Daily brief: Drone strike in South Waziristan kills at least 10

Full steam ahead

Baitullah Mehsud’s reported death has apparently not stopped the U.S.’s drone strikes in Pakistan; at least 10 militants were killed in an early morning strike in a Taliban training camp in the same tribal agency that hosted the leader of the Pakistani Taliban (Geo TV). This morning’s strike hit a village, Kani Guram, four miles away from Ladha, the “small mountain town” in South Waziristan where Baitullah was reportedly killed last Wednesday (Dawn and AP).

Though news over the weekend suggested he had been killed in a succession battle, Hakimullah Mehsud, deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, told Reuters that he and Baitullah are alive (Reuters). However, the Taliban have failed to produce proof that Baitullah is not dead, and “it is not unusual for militants to claim that a slain leader is ‘alive’ while they choose a successor” (The Guardian).

Another Taliban spokesman has also claimed Baitullah, who was receiving a leg massage at the time the drone struck his father-in-law’s house last week, is ill but safe and will speak to the media once he’s recovered (CNN).

The opponent of my opponent is my ally

Hamid Karzai offered one of his rivals, the technocrat former World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani, a position in his cabinet if the incumbent Afghan president is re-elected on August 20 (Times of London). The offer — which both candidates admit was made, though they disagree on the precise details — may signal that Karzai is less confident of outright victory, as the third main contender Dr. Abdullah Abdullah gains on him with momentum.

President Karzai said he would invite Taliban militants to a loya jirga or ‘grand tribal council’ if he is re-elected and they lay down arms, despite yesterday’s attack on government buildings in a city just south of Kabul (AP and Quqnoos). Violence against candidates is rife, with several campaigners coming under fire on the election trail (Los Angeles Times). And though Afghan officials have taken the lead on the nuts and bolts of the election, the international community is still footing most of the $225 million bill.

A final list of which polling places in Afghanistan will be open on election day will be released on August 15; at least 22 of the polls in Kunduz, a comparatively calm province in northern Afghanistan, may be closed due to security concerns (Al Jazeera and Der Spiegel). Pajhwok Afghan News is featuring a useful primer on election logistics (Pajhwok).

Because of the uptick in election-related violence, Afghanistan’s government is trying out an effort to enlist tribal militias to fight the Taliban (Wall Street Journal). If the initiative is successful, the militiamen, who are paid some $150 per month, may be kept on permanently as protectors of their villages and neighborhoods.

That’ll do donkey, that’ll do

A corps of 3,000 donkeys has been drafted to help deliver ballots for Afghanistan’s presidential election to remote areas of the country (Los Angeles Times). Though fears of corruption and voting irregularities on election day are widespread, the donkeys will not get to cast ballots.

AFP/Getty Images