Karzai blasts US, NATO for 'using' Afghanistan, announces Taliban talks (The Christian Science Monitor)

By Tom A. Peter Tom A. Peter – Sun Jun 19, 12:22 pm ET

Kabul, Afghanistan – In what’s become a familiar pattern, Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered a speech on Saturday afternoon blasting the US and NATO for “using our country.”

a€?The nations of the world which are here in our country are here for their own national interests,a€

Since March, he has called on the US and NATO to stop operations here (only to later clarify that he meant operations that result in civilian casualties) and given them a stern ultimatum to stop killing civilians. Shortly after each controversial speech, he usually reaffirms ties with NATO and the US.

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Karzai’s tendency to oscillate between positions at either end of the spectrum has confounded and irked friend and foe alike, leading to speculation among American diplomats that he may be struggling with a mental illness. But some Afghans say that the main problem could be that Afghans leaders – traditionally used to tailoring their messages to navigate shifting allegiances – are just not used to coping with modern, international media that stand ready to expose any contradictory remark.

“Currently some politicians are the same as Karzai, but the media is not focusing so much on small politicians. Karzai is the president and has the most media coverage,” says Babrak Shinwari, a former member of parliament from Nangarhar province. “I would suggest that he use only written speeches and does not deviate from them. When he goes off script, he says anything and that’s why it brings the mistrust of the regional countries and the international community on Karzai.”

Fluid allegiances, competing messagesThroughout history, Afghans have been notorious for working with competing sides and changing allegiances when it becomes clear their rivals are becoming more powerful. For Afghan politicians, this has meant a history of working closely with rivals and communicating sometimes seemingly competing messages to different audiences.

This strategy, however, encounters serious problems when politicians make remarks intended to appeal to a specific audience in the presence of media who broadcast the remarks countrywide and sometimes internationally. Additionally, as the media has grown substantially since the fall of the Taliban, Afghans have become more savvy about leaking select information to journalists.

In this climate, Karzai’s remarks about NATO are likely intended to win support among Afghans, but when disseminated to an international audience they create major problems.

'People are confused' Still, many Afghans say this is no excuse for Karzai’s seemingly erratic remarks.

“Media should be considered a given in today’s world and today’s society," says Daoud Sultanzoy, a former member of parliament from the eastern province of Ghazni. "Leaders have to adjust to that, to the freedom of the media, to the freedom of expression.”

Even among Afghans familiar with leaders who flip flop as political tides turn, Karzai’s behavior is seen as confusing and difficult to read. In a nation where 72 percent of the population is illiterate, many Afghans still follow radio and television news closely and hear the president’s contradictory remarks.

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“People are confused," says Izzatullah Wasifi, Afghanistan’s former anti-corruption chief. "They can’t understand what are his motivations, what are his motives, what is his strategy, and where does he want to take this nation?”

Karzai's increasingly blunt criticism of NATO and US efforts led American Ambassador Karl Eikenberry to issue a rare response Sunday at appearance before students at Herat University.

“When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost — in terms of life and treasure — hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest, and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people," said Mr. Eikenberry, without mentioning Karzai by name, "they are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here.”

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Group claims responsibility for Nigeria blasts (AP)

ABUJA, Nigeria – A suicide bombing blamed on radical Islamist militants killed at least two people in the parking lot of the police headquarters in Abuja Thursday, police said, the latest deadly bombing to roil the capital of Africa's most populous nation.

Another blast Thursday in the country's restive northeast killed three children and was also blamed on the radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram.

Abu Zaid, a man claiming to speak for Boko Haram told the BBC's Hausa language service that the group is responsible for the blast that hit the Abuja police headquarters 8:45 p.m. Zaid's voice was not broadcasted on the radio show. He did not specify that it was suicide bomb.

"They have been issuing threat upon threat," said Nigeria's national police spokesman, Olusola Amore, who blamed the rare suicide bombing on the group.

In a leaflet attributed to Boko Haram and distributed to journalists in Maiduguri Wednesday, a man claiming to be a Boko Haram spokesman warned that the group would launch more attacks after being angered by comments from the national police chief. Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim said during a visit to the northeastern city of Maiduguri Tuesday that "the days of Boko Haram are numbered." His office is at the police headquarters in Abuja.

The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the statement that also warned residents of all northern states, including the district where Abuja is located, to stay indoors to avoid getting caught in the violence.

Boko Haram, whose name in Hausa means "Western education is sacrilege," has campaigned for the implementation of strict Shariah law. The group is responsible for a rash of killings which have targeted security officers, politicians and clerics in Nigeria's restive north over the last year. Most attacks have occurred in the Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri, about 540 miles (872 kilometers) from Abuja.

"If it is Boko Haram, it is clearly a new trend," said Nigerian criminologist and security consultant Innocent Chukwuma, who also heads a foundation that works on police reform. "The group had been carrying out guerrilla-type attacks."

"This could be the first real suicide attack in Nigeria's extant memory," he said. "There have been a number of cases that you can describe as near-suicide, but the cases were not concluded by the police."

Other blasts targeted two police stations and a church on June 7 in Maiduguri, and an attacker died in the car that carried one of the explosives. Police, however, said that his death was accidental.

Nigeria has experienced a rise in bomb attacks in public spaces over the last year, but suicide bombings are practically unheard of.

Amore said Thursday's blast killed the suicide bomber and a traffic warden who rode in the car to show the driver where to park. He said the police had recovered the body of the suicide bomber and started an investigation.

Nigerian Red Cross Umar Mairiga said that nine people have been hospitalized. He said at least two people had died, but it was difficult to confirm a final tally of those killed. Five bags of body parts were recovered from the scene of the blast that left bodies dismembered in the headquarters' parking lot, he said.

Police said 33 cars had been damaged beyond repair and 40 more had been partially damaged by the explosion. The police headquarters building was not affected by the blast.

Attacks on the capital in recent months include a bomb that exploded on New Year's Eve in an open-air beer garden and market at an army barracks in the capital, killing at least four and wounding at least 21, police said.

Dual car bombings killed at least 12 people during Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary celebrations in Abuja on Oct. 1. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the dominant militant group in the Niger delta region, claimed responsibility for the anniversary attacks.

Meanwhile Thursday, Borno state police chief, Mohammed Abubakar, said three children were killed in an explosion that hit a house in the town of Damboa, about 54 miles (87 kilometers) south of Maiduguri.

Abubakar said the children were playing near the house, and another has been hospitalized. Police also blame Boko Haram for the blast.

Boko Haram's attacks had been restricted to Nigeria's northeast until last month when a man claiming to speak for the group told the BBC's Hausa language service that it was responsible for three blasts that hit the northeastern city of Bauchi, the north-central city of Zaria and a town near the capital. Nigeria's National Emergency Agency said the attacks killed 18 people hours after Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan was inaugurated into office.

Jonathan told journalists at the U.N. headquarters in New York on June 8 that he was willing to negotiate with Boko Haram members. The governor of Borno state had previously offered the group an amnesty to calm tensions in the state.

"The bombing in Abuja also signals that Boko Haram is unlikely to accept the amnesty offers," said Alex Thurston, a Northwestern University academic on reformist Islam and electoral politics in northern Nigeria. "Boko Haram's harsh rhetoric and continuing attacks mean that it still views itself as being locked in an armed struggle with the state."

In July 2009, sect members attacked local police stations and government buildings throughout northeast Nigeria. The riots brought a crackdown by Nigeria's military and left more than 700 dead. Boko Haram was then thought to be vanquished after its leader was arrested and died in police custody. But now, Maiduguri and surrounding villages again live in fear of the group, whose members have assassinated Muslim and Christian clerics, police and local leaders and engineered a massive prison break.

___

Associated Press writer Njadvara Musa in Maiduguri, Nigeria and Yinka Ibukun in Lagos, Nigeria contributed to this report.

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Zuma blasts NATO actions in Libya

(CNN) -- The president of South Africa lashed out Tuesday at NATO's enforcement of the U.N. resolution authorizing the organization to act to protect innocent civilians threatened by Libya's civil war.

"We strongly believe that the resolution is being abused for regime change, political assassinations and foreign military occupation," said Jacob Zuma at a budget vote debate before the National Assembly in Cape Town.

"These actions undermine the efforts of the African Union in finding solutions to the problems facing its member states," he said in an appeal that called on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and called further for reform of the U.N. Security Council.

When the council adopted the resolution in March, it was backed by the Arab League and supported by African countries in the council. But Zuma said NATO's actions have exceeded the authority that the resolution granted.

Arab Spring unrest, country by country

"We have spoken out against the misuse of the good intentions in Resolution 1973," said Zuma, who led two African Union delegations to Libya, where he met with leader Moammar Gadhafi in failed attempts to broker a cease-fire.

Unlike some other world leaders, Zuma has not called for the longtime leader to step down. Neither has Zuma's African National Congress party nor the African Union, which he was representing and which Gadhafi once led.

The AU also has criticized the NATO airstrikes.

In April, Zuma led an AU delegation to Tripoli, Libya's capital, where hopes were raised briefly when it was announced that Gadhafi had agreed, in principle, to the AU's "road map" proposal for peace.

But Gadhafi continued his attacks and the Libyan opposition rejected the proposal because it did not meet its demand that he give up the power he has held for 42 years.

U.S. officials and those of some other countries have called for Gadhafi to step down.

Separately, NATO refused to say Tuesday whether it would bomb ancient Roman ruins in Libya if it knew Gadhafi was hiding military equipment there.

Time magazine gallery: Libya's stunning Roman ruins

"We will strike military vehicles, military forces, military equipment or military infrastructure that threaten Libyan civilians as necessary," a NATO official in Naples, Italy, said, declining to give his name in discussing internal NATO deliberations.

But he said the alliance could not verify rebel claims that Libya's leader may be hiding rocket launchers at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Leptis Magna, a Roman city between the capital of Tripoli and rebel-held Misrata.

Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken, a spokesman for NATO's Libya mission, later said it "would be a concern for us that Gadhafi and pro-Gadhafi forces would choose to contravene international law in hiding themselves in such a location."

And, he said, "If we were to take on any targets, we would consider all risks." But he underscored that NATO could not confirm that weapons might be placed at the heritage site.

The Bracken briefing came a day after a top British military officer acknowledged that the bombing campaign was straining British resources.

"If we do it for longer than six months, then we have to reprioritize our forces," Adm. Mark Stanhope said Monday.

"That does not mean we won't be doing it," he added.

NATO recently extended its mission -- officially to protect civilians in Libya from Gadhafi's efforts to crush an uprising that has left rebels in control of parts of the country -- for another 90 days, into September.

British Minister of Defense Liam Fox said Tuesday that the Libya mission showed "how capable we are" and emphasized that the United Kingdom has the world's fourth-largest military budget.

Concerns over British capabilities were voiced as concern mounted in Washington about U.S. President Barack Obama's failure to seek the approval of Congress for the U.S. military action in Libya.

"I think he should," Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told CNN's "Situation Room" on Tuesday.

Boehner: Possible violation of War Powers act?

Asked whether Obama was violating the law by not having sought a formal authorization, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said, "I think that you could make that argument, but it's also true that other presidents have ignored the War Powers Act in one way or another."

Still, any prohibition of ground troops would be not only inappropriate but unconstitutional, the decorated Vietnam War veteran added. "I believe that, if the Republicans continue to push such a thing, it could be viewed as partisanship in my view, because no one, no one believes that we are going to send ground troops into Libya. So, to have a, quote, prohibition for that could only mean that we are somehow taking shots at the president."

He predicted that the White House would send to Congress a report "and lots of information about what we've done" in the next day or so.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said late Tuesday that the information would probably be delivered to members of Congress on Wednesday.

"We are in the final stages of preparing extensive information for the House and Senate that will address a whole host of issues about our ongoing efforts in Libya, including those raised in the House resolution as well as our legal analysis with regard to the War Powers Resolution," he said.

Also Tuesday, Germany's foreign minister visited the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi, and rebels reported progress against government forces in western mountain cities.

Guido Westerwelle said Germany had formally recognized the rebel Transitional National Council as the representative of the Libyan people, putting Berlin in line with the United States, France, Italy and a handful of other countries.

CNN's Brent Swails, Damien Ward, Laura Perez Maestro, Salma Abdelaziz, Frederik Pleitgen and Kareem Khadder contributed to this story.

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34 killed in blasts at Pakistani market

Pakistani security officials examine the site of twin bomb blasts in Peshawar early Sunday.NEW: Peshawar and the region have experienced a wave of violenceSuicide bomber set off explosives after first blastOne of the explosions occurred in a restaurant restroomThe blasts went off within minutes of each other, officials say

(CNN) -- At least 34 people were killed and 94 injured after twin explosions rocked a market in the Sadar area of Peshawar, Pakistan, authorities said early Sunday.

The first blast, relatively small, went off in the restroom of a restaurant in the crowded Khyber Super Market, according to Shafqat Malik, chief of bomb disposal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

People gathered at the scene and many were casualties after a suicide bomber on a motorbike arrived at the restaurant minutes later and set off explosives, Malik told CNN.

Muhammad Ejaz Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar, said about 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the second blast.

The neighborhood is a residential area popular with single professionals and students. It features hotels and shops.

Saif Ul Islam Saifi, president of the press club in Peshawar, said one journalist was killed and nine others were hurt. A provincial minister said two journalists died. There are several media offices in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Peshawar and the surrounding region have been swamped by a wave of violence in recent months.

Just a week ago, on June 5, at least 19 people were killed and dozens wounded at a bakery in the town of Nowshera, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) east of Peshawar.

That same day, three women and a child were among those killed in an explosion at a bus stand in Matni, 13 miles (22 kilometers) from Peshawar.

On May 25, a suicide bomber rammed a police station in Peshawar, killing at least seven police officers. Officials said about 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of explosives were packed into a minitruck.

More than 60 militants attacked a security checkpoint near Peshawar on May 18. Ten militants and at least two security personnel were killed in the ensuing gun battle.

A roadside bomb was planted near the Peshawar home of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province's agriculture minister on May 8. It detonated as guests were leaving the minister's house, injuring at least four people.

A 12-year-old boy died in a suicide blast April 1 in a town about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Peshawar.

On March 9, at least 37 people were killed in a suicide attack on the funeral of the wife of a pro-government militia member. A suicide bomber detonated explosives during a funeral procession on the outskirts of Peshawar.

Eight girls were injured on March 1 when militants on motorbikes threw grenades into a girls' school in Mardan, nearly 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Peshawar.

More than two dozen militants wielding automatic weapons attacked NATO oil tankers on February 25, at a terminal on the outskirts of Peshawar. Four people were killed and explosive devices were planted under a dozen tankers.

On February 10, a teenage suicide bomber killed at least 27 army recruits in Mardan. The suicide bomber was about 14 and was wearing a school uniform when he detonated his explosives in a military training center.

A powerful car bomb rocked a neighborhood on the outskirts of Peshawar on February 2. At least nine people were killed and 21 injured.

Police were the target of a double attack in Peshawar on January 31. A bomber walked in front of a marked police van and blew himself up, killing at least four. Another police officer was killed by a bomb while on patrol hours later.

A remote-controlled bomb exploded near a school in Peshawar on January 19. At least two people were killed and 10 wounded.

Another school bus was hit by a remote-controlled bomb on the outskirts of Peshawar on January 12. The bus was carrying female teachers and students. Two teachers were killed and seven students wounded.

Journalist Lehaz Ali contributed to this report.

CNN

Blasts in Tripoli as NATO strikes go on

Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim shows the damage to the General People's Congress -- Libya's parliament.NEW: At least 10 loud blasts are heard in TripoliNATO spokesman says report is "bogus"Libyan officials say NATO airstrikes have damaged facilities and killed hundreds of civiliansNATO says it is making "significant progress" in protecting Libyan civilians

Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- A series of loud bomb blasts rang out in Tripoli Tuesday morning -- some seeming to come from near Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound as NATO's air campaign continued.

At least 10 blasts were heard in Tripoli and dark smoke hung in the air in the area near the compound. It was unclear, however, what exactly the bombs had struck.

Earlier Tuesday morning, Libyan state television showed images of destroyed buildings, damaged studios and satellite vehicles -- saying it was the aftermath of a different NATO airstrike that allegedly hit its facilities in Tripoli.

NATO disputed the account.

"We did not target or hit the Libyan broadcast facilities. What we did target was the military intelligence headquarters in downtown Tripoli," the alliance said. "The story coming from Libyan officials that we targeted and hit the state broadcaster's building is bogus."

The back and forth between Libyan officials and NATO continues a public relations war between the two sides.

Libyan officials have continually charged that NATO airstrikes have damaged civilian facilities and killed hundreds of civilians.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said recently that his forces have made ""significant progress" in its U.N. Security Council mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

This week, the Libyan government said it had evidence that alliance airstrikes were harming civilians.

Officials took journalists to Tajura, a city east of Tripoli, to show them a small crater which held what appeared to be the remains of a rocket.

The reporters were also taken to some nearby homes that thMe government said was damaged by airstrikes.

NATO, reached later by phone, said it had been active in the area hitting military sites but it could not confirm the attacks caused the damage in the residential area.

The group was then taken to a nearby hospital to see Nasib, a comatose baby -- a victim of the airstrikes, the government claimed.

A woman, whom the government said was Nasib's mother, cried over the child's listless body.

Journalists were not allowed to talk to the grieving woman or doctors. But a doctor quietly slipped a note to one of the journalists.

The girl was injured in a car accident, the note said, and not a bomb attack.

CNN's Dan Rivers and Jonathan Wald contributed to this report.

CNN