Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
Syria is coming under growing international pressure over its military presence in Lebanon. Since Lebanon's pro-Syrian government resigned on 28 Febraury, both Paris and Washington have reiterated their calls for Damascus to withdraw its 14,000 troops. In a recent interview with the U.S. news weekly “Time,” the Syrian president has promised he can do so "within months, not more." But experts see that remark as a negotiating tactic. They say a withdrawal is unlikely without further pressure -- and possibly a different negotiating approach.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (file photo) Afghan President Hamid Karzai is on the second day of a three-day state visit to India aimed at improving trade links between the two countries. Karzai said in New Delhi on Wednesday that he has asked Pakistan to open a trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan. At the same time, India and Pakistan announced an agreement to cut bureaucratic barriers that hamper trade. Indian officials and independent analysts say New Delhi sees Afghanistan not only as a partner for bilateral trade but also as a transit route for greater ties to markets in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
U.S. Senator John McCain told reporters in Kabul on 22 February that America's strategic partnership with Afghanistan should include "permanent bases" for U.S. military forces. The Afghan government says it wants a long-term military, economic and political partnership with the United States. But a spokesman for the Afghan president says establishing permanent U.S. bases requires approval from the yet-to-be created Afghan parliament. McCain did not elaborate about what form 'permanent bases' might take.
The report says nearly two-thirds of children not in school (file photo) Afghanistan could fall back into chaos if complaints from Afghans about poverty are not addressed. That is one of the key findings in a report released yesterday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Afghan government. In fact, the Afghan "National Human Development Report" was written by a team of researchers independent of the UN and the Afghan government. It is the first such assessment of Afghanistan's economy and society after more than two decades of war.
Ariel Sharon (file photo) Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet approved his Gaza disengagement plan yesterday by a vote of 17 to five. The plan calls for the removal of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of the 120 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Analysts describe it as a bold step that confirms Sharon's political will for disengagement. But another cabinet vote yesterday added to Palestinian concerns that Israel may be trying to impose de facto borders around large swathes of occupied Palestinian territory before final status talks on a future Palestinian state. In that vote, Sharon's cabinet endorsed a new route for a controversial security barrier that loops around some remaining Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Young Afghans are enthusiastically tuning in to pop music. Three years after the collapse of the Taliban regime -- which had banned any music it deemed as "un-Islamic" -- the popularity of pop music programs aired by Afghanistan's new private broadcasters is on the rise. Kabul's private Tolo TV has been broadcasting a nightly one-hour music video program for the past five months called "Hop." The format is similar to that of the international music television channel MTV -- with an Afghan twist. But conservative Islamists complain that programs like "Hop" are corrupting Afghan youth.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran says officials in New Delhi are looking forward to next week’s visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that aims to improve diplomatic and economic ties. Saran said after meeting Karzai in Kabul yesterday that New Delhi sees Afghanistan not only as a partner for bilateral trade, but also as an important economic link with all of Central Asia.
NATO defense ministers are arriving today in Nice, France, for a two-day meeting focusing on the possible expansion of the alliance into western and southern Afghanistan. The ministers also will discuss NATO's role in Iraq and the Balkans. The talks will prepare the way for political decisions to be made at a 22 February NATO summit in Brussels, scheduled to be attended by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas both proclaimed a formal end to violence during a summit at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik today. The cease-fire aims to bring an end to the Palestinian intifada and Israeli military activity that has left more than 4,000 people dead since September 2000. Palestinian officials say they also hope the summit will pave the way for new peace negotiations. Today's summit is part of a growing rapprochement since Abbas was elected in January to head the Palestinian Authority. But despite the proclamation of hope, officials, and analyts say there are potential pitfalls ahead.
Iran's top nuclear official, Hassan Rohani (file photo) Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani has warned of "retaliation" and an acceleration of Tehran's efforts to master nuclear technology if the United States or Israel attacks its nuclear facilities.
Self-immolation by women in the western Afghan province of Herat continues to alarm officials and aid workers more than a year after a delegation from Kabul investigated the trend. The delegation determined that within just a few months, at least 52 women in the province had burned themselves to death -- often to escape an abusive marriage. Afghan doctors and officials say at least 184 woman brought to Herat's regional hospital are thought to have set themselves on fire during the past year -- and more than 60 have died as a result. The real number of self-immolation suicides and attempted suicides is likely to be even higher because only those brought to a hospital are being registered.
Prague, 3 February 2005 (RFE/RL) -- There are few Western universities where students can learn about the musical traditions of Central Asia. But at the University of London, within the Department of Music in the School of Oriental and African Studies, a new course has begun for ethnomusicology students focusing on the social meaning of music in Central Asia.
U.S. soldiers in Iraq (file photo) Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar says the departure of U.S.-led multinational forces from Iraq is not likely by the end of this year. But he says a reduction of foreign troop numbers could start by then. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also says that, despite the turnout of millions of voters in 30 January elections, it is still too early to speak about an exit strategy for the more than 170,000 foreign troops in Iraq. Analysts tend to agree.
Authorities in Kabul have announced a new effort to collect U.S.-made Stinger antiaircraft missiles left over from Afghanistan's war against Soviet occupation. The U.S. government provided the shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles to Islamist fighters battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Now, Afghan officials say they are concerned the portable missiles could end up in the hands of terrorists or in other countries.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, a commercial music label affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is preparing to release a 10-compact-disc “Anthology of Central Asian Folk Music” over the next three to four years. The first two CDs are due out this summer. The project is part of a long-term collaboration between the Smithsonian, which is the U.S. national museum and research complex, and an international nongovernmental program called the Aga Khan Development Network. When complete, the anthology will consist of compact discs, DVDs, photographs, and detailed booklet notes for each volume. It will include new recordings of traditional Central Asian music as well as selected archival recordings drawn from important collections in Central Asia. The first three volumes will feature musicians from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Tallying the vote during Afghanistan's recent presidential election (file photo) Prague, 26 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Experts on Afghanistan say it looks increasingly likely that parliamentary elections scheduled to take place by May 20 will be delayed until later this year.
An accurate count of Afghanistan's population is needed to form the parliament The Central Statistics Office in Kabul says it has nearly completed an initial estimate of provincial populations across Afghanistan. The study creates the framework for a complete census in the future. The pre-census estimates also will be used to determine the number of representatives that each province will send to the new parliament being created by elections scheduled for April. The exercise illustrates difficulties faced by those trying to create a representative legislature in a war-torn country where precise population figures are unknown. A complete census -- which will require house-to-house interviews by thousands of field researchers -- has not yet begun and is not expected to be finished until next year at the earliest.
More than 80 suspected Taliban supporters were released from U.S. military detention centers across Afghanistan yesterday ahead of the three-day Muslim festival Eid Al-Adha. U.S. military officials say none was considered a high-level security threat. Some observers say the Afghan government appears to have asked for releases in cases where there was no evidence against the detainees. Others say it could encourage moderate Taliban supporters to accept a government amnesty offer.
Israeli and Russian media reports say Moscow and Damascus are negotiating a deal for Syria to buy missiles from Russia. But yesterday in Washington, visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denied that any such talks are under way.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (file photo) The governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) has expressed fears that what he calls "foreign terrorists" are regrouping in the tribal regions of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. Governor Iftikhar Hussain Gillani made the remarks late yesterday after a series of cross-border clashes earlier this week between Afghan and Pakistani troops. Those troops are meant to be cooperating with U.S.-led coalition forces on their respective sides of the border in a hunt for Al-Qaeda fighters who fled to the region after the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
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