Pakistan's parliament held a heated debate Oct. 20 on how to fight the Islamist militants in the northwest, who are now extending their reach to suicide attacks in the capital. Calls for dialogue with the Taliban, punctuated by opposition to fighting what is perceived as America's war, dominated the closed-door sessions, participants said. (IHT, Oct. 20) Meanwhile, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, leader of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi, has offered to broker peace with the militants if the government instates sharia law in his stronghold of Malakand. "In that case I will personally go to Swat and Bajaur to persuade the militants to lay down arms," he said. He added that he would declare jihad against the Swat Taliban commanded by his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah if they refused to lay down arms after the enforcement of sharia. (The News, Pakistan, Oct. 18; The News, Oct. 13)

A suicide bomber struck a NATO patrol in northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province, killing at least two soldiers and five children Oct. 20. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not reveal the soldiers' nationality, but Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar said they were German. The attacker apparently rode up to the patrol on a bicycle. The attacker Germany has some 3,000 soldiers in northern Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia is mediating between Taliban and Afghan officials to prevent Pakistan from sliding into civil war and to wean the Taliban away from al-Qaeda, anonymous diplomats told Reuters. "They want to help because Pakistan is frightening. They fear what could happen in Pakistan. This (mediation) is to stabilize Pakistan," said one diplomat privy to details of the talks held recently in Mecca. The sources said Saudi external intelligence chief Prince Muqrin and his predecessor Prince Turki al-Faisal were involved in arranging the mediation, which is at an early stage. (Pakistan Daily Times, Oct. 16)

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed vehicle into a police station in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley Oct. 16, killing three officers and wounding 15. (Reuters, Oct. 16). Later that day, a suspected US missile struck a house in Tapargai, South Waziristan, killing one suspected foreign militant and injuring another, Pakistani officials said. Local residents reported seeing unmanned aircraft in the sky before and after the attack. (AP, Oct. 16)

Days after a US missile strike reportedly killed 20 in Pakistan's northwest, Islamabad's Foreign Ministry warned that such attacks are counter-productive. "We want them to realize that these attacks are destabilizing the situation, and they are not helping them or Pakistan," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told the AP. "They are helping the terrorists." The comments came as a suicide bomber in an explosives-laden pickup truck attacked an an outdoor meeting where tribal elders were discussing plans to move against a Taliban militant base that had been established in the area, in the Orakzai tribal agency. The blast left some 40 dead. (AP, NYT, Oct. 11)

New refugee camp, KabulPakistan has ordered the expulsion of the some 60,000 Afghan refugees still on its territory to immediately repatriate on pain of arrest, as it struggles to put down a Taliban insurgency in the Tribal Areas along the border. Among the camps to be evacuated is that at Khewa, on the outskirts of Peshawar, where the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has had a substantial presence for over 20 years, promoting gender equality and secularism as well as carrying out educational, cultural and humanitarian work. RAWA in a Sept. 24 statement protests that the refugees will be returning to grim conditions in Afghanistan:

The Scotsman of Sept. 30 carried a feature on Commander Malalai Kakar, leader of a special department of the Kandahar police force on violence against women—who was gunned down by a presumed Taliban assassin as she walked out her front door on the way to work. Her son was critically injured in the attack. The European Union mission described the attack as "particularly abhorrent" and said she was an "example" to her fellow citizens. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, described the killing as "an act of cowardice by enemies of peace, welfare and reconstruction in the country." But Kakar, the first woman investigator in Kandahar Police Department, had been receiving death threats for months.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of a "downward spiral" in Afghanistan if trends continue in comments Oct. 9. "The trends across the board are not going in the right direction," he told reporters. "I would anticipate next year would be a tougher year." (NYT, Oct. 10) On Oct. 6, the departing commander of British forces in Afghanistan said he believes the Taliban cannot be defeated. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, told the London Times that a military victory over the Taliban is "neither feasible nor supportable... What we need is sufficient troops to contain the insurgency to a level where it is not a strategic threat to the longevity of the elected government."