Female suicide bomber kills more than ten near Kabul Airport

Femme fatale

A female suicide bomber slammed a car laden with explosives into a minivan carrying aviation workers near Kabul Airport on Tuesday, killing at least ten people, nine of them foreigners (Post, CNN, BBC, NYT, Tel, AP). Hezb-i-Islami, a Pakistan-based militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in revenge for the anti-Islam video that has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.

Afghan police successfully dispersed protesters demonstrating against the incendiary film on Monday, with no reports of death or serious injury to either police or protesters (NYT). But the two "green-on-blue" attacks over the weekend, which resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers and two British soldiers, forced the U.S. military to suspend most joint field operations with Afghans (CBS, NYT).

The office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai released a statement on Monday saying that a judicial panel has ruled administrative detention of Afghan citizens counter to the country’s laws (AP). The announcement could further frustrate U.S. efforts to transfer Afghan detainees that it believes should remain held without trial. 

Giving in?

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told the country’s Supreme Court on Tuesday that he might consider asking Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, beginning with the withdrawal of a previous request that the investigations be halted (Reuters, ET, Dawn, Guardian, NYT, Tel, AP, WSJ, BBC). 

Pakistan has reportedly sent a formal request to the international police organization Interpol to draft legislation banning activities that "[disturb] interfaith harmony and ultimately hurt world peace," and blocking "sacrilegious materials" from being distributed on the Internet (ET, The News). The World Council of Churches pushed back on Pakistani anger over the contentious film, saying that the harsh wording and implementation of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which makes insulting Islam illegal, "amounts to harassment and persecution" (Reuters).

Cricket craze

The Afghan national cricket team will face India at their second successive Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka on Wednsday, having beat Sri Lanka in a match on Saturday (Reuters). Team captain Mawroz Mangal cites their success as the reason for the rise in cricket’s popularity in Afghanistan, estimating that more than 500,000 Afghans currently play the game.

— Jennifer Rowland