News of the Day for Sunday, August 11, 2013

Today in Afghanistan The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan accuses an Afghan contractor of defrauding the U.S. military of $77 million. There is of course, another side of this as well. According to IG John Sopko, Hikmatullah Shadman obtained contracts through rigged bids, bribery and kickbacks, in other words he presumably had co-conspirators in the U.S. military or DoD. SIGAR has not so far named any, however.

Update on three Chinese nationals are killed in a Kabul hotel room. Reports are somewhat confusing. This one says that a fourth Chinese man was abducted and escaped, and that a fifth is missing. Whether they were abducted from the same hotel room is unclear. The men are said to be independent small businessmen. Khamma news now reports that they may have been involved in prostitution. 

A provincial security official is injured by a roadside bomb in Paktiya province. His injuries appear to be serious. He has been transferred to Kabul military hospital.

Flooding problems continue, with 22 people now killed in flash floods outside of Kabul. There may be additional victims.

Fars news (which is not always reliable but appears solid here) reports that the son of female MP from Ghazni Bakht Bibi is kidnapped, and her son-in-law killed, when Taliban attack their convoy on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Six of the attackers and two bystanders are said to have died in a firefight with their guards.

Governor of Baghdis province claims Pakistani and Uzbek infiltrators have caused a sudden increase in insurgent activity. “The insurgents have reportedly extorted local residents of Bala Murghab and forced young boys to join their ranks or face death.” However, the local military commander says everything is under control.

What the heckis Wushu?

Today in Afghanistan