Afghan violence linked to Pakistani militants; Government shake-ups rock Baghdad

Pakistani fighters linked to Afghan violence

Insurgent activity in the Marjah district of the southern Afghan province of Helmand is linked to foreign fighters from Pakistan and the narcotics trade.

Afghan forces and the International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan report heavy fighting in Marjah, which ISAF claims is a stronghold of militancy in Helmand.

An ISAF report states many of the fighters came from Balochistan province in western Pakistan as part of an insurgent effort to increase the number of militants in the region.

Marjah is notorious for narcotics trafficking, which military officials say is used to provide funding for weapons, explosives and for payment for suicide bombers, ISAF reports.

Afghan and international forces report seizing a "significant quantity" of narcotics in the region. ISAF said the influx of foreign fighters and efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation could result in increased militant activity in Helmand.

U.S. military reports, meanwhile, say Afghan and international forces killed two insurgents and arrested six others in the Marjah on Thursday.

Military reports of recent attacks in Helmand province claim as many as eight civilians were killed in U.S.-led airstrikes, which U.S. military officials blame on the Taliban use of human shields.

American forces have come under fire in recent weeks from mounting civilian casualties. A May 4 attack in Farah province allegedly claimed more than 100 civilians, though U.S. officials contest those numbers.

NYC suspects angered over Afghanistan

Four American Muslims arrested on a plot to shoot down U.S. military jets and bomb a synagogue in New York were angered by the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan.

Four men -- James Cromitie, Laguerre Payen and David and Onta Williams -- were arrested in an FBI sting after they were observed Wednesday attempting to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx borough of New York City. The men were also plotting to shoot down U.S. military jets from a nearby Air National Guard base.

The parents of Cromitie, the purported ringleader of the group, lived in Afghanistan before he was born. Prosecutors claim Cromitie told an FBI informant he was angered over the accounts of civilian Muslim casualties at the hands of American forces, the FBI says in its statement on the arrests.

Cromitie, the FBI says, told the informant he wanted to return to Afghanistan to die as a martyr so he could go to "paradise." He later discussed with the informant joining the Pakistani-based Jaish-e Mohammed to "do jihad."

The FBI claims the defendants had obtained inert C-4 explosives and inoperable Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles from undercover agents who said the weapons were supplied by Jaish-e-Mohammed.

All four are charged each with one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States and one count each of conspiracy to obtain and use anti-aircraft missiles.

Iran strikes blow to Afghan drug trade

Iranian counter-narcotics officers are among the best in the world, seizing more than 800 tons of heroin from Afghanistan, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of UNODC, praised Iran for prohibiting a "flood of heroin" from entering the illicit drug market, adding Iran made "a massive sacrifice" in its battle against narcotics traffickers.

UNODC says roughly 2,500 tons of opium crosses the Iranian border from Afghanistan each year, and Iranian counter-narcotics officers were able to seize roughly 30 percent of that.

"The anti-narcotics police in Iran are among the best in the world," he said.

Iran has erected more than 600 miles of trenches, walls and other prohibitive structures along its border with Afghanistan in order to help control traffickers from entering the country. Despite the efforts, more than 3,700 Iranian border police have died in conflicts with drug smugglers and more than 12,000 have been injured.

Iran suffers from a soaring number of heroin addicts, with a growing number of HIV cases as a secondary effect. Costa noted Iran has domestic reasons to push hard against the Afghanistan-based drug trade but called for international support for the effort.

"This should be a shared responsibility, not only Iran's problem," he said.

Sons of Iraq target of attacks

The U.S. military hosted a reconciliation summit for the Sunni-led Sons of Iraq as bombs ripped through the country Thursday, killing Sunni forces in Kirkuk.

More than 50 people were wounded and 24 others were killed in three separate incidents on Iraq on Thursday. At least 15 were killed in a suicide operation in Baghdad as two police officers died in nearby bombings.

Meanwhile, seven members of the Sons of Iraq, a paramilitary unit, were killed in the northern city of Kirkuk as they waited in line for their paychecks, The New York Times reports.

The Sons of Iraq grew out of the Anbar Awakening Councils in 2005 as al-Qaida influence grew in the restive western province. U.S. military forces employed former militants as part of the counterinsurgency strategy known as "the surge," and the Iraqi government is now tasked with employing its members for civil service of general security duties.

Thursday's attacks came in the wake of a summit hosted by U.S. and Iraqi officials to handle grievances from the Sons of Iraq, who complain they have not received payments or government jobs as promised.

A U.S. military report of the conference says Baghdad fell behind in its payment for the Sons of Iraq in February when the national budget was slashed due to declining oil revenue.

U.S. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, renewed the national state of emergency in regard to Iraq, citing a litany of issues ranging from security to political and economic issues.

"Accordingly, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to this threat and maintain in force the measures taken to deal with that national emergency," he said.

Iraq is scheduled for a June public referendum on a bilateral Status of Forces Agreement with the United States that outlines the role American forces will play in Iraq. Washington had tied military efforts in Iraq to national elections, but a decision to delay those elections to 2010 may complicate the U.S. mission there.

Political turmoil hits Iraqi Oil Ministry

Opposition to Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani mounted as lawmakers in Baghdad called for his resignation amid plummeting oil revenues.

Iraqi lawmakers called on Shahristani to appear before Parliament to address alleged pitfalls in his ministry. Assem Jihad, a spokesman for the Oil Ministry, said the concerns are politically motivated and said Shahristani welcomed the opportunity to address lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Jabber Khalifa al-Jabber, a high-ranking official on the Oil and Gas Committee in Baghdad, however, says lawmakers could move on a no-confidence vote to force Shahristani from office.

"It is time for him to step aside since his oil policies have failed," he said. A simple majority in the 275-member Parliament is needed to remove public officials from office.

Shahristani blamed policies during the Saddam Hussein regime and the near civil war in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for a lack of development in the Iraqi oil sector. He also struck back at lawmakers for their failure to pass a national hydrocarbon law.

Meanwhile, Iraq has moved on a series of oil and gas measures. Oil exports from Kurdish fields are set for June 1, while Iraq and Egypt announced Wednesday plans for bilateral energy cooperation.

A separate gas deal would designate Kurdish gas for Europe's Nabucco pipeline, though it appears Baghdad has turned down that agreement.

Separately, Iraqi lawmakers called for a no-confidence vote for Iraqi Trade Minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani for charges of embezzlement as Baghdad examines corruption within the Interior Ministry.

PKK leaders addresses Kurdish issue

The Kurdish issue should be settled peacefully with disputes resolved using the European Union as a model, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party said.

Murat Karayilan spoke in a lengthy interview with London's pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on regional ambitions and the continued armed struggle in the Kurdish regions of the Middle East.

Kurdish separatists operate in parts of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. The militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is considered a terrorist organization by governments in the region, as well as the United States.

U.S. military forces in Iraq have shared intelligence on PKK activity in Iraq with the Turkish military, and Iranian forces have scuffled with Kurdish separatists along its border with Iraq in recent weeks.

In the interview, Karayilan called for a peaceful resolution to the so-called Kurdish question, saying a "Kurdish nation" could emerge through a Middle East alliance similar to the European Union.

"The Kurdish people should be liberated from occupation and from being a second-class nation as long as the establishment of an independent Kurdish state is not possible at present," he said.

He went on to address Turkish accusations that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, were arming the PKK, saying those claims were baseless.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)