Mullah Omar sent letter to Obama to end war

 

 

Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar wrote to President Barack Obama last year indicating an interest in talks key to ending the war in Afghanistan, current and former US officials told The Associated Press.

However, the Afghan Taliban yesterday denied the report.

"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rejects this baseless rumour with the strongest of words," a statement on the Islamist group's website said, using the name by which the Taliban often calls itself.

Omar is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement, and directs the organisation's guerrilla military campaign. He was the de facto head of state in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan prior to the US invasion that toppled the Taliban government in 2001.

The letter, intended for President Barack Obama, reportedly complained that the United States had not done enough to establish good faith for negotiations, such as arranging the release of Taliban prisoners held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The White House itself was "skeptical" the letter was actually from Mullah Omar, the official said, though others within the administration believed it was authentic.

Preliminary, clandestine meetings between US and Taliban representatives began last year, after the Obama administration shifted course and decided to explore peace talks while fighting was still fierce.

The message arrived when those early contacts had gone all but dormant, however, because of leaks to the press that sent the chief Taliban emissary briefly underground.

Those preliminary sessions opened the way for more formal talks that the US officials now publicly welcome. The Obama administration is now considering release of five top Taliban leaders from Guantanamo as a starting point for negotiations.

The five would be sent to custody in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the Taliban plan to establish a office.

The Taliban last month said it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage in negotiations.

Manning to face court martial

 

 

A US army officer has ordered a court martial for Bradley Manning, the soldier charged in the biggest leak of classified information in American history.

Military district of Washington commander Major General Michael Linnington referred all charges against Manning to a general court martial on Friday, the army said in a statement.

The referral means Manning, 24, will stand trial for allegedly giving more than 700,000 secret US documents and a classified combat video to WikiLeaks for publication. He faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, and could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.

A judge yet to be appointed will set the trial date.

At a preliminary hearing in December, military prosecutors produced evidence that Manning downloaded and electronically transferred to WikiLeaks nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables.

In the December hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland, prosecutors also presented excerpts of online chats found on Manning's personal computer that allegedly document collaboration between him and the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

Qaddafi’s Weapons, Taken by Old Allies, Reinvigorate an Insurgent Army in Mali

 

Hundreds of Tuareg rebels have recently stormed towns in Mali's northern desert.
After fighting for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, hundreds of Tuareg rebels helped themselves to some of his weapons and returned to Mali to continue a longstanding rebellion.

Syrian embassies in Europe, ME stormed

A protestor holds a sign during a demonstration against the Bashar al-Assad regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protests, outside the Syrian embassy in central London yesterday.Photo: AFP

Dozens of Syrian protesters were arrested yesterday after storming their country's embassies in cities in Europe and the Middle East, smashing windows and setting fire in one case.
Missions in London, Athens, Cairo, Kuwait City and Jeddah were targeted in protests yesterday, following a similar raid on the regime's embassy in Berlin the previous day.
The attacks came as Syria's opposition said troops had committed a "massacre" overnight, killing more than 200 people in the central city of Homs, and as the UN Security Council readied for a crucial vote.
Demonstrators smashed windows and tried to break into the Syrian embassy in London, hours after six protesters were arrested for entering the building overnight.
Scuffles broke out between riot police and around 200 protesters outside the plush property in London's Belgrave Square, which is home to a string of embassies.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said five people had been arrested for gaining access to the building after the demonstration started around 2:00 am. A sixth person was arrested for assaulting an officer.
In Athens, about 50 mostly Syrian protestors broke into their country's embassy, smashing windows and painting anti-government slogans on the walls, a police source said. Police detained 12 Syrians and an Iraqi.
In Cairo, dozens of activists tore down the gate to the embassy in the upscale Garden City neighbourhood, ransacked the mission and set fire to its ground floor.
An AFP correspondent said the embassy's walls were charred and broken glass littered the ground, along with damaged furniture and computers.
In Kuwait City, hundreds of angry Syrians and local activists stormed the embassy, removing the flag and destroying utilities, the interior ministry said, adding that some 40 people were arrested.
In Jeddah, dozens of Syrians demonstrated outside the consulate, chanting "with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for the martyrs," before being dispersed by security forces.
A day earlier in Berlin around 20 protesters broke into the Syrian embassy and "destroyed furniture, hung a flag from a window" and wrote slogans on the walls. All were arrested but released after police took their details.