Daily brief: Iran accused of arrangement with al-Qaeda

Let’s make a deal

The U.S. Treasury Department levied sanctions against six alleged members of al-Qaeda Thursday, saying that they were part of a network moving money, personnel, and facilitators into Afghanistan and Pakistan with the permission of the Iranian government (Treasury, NYT, Reuters, Post, Tel, TIME, WSJ, Bloomberg). The individuals named include Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, referred to as a "prominent Iran-based al-Qaeda facilitator," as well as Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, an al-Qaeda leader who according to the Treasury statement was formerly the group’s "emissary in Iran" (AFP).

In a speech Thursday to the Aspen Security Forum, former National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) director Michael Leiter warned against the persistent threat posed by the group (NYT).

Hurry up and wait

Joshua Partlow reports that the negotiations for a "strategic partnership" between the United States and Afghanistan have stalled, despite much of the agreement already being worked out (Post). Unresolved sticking points are said to include Afghan requests for advanced weapons, such as F-16 fighter jets and Abrams tanks, as well as issues related to control over detention and key security operations, and lingering questions about long-term support for Afghan forces and efforts to reform the Afghan government.

As many as 23 people were killed in two separate incidents in Helmand province Thursday, as a minibus and a tractor reportedly struck separate roadside bombs (NYT, BBC, AFP, AP). And the death toll in an attack by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen against a government compound in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tarin Kowt has risen to at least 22, including BBC journalist Ahmed Omed Khpulwak (BBC, Tel, AFP, Guardian, NYT, WSJ, McClatchy).

A defense committee in Britain’s parliament released a report yesterday indicating that the country had spent £18 billion, or nearly $30 billion, in Afghanistan (Tel, Guardian, Independent). And an audit released Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that poor oversight of insurance for U.S. government employees and contractors in Afghanistan has wasted tens of millions of dollars, while some people serving in dangerous areas lack the necessary insurance altogether (AP).

Further investigations

The judicial commission looking into the life and death in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden will reportedly call the head of the country’s Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, to testify next week (ET). And Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Thursday that Pakistan would resolve its differences with the United States, a move he said was supported by the country’s powerful military (Dawn).

Seven more people have been killed in Karachi, while the promise of development money and other incentives has brought a tenuous peace to the city’s restive Lyari district (ET, ET). A NATO tanker truck was destroyed in Baluchistan, where investigations continue into the torture, forced disappearances, and murder of local activists and rebels (ET, Guardian, ET). The Tribune reports on a government ordinance passed Thursday giving Pakistan’s security forces nearly unlimited power while fighting terrorism in the country’s tribal areas (ET). And Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik told a London audience Thursday that a Lahore center for the missionary group Tablighi Jamaat is a "breeding ground" for radicals, while Pakistani Islamist leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman accused the military of shutting down religious schools and threatening Islamic scholars in Khyber-Puktunkhwa province (The News, Dawn).

Tehrik-i-Taliban commander Wali Ur-Rehman told the AP Thursday that the group has custody of two Swiss tourists kidnapped in Baluchistan, but that they will be freed in exchange for Pakistani nuclear scientist Aafia Siddiqui (AP).

Three stories round out today: The AP reports on the vastly different fates of two villages in Punjab province a year after devastating flooding struck Pakistan (AP). Pakistan’s government acknowledged Thursday that cuts made to the country’s Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) contributed to Pakistan’s economic malaise, as well as energy and water shortages (Dawn). And in order to promote financial austerity, the government of Punjab has banned government-funded trips abroad for parliamentarians and other benefits, while also dictating that only "tea and biscuits" can be served at government receptions (ET).

Flashpoint

Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar prayed for peace yesterday at a renowned shrine in India, before returning to Pakistan and calling for "uninterrupted" talks with India (Dawn, ET, ET). Bonus read: Luv Puri, "India and Pakistan’s surprisingly successful negotiations" (FP).

The Indian army announced Thursday that a soldier had been killed while fighting rebels near the border that separates Indian-administered from Pakistani-administered Kashmir (AFP). And the only surviving gunman involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Pakistani Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, has appealed his death sentence in the case to India’s supreme court (BBC, AP).

Hoop dreams

The Times reports on the travails and triumphs of Afghanistan’s national basketball team, which won a gold medal at last year’s South Asia games but struggles with problems of funding, travel, and even getting the chance to practice together (NYT). The team, which hopes to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, is made up of Afghan-Americans who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from Afghanistan.

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