The School That Says Osama Bin Laden Was A Hero

Osama Bin Laden

A hardline cleric in Pakistan is teaching the ideas of Osama Bin Laden in religious schools for about 5,000 children.

Ashraf Ghani Sworn In As President of Afghanistan, Shares Inaugural Stage With Abdullah Abdullah

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ashraf Ghani was inaugurated as president of Afghanistan on Monday, punctuating a season of grave political crisis with a peaceful transition of power that stood as a rarity in a country marked by four decades of war.

President Barack Obama Makes Surprise Afghan Visit

President Barack Obama has told US troops in Afghanistan that America's longest war will come to "a responsible end" at the end of 2014.

Mr Obama was cheered by soldiers during the unannounced visit to Bagram Airfield outside Kabul.

It comes on the eve of Memorial Day, when Americans commemorate troops who have died in service.

Foreign combat troops are due to withdraw from the country by the end of the year.

The US is seeking to keep a small number of troops there to train Afghan security forces. But that plan depends on the next Afghan president - due to be elected next month - signing a bilateral security agreement that incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to authorise.

President Obama had invited his Afghan counterpart to the base but Mr Karzai refused, saying he would only meet Mr Obama at his palace in Kabul, officials said.

Instead, Mr Obama called the Afghan leader from Air Force One on his way back to the US, officials said, saying he would be in touch before announcing any decision on the planned US troop presence after 2014.

Mr Obama praised US troops for reversing the momentum of the Taliban
"By the end of this year... Afghans will take full responsibility for their security and our combat mission will be over. America's war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end."

Mr Obama said the US would remain committed to Afghanistan provided the incoming president signed the security agreement.

Both of the candidates who will face each other in the second round of the Afghan election next month are committed to signing the security deal with the US that would allow a small force of some 10-15,000 US troops to remain next year.

Afghanistan was at a pivotal moment, he said, with US forces having decimated al-Qaeda, reversing the momentum of the Taliban, and leaving a legacy of better health and education and strong Afghan forces.

"After all the sacrifices we've made we want to preserve the gains that you have helped to win and we're going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again, ever, be used again to launch an attack against our country," he said.

Source:
BBC

Insurgents attack Kabul guest house

A Taliban attack on a guest house in Kabul has come to an end with police killing the last gunman inside, Afghan military sources have told the Reuters news agency.

At least four people were trapped inside the guest house during the attack, officials say.
Afghan special forces were rushed in to fight the attackers, police said. Fighting continued for much of Friday and the AFP agency has reported that a girl has been killed.
Security has been tight in the Afghan capital, one week ahead of the presidential election. It is unclear how many have been killed or injured in the attack.

It is the latest in a recent spate of attacks on targets in Kabul
Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir told the BBC that there were four attackers, including one who detonated explosives in his vehicle, allowing the others to get inside the guest house.
It was unclear how many people were trapped in the guest house, which is run by US-based NGO Roots of Peace.
Roots of Peace country manager Hajji Mohammad Sharif Osmani told Reuters news agency that four people were inside the building during the attacks as the rest had all escaped.
But officials also said they had been told by a man rescued from the building that six others were inside.

Police battled the attackers throughout Friday - Kabul is already on high alert ahead of presidential elections on 5 April

The forthcoming elections will be a major test for foreign donors hesitant about supporting the government after most Nato troops based in Afghanistan withdraw later this year.

The Taliban on Friday put out a statement saying they had carried out the attack.
Witnesses described how the initial explosion shattered windows. Mohammed Sadi, a resident in the area, told AP news agency that the force of the blast rattled buildings several blocks away.
"At the beginning a powerful explosion happened, which also broke the windows of our house," he said. "Then gunfire started and the police blocked all the roads."

Afghan special forces surrounded the area, officials said, and television footage showed military convoys headed towards the district.
The attack is the latest in the run-up to the vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai next Saturday.
Three days ago, the Taliban launched a gun and bomb attack on an office of the Afghan election commission in Kabul.
Another attack a week ago left nine people dead when gunmen broke into an upmarket hotel in Kabul.

Source:
BBC