News of the Day for Sunday, July 22, 2012

Two NATO soldiers killed in an explosion today; a third died yesterday in a “rebel attack.”  As usual, no further information at this time.

Taliban execute 5 civilians in Jalrez, Wardak province, who they captured while returning from work at a NATO base. The bodies were found booby trapped. A sixth man escaped.

An Afghan couple flees to Pakistan, fearing the bride will be killed for marrying a man of her own choice. However, the Pakistani courts have yet to decide whether to grant the asylum or return them to the jirga of her relatives, who will likely murder her.

Pakistan plans to cancel refugee status for 3 million Afghans, who will face deportation at the end of this year. Excerpt:

Pushing the refugees into Afghanistan would be likely to create a new crisis for that country, already struggling with an insurgency and an economy almost entirely dependent on the western presence and the illegal drug trade. The west is pressing Pakistan to reconsider its policy, which puts it at odds with the United Nations and other international partners. The international community and the Afghan government have no strategy prepared to deal with any such influx of people.

However, Pakistan’s top administrator in-charge of the Afghan refugee issue, Habibullah Khan, the States and Frontier Regions Ministry secretary, told the Guardian that Islamabad would not relent. “The international community desires us to review this policy but we are clear on this point. The refugees have become a threat to law and order, security, demography, economy and local culture. Enough is enough,” he said.

Afghan security forces capture 6 insurgents in Kandahar province. Three of them are Pakistani nationals.

World Bank grants Afghanistan $125 million to improve rural roads. (Yeah, $125 million used to be a lot of money but that won’t go very far at all. See the excerpt below and think about it for a second. And remember they’ll have to spend more on security than they do on actual road building. — C ) Excerpt:

Today, Afghanistan’s tertiary road network is estimated at 80,000 km, of which only about 7,000 km are accessible to motor vehicles in all seasons; the rest are tracks mostly inaccessible to motor vehicles. Among the roads that remain accessible to motor vehicles all year, an estimated 5,000 km are believed to be in maintainable state, while the rest are in poor condition and need rehabilitation.

Shelling of Afghan territory from Pakistan continues, Afghan officials continue to complain.

Read more at Iraq Today