In a victory for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after weeks of bitter partisan struggle, Japan’s Diet Jan. 11 approved legislation reauthorizing the naval refueling mission that the Self-Defense Forces launched in 2001 in support of US-led military operations in Afghanistan…. Read moreJapan returns to Afghan mission
From the Asian Human Rights Commission, Jan. 2: The two daughters of Ms. Asma Jehangir, a well known lawyer, human rights activist and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of religion or belief, were assaulted and… Read morePakistan: ruling-party gunmen threaten Asma Jehangir’s daughters
Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi is completely shut down after rioters burned dozens of cars and set fire to stores in outrage at the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. All the city’s petrol stations are sealed off and… Read moreMusharraf behind Bhutto assassination?
Pakistan’s security forces have been waging a “secret war” in the Baluchistan region since the death of tribal leader Mir Balaach Marri in combat last month. Peter Tatchell writes in The Guardian, Dec. 21: “The often indiscriminate attacks on civilian… Read morePakistan’s army wages “secret war” against Baluchistan
“Al-Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Dec. 21. “There is no question that some of the areas in the frontier area… Read moreGates: al-Qaeda in Pakistan borderlands
The recapture of Musa Qala from the Taliban by British-led forces has resulted in many civilian casualties, local residents say. British military authorities report only two civilian dead in the battle—both children. But residents say they counted 15 women and… Read moreAfghanistan: civilian casualties in Musa Qala?
Faiz Mohammed Baluch and Nawabzada Herbiyar Marri, two exiled human rights activists from Baluchistan, were arrested Dec. 4 by London Metropolitan Police in a supposed anti-terrorist operation code-named “Super-Sweep.” Fellow rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “I know one of the… Read morePakistani Baluch activists arrested in London
However ugly the Taliban may be, there is a truly perverse sense of deja vu in watching British troops battle Pashtun insurgents. This would actually be “fourth time as farce,” given that there were three Anglo-Afghan Wars in the “Great… Read moreAfghanistan: Brits kill children —again
Pakistani security forces dynamited the homes of Maulana Fazlullah and his spokesman Maulana Sirajuddin Dec. 6 in the Swat Valley village of Imam Dehri, North-West Frontier Province. The Maulana’s madrassa was left intact. “The fate of the controversial seminary of… Read morePakistan: liquor found in raid on Taliban leader
An unpublished UN map leaked to the London Times in Kabul illustrates risk levels across the country for staff and aid workers with color shadings, revealing a sharp deterioration in security over the last two years. A similar map from… Read moreAfghanistan: no-go zones grow
Pervez Musharraf, who resigned Nov. 28 as Pakistan’s army chief, will be sworn in today as civilian president, resisting calls from opposition leaders to step down as head of state. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, former ISI chief, now takes over as… Read moreMusharraf becomes civil president; Taliban insurgency spreads
A suicide car bomber Nov. 27 detonated his payload near two armored vehicles used by US-led coalition troops in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and destroying the wall of a nearby house. The Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack…. Read moreAfghanistan: Hekmatyar, US air strikes kill civilians
