Human Rights Watch called on the US government to make “fundamental changes to reduce civilian casualties” in Afghanistan after attacks last week reportedly left more than 140 dead.
Among the tens of thousands who have fled fighting in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and the adjacent Buner district are about 2,000 Sikhs who have taken refuge in a Sikh shrine in Hasanabdal.
The US announced the replacement of its commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, as rights groups demand a probe of white phosphorus use against civilians by US and NATO forces.
A US military contractor who pleaded guilty to the 2008 shooting of an Afghan detainee was sentenced to five years probation and a $12,500 fine.
Gen. David McKiernan, US commander in Afghanistan, told a press briefing that the mission there is likely to fail if militants continue to gain power in Pakistan.
Pakistani security forces backed by warplanes and helicopters launched a new operation in Buner district near the Swat Valley, bombing suspected Taliban targets. The Pentagon applauded the move.
The co-educational schools that the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) runs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan are under attack from Pakistan’s new Taliban movement.
Shortly after the Pakistani Taliban won their demand for Islamic law in the Swat Valley, they seized control of the neighboring district of Buner—after overwhelming a village militia.
A NATO airstrike reportedly killed six civilians, including two children in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, while the Taliban executed a young couple for attempting to elope in Nimroz province.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the April 12 killing of Sitara Achakzai, a women’s rights advocate in Afghanistan and a member of Kandahar’s provincial assembly.
US drone attacks on Pakistan’s northwestern borderlands are causing a massive humanitarian emergency, with up to 1 million displaced in recent weeks, officials in Islamabad claim.
