Monday, December 5, 2011

Pakistan still has crucial role to play: Clinton

9:44 AM McGhori

BONN: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday it was “unfortunate” Pakistan boycotted the Bonn conference on Afghanistan but said Islamabad still had a crucial role to play. “I think it was unfortunate that they did not participate,” Clinton told a press conference on the sidelines of the Bonn conference, adding it would have been better if the Pakistanis had attended. “We regret the choice that they made because today’s conference was an important milestone toward the kind of security and stability that is important for Pakistan as well as for Afghanistan,” she said. “We continue to believe that Pakistan has a crucial role to play,” she said, adding that she was encouraged by remarks by the Pakistani premier...
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Four Afghan children killed by roadside bomb: police

9:24 AM McGhori

KANDAHAR: Four Afghan children and a woman were killed on Monday when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a roadside bomb in the country’s troubled south, police said. Six other people were also injured when the blast tore apart a minivan in the volatile Chora district of Uruzgan province. Farid Ail, a spokesman for Uruzgan’s police chief, said: “Five civilians were killed – four children and one woman – and six others wounded, one woman, two children and three men.” Roadside bombs are frequently planted by Taliban-led insurgents fighting a decade-long war against Nato-led foreign troops and Afghan government forces. There are around 140,000 international troops, mainly from the United States, in Afghanistan helping government...
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Afghanistan needs help for at least another decade: Karzai

4:54 AM McGhori

BONN: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday told a major conference on the future of his country after Nato combat troops withdraw in 2014 that it would need international help for at least another decade. Karzai told around 1,000 delegates gathered in the western German city of Bonn for the one-day meeting that his government would battle corruption and work toward national reconciliation but it needed firm international backing. “We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade” after the troops pull out, he said. The meeting comes 10 years after another conference here put an interim Afghan government under Karzai in place after US-led troops ousted the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks. However,...
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Bonn conference opens with pledge for long-term help

2:20 AM McGhori

BONN: Germany’s foreign minister on Monday opened a major conference on Afghanistan’s future, vowing that the international community won’t abandon the country after Nato combat troops pull out in 2014. “The goal of this conference will be to lay the groundwork for a free, secure and prosperous Afghanistan,” Guido Westerwelle told about 1,000 delegates from around the world gathered in the western city of Bonn. “We send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan: we will not leave you alone, you will not be abandoned. Afghanistan and its people need a clear and reliable commitment to a long-term engagement for the next decade beyond 2014.” Westerwelle said 10 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, the...
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Greenpeace activists enter French nuclear plant

2:14 AM McGhori

PARIS: Activists from environmental group Greenpeace managed to sneak into a French nuclear power plant on Monday in what they said was a bid to highlight the dangers of atomic energy. In a statement, Greenpeace said some members had entered the nuclear site at Nogent-sur-Seine, 95 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Paris, to “spread the message that there is no such thing as safe nuclear power.” Eight activists entered the power station site, according to a French police source, who added that some of the intruders had already been apprehended. “A group of militants managed to climb on to the dome of one of the reactors, where they unfurled a banner saying ‘Safe Nuclear Power Doesn’t Exist’,” said Greenpeace spokesman...
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Karzai will try to hold on to power beyond 2014: report

2:13 AM McGhori

BONN: Afghan President Hamid Karzai plans to try to stay in power after 2014, the end of his second and final mandate under the constitution, German daily Bild reported Monday citing an intelligence report. As a major international conference got under way in Bonn on the future of Afghanistan after Nato-led combat troops withdraw in 2014, Bild said Karzai was working on a “new organisation of the Afghan central government”, according to a special report by Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service. “The reason is believed to be Karzai’s wish not to step down, although he has indicated publicly he does not plan to extend his term in office,” Bild quoted the report as saying. Karzai told Monday’s issue of German news weekly...
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Pakistan may attend Afghan talks, claim sources

2:06 AM McGhori

WASHINGTON: Diplomatic circles in Washington are expecting a low level participation from Pakistan in the conference on Afghanistan kicking off today in the German city of Bonn, FTNews reported. Sources claimed that Pakistan might attend the talks on a diplomatic level. The breakthrough was made possible after US President Barack Obama held a telephonic conversation with President Asif Ali Zardari, sources adde...
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