Hill confirmed as Iraqi envoy; Kabul in talks with Taliban

Hill confirmed as U.S. envoy to Iraq

Lawmakers in Washington defeated a Republican challenge by confirming Christopher Hill as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq by an overwhelming majority.

Lawmakers on Tuesday confirmed Hill by a 73-23 vote, Congressional Quarterly reports.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Hill in March by a voice vote. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., however, launched a challenge to the Hill nomination based on his performance as the top U.S. envoy to the six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.

Brownback said Hill led a "failed strategy" in the North Korean talks, noting the career diplomat neglected to raise human rights issues during the negotiations.

Other opponents to the Hill nomination noted he had no prior experience in the Middle East. Hill, who does not speak Arabic, had served as the U.S. envoy to Poland, South Korea and Macedonia.

Lawmakers, however, stood in line behind U.S. President Barack Obama, his top military generals and others who lauded Hill's storied career.

"Ambassador Hill has unique experience in managing the type of regional diplomatic effort that is likely to be required at this stage of Iraq's development," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Hill replaces Ryan Crocker, who left the post in February.

U.S. military to hold June deadline in Iraq

American forces are on schedule to withdraw from major cities in Iraq by June 30 despite the moderate uptick in violence, the Iraqi human rights minister said.

Violence in Iraq has seen a moderate increase in the wake of the January provincial elections. A suicide bomber in Mosul wounded eight in an attack on national police Wednesday, while an attack in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, killed at least 15 last week.

Despite the onset of violence, U.S. military officials said they are on track to pull out of major cities by June 30 under the terms of a bilateral Status of Forces Agreement.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim agreed, telling Arab News that the increase in violence would have little impact on the deadline, adding that she expected "the Americans to leave at the scheduled time."

She went on to say the recent attacks were not a result of terrorists and insurgents taking advantage of any security vacuum emerging in the run-up to the American withdrawal.

Salim is the only Christian in the Iraqi government with a Cabinet position. Attacks on the Christian community in northern Iraq contributed to mounting concerns over regional security.

U.S. military officials, for their part, have said they would stay active in the north of Iraq, particularly Mosul, beyond the June 30 deadline if requested to do so by the Iraqi government.

Iran more dangerous than U.S., British forces

Iranian influence in Iraq is more corrosive and dangerous than the presence of American and British forces, a resistance leader said.

South Iraq Liberation Front Secretary-General Awad al-Abadan told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that his organization was in contact with several insurgent groups in Iraq opposed to Iranian meddling but discounted the use of armed resistance.

"The front has not decided to use arms because we are not convinced of its usefulness," he said.

The South Iraq Liberation Front is a group in opposition to Iranian influence and claims near the Persian Gulf, notably the Shatt al-Arab waterway and the Iranian province of Khuzestan. It considers Khuzestan occupied territory similar to regional perceptions of Palestine.

Abadan blasted the perceived Iranian slant in discussions on Iraqi developments, saying Tehran's actions contradict many of its official statements.

"We have heard a lot of words from them, but Iran is not taking a single step in favor of Iraq," he said.

He went on to state that his resistance movement had centered itself in southern Basra as the main staging ground against Iranian influence in Iraq, noting Iranian meddling there was more dangerous than the presence of foreign troops.

"The Iranian occupation is more dangerous than the American and British occupations because the last two will inevitably leave," he said.

Kabul positive on Taliban talks

Talks between the Afghan government and moderate elements in the Taliban regime aimed at ending the violence produced some results, officials said.

Humayun Hamidzada, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said officials in Kabul had reached out to members of the Taliban in an effort to end the insurgency, Radio Free Afghanistan reports.

Washington had suggested it would consider bringing certain members of the Taliban to the negotiating table in an effort to find a holistic approach to tackling the security and political problems in Afghanistan.

The terms of the negotiations hinge on the removal of Taliban names from terrorist blacklists adopted by the United States and its international allies in Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban recognition of the national constitution.

Taliban officials, however, have said they would not enter into talks with the Afghan government while foreign troops were present in the country.

Meanwhile, Taliban elements in Pakistan have expanded their influence beyond the tribal areas along the Afghan border. The expansion comes on the heels of a decision by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to adopt Islamic law in the region.

Afghan officials arrive in Tehran

The speaker of the Afghan House of People arrived Wednesday in Tehran to discuss bilateral relations with Iranian parliamentary officials.

Yunus Qanuni met with Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a top cultural minister and former Iranian Parliament speaker, in Tehran to focus on strengthening regional ties on a variety of issues, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reports.

"Iran gives great importance to Afghanistan's independence as well as preserving its national unity, stability, security and public prosperity," Haddad-Adel said.

The Afghan minister praised Iranian efforts to help secure Afghanistan and its broader cooperative efforts.

Tehran last week offered to work bilaterally with the Kabul government to help train Afghan national police forces as part of a broader effort to curb the illicit drug trade.

Iran shares many regional concerns with the international community and the United States over the consequences of instability in Afghanistan, notably opium trafficking and production.

Training the Afghan police force is part of Washington's new strategy to turn the tide in the war-torn country following distractions from the war effort in Iraq.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced in March he would send 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan to support that mission.

Kabul, U.N. call for donor transparency

The international donor community requires a mechanism to coordinate assistance efforts with the government of Afghanistan, U.N. officials said.

Kabul and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan selected the Afghan Ministry of Public Health to coordinate efforts aimed at increasing transparency and accountability within the international donor community, the Afghan government reports.

"It is necessary to create a mechanism to involve government line ministries and donors in the design of new programs," the report said.

The mechanism calls for capacity-building to overcome the general lack of coordination between government programs and the donor community.

A report by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul called for similar arrangements in an early-April report, saying increased awareness and mechanisms of accountability between donors and the Afghan government were needed to make important progress in the reconstruction sector.

AREU said an increase in support mechanisms for development policy, anti-corruption mechanisms and government legitimacy will go a long way toward making development aid more effective in Afghanistan.

A pilot stage for the Ministry of Public Health program will last six months, after which time a panel will review the project and make necessary modifications.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)