British soldiers are accused of shooting dead a 12-year-old boy close to the Afghan capital, Kabul. NATO told AlJazeera March 22 that an investigation into the incident is under way. The soldiers apparently opened fire on the vehicle in which the boy and his family were travelling. Meanwhile, NATO-led forces reportedly killed 38 Taliban fighters in two attacks in Helmand province. (AlJazeera, March 22)

Pashtun tribesmen loyal to Pakistan's government exchanged mortar and rocket fire with purported al-Qaeda militants in South Waziristan for a third day March 21, leaving at least 114 dead. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said 84 Uzbek militants and 30 local tribesmen, including nine civilians, have been killed. Another 83 Uzbeks were captured by the tribal forces, he said. The fighting started after former Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, who the government says has come over to its side, ordered followers of Uzbek militant Tahir Yuldashev to disarm. (AFP, March 22)

Another appalling op-ed in the New York Times March 5, this one arguing that an amnesty for war criminals is "good for Afghan democracy." This Orwellian exercise, "New Justice, No Peace," is by Richard May, a fellow with the World Security Institute's Center for Defense Information, and a former captain with the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghanistan's parliament has approved the amnesty law letting all the warlords from all the factions that tore the country apart for a generation totally off the hook. International human rights groups are petitioning President Hamid Karzai not to sign it. While paying patronizing lip service to critics' "humanitarian feelings," May writes that "President Karzai should sign the law—for four good reasons." A very dangerous historical revisionism is clear in May's reasons—portraying the warlords as Cold War heroes.

Pakistan's daily Dawn reports March 2 that the country's security forces have captured Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, deputy to the elusive Taliban chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The newspaper cited a government official in Quetta, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mullah Obaidullah, supposedly arrested Feb. 27, is the most senior Taliban figure captured since the ouster of the militia from power in Afghanistan in November 2001. He served as defense minister in the Taliban regime, and there is a $1 million price on his head. He is on the US "most wanted" list and a member of the 10-man Taliban Leadership Council announced by the Taliban supreme leader in June 2003. His arrest came the day US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Islamabad, but the official said the action which led to his arrest had been planned in advance. He said that two others captured with Obaidullah "could be" Amir Khan Haqqani, a Taliban commander in Zabul, and Abdul Bari, the former governor of Helmand province.

Around 25,000 rallied in the Afghan capital Kabul Feb. 22, calling for a war crimes amnesty for former Mujahedeen commanders to be made law. The protesters, who gathered in a stadium, included ex-Mujahedeen and several top government officials. "Whoever is against mujahedeen is against Islam and they are the enemies of this country," former fighter Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who is now an influential lawmaker, told the crowd. Supporters later marched through the streets of the city, shouting "Death to the enemies of Afghanistan!" and "Death to America!" (BBC, Feb. 23) Later that day, the upper house of Afghanistan's parliament, the Meshrano Jirga, approved the amnesty bill. The vote came three weeks after the 249-seat lower house, or Wolesi Jirga, approved it. The bill now goes to President Hamid Karzai for his signature. (IRIN, Feb. 22)

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Afghanistan's rebel Hizb-i-Islami rebel movement, has released a video denouncing the US as "the mother of problems" and pledging that US and NATO forces will be driven from the country, likely this year. "As long as America remains in Afghanistan and in the region, war and problems will continue," he says in the video. "I can say with full assurance and confidence that America does not have the ability to stay for a long period in Afghanistan... My analysis is that America [will] pull out from Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously and the withdrawal perhaps will happen this year." (AlJazeera, Feb. 22)

Just as Britain has announced a draw-down of 1,600 troops in Iraq, comes the news it will be sending some 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Of the 35,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, some 5,600 are British, mainly deployed in Helmand. (The Independent, Feb. 23) Australia has also announced it will send more crack SAS troops to Afghanistan. There are currently 550 Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly in Oruzgan. (The West, Australia, Feb. 23) NATO took command of US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in October. (ISAF homepage) US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley after a Feb. 22 meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called upon other alliance members to shoulder more of the burden in Afghanistan. (OnlineNews, Pakistan, Feb. 22)

Why isn't this in the headlines? From the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Feb. 12:

The Taleban have taken control of their second Helmand district in less than two weeks, say district officials.

The Taleban captured the police chief of Washir district and 30 of his officers when they were out on patrol Sunday, February 11, according to a high-ranking district official, who wanted his identity withheld. “They then went to the district centre, where they took control, disarming the rest of the police,” said the official.