Fifth attack by Afghan security forces on NATO troops in a week

Spiraling violence

After a record four attacks by Afghan security forces on NATO troops last week, another Afghan policemen opened fire Monday on NATO and Afghan soldiers in the eastern province of Nangarhar, though NATO officials say no international service members were killed (AP, NYT). For the second time in one day Friday, an Afghan working with NATO forces opened fire on American troops at a military base in Garmsir district of Helmand Province, killing three of them (Reuters, AP, Post, LAT). In a similar incident on Saturday, a policeman opened fire on his Afghan colleagues at a checkpoint in a remote area of Nimroz Province, killing ten of them before being killed in the return gunfire (AP).

Afghan and NATO forces say they foiled a series of suicide attacks on Kabul planned for Sunday by militants linked to insurgents in Pakistan (AFP). Security forces captured five suspects who were "finalizing plans for an attack in the capital," and seized a number of explosives, suicide vest parts, weapons, and ammunition, according to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

A roadside bomb killed the Afghan government’s top official in the eastern province of Laghman on Sunday (AP). And another roadside bomb attack in the northern Afghan province of Takhar killed a district mayor and a local member of the government-run peace council on Monday, as well as three other people riding in the vehicle with them (AFP).

The head of Afghanistan’s corruption commission, Azizullah Ludin has asked Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal to step aside while he is being investigated for allegedly accepting money from Afghan businesses and moving tens of thousands of dollars out of the country (NYT). The Times’ Graham Bowley this weekend reports on the rare success story of 14-year-old Sahar Gul’s efforts to press charges against her husband and in-laws, who tortured her and locked her in a windowless room for months before the police finally rescued her last December (NYT). In July, three of her in-laws were sentenced to ten years in prison, though her husband and his brother remain at large.

Moving forward?

Afghan officials met secretly in June with the former deputy leader of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is in prison in Pakistan, in an effort to restart peace talks with the insurgent group (Reuters, AP, Dawn, The News). Afghan officials have long been calling for access to Baradar, and confirmation that the meeting has taken place could be a good sign both for reconciliation in Afghanistan and for Afghan-Pakistani relations. The AFP reports that talks between the two countries include discussions of Baradar’s release (AFP).

One person was killed and another injured in a landmine blast in the southern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday (The News).

Stardom

Speaking to Express News about the outcry over her Ramazan show "Astaghfar," Veena Malik defended the right celebrities have to discuss religion by saying that Pakistan’s mullahs try to be entertainers (ET). The often-scandalous Malik isn’t threatened by the criticism, though, saying "when you are a celebrity, there is propaganda and controversies…but I have never crossed my boundaries."