Afghan protest grows on Qur'an burning

Afghan demonstrators in Kandahar marched through the streets on Sunday, the third day of protests against the recent Qur'an burning in the US.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173160.html

Hundreds of students in Afghanistan have staged a fresh protest against the recent burning of the Holy Qur'an in the United States.

On Tuesday, the protesters gathered outside Kabul University to condemn the sacrilege of the Muslims' Holy book, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Protests against the burning of the holy Qur'an in a US church began in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday and later spread to all major cities in Afghanistan.

This is while in previous days, seven foreign workers of the United Nations were killed when a small number of furious protesters stormed the UN headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif. Also on Saturday, 16 people lost their lives and dozens more were left injured during anti-US rallies in Kandahar.

In Kandahar province, at least two policemen were killed and 30 more people wounded after anti-US protests turned violent.

On March 20, American Pastor Wayne Sapp burned a copy of the Holy book under the supervision of controversial preacher Terry Jones in Florida.

Jones provoked an international outcry last year after he announced plans to burn copies of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

30 killed in Afghan Qur'an burning march

Afghans shout anti- US slogans, behind a row of policemen, during a demonstration in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172989.html

At least 30 people have been killed and nearly 150 others injured in four days of angry protests in Afghanistan against the burning of a copy of Islam's holy book by an American extremist pastor.

More than 1,000 Afghans took to the streets in Mehterlam, east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday, pushing angry protests into a fourth day, a Press TV correspondent reported.

In Kandahar province, at least two policemen were killed and 30 more people wounded after the anti-US protests turned violent.

The angry Afghan demonstrators urged punishment for those responsible for the desecration of the holy Qur'an.

They also set fire to the effigy of US President Barack Obama and demanded American troops leave the war-wrecked country.

Earlier on Saturday, 16 people lost their lives and dozens more were left injured during anti-US rallies in Kandahar.

Similar protests have also been staged in the capital Kabul and other Afghan provinces, including Nangarhar, Laghman,and Mazar-i-Sharif.

Seven foreign workers for the United Nations were also killed when a small number of furious protesters stormed the UN headquarters in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday.

On March 20, Pastor Terry Jones, who had already caused an outrage worldwide by threatening to burn copies of the Qur'an last September, broke his earlier promise and burned the holy Qur'an after holding a mock trial at his fringe church in the city of Gainesville.

Pakistan deep in political turmoil

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157777.html


The Pakistani president faces political turmoil as he steps up efforts to prevent his ruling coalition from collapse after two major allies left the government.

President Asif Ali Zardari's ruling party is attempting to keep his coalition government intact as senior leaders are pressuring two opposing partners to rejoin the cabinet in meeting.

Zardari met with Faisal Sabzwari, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader, only days after the party withdrew from the government.

The MQM has decided in favor of the resignation of two of its ministers from the cabinet.

The Jamiat Ulema Islam party (JUI) also left the cabinet earlier this month.

The JUI's spokesman Hafiz Hussein Ahmad stressed that the party would only return to the government if the president dismisses Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) lawmaker, held crisis meetings with MQM and JUI leaders late Tuesday, urging them to support an increasingly unpopular government, AP reported.

Political analysts say the government will lose the majority in parliament if the two parties join the opposition.

The MQM, with 25 seats in the 342-member national assembly, represents the Urdu-speaking majority in Karachi and shares power in Sindh province and the central government

Pakistan opposes US military raids

Several Pakistani civilians have lost their lives due to the US non-UN-sanctioned attacks inside Pakistani territory.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156591.html


Pakistan has opposed any ground military operations in its territory by US troops amid reports of the US expansion of ground war into the Asian country.

Following a New York Times report on Monday about the US expanding of ground operations across the border into Pakistan's tribal areas, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday Pakistan is capable of confronting militants in its tribal regions.

On Monday, US military officials told the New York Times that American commanders had drawn up plans to attack militant hideouts in Pakistan.

In response to the newspaper report, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said, "Pakistani forces are capable of handling the militant threat within our borders and no foreign forces are allowed or required to operate inside our sovereign territory."

The United States has launched scores of airstrikes in Pakistan since 2008, but ground operations have been rare.

Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the aerial raids, saying the attacks undermine the Asian country's sovereignty.

Washington claims the air strikes target militants, however, most of the victims of US non-UN-sanctioned attacks in Pakistan are civilians.

Almost one-thousand Pakistanis have been killed in more than 100 US drone attacks during the past two years.

On Sept. 30, Pakistan, in retaliation to the surge in the US cross-border attacks, closed a key border crossing for 10 days to NATO supply trucks. During the closure of the route, militants intensified their attacks on the NATO trucks and oil tankers.

However, the September Pakistani move against the US-led forces did not stop the United States military from carrying out the drone attacks inside Pakistani territory.

'US to increase presence in Pakistan'

Pakistan says its security forces have killed or detained hundreds of militants over the past few years

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156222.html


Vice President Joe Biden suggests that the US is seeking increase its presence in Pakistan under the pretext that militants seek to “bring down” the Islamabad government.

"Our overarching goal and our rationale for being there is to dismantle, ultimately defeat al-Qaeda... to make sure that terrorists do not, in fact, bring down the Pakistani government, which is a nuclear power," Biden said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Suinday.

The remarks come days after US President Barack Obama blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to fight terrorism in its troubled northwestern tribal belt along the Afghan border.

This is while the US planes and helicopters have increasingly violated Pakistan's airspace several times over the past months.

The unauthorized US drone attacks have drawn strong criticism from the Pakistani people and officials.

In the latest developments, several non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks have killed at least 60 people in the Khyber Agency tribal region in the past week.

The US led the invasion of neighboring Afghanistan with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the region. Nine years on, however, the region remains unstable and militancy has expanded towards Pakistan.

Analysts say the US is looking for an excuse to expand its military operations in the troubled South Asian region to secure bases near Russia and China.

This is while senior officials in Islamabad have repeatedly said that the country's nuclear weapons are in safe hands.

Meanwhile, visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in a speech to Pakistani parliament countered US criticism and urged the international community to "endorse and support" Islamabad in its fight against militancy.

"Pakistan has given great sacrifices and made great efforts in the fight against terrorism. It is a reality...and the international community should respect Pakistan's efforts," Jiabao said.

US losing elite support in Afghan war

US troops in Afghanistan


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137206§ionid=3510203


The Obama administration has lost support of Washington's political elite for the war in Afghanistan, a senior political analyst has told Press TV.

“The political support in the elite has essentially dried up and there is really little chance that it could be successful in the future” said historian and investigative journalist Gareth Porter in an interview with Press TV.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday Washington would keep a large number of its troops in Afghanistan despite President Barack Obama's 2011 deadline for starting troop withdrawal.

The remarks echoed those of Vice President Joe Biden, who had earlier hinted that the number of American troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2011 would be as few as 2,000.

Porter further said, "[Former president of the council on foreign relations] Richard Haass and [former deputy security advisor] Robert Blackwell have written articles stating that Washington should withdraw from southern Afghanistan and hand it to the Taliban and say “that the game is over, more or less."

“There could be enough political support to carry out a successful strategy, even one which is reformed to recast as it was in Iraq in 2007,” Porter said.

With 66 fatalities, July set the record as the deadliest month for American forces stationed in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2001.

The rising number of casualties has increased opposition to the Afghan war in the US and other European states

US to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2011

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137062§ionid=351020403


US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says his country will keep a large number of its troops in Afghanistan even after President Barack Obama's 2011 deadline for starting troop withdrawal.

Despite mounting US casualties in the war-torn country, Gates said the US-led forces were making headway in the war.

"I think we need to re-emphasize the message that we are not leaving Afghanistan in July of 2011," Gates told ABC's This Week.

The remarks echoed those of US Vice President Joe Biden, who had earlier hinted that the number of American troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2011 would be as few as 2,000.

With 66 fatalities, July set the record as the deadliest month for American forces stationed in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2001.

Gate, however, downplayed the number saying, "We have warned about this for months, that this summer would be very difficult for us. But I think there are tangible signs that this approach is working, this strategy is working."

Meanwhile, the Netherlands is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. The Dutch troops joined the US-led war in Afghanistan back in 2006.

The rising number of casualties has increased opposition to the Afghan war in the US and other European states.

Afghans hold anti-US rally in Kabul

Afghan demonstrators hold posters of children killed by foreign forces at a demonstration in Kabul on August 1, 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137058&sectionid=351020403

Hundreds of Afghan demonstrators have taken to the streets of Kabul in protest to the deaths of dozens of civilians in US-led airstrike.

Over 200 people took to streets of the Afghan Capital on Sunday.

Protesters chanted "death to America" and carried signs bearing pictures of children killed in the country's volatile south.

On July 23, a NATO rocket hit a house where Afghan civilians had taken refuge from the exchange of fire between US-led foreign forces and Taliban militants in Helmand Province.

The Afghan government has confirmed that 45 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the attack.

Afghan officials including President Hamid Karzai have repeatedly condemned and called for an end to the US-led military alliance's attacks on civilians.

The protests come as the UN Human Rights Office in Afghanistan has voiced concern about civilian casualties in the country. The office has warned that the number of civilian deaths has been rising over the past 18 months

11,000 NATO containers go missing

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133101&sectionid=351020401

Reports say more than 11,000 containers bound for the US-led forces in Afghanistan have mysteriously gone missing over the past two years in Pakistan.

The containers filled with food and military equipment worth USD 220 billion have been illegally unloaded in Pakistan, sources said on Friday.

However, Pakistani officials put the number of missing containers at only 40 and blame corrupt customs department officials for the scam.

Reports say several Pakistani officials have been arrested over the missing containers. Many fear the items have been handed over the militants.

Pakistan, a US ally in the so-called war on terror, remains the main transit route for the NATO forces stationed in neighboring Afghanistan.

Trucks carrying supplies for foreign forces in Afghanistan frequently come under attack in Pakistan.

The developments also come after months after the disclosure that thousands of US weapons went missing in Afghanistan.

US military officials failed to keep proper records on about 87,000 rifles, pistols, mortars and other weapons sent to Afghanistan between December 2004 and June 2008.

Analysts say the weapons may have fallen in the hands of militants linked to the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.