Sunday morning roundup

Gregg Carlstrom | July 5, 2009 10:35 AM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

At least two British soldiers were killed yesterday in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. The troops are believed to be part of a broader U.S.-led push to secure the province. One was killed by a roadside bomb; the other, by a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

Fourteen workers from the U.N.'s mine-clearing center were abducted in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province; provincial police aren't sure who kidnapped them.

Israeli police arrested a Gaza man who they claim planned to set up a "terror network" in Israel. The man, Abd al-Rahman Talaalqa, was arrested by the Shin Bet security service after entering Israel from the Sinai. Talaalqa received military training from Hamas in 2006, according to Shin Bet.

Nine suspected Taliban fighters were killed in airstrikes in Pakistan's North Waziristan province. That's according to the Pakistani military; residents in the area say some of the victims were civilians. The air attacks are believed to be the precursor to a ground offensive against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Jordanian protesters demanded an end to the import of Israeli fruits and vegetables yesterday. Two of the 45 protesters were injured, and at least two of them were arrested by Jordanian police. The protesters say the imports support Israeli settlers; Jordan's agriculture ministry says none of Jordan's 3,600 tons of annual Israeli imports come from settlements.

Search teams have found signals from the black box from the Yemenia jet that went down over the Indian Ocean last week.

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Categories: Israel & Palestine, News Roundups, Pakistan, Regional News, War and Terrorism, War in Afghanistan

Tags: Baitullah Mehsud, Israeli settlements, Shin Bet

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Nuclear Negotiations

More nuclear posturing from Ahmadinejad

Evan Hill | February 7, 2010 3:20 PM | 4 | recommend (0)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking Sunday at the Exhibition of Iran Laser Science and Technology.
During a speech on Sunday, Ahmadinejad ordered the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency to figure out how to enrich the country's uranium to a more easily weaponized level. Some doubt that Iran even has the capability to carry out such enrichment, but the country's leaders likely hope that Ahmadinejad's remarks will give them leverage in negotiations with the West.

Helmand Surge, Take 5

Strategic communications, Taliban-style

Gregg Carlstrom | February 4, 2010 9:06 AM | 2 | recommend (0)
ISAF and Afghan soldiers on patrol in Helmand province last year. (Photo: Flickr user combat.camera)
ISAF has spent months hyping Operation Moshtarak as the mother of all battles. But why is the Taliban talking up the Marja offensive? To draw ISAF further into a battle that's likely to be expensive -- and unlikely to lead to any major strategic gains.

Iraqi Elections

Report: De-Ba'athification decision overturned

Gregg Carlstrom | February 3, 2010 8:57 AM | 0 | recommend (0)
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani at a press conference in Baghdad (file).
An Iraqi appeals court has overturned the de-Ba'athification commission decision that banned 766 candidates from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary election. The court's ruling does say that the once-banned candidates will be subject to judicial review -- for Ba'ath links -- if they win the election.

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