Daily brief: twin drone strikes slam NW Pakistan

Car bombs, drones, and floods

At least 20 people, including women and children, were killed yesterday when a car bomb with an estimated 400 pounds of explosives detonated at a police headquarters in Kohat in northwest Pakistan (CNN, Dawn, ET, NYT, AJE, Geo, AFP, AP, Tel). The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have reportedly taken responsibility for the bombing, their fourth claimed attack in the last several days (CNN).

A pair of suspected drone strikes has reportedly killed up to 14 alleged militants associated with the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, bringing the total number of reported strikes in the last week up to six (CNN, AFP, AP, BBC, Geo). In the Swat Valley, a Taliban spokesman has taken credit for the bombing of another girls’ school, saying the attack was in response to alleged military raids on mosques in the area (BBC, Daily Times). The Pakistani military has again declared Orakzai agency, where operations have been taking place for the last five and a half months, cleared of militants, 600 of whom were killed and 250 arrested (Dawn, ET).

Flood watch: The U.N. has estimated that ten million Pakistanis are without shelter following six weeks of flooding, and a spokesman confirmed cases of cholera in the country (Dawn, NYT). An area of Sindh is still under red alert for potential flooding, and a breach has flooded 25 more villages, affected some 20,000 people (Geo, Dawn).

Flashpoint

Indian police have reportedly arrested hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking protests in curfewed areas of Srinagar (AP, Hindu, AFP). The new police chief in Kashmir said Indian security forces are now using non-lethal means to control demonstrators in the valley, where 69 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since June (AP).

Too big to fail

After a dropoff in withdrawals from the struggling Kabul Bank yesterday, earlier today Afghan police from the country’s domestic intelligence agency beat back a crowd of hundreds of Afghan government employees seeking to withdraw funds before a four-day holiday (WSJ, Post, Reuters, FT). Guards from the National Directorate of Security also reportedly threatened to destroy cameras of journalists trying to cover the mob scene (Post).

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother Mahmoud, the Kabul Bank’s third largest shareholder, reportedly made a profit of nearly $1 million on the sale of a villa in Dubai that had allegedly been purchased with funds from the Kabul Bank (Post, NYT). Karzai commented, "What is wrong with this? I borrowed money from the bank and made an investment," and said he repaid the loan in full. The NYT reports on the complex connections between the Afghan president and his family, the Kabul Bank, and the family of the First Vice President, the Fahims (NYT).

Dispatch from the front

Some 10-12,000 Afghan soldiers and 5,000 police, backed by 15,000 international forces, are reportedly planning an offensive against 1,000 insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar, to be cleared within two to three months (AP, Reuters, McClatchy). NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday that NATO forces should be able to begin transitioning control to Afghans sometime next year, though didn’t specify when (AP). Rasmussen also said the Afghan government needs to "strengthen the fight against corruption" because "All these stories about irregularities and corruption are damaging for public support for our presence in Afghanistan" (Post).

The Journal interviews Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Afghanistan, who described a strategy of expanding "security bubbles" around the country, and said he wants to revamp how the U.S. assesses progress in Afghanistan, where he expects more violence in the coming months (WSJ). IED attacks have reportedly flattened out in the past year, though shootings are up.

The Taliban in Afghanistan have taken credit for a suicide attack this morning in the northern province of Baghlan, which killed two Afghan policemen (Tolo). Also in Baghlan, the Taliban warned that they will attempt to disrupt Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections next weekend; more than 900 of the country’s voting sites will be closed because of security concerns on election day, September 18 (Tolo, AP).

Britain’s envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, has just quit his post effective immediately after reports that he clashed with NATO and U.S. officials over talks with the Taliban (AFP, BBC, AP, Independent, Pajhwok). He will be replaced by diplomat Karen Pierce, who is already in charge of London’s Afghanistan policy; the Foreign Office said a separate special representative is no longer necessary.

Hollywood help

Actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie is in Nowshera in northwest Pakistan to visit victims of the flooding and raise awareness of the situation, which she called "extraordinarily complex" (AFP, ET, BBC, The News).This is her fourth visit to Pakistan.

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