Presumptive U.S envoy to Iraq clears Senate hurdle; Afghan, ISAF leaders talk security

Hill set to pass Senate vote on Iraqi envoy

Christopher Hill, Washington's choice for U.S. ambassador to Iraq, cleared Republican challenges to his nomination by an overwhelming majority.

Hill, a career diplomat, led U.S. efforts in the six-nation talks tasked with persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. He had faced challenges to his nomination to the Iraqi post as he lacks any relevant experience in the Middle East.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., led the charge in blocking the Hill nomination with a filibuster, saying the envoy failed to convince the North Koreans to reverse course on their nuclear program, Washington congressional newspaper The Hill reports.

"He operated a failed strategy in North Korea," the Republican senator said. "Now they've launched missiles, and they're being investigated for selling enriched uranium to Iran. He was a complete failure, and now we're going to give him the most important diplomatic post we have."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., however, called on lawmakers to move Hill through the nomination process swiftly as lawmakers shut down the Republican filibuster by a 73-17 vote.

Lawmakers are expected to take up the matter for a final vote possibly as early as late Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hill would replace Ryan Crocker, who left the post in February.

Political climate volatile in Diyala

The eastern Iraqi province of Diyala has descended into political chaos in the wake of provincial elections that saw demonstrations and government boycotts.

Iraq held provincial elections in January. The Independent High Electoral Commission's sanctioned results in February for Diyala that showed two Sunni parties -- the Accordance Front and the Iraqi National Project -- trounced their Shiite rivals.

Shiites in the State of Law slate and the Diyala Coalition denounced the results, saying IHEC had not allowed displaced families to vote. At an April 6 provincial council meeting, meanwhile, U.S. forces were called in to prevent the arrest of Sunni lawmakers accused of supporting the insurgency.

Shiite lawmakers later stormed out of an April 11 provincial council meeting, saying they were misrepresented in the distribution of council seats. They consequently threatened to file a lawsuit in federal court to counter processes that occurred in the wake of their boycott.

Diyala witnessed heightened sectarian tensions in 2008 as jurisdictional disputes between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi army reached the brink of violence in the northern city of Khanaqin. Mahdi al-Jibouri with the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party told the Iraqi political Web site Niqash.org that he had issued warnings against "the creation of new political tensions" in a region already notorious for its instability.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in the province warned that internal fighting had created a political vacuum where elements of the deposed Baath Party, including insurgent leader Izzat al-Douri, were exploiting the declining situation in Diyala.

Kurds lag in democratic reform

Washington should ensure the political momentum in Iraq toward a democratic government is carried out in the Kurdish provinces in the May vote, scholars said.

The international community lauded Iraqi political developments, as January provincial elections ushered in an open voting slate for the first time since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The three Kurdish provinces in Iraq, however, delayed their provincial contests to May 19.

But while the Kurdish leadership enjoys relative security and economic prosperity, the political climate there suggests those leaders are content so long as control rests in an elite few, write J. Scott Carpenter with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin in The Washington Post.

Where the January provincial councils saw some 14,000 candidates competing for 440 seats in 14 provinces, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani have refused the open slated system, opting for equal power distribution instead.

With Iraq progressing along the democratic continuum, however, it would be advantageous for U.S. President Barack Obama to pressure Kurdish officials to follow suit.

"Once, Iraqi Kurdistan touted itself as a model for the rest of Iraq," the authors wrote. "Now, the Obama administration should do everything it can to ensure that it is not left behind."

Afghan, ISAF leaders address security plans

The Afghan defense minister and the top commander of international forces in the country addressed the upcoming presidential elections and security issues.

Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak addressed reporters on the plans for a boost in American troops in Afghanistan as part of the broader strategy to secure the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called for a surge in the number of military forces to 60,000 U.S. and NATO troops to supplement the 140,000-strong Afghan army. The deal includes non-military assistance to Pakistan.

The international community has backed the plan with modest troop commitments, though most have pledged forces mainly to secure the presidential elections Aug. 20.

Wardak had told the Council on Foreign Relations recently he was wary of the limited troop plans as conventional counterinsurgency doctrine calls for around 600,000 troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Gen. David McKiernan, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, praised the opportunity to address the media with the Afghan minister.

"We clarified many points of mutual interest and highlighted the ongoing joint efforts of the Afghan Ministry of Defense and ISAF in providing security for the people of Afghanistan," he said.

Meanwhile, in commemoration of Education for All, Global Action Week in Afghanistan, the United Nations launched a countrywide effort to focus on literacy skills.

Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world.

British forces return from Helmand

British forces in the Royal Gurkha Rifles returned home from Afghanistan following a six-month tour in support of Operation Mar Nonu in Helmand province.

The Gurkhas operated in the southern Helmand province to secure areas around the district center of Musa Qaleh, a stronghold of the Taliban insurgency, the British Ministry of Defense reports.

Operation Mar Nonu, or Aggressive Snakeman, was employed in September to take on the insurgency in an area believed to be strewn with improvised explosive devices. The Defense Ministry said the clearing operation would go a long way toward supporting the reconstruction effort in southern Afghanistan.

Gurkhas working in support of Operation Mar Nonu also trained Afghan National Police forces at a headquarters near the provincial capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah.

Lt. Col. Chris Darby, the commanding officer of the Gurkhas, said his troops saw significant development during their operations in Helmand.

"My soldiers aren't worried about Afghanistan as a place," he said.

The ministry reported the Gurkhas lost two men during the deployment.

Indonesia to deport Afghans

Afghan asylum seekers from the Hazara minority that were bound for Australia will be deported by Indonesian officials despite safety concerns.

The group of 70 Afghans said their smugglers had abandoned them, issuing pleas to the Australian government for protection, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports.

"We will not go back to Afghanistan," said one of the asylum seekers, Nur Abdul Hassan Hussaini. "We will die here but not go back to Afghanistan."

Indonesian authorities, however, said they would seek deportation, adding they would take a hard line on the asylum seekers in the wake of a flood of human traffickers in the region.

"From an immigration point of view, they are illegal visitors, and the law says they will be deported," immigration spokesman Maroloan Barimbing said.

Indonesian police are looking into the abandonment allegations.

The group said they are fleeing a regional effort to target the Shiite Hazara community as part of a so-called Talibanization of the Afghan and Pakistani border regions.

A controversial "rape law" in Afghanistan specifically targets members of the Shiite minority as well.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)