Zawahiri named new Qaeda chief

DUBAI: Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing in Pakistan of long-time leader Osama bin Laden by US commandos, the jihadists said in a statement Thursday.

"The general command of Al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," said the statement, issued in the name of the general command and posted on an Islamist website.

Zawahiri has been Al-Qaeda's number two for years.

US troops can stay in Afghanistan for decades: report

LONDON: According to a report published in the Guardian, US and Afghan officials are engaged in secret talks which could likely lead to US presence in Afghanistan for decades.

According to the report, the secret negotiations about a long-term security arrangement have been underway for over a month and seek to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014, the agreed date for all 130,000 combat troops to leave the country.

American negotiators will arrive later this month in Kabul for a new round of talks. The Afghans rejected the Americans' first draft of a strategic partnership agreement in its entirety, preferring to draft their own proposal. This was submitted to Washington two weeks ago.

Pakistan arrests CIA informants in bin Laden raid: NY Times

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to American officials.

Pakistan’s detention of five CIA informants, including a Pakistani Army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the weeks before the raid, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan. It comes at a time when the Obama administration is seeking Pakistan’s support in brokering an endgame in the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

At a closed briefing last week, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Michael J. Morell, the deputy C.I.A. director, to rate Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism operations, on a scale of 1 to 10.

“Three,” Mr. Morell replied, according to officials familiar with the exchange.

The fate of the C.I.A. informants arrested in Pakistan is unclear, but American officials said that the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, raised the issue when he travelled to Islamabad last week to meet with Pakistani military and intelligence officers.

Some in Washington see the arrests as illustrative of the disconnect between Pakistani and American priorities at a time when they are supposed to be allies in the fight against Al Qaeda — instead of hunting down the support network that allowed Bin Laden to live comfortably for years, the Pakistani authorities are arresting those who assisted in the raid that killed the world’s most wanted man.

The Bin Laden raid and more recent attacks by militants in Pakistan have been blows to the country’s military, a revered institution in the country. Some officials and outside experts said the military is mired in its worst crisis of confidence in decades.

American officials cautioned that Mr. Morell’s comments about Pakistani support was a snapshot of the current relationship, and did not represent the administration’s overall assessment.

“We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise,” said Marie E. Harf, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. “Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad. It’s a crucial partnership, and we will continue to work together in the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups who threaten our country and theirs.”

In a sign of the growing anger on Capitol Hill, Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who leads the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that he believed elements of the ISI and the military had helped protect bin Laden.

Turkey's ruling party wins election

ISTANBUL: Turkey's ruling party surged to a third term in parliamentary elections Sunday, setting the stage for the rising regional power to pursue trademark economic growth, assertive diplomacy and an overhaul of the military-era constitution.

However, the Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan fell short of a two-thirds majority in parliament, a shortcoming that will force it to seek support for constitutional change from other political groups. Despite a record of democratic reform, the government has faced increasing criticism that it has sought to consolidate power at the expense of consensus-building.

Erdogan's party won 50 percent of the votes, according to TRT, the state-run television. It said the Republican People's Party, the main opposition group, had 26 percent of the vote.

TRT said another opposition party, the Nationalist Action Party, had 13 percent, signaling it would stay in parliament by crossing a 10 percent vote threshold designed to keep out smaller parties.

According to the tally, the ruling party won 325 seats in the 550-seat parliament, a comfortable majority that ensures the continuation of its single-party rule. It had 331 seats in the outgoing parliament. Lawmakers serve four-year terms.

The Anatolia news agency reported that police detained dozens of people in the mostly Kurdish southeast for allegedly trying to coerce people into voting for the Peace and Democracy Party, a Kurdish party accused by officials of links to Kurdish rebels.

The party fielded independent candidates to work around the 10 percent vote threshold for Turkey's parliament, turning in a strong showing with 36 seats. It seeks more rights and autonomy in the southeastern strongholds of the ethnic minority, which makes up about 20 percent of Turkey's 74 million people, and rebels have threatened attacks if the government does not negotiate.

In the past decade, the government has sharply reduced the political clout of the military, and taken some steps to ease restrictions on minorities, though reforms have slowed in recent years.

Erdogan has promised that a new constitution would be more democratic than the one implemented under the tutelage of the military in 1982.

Turkey's leaders describe themselves as "conservative democrats" and after winning election in 2002, they implemented economic reforms that pulled the country out of crisis. The growth rate last year was nearly 9 percent, the second highest among G-20 nations after China.

Still, political reforms faltered in the ruling party's second term. Turkey's EU bid has stalled, partly because of opposition in key nations such as Germany and France. Critics point to concerns about media freedom and the Turkish government's plans for Internet filters as signs of intolerance toward views that don't conform to those of Turkey's leadership.

For all of Turkey's challenges, Sunday's vote was an indicator of stability in an increasingly confident country. Most voting was peaceful and orderly, with large crowds gathering early to cast ballots. About 50 million Turks, or two-thirds of the population, were eligible to vote. NTV television said turnout was 87 percent.

For the first time, voters cast ballots in transparent plastic boxes in which the yellow envelopes could be seen piling up. The measure was designed to prevent any allegations of fraud. In past elections, wooden boxes were used. (AP)

United Nations Confirms May As Deadliest Month For Most Civilian Deaths In Afghanistan Since 2007

The UN’s latest report on Afghanistan reads that May has been the deadliest month for civilians since 2007, when the organization improvised a commission to record civilian casualties around the country.

The UN officials were saddened on the announcement that more than 368 people have died so far in different conflicts over the past month. "More civilians were killed in May than in any other month since 2007 when Unama began documenting civilian casualties," said Georgette Gagnon, Unama's director of human rights. "We are very concerned that civilian suffering will increase even more over the summer fighting season which historically brings the highest numbers of civilian casualties," she said.

"Parties to the conflict must increase their efforts to protect civilians now."

The report also impresses that the anti-government and anti-US sentiments have also risen after the increase in the casualties since the start of 2011. The civilians have started protesting vehemently against the severe bombing by NATO and its allies on their soil. The civilians are of the view that in a single raid carried by the NATO forces, more than 75% people who die are civilians.

“Bomb blasts caused by improvised explosive devices were the leading killer of civilians in May, with 119 killed and 274 wounded in such attacks,” the UN agency said.

However, the reports also confirmed that insurgents and other anti-government forces were responsible for 301 civilian casualties in May. 15 people, including eight children and four women, were killed when a bomb blast hit their vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar.

In the eastern province of Khost, a suicide bomber struck outside a police base, killing two policemen, including a commander, and a civilian, a police official said. 12 people got gravely injured in the attack.

According to the UN, the number of civilian casualties will increase in the near future, as the number of troops fighting in Afghanistan have been increased by the White House and NATO. With more troops entering the Afghan premises, the fighting arena will increase.

The NATO officials also reiterated that they will not be leaving Afghanistan as long as the security situation in the country is completely under control. This, according to experts, confirms the presence of US and NATO forces for a long haul.