A schoolboy's report
Writing in the London Review of Books, Ed Harriman previews the report on progress Iraq that will be delivered by General David Petraeus will deliver to the US Congress in mid-September, musing that asking Petraeus to deliver the verdict on developments in Iraq is a bit like asking a schoolboy to write his own assessment.
terrorism.openDemocracy appraised Petraeus' chances when he was appointed as the top US military commander Iraq, warning that the surge was the wrong policy choice to make.
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The International Crisis Group has issued a detailed series of recommendations for the reforming and improvement of Afghanistan's police forces. Since the toppling of the Taliban and the subsequent resurgence of militants forces, Afghanistan's fledgling police forces have struggled to cope with the demands of a country still considerably militarised.
Canada has lashed out at Seoul for negotiating with the Taliban over the release of over twenty South Korean hostages.
Afghan government spokesmen claim that a high-ranking Taliban commander, Mullah Brother, has been killed in recent fighting. The Taliban strenuously deny the claim.
At least 25 Pakistani soldiers have been kidnapped by suspected militants in the rugged areas along the border with Afghanistan.
Mahdi Army freeze
US officials have welcomed the decision of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army to cease militant activities in order to purge rogue elements from its ranks. The freeze was spurred by recent clashes between Mahdi fighters and rival militias.
Peace conference draws to a close
Even as Somali government officials praised the concluding national reconciliation conference in Mogadishu, analysts argue that the conference was doomed to failure even before it started. Somalia's transitional federal government chose to exclude the Hawiye clan and the Islamic Courts Union - the two most significant rebellious factions in the country - from talks, leading the conference's critics to see little point in a process of "reconciliation" that lacked the main dissident parties.
Muslim protesters in Kenya denounced an allegedly brutal crackdown on their co-religionists in the country as part of a US-backed anti-terrorist drive in the Horn of Africa.
Once dissidents, now ambassadors
Nepal has moved closer to confirming three former Maoist rebels as ambassadors to France, Malaysia and Australia in a bid to further solidify the consensus of collaboration that has steered the Himalayan country away from a decade of civil war.
Terrorism financier close to Erdogan?
The right-of-centre Counterterrorism blog argues that alleged terrorism financier Yassin Qadi is using his close friendship with Turkish prime minister Tayyer Recep Erdogan to shelter his financial activities and projects from international sanction.
Indian nuclear policy gets Russian blessing
A key Russian think tank, the quasi-governmental Centre for Policy Research (PIR), has given its blessings to renewed nuclear collaboration with India. Moscow was wary of Washington and New Delhi's strengthened nuclear ties, but recent discussions suggest that the Russian policy-making establishment is willing to accept India's dealings with the US and move forward on Indo-Russian bilateral relations.
