Two French civilians free after being kidnapped in Afghanistan

The Rack: Ahmed Rashid, "Afghanistan After the War: Is Peace Possible?" (TNR).

New Post: Farahnaz Ispahani, "The problem with Pakistan’s democracy" (AfPak).

Nightmare ends

A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said Monday that a French photographer, Pierre Borghi, who was kidnapped in Kabul almost four months ago, escaped his captors in Wardak Province and was safely transported to the French Embassy (AP, NYT). Another French civilian, identified only as a humanitarian aid worker, was also freed after being kidnapped recently, according to French news media.

In an interview with the Associated Press during a visit to Kabul on Sunday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said he is cautiously optimistic about the Afghan Army’s ability to control the insurgency as they take the lead on security operations from U.S. forces (AP). But he said the U.S. military expects parts of Afghanistan to remain contested by the Taliban for many years to come. 

More than two-thirds of the inmates in Afghanistan’s main women’s prison, Badam Bagh, are serving time for so-called "moral crimes," which include leaving their husbands, refusing an arranged marriage, or leaving their parents’ home with the man of their choice (AP). And many of these women say they were forced to commit such ‘crimes’ because they were being abused by their husbands or parents.

Clearing operations

Pakistani military officials said Monday that 30 soldiers and almost 100 militants were killed over four days of intense fighting in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, where tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting between the Pakistani Taliban and rival militant groups (AP). 

At least four people were killed in separate violent attacks in Karachi on Tuesday, while the paramilitary Rangers detained 33 people in targeted operations (Dawn). Violence has been spiraling out of control in Pakistan’s largest city, with some 2,200 people killed in ethnic, sectarian, and political violence there last year.

The recent emergence of the United States’ lethal drone program as a major issue concerning Congress and the American public, along with the administration’s announcement that it would be moving the program from the CIA to the military, signaled to many that the targeted killing campaign would become more transparent and its overseers more accountable (Post). But weeks have passed and the White House remains silent on what changes it will actually make to the program, while Congress’ demands for more information on its processes have only been partially met.

Insert foot into mouth

As Pakistan approaches the historic May 11 elections, the impartial caretaker government is having a hard time maintaining said impartiality (ET). During an interview with Express News, interim Interior Minister Malik Habib Khan called Nawaz Sharif Pakistan’s only true national leader, and revealed that he regularly voted for Sharif and his party in the past. Pakistan’s other parties were not amused.

— Jennifer Rowland