Pakistan

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Ex-PM Puts Power-Sharing Deal At Risk
Ex-PM Puts Power-Sharing Deal At Risk

Ex-PM Puts Power-Sharing Deal At Risk

Leader deposed by Musharraf to return to Pakistan, fight election

(Newser) - As Benazir Bhutto prepares to return to Pakistan in a possible power-sharing arrangement with Pervez Musharraf, a second former PM is also heading back to the country to unseat the general. In an interview with the Financial Times, Nawaz Sharif says that he will mount a campaign in the middle...

Musharraf to Share Power
Musharraf to Share Power

Musharraf to Share Power

Embattled US ally makes power sharing deal with Benazir Bhutto

(Newser) - Pakistan President General Musharraf,  a key ally of the US in the war on terror, will quit the army ahead of elections next year in a power-sharing deal with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The deal, brokered by the US and Britain, is aimed at solving a deepening political...

Poor Pakistanis Sell Kidneys to Rich Foreigners

Organ sales are still legal in Pakistan; prices are as low as $1,700

(Newser) - In the village of Sultanpur More, Pakistan, hundreds of people have long purple scars in their sides from selling their kidneys—for as little as $1,700—to pay off debts and to make dowry payments, the Chicago Tribune reports.  There are only a few countries that don't prohibit...

Exiled Ex-PM Allowed to Return to Pakistan

Court ruling another blow to Musharraf

(Newser) - Former PM Nawaz Sharif may return to Pakistan from exile, the country’s Supreme Court ruled today, dealing another blow president Pervez Musharraf. Sharif had already declared his intentions to challenge the "dictatorship" of Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in a 1999 coup, in upcoming elections. But Sharif, the BBC...

Pakistani Court Frees Terror Suspects

Bin-Laden go-between among dozens released before trial

(Newser) - Dozens of Pakistani terror suspects have been released from jail without trial following orders from the nation's supreme court that they be freed. The bold move by the judiciary against President Musharraf's tenuous rule is bound to elicit protests from the US and Britain. The most notorious prisoner released is...

Afghan Refugees Flooding Home, Some Forced From Camps

Mass repatriation may be new disaster

(Newser) - Afghan refugees are returning to their post-Taliban nation by the hundreds of thousands, and there are few resources to support them. Much of the repatriation is voluntary, the BBC reports, with newfound stability attracting Afghanis who fled as long as 25 years ago; others have been forced out of Pakistani...

US Presses Musharraf to Share Power With Rival

Bhutto as PM would signal change

(Newser) - To strengthen Gen. Pervez Musharraf 's shaky hold on crisis-rocked Pakistan, the US is pressing him to share power with his biggest rival, the New York Times reports. Musharraf is deeply unpopular, and the White House thinks his best chance of remaining president is to join forces with former PM...

No Terrorists at the Top of the Pops

Pakistani pop ballad deeper than it sounds, Salon 's Leonard says

(Newser) - A certain Pakistani pop song would be piffle if it were a love song, but it's not: it's an anti-terrorist ballad, an emblem of a “society-wide identity crisis,”  and as such it has meaning, writes Salon’s Andrew Leonard. Eight pop idols recorded the “We Are...

In Pakistan, a Birthday Marred by Violence

Nation turns 60 amid bomb attacks and political upheaval

(Newser) - Pakistan celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence today at a moment plagued by violence and shadowed by political uncertainty, the Independent writes. A roadside bomb killed four civilians yesterday near the border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban is allegedly regrouping. Attacks have multiplied since July from tribal areas to...

African Union Rejects Asian Troops for Darfur

Claims African countries can supply all 26,000

(Newser) - Asian troops promised by the United Nations for a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur won't be needed, the leaders of the African Union said yesterday; African countries  will supply all 26,000 peacekeepers, the BBC reports. But critics doubt that enough trained African soldiers are available for an effective force,...

Why Are We Losing Afghanistan?
Why Are We Losing Afghanistan?

Why Are We Losing Afghanistan?

Miscalculated and under-emphasized the country time and again

(Newser) - Critical misjudgments and a consistent refusal to commit resources undermined what appeared to be a US triumph in routing the Taliban in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports in a detailed analysis of how the "good war" seems to have gone bad. From Donald Rumsfeld’s early rebuff of...

Musharraf Talks at Peace Jirga
Musharraf Talks at Peace Jirga

Musharraf Talks at Peace Jirga

General meets with Afghan and Pakistani leaders to discuss extremism

(Newser) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf  today pledged to fight the "particularly dark form" of extremism that afflicts his country and Afghanistan, speaking to 600 tribal leaders from the two countries at the close of a peace jirga in Kabul, the AP reports. He said the rise of militancy is preventing...

Hillary to Barack: 'Don't Even Do as I Say'

Clinton chided Obama for untabling nukes— like she did last year

(Newser) - A year before Hillary Clinton blasted Barack Obama’s prohibition on nukes against Pakistan, she made one on using them in Iran. The AP reports the frontrunner’s head-shaking rebuke last week—no “president should make any blanket statements” about nuke use—doesn't jibe with her own position last...

Musharraf Backs Down From Emergency Rule

Under pressure, ruling general instead moves toward elections

(Newser) - After wide speculation that he would invoke emergency measures to deal with mounting violence and instability, Pakistan's president put out word today that he will stay the course on elections, Reuters reports. Beset by Islamic militants, constitutional challenges and declining poll numbers, Pervez Musharraf was thought to be on the...

Pakistan Braces for State of Emergency

Stock market reels as Musharraf prepares to expand his powers

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf held a meeting this morning to discuss the declaration of a state of emergency in Pakistan, says the Guardian. Although the government claimed that recent suicide attacks and recent belligerent talk from the White House—not to speak of the Barack Obama campaign—may necessitate emergency measures, opponents...

Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting
Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting

Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting

Pakistan chief snubs Afghan jirga; US claims 'good reasons'

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf has backed out of meetings with his Afghan counterpart in an abrupt snub that initially shocked Washington. Musharraf told Hamid Karzai he has other “engagements" at home in Pakistan and can't attend the meeting of tribal leaders intended to discuss military violence. The US is looking into...

Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran
Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran

Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran

Leaders discuss regional stability

(Newser) - President Bush and Hamid Karzai emerged from today's Camp David meetings together, but they've clearly parted ways on the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Iran's role in Afghanistan. Bush put the onus on Iran to demonstrate that it's not a "destabilizing force," the Washington Post reports, but Karzai is already...

Karzai to Meet With Musharraf
Karzai to Meet With Musharraf

Karzai to Meet With Musharraf

Feuding leaders will discuss quest for insurgents operating along shared border

(Newser) - Facing mounting US pressure to extinguish the Taliban and capture Osama bin Laden, dueling presidents Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai will meet this week to discuss anti-terrorism efforts, CNN reports. Karzai has criticized his Pakistani counterpart for failed efforts to crack down on terrorism, but today the Afghan leader praised...

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks
Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks

Delegation arrives in Afghanistan while Afghans, Taliban search for venue

(Newser) - South Korean officials are in Afghanistan seeking direct talks with the Taliban, Reuters reports, as the terrorist group and the Afghan government bicker over a venue for their own negotiations to free the  21 remaining Korean hostages. Two male members of the church group have been killed by the kidnappers.

Obama Talks Tough on Pakistan
Obama Talks Tough on Pakistan

Obama Talks Tough on Pakistan

Antiwar Dem flexes muscles, wants new troops to Mideast

(Newser) - Barack Obama said in a speech today he’d be tougher than Bush on Pakistan, and that he'd like to see the US troops that ought to be withdrawn from Iraq redeployed in Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan—with or without an invitation, the AP reports. The freshman...

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