Salon.com > Jon Gambrell

U.S. in peace talks with Taliban

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:05:00 +0000

President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that Afghanistan and the United States are engaged in peace talks with the Taliban, even as insurgents stormed a police station near the presidential palace, killing nine people.

The brazen attack in the heart of Kabul's government district provided a sharp counterpoint to Karzai's announcement that the U.S. and Afghan government are in talks with the Taliban, the first official confirmation of such discussions. The violence also underscored the difficulty facing any possible negotiated settlement to the decade-long war.

Three men dressed in Afghan army uniforms stormed the police station near the presidential palace and opened fire on officers, said Mohammed Honayon, a witness. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that one of the attackers detonated a suicide bomb vest outside the gates while the others rushed in and began shooting.

The crackle of gunfire echoed through the streets typically bustling with shoppers and government employees on a Saturday, the start of Afghanistan's work week. The fighting ended by 3 p.m. when security forces shot dead the two other attackers. Three police officers, one intelligence agent and five civilians were killed in the attack, the Interior Ministry said.

NATO troops among those killed in Afghan attack

Sat, 28 May 2011 18:52:00 +0000

A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up during a meeting at a provincial governor's compound Saturday in northern Afghanistan, killing two NATO troops and four Afghans, officials said.

NATO confirmed two coalition service members died in the attack, as the German military told online magazine Der Spiegel that two German troops were killed. The magazine also said Gen. Markus Kneip, the NATO force's commander for northern Afghanistan, was wounded along with three of his soldiers.

The bomber detonated his explosives vest in a room in the governor's office complex in Takhar province where high-ranking Afghan officials were meeting with members of the international coalition, said Faiz Mohammad Tawhedi, a spokesman for the governor. The governor, Abdul Jabar Taqwa, suffered burns to his head, hands and back.

"What we know is the guy who carried out the attack had a police uniform on," Tawhedi said. "How he entered the meeting room and why he was not searched, we don't know."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the late afternoon attack -- the latest in an uptick of violence as the Islamic extremist movement has launched its spring offensive. The effectiveness of the Taliban's campaign could affect the size of President Barack Obama's planned drawdown of U.S. troops in July.

At least 500 dead in Nigeria election riots

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:38:00 +0000

At least 500 people died in religious rioting that followed Nigeria's presidential election, a civil rights group said Sunday, as volatile state gubernatorial elections loom this week.

Meanwhile, police in the northern state of Bauchi said at least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country's national youth service corps have been killed in postelection violence, while other female poll workers have been raped.

The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria said that the worst hit area was Zonkwa, a town in rural Kaduna state, where more than 300 people died in rioting.

The Civil Rights Congress, led by a Muslim activist, said killings also took place in the towns of Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf, as well as the state capital of Kaduna.

Muslim opposition supporters began riots as results from the April 16 election showed Christian President Goodluck Jonathan had won the vote. Many here in predominantly Muslim north of Africa's most populous nation felt the next president should have been from their region because a Muslim president died last year before he could complete his term.

Nigeria charges Dick Cheney over bribery scheme

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:42:00 +0000

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency on Tuesday charged former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney over a bribery scheme involving oil services firm Halliburton Co. during time he served as its top official, a spokesman said.

The charges stem from a case involving as much as $180 million allegedly paid in bribes to Nigerian officials, said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Halliburton and other firms allegedly paid the bribes to win a contract to build a $6 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, he said.

Terrence O'Donnell, a lawyer representing Cheney, denied the allegations.

"The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton," O'Donnell's said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. "Any suggestion of misconduct on his part, made now, years later, is entirely baseless."

The Halliburton case involves its former subsidiary KBR, a major engineering and construction services firm based in Houston. In February 2009, KBR Inc. pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to authorizing and paying bribes from 1995 to 2004 for the plant contracts in Nigeria.

Nigerian president dies after long illness

Wed, 05 May 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, long plagued by poor health, has died at age 58, his spokesman said.

Yar'Adua died at 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Wednesday at the Aso Rock presidential villa, presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi told The Associated Press. Adeniyi, his voice cracking, said Yar'Adua's wife Turai was at his side when he died. Adeniyi did not give a cause of death.

Yar'Adua, a Muslim, will be buried Thursday, Adeniyi said.

Yar'Adua went to a Saudi Arabian hospital on Nov. 24 to receive treatment for what officials described as a severe case of pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart that can cause a fatal complication. He failed to formally transfer his powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, sparking a constitutional crisis in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 150 million people.

Jonathan assumed the presidency Feb. 9 after a vote by the National Assembly while Yar'Adua was still in Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers left open the possibility for Yar'Adua to regain power if he returned to the country in good health. He returned on Feb. 24 but never appeared in public and did not assume power again.

Posts suggest lonely, depressed terror suspect

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Internet postings purportedly written by a Nigerian charged with trying to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day suggest a fervently religious and lonely young man who fantasized about becoming a Muslim holy warrior.

Throughout more than 300 posts, a user named "Farouk1986" reflects on a growing alienation from his family, his shame over sexual urges and his hopes that a "great jihad" will take place across the world.

While officials haven't verified that the postings were written by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, details from the posts match his personal history.

For example, the username also matches the alleged bomber's middle name and birth year. Farouk1986 says he is from Nigeria, the home nation of the man who allegedly tried to bring down the Detroit-bound flight. And the suspect's father says Abdulmutallab broke off ties with the family.

Those posts, beginning in 2005, show a teenager looking for a new life outside his boarding school and wealthy Nigerian family.

Most of all, they paint a portrait of someone who seems lost and needs someone to hear him.

“Deep shock and regret”

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:10:00 +0000

A Nigerian man who tried and failed to blow up a plane over Detroit "sneaked" into his native country the day before his botched Christmas Day attempt, leaving his father shocked and regretful, Nigeria's information minister said Sunday.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters Sunday that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab passed through Nigeria for only one day before attempting to blow up a Northwest flight headed for Detroit via Amsterdam.

"The man in question has been living outside of the country for a while," she said. "He sneaked into Nigeria on the 24th of December 2009 and left the same day."

She did not elaborate or say where Abdulmutallab entered Nigeria or where he had lived previously. Nigerian officials said Saturday that they would launch their own investigation into the incident and cooperate with U.S. investigators. She said Abdulmutallab's father, a top banker, had previously warned U.S. officials about his son's activities.

"The father, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, who is a responsible and respected Nigerian, with a true Nigerian spirit, had earlier reported his concern about his son's activities to relevant American authorities," she said. "The father has already expressed deep shock and regret over his son's actions."