London, July 12
US President Barack Obama wants to focus on developing Afghanistan’s army and police after the country’s August elections so that Afghans could take more responsibility and have greater capacity to secure their country.

In an interview with Britain’s Sky News television, Obama said the US and allied troops had pushed back the Taliban and now their immediate target was to steer Afghanistan through elections.

“The most important thing we can do is to combine our military efforts with effective diplomacy and development so that Afghans feel a greater stake and have a greater capacity to secure their country,” he said.

“Post-election... I think we need to start directing our attention to how do we create an Afghan army, an Afghan police,” he added.

Obama said, “We knew that this summer was going to be tough fighting, that there was an interest in the Taliban exerting control. They have, I think, been pushed back but we still have a long way to go. We’ve got to get through elections.” He said security was the top priority but other developmental issues were also on agenda.

“It may not be on the military side, it might be on the development side providing Afghan farmers alternatives to poppy crops, making sure that we are effectively training a judiciary system and a rule of law in Afghanistan that people trust,” he added. — PTI 

Colombo, July 12
Scrambling to return to normal life, 42 former LTTE cadres will be among over 1,000 Tamil displaced students who will take the school-level exams next month in Vavuniya and Chettikulam areas in the war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka.

Many of the former Tiger rebels have expressed willingness to go back to studies after spending years in the jungles fighting the Sri Lankan army, according to officials.

The Department of Examinations will issue special Identity Cards (ICs) for over 1,000 displaced candidates, including 42 ex-LTTE cadres, at the Vavuniya and Chettikulam IDP centres to facilitate them to sit for the August 8 GCE(AL) (General Certificate of Education - Advanced Level) exam.

The ICs will be issued as a special arrangement considering the unusual circumstances under which the candidates are sitting for the examination, Commissioner General of Examinations, Anura Edirisinghe, said.

This is the first time that the ICs are being issued to students, he said.

Edirisinghe said many of the former LTTE cadres, who surrendered before the security forces and are now in welfare villages under an amnesty granted by the government, have expressed their desire to pursue studies.

This is an effort by them to return to normal life, he said, adding the Examinations Department was doing everything possible to assist them. — PTI 

London, July 12
Pakistan has said Osama bin Laden and other senior al Qaida leaders were not in the country and hence the US missile attacks in the country were futile, a media report said Sunday.

"If Osama was in Pakistan we would know, with all the thousands of troops we have sent into the tribal areas in recent months," Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik told The Sunday Times. "If he and all these four or five top people were in our area they would have been caught, the way we are searching."

He added: "According to our information, Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar."

Though the US does not directly acknowledge the missile attacks on Pakistani territory by drones aircraft, Pakistani officials say over 40 attacks have been carried out by US drones in the past 10 months, killing hundreds of people.

Malik described the attacks as a waste of time as the al Qaida leadership was on the other side of the border in eastern Afghanistan.

The newspaper report said Pakistan's military admitted being helped by the US surveillance flights over the tribal areas as well as the Swat region, where thousands of troops have been fighting Taliban militants, forcing more than two million people to flee. — IANS

Officials of the Crime Investigation Agency claimed that Nazir Hussian, alias, Mana of Mendhar sub-district in Jammu and Kashmir, was taken into custody from Aamir Hotel in Islampura, on a tip-off.

During interrogation, Hussain allegedly said he had been working for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Army since 1992.

“He came to Pakistan several times since then. He kept providing important information to India about the assignments he was given,” an official told reporters. Hussain allegedly admitted to have had transferred weapons from Pakistan to India for huge sums of money. — PTI

Kathmandu, July 12
Concerned over the havoc caused by Kosi river floods, Nepal and India have agreed to take effective measures to minimise damage on both sides of the border.

Indian Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal yesterday called on Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to discuss the issues relating to Kosi barrage, PM’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Rajan Bhattarai said today.

During the meeting, they discussed the effectiveness of the recently constructed Kosi barrage that was breached by the floods last year resulting in displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

The two leaders also discussed ways to ensure safety of the Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve situated in Nepal, which is at a distance of 12 km from the Kosi barrage, and to minimise effects to the endangered species sheltered there, he said.

They also agreed for a 24-hour monitoring of the Kosi barrage in order to check inundation during the rainy season.

As reconstruction of the breached barrage has been completed with the Indian assistance, New Delhi has agreed to initiate repair works of one of the sluiced gates of the barrage damaged by recent floods at the cost of Rs 90 crore.

Bansal arrived here yesterday for a two-day visit to inspect the reconstructed Kosi barrage in Sunsari district.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal urged India to provide more electricity so that three industrial areas, including Biratnagar, Birgunj and Bhairahawa, and capital city Kathmandu could be free from the problem of load-shedding, Bhattarai said. — PTI 

Baghdad, July 12
A car bomb exploded in an alley in a village in northern Iraq, killing at least four persons, wounding others and destroying eight homes, the police said. Another six persons died in bombings in Baghdad.

About 38 persons were wounded and several shops and cars were also damaged in the explosion yesterday in the northern village of Kugjeli, according to a police officer in Ninevah Province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to journalists.

Most of the victims were inside their homes when the bomb exploded near the main street of the predominantly Shiite village, about five kilometres (three miles) east of the city of Mosul.

In the Baghdad attack, a bomb was placed at the gate of a billiards hall in the central district of Karrada.

Nearly four civilians died and 15 were injured, all of them youths in the hall, a police officer and a hospital medic said.

A bomb in the same area wounded four policemen on patrol. In southwest Baghdad, a bomb planted on a car killed two persons, including a junior Cabinet official, and injured 11 others, including the wife and child of the official, the police and hospital officials said. — AP

Islamabad, July 12
Nine Pakistani security personnel and six militants were killed as troops today pushed ahead with its assault on the Taliban insurgents in the troubled northwest and adjoining tribal belt.

Security forces killed six militants in North West Frontier Province's Swat and Dir districts in clashes during the past 24 hours. Troops also captured 27 militants in Swat and Khyber Agency as authorities today scrambled to complete preparations for the return of people displaced by military operations in the region.

Troops continued search and clearance operations in Malakand division, which includes Swat, ahead of the planned return of people displaced by the fighting from tomorrow.

Twelve militants were apprehended during a search operation near Mora Kandoa in Swat while three more were captured near Shalpalm. A few suspects were taken in for screening near Takhtaband.

During a search at Churkhai Talang and Saddo Khan, troops destroyed five militant hideouts in caves. They also killed a militant and arrested a rebel. Five militants were killed by security forces in Lower Dir district. — PTI