Taliban chiefs agree ceasefire deals for Afghan presidential election

[G_j]

Source: Guardian UK

Jon Boone in Kandahar
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 August 2009 20.07 BST



A series of secret ceasefire deals have been agreed with Taliban commanders to ensure that voting can go ahead in Afghanistan's volatile south during next week's presidential elections.

Under the deals, brokered by Ahmed Wali Karzai – the controversial brother and campaign manager of the president, Hamid Karzai – individual Taliban commanders will agree to pull back on election day and allow the Afghan army and police to secure the polling centres.

A Nato spokesman confirmed that a number of deals between the Afghan government and insurgents were in the pipeline, saying: "We support any initiative that enhances security and enables the people of Afghanistan to vote."

The US embassy has given its blessing to the plan, which was discussed last week at a joint meeting of the country's national security chiefs.

Many of the key negotiations with local Taliban commanders in the south are being handled by Wali Karzai, who is also the powerful head of Kandahar's provincial council. He is running his brother's re-election campaign in the southern Pashtun belt.

The Guardian was told by Wali Karzai that truces in some of the country's most violent provinces, including Helmand and Kandahar, would be announced in the next few days with individual commanders. The deal would allow for more polling stations to open: officials had said that as many as 700 of the country's 7,000 voting centres would stay closed.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/13/afghanistan-ceasefire-deals-presidential-election

[ohio2007]

1. Just another promise they'll keep prior to election day

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. Ahmed Wali Karzai is a drug dealer, warlord, and occupation lackey

Not sure which of the trine would be the worst quality, or whether they are actually just three sides of the same coin (makes for a funny-shaped coin, I know). That's what they mean by the sanitized euphemism "controversial".

[ohio2007]

3. 7 die, 91 wounded in blast near NATO HQ in Kabul

snip
Afghan security forces stopped the vehicle in front of NATO headquarters, and then the bomber detonated the explosives, Tremblay said.

"The security measures in place have stopped cold the bombers as planned," he said, calling the latest attack an example of the "residual risk" that remained despite the safety measures taken. "It's very difficult to stop a suicide bomber."

The blast killed seven Afghans and wounded 91, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said.

Four Afghan soldiers and Awa Alam Nuristani, a member of parliament and President Hamid Karzai's campaign manager for women, were among the wounded, the ministry said.

snip
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4015980

Article doesn't mention how many killed were women,children or even soldiers but in an interesting unrelated story.

snip

KHAWJA JAMAL, Afghanistan – Put on body armor, check weapons, cover head and shoulders with a scarf.

That was the drill for female American Marines who set out on patrol this week with a mission to make friends with Afghan women in a war zone by showing respect for Muslim standards of modesty.


The all-female unit of 46 Marines is the military's latest innovation in its rivalry with the Taliban for the populace's loyalty. Afghan women are viewed as good intelligence sources, and more open to the basics of the military's hearts-and-minds effort — hygiene, education and an end to the violence.

snip


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090814/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_woman_to_woman

Marines have an Amazon unit that will be upset the balance of power . Wonder what the women of NOW would say about this use of women in a combat role.

[ohio2007]

4. The Taliban in Afghanistan has threatened to cut off voters' fingers and attack polling stations in

The Taliban in Afghanistan has threatened to cut off voters' fingers and attack polling stations in its bid to force Afghans to boycott the presidential elections

snip

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4017227

but but but....they said they were going to allow the voting to go on yet they tip their hand ( pun intended ) as to what they plan to do when they get hold of those who voted.

nice