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A "high-ranking" member of al-Qaida was seized during a recent US mission in Afghanistan which left five people dead. But the Americans were set up: The tip-off as to his location came from a drug clan who wanted to get rid of a rival. A secret mission by elite American Delta Force commandos in northern Afghanistan has triggered resentment among German forces, SPIEGEL has learned. An Afghan boy looks through a broken window at the site of the raid in Imam Sahib. The American forces were tricked by a drug clan into taking out a rival as part of an operation to seize an al-Qaida member. Now German soldiers are paying the price for the operation's civilian casualties. The raid took place on March 21 in Kunduz province, where German forces are helping with security and reconstruction. A US liaison officer asked the German reconstruction team to keep the Kunduz airport clear but said nothing about the impending mission. Around half an hour later, a Hercules transport aircraft landed at the airfield, together with a whole fleet of combat and transport helicopters, which then took off for the nearby town of Imam Sahib.
A "high-ranking" member of al-Qaida was seized during a recent US mission in Afghanistan which left five people dead. But the Americans were set up: The tip-off as to his location came from a drug clan who wanted to get rid of a rival.
A secret mission by elite American Delta Force commandos in northern Afghanistan has triggered resentment among German forces, SPIEGEL has learned.
An Afghan boy looks through a broken window at the site of the raid in Imam Sahib. The American forces were tricked by a drug clan into taking out a rival as part of an operation to seize an al-Qaida member. Now German soldiers are paying the price for the operation's civilian casualties.
The raid took place on March 21 in Kunduz province, where German forces are helping with security and reconstruction. A US liaison officer asked the German reconstruction team to keep the Kunduz airport clear but said nothing about the impending mission. Around half an hour later, a Hercules transport aircraft landed at the airfield, together with a whole fleet of combat and transport helicopters, which then took off for the nearby town of Imam Sahib.
The road passes a shimmering green mountain pasture, then dips steeply to a new US-built bridge. Across the languid Panj river is Afghanistan and the dusty northern town of Kunduz. On this side is Tajikistan, Afghanistan's impoverished Central Asian neighbour.It is here, at what used to be the far boundary of the Soviet empire, that the US and Nato are planning a new operation. Soon, Nato trucks loaded with non-military supplies will start rolling into Afghanistan along this northern route, avoiding Pakistan's perilous tribal areas and the ambush-prone Khyber Pass.This northern corridor is essential if Barack Obama's Afghan-Pakistan strategy is to work. With convoys supplying US and Nato forces regularly attacked by the Taliban on the Pakistan route, the US is again courting the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
The road passes a shimmering green mountain pasture, then dips steeply to a new US-built bridge. Across the languid Panj river is Afghanistan and the dusty northern town of Kunduz. On this side is Tajikistan, Afghanistan's impoverished Central Asian neighbour.
It is here, at what used to be the far boundary of the Soviet empire, that the US and Nato are planning a new operation. Soon, Nato trucks loaded with non-military supplies will start rolling into Afghanistan along this northern route, avoiding Pakistan's perilous tribal areas and the ambush-prone Khyber Pass.
This northern corridor is essential if Barack Obama's Afghan-Pakistan strategy is to work. With convoys supplying US and Nato forces regularly attacked by the Taliban on the Pakistan route, the US is again courting the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
this isn't new. what's awful is that the US still hasn't learnt a damn thing about how to behave when it's "winning" hearts and minds. But then again this isn't about h&m, it's about throwing your weight around cos you're "america" (f"ck yea !!) and you can do what you like when you like to whom you like and nobody will ever give a damn. keep to the Fen Causeway
Arab Leaders meeting in Doha, the Qatari capital, have rejected an international arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president accused of war crimes in Darfur. In a draft communique issued at the end of the first day of the 21st Arab League summit on Monday, the leaders said they considered the warrant to be in violation of the Vienna agreement of 1961. It stated that any efforts to address the situation in Darfur would need an agreement between all Sudanese factions, rather the trial of the president. Ibrahim al-Faqir, the Sudanese ambassador in Doha, told Al Jazeera: "We are very pleased at the Arab support to President al-bashir and we are hopeful to have the solidarity with the president in the final statement.
Arab Leaders meeting in Doha, the Qatari capital, have rejected an international arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president accused of war crimes in Darfur.
In a draft communique issued at the end of the first day of the 21st Arab League summit on Monday, the leaders said they considered the warrant to be in violation of the Vienna agreement of 1961.
It stated that any efforts to address the situation in Darfur would need an agreement between all Sudanese factions, rather the trial of the president.
Ibrahim al-Faqir, the Sudanese ambassador in Doha, told Al Jazeera: "We are very pleased at the Arab support to President al-bashir and we are hopeful to have the solidarity with the president in the final statement.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has stormed out of the Arab League summit in Qatar having denounced the Saudi king for his ties with the West. He disrupted the opening session by criticising King Abdullah, calling him a British product and an American ally. Col Gaddafi has angered Arab leaders in the past with sharp remarks at summits. Meanwhile, leaders have been urged to reject an international arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has stormed out of the Arab League summit in Qatar having denounced the Saudi king for his ties with the West.
He disrupted the opening session by criticising King Abdullah, calling him a British product and an American ally.
Col Gaddafi has angered Arab leaders in the past with sharp remarks at summits.
Meanwhile, leaders have been urged to reject an international arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.
"The time of the United States dictating unilaterally, the time where we only talk and don't listen is over" Biden said in Santiago after holding discussions with several Latinamerican leaders at the Progressive Governance forum in Chile. Mr. Biden represented President Obama at the Progressive Governance conference in Viña del Mar and on Sunday left for Costa Rica. "My visit here is just the beginning of a renewal of a partnership with the Americas. In the past, even when we engaged positively we tended to engage 'for' the (western) hemisphere. We're not engaging 'for,' this is 'with,'" Biden added. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet hailed the new US administration's "genuine wish to play a proactive and decisive role in the construction of a new world dialogue." US Vice-president Biden met with the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile during a two-day conference and before flying to Costa Rica for a Central American summit. However in Chile Biden reiterated that the Obama administration supported a change in policy toward age-old foe Cuba, but added: "we think the Cuban people should determine their own fate and that they should be able to live in freedom and with some prospect of economic prosperity".
Mr. Biden represented President Obama at the Progressive Governance conference in Viña del Mar and on Sunday left for Costa Rica.
"My visit here is just the beginning of a renewal of a partnership with the Americas. In the past, even when we engaged positively we tended to engage 'for' the (western) hemisphere. We're not engaging 'for,' this is 'with,'" Biden added.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet hailed the new US administration's "genuine wish to play a proactive and decisive role in the construction of a new world dialogue."
US Vice-president Biden met with the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile during a two-day conference and before flying to Costa Rica for a Central American summit.
However in Chile Biden reiterated that the Obama administration supported a change in policy toward age-old foe Cuba, but added: "we think the Cuban people should determine their own fate and that they should be able to live in freedom and with some prospect of economic prosperity".
Of course, not sure how a U.S. blockade allows Cubans to determine their own fate.
Fixed.
Apparently God did not make the commandment "Thou shall not commit adultery" clear enough. Hundreds of Jewish men and women who want to cheat on their spouses are flocking to a new Web site for ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking heretical hookups. Shaindy.com -- named for the founder's first mistress -- was launched March 19 by a modern Orthodox man from Midwood, Brooklyn, who says he got the idea from Hasids he met in chat rooms seeking adulterous action.
Hundreds of Jewish men and women who want to cheat on their spouses are flocking to a new Web site for ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking heretical hookups.
Shaindy.com -- named for the founder's first mistress -- was launched March 19 by a modern Orthodox man from Midwood, Brooklyn, who says he got the idea from Hasids he met in chat rooms seeking adulterous action.
The website has been already suspended...
Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission.
A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.
Los Angeles Times: Laura Bush Addresses State of Afghan Women (November 18, 2001)
Seeking to draw attention to the treatment of women and children in Afghanistan, the White House assigned President Bush's weekly Saturday radio address to First Lady Laura Bush, who said the war on terrorism was "a fight for the rights and dignity of women." Her speech--the latest in a series of steps by the first lady toward a more public role--was coordinated with the release of a State Department report condemning conditions for women and children in Afghanistan under the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terror network. The broadcast marked the first time a presidential wife has given the entire radio address alone. In June, the first lady delivered a portion of the weekly speech, in a commemoration of Father's Day. Nancy Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton also joined their husbands in delivering radio addresses.
Her speech--the latest in a series of steps by the first lady toward a more public role--was coordinated with the release of a State Department report condemning conditions for women and children in Afghanistan under the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terror network.
The broadcast marked the first time a presidential wife has given the entire radio address alone. In June, the first lady delivered a portion of the weekly speech, in a commemoration of Father's Day. Nancy Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton also joined their husbands in delivering radio addresses.
Prime Minister: Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud Vice Prime Minister: None Vice Premier and Regional Cooperation Minister: Silvan Shalom, Likud Defense: Ehud Barak, Labor Foreign Affairs: Avigdor Lieberman, Israel Beiteinu Finance: Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud Minister-without-Portfolio in the Finance Ministry: Yuval Steinitz, Likud Education: Gideon Sa'ar, Likud Justice: Yaakov Neeman, Likud Interior: Eli Yishai, Shas Industry, Trade and Labor: Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Labor Construction and Housing: Ariel Attias, Shas Public Security: Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel Beiteinu Transportation: Yisrael Katz, Likud National Infrastructures: Uzi Landau, Israel Beiteinu Health: Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud Agriculture and Rural Development: Shalom Simhon, Labor Communications (Media): Moshe Kahlon, Likud Telecommunications and Diaspora Affairs: Yuli Edelstein, Likud Tourism: Stas Meseznikov, Israel Beiteinu Environmental Protection: Gilad Erdan, Likud Science and Technology: Daniel Herschkowitz, Habayit Hayehudi Immigrant Absorption: Sofa Landver, Israel Beiteinu Culture and Sport: Limor Livnat, Likud Religious Services: Ya'acov Margi, Shas Pensioner Affairs: Michael Eitan, Likud Strategic Affairs: Moshe Ya'alon, Likud Minister-without-Portfolio for Intelligence Agencies: Dan Meridor, Likud Minister-without-Portfolio for Minorities: Avishay Braverman, Labor Minister-without-Portfolio in Prime Minister's Office: Meshulam Nahari, Shas Minister-without-Portfolio: Bennie Begin, Likud
Israel's new government has found itself in increasing turmoil even before it has been sworn in, with coalition partner Yisrael Beiteinu already threatening to pull out. The Yisrael Beiteinu website posted a statement on Tuesday warning that Avigdor Lieberman, the party's leader, would pull out if he is not given the foreign ministry as promised. Recent rumours have suggested Netanyahu's Likud party could reclaim the foreign ministry, having promised it to Lieberman, and award it to Silvan Shalom, a Likud official.
Israel's new government has found itself in increasing turmoil even before it has been sworn in, with coalition partner Yisrael Beiteinu already threatening to pull out.
The Yisrael Beiteinu website posted a statement on Tuesday warning that Avigdor Lieberman, the party's leader, would pull out if he is not given the foreign ministry as promised.
Recent rumours have suggested Netanyahu's Likud party could reclaim the foreign ministry, having promised it to Lieberman, and award it to Silvan Shalom, a Likud official.
"Anyone counting on the fact that Lieberman will be dismissed from the post following an investigation needs to take into account that (an investigation) would take at least 13 years," said a party spokeswoman who noted that investigations against the chairman had begun as early as 1996.
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