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September 30, 2011

Afghan Gov't Reviews Taliban, Pakistan Efforts 
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The Afghan government says it is re-thinking its ties with Pakistan, as
well as negotiations with the Taliban, following a number of recent
attacks. A former Afghan president was killed last week during talks
with the Taliban while a number of people were killed in a Kabul attack
tied to the Pakistan-based Haqqani group. The Wall Street Journal
reports the Afghan government has decided to suspend a three-way effort
with Pakistan and the United States to hold talks with the Taliban. In
other Afghan news, the U.S.-led NATO occupation force has sparred with
U.N. officials over figures showing a surge in recent violence. On
Thursday, the United States disputed a U.N. report that violence has
increased 40 percent over the last year. At the United Nations, the U.N.
Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said that while
military incidents may have declined, civilian casualties are on the
rise.

Staffan de Mistura: "There is no question from a number point of view
that there has been a substantial reduction of military incidents so we
are not questioning those figures, and we are talking about different
figures. Now if you are asking instead whether there has been a decrease
or increase in civilian casualties, we will then have to say, and
everybody agrees, there has been a substantial unfortunate increase."



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