirmed UN investigators had interrogated members of his Syrian- and Iranian-backed party but said at the time that Hezbollah was not in the tribunal's line of fire.
The Hariri murder has been widely blamed on Syria, a main backer of Hezbollah, although Damascus has roundly and consistently denied involvement.
A UN commission of inquiry had said it had evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services prior to the tribunal's formation, but there are currently no suspects in custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Afghanistan will become a new Vietnam for the US, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in an interview on Wednesday
"The Americans will have the same success in Afghanistan as in Vietnam," he told a Swiss television, a day after an International Conference in Kabul.
"Years ago, the Soviet Union made exactly the same mistake. Many people were killed and it finally pulled out," he said.
"History repeats itself. We know Afghanistan. We know that Afghanistan will never submit to foreign armies," he added.
On Wednesday a senior Iranian commander warned that the US and the newly appointed commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, would be overwhelmed by "terror" in Afghanistan.
While Washington has in the past accused Tehran of providing low-level help to some militants in Afghanistan, the former US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. McChrystal, said in May that most of Tehran's role was legitimate.
Meanwhile, Afghan analysts believe that Iran and Pakistan have a vivid meddling in domestic Afghan affairs and because Iran does not take an interest in Presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan, it want the west to leave the region.
"Unfortunately, our neighboring countries split Afghanistan into parts. Because they don't benefit from the presence of foreign forces in our country, they don't back their presence," said an Afghan analyst, Sayed Fazel Sancharaki.
"Iran and Pakistan tramples diplomatic ethics and their intervention in Afghan domestic affairs is very clear," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Since when do we listen to Iran, (not including Laugh-and-point).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2010 0:26 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.
The government has moved to modernise and strengthen the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) with formation of two more battalions and procurement of helicopters and bomb disposable equipments.
Afghanistan will become a new Vietnam for the US, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in an interview on Wednesday
