Middle Orient

By Lyse Doucet ‘Karzai is often blamed for making poor choices’ In December 2001, a new future for Afghanistan was mapped out at an international conference in Bonn, beginning with an interim government to replace the Taleban. This week we look at how much has changed since then. Five years …

US troops kill Afghan civilians Local people accused the US soldiers of targeting civilians An incident described by US forces in Afghanistan as a “complex ambush” has left 16 civilians dead. The incident occurred on the road from the eastern city of Jalalabad to Pakistan when a suicide bomber targeted …

Syria is relatively hopeful an international meeting aimed at stabilising Iraq will succeed, but much depends on the attitude of the US, Vice-President Farouq al-Shara was quoted yesterday as saying.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in hospital in Jordan suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, will be discharged in two or three days, Baghdad’s ambassador in Amman said yesterday.

BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces yesterday launched a mission to kill or capture the Al Qaeda insurgents who kidnapped 14 policemen, slit their throats and then boasted about it on the Internet.

Japan yesterday urged Iran to drop its uranium enrichment programme, warning it faced international isolation if it failed to do so. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told an Iranian envoy here Tehran must

The Political Poetry in Afghanistan Partaw Naderi Political Poetry, perhaps, was born when it stood against politics and said: “I don’t accept you!” In other words, political poetry originates from its encounter with politics. In fact, when poetry withdraws from politics, it politicizes itself, because abandoning politics is a politics …

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said that the US officials in recent months have repeatedly called for talks with Iran about Iraqi issues, specially about security of that country.

If issues raised at Pakistan conference are those mentioned by Mr. Pervez Musharraf, then all of us and regional nations have many questions about the meeting, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters before leaving Tehran for Riyadh on Saturday.

Heads of several Persian Gulf littoral states are scheduled to arrive here in Tehran in the near future to confer with senior Iranian officials about issues of the region, world of Islam and the international community.