Barack Obama proposes the US deploy 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan to fight insurgents even as he pledges to remove troops from Iraq, plugging the proposal in a New York Times op-ed, "My Plan for Iraq." (NYT, July 14) Meanwhile, relations are fast deteriorating between Afghanistan and key US ally Pakistan. In an official statement calling Pakistan's security forces the "world's biggest producers of terrorism and extremism," Afghanistan announced it is suspending participation in three meetings with Pakistani officials scheduled for the next few weeks. Afghanistan charged Islamabad with "direct interference in its internal affairs." (Newsday, July 16)

An investigation by Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has confirmed reports that a US air strike in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province July 6 killed 47 members of a wedding party, including the bride. The investigation found that 39 of the dead were women and children. NATO still maintains the victims were insurgents. (The Independent, July 13) Karzai has also ordered an investigation into a July 4 helicopter strike in Nuristan in which the provincial governor said 22 civilians were killed and seven wounded. (NYT, July 7)

At least 20 were killed July 12 in fighting between Pakistani security forces and Taliban insurgents following an attack on an army convoy near Zargari, North-West Frontier Province. The violence came during an unannounced, one-day visit to Pakistan by Adm. Michael Mullen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman. Mullen met with President Pervez Musharraf and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani. (WP, July 13) Foreign Minister Mahmoud Qureshi said he has ruled out allowing US military personnel to hunt for Osama bin Laden on Pakistan's territory. "People will not accept it," Qureshi said. "Questions of sovereignty come in." (AlJazeera, July 13)

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter belonging to US-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of Afghanistan's capital Kabul July 2. The crew apparently survived, but Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington: "I am, and have been for some time now, deeply troubled by the increasing violence there. The Taliban and their supporters have, without question, grown more effective and more aggressive in recent weeks, and as the casualty figures clearly demonstrate."

Islamabad has angrily denied findings by Afghanistan's intelligence agency that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the "real schemer and organizer" behind the failed April 27 assassination attempt on President Karzai at a military parade. (Gulf Daily News, June 26) That was the fourth attempt on Karzai's life by our count.

NATO forces in Afghanistan shelled insurgent targets in Pakistan in two incidents June 22, following rocket and artillery attacks launched into Khost and Paktika provinces from sanctuaries across the border. Four Afghan civilians were reportedly killed in the insurgents attacks, at least two of them children. Casualty figures for Pakistan were not available. Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened to send troops across the border if Pakistan's government does not prevent militants from crossing the border. (NYT, June 23)

Pakistan protested a June 11 US military strike that killed at least 11 soldiers as a "gross violation" of its sovereignty. The Foreign Ministry in Islamabad summoned US Ambassador Anne Patterson to denounce a "senseless use of air power against a Pakistani border post," Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called the attack a "blatant and willful negation" of the sacrifices Pakistan has made in combating terrorism. Pakistan's military said in a statement that attack was "unprovoked and cowardly," adding, "The incident has hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror."

The US Marine Corps announced it will not bring criminal charges against two officers in command of a unit involved in the shooting deaths of up to 19 civilians near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, last year after a car bomb struck the marines’ convoy. (NYT, May 24) The announcement comes as protests are breaking out in Afghanistan following reports that a US sniper used a Koran for target practice. Hundreds demonstrated May 26 in Balkh and Logar provinces, tearing apart an effigy of President Bush and chanting anti-US slogans. A Lithuanian soldier and two Afghan civilians were killed in protests against the incident last. (AP, May 26)