Bin Laden son-in-law to have New York trial

New Posts: Shamila N. Chaudhary, "Is Pakistan’s military out of politics for good?"(FP). Konstantin Kakaes, "Eye in the Sky: Rand Paul’s drone delusion" (FP).

Due process

One of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-laws, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, has been arrested in Jordan and brought to the United States to face terrorism charges in New York (NYT, Post, BBC, AP, CNN, Reuters, LAT). Abu Ghaith appeared alongside bin Laden in a propaganda video released shortly after 9/11, but the indictment unsealed Thursday contains no allegations that he was involved in plots against the United States. Bonus read: Peter Bergen, "Trying Osama’s son-in-law in New York makes sense" (CNN).

The United States Senate voted 63 to 34 on Thursday to confirm President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, John Brennan, following a rocky and frequently delayed confirmation process that threw the CIA drone program and use of enhanced interrogation techniques into the spotlight (NYT, LAT).

Targeted bombings?

Five Afghan police officers were killed by an improvised explosive device buried in a field where they were carrying out a poppy eradication campaign in the western province of Farah this week (NYT). Three died in one explosion on Tuesday, and another two died on Thursday due to a second bomb, after which a firefight with insurgents ensued, leaving four Taliban dead and nine police officers wounded.

Muslim clerics from Indonesia, Britain, and Pakistan met in Istanbul this week for a conference entitled "Islamic Cooperation for a Peaceful Future in Afghanistan," which ended with a resolution detailing Islam’s compatibility with universal human rights, and calling on religious institutions in Afghanistan and Pakistan to discourage the use of violence as a political tool (NYT). The resolution will be sent to over 160,000 mosques in Afghanistan in an effort to spread the message to the wider Afghan population.

The spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday that Indian officials won’t hold any "substantial" discussions with Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf during his visit this weekend to a shrine in the western Indian state of Ajmer (WSJ). Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday, just a day before Ashraf is scheduled to arrive in India, that it will not be possible to normalize ties between India and Pakistan until Pakistani authorities can control terrorist groups based in their country (WSJ).

Humanity endures

Pakistan has seen a worrying rise in attacks by Sunni Muslim extremists targeting Shi’a Muslims, but from one tragic incident an uplifting story has emerged (LAT ). On a bus stopped by militants looking for Shi’as to murder, Sunni passengers refused to point out the Shi’as on the bus, managing to save several of their fellow passengers.

— Jennifer Rowland