Word: ghani
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Abdullah's rallies are unusual in a country racked by insurgent violence. While Karzai campaigns from the lofty, army-secured heights of head of state and another contender, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani (who polled 3% in May), dominates television debates, Abdullah is taking his platform straight to the streets, or, as the case may often be, the country's bumpy mud tracks. In a period of less than two months, the onetime warrior will have been to more than half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, throwing rallies under the massive, multicolored tents usually reserved for weddings. The dangers...
...much as an anti-Karzai but as an alternative Karzai, offering the same promises of peace, security and stability with a new face, scrubbed clean of the corruption charges that have dogged the President's recent tenure in power. (The anti-Karzai title more properly goes to Ashraf Ghani, whose campaign is grounded in exhaustive, intelligent - some might say too intelligent - and effective policy initiatives that get to the root of the country's problems.) Change and hope are Abdullah's slogans, though like Karzai's, his leadership abilities seem to be based more on personal charisma and networking than...
...Pakistan is taking the fight to Mehsud's mountainous stronghold, ordering an expansion of its current offensive against Taliban fighters in the Swat valley. On Sunday night, denouncing Mehsud as "the root cause of all evils," Owais Ghani, the governor of the North-West Frontier Province, said the government has called on the army to launch a "full-fledged" military operation to eliminate Mehsud and his estimated 20,000 men. The crucial battle may prove to be the most difficult that Pakistan's military has faced on its soil in recent years...
...advantage during this fight may come, however, from abroad. In contrast to the previous offensives in South Waziristan, there are signs of closer cooperation between Islamabad and Washington. Just hours before Ghani's Sunday announcement, a CIA-operated drone fired missiles near Makeen, Mehsud's hometown. Five suspected militants were killed. It was the 20th such strike this year. Since February, the U.S. has stepped up attacks on Mehsud and his allies, broadening its range of drone targets across the tribal belt. The day before the drone strike, Pakistani air-force jets were pounding the same area in retaliation...
Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani defended the move to establish Shari'a, saying it was the only way to bring peace in the valley. "Islam is our religion and we are Muslims," he told reporters in Peshawar, the provincial capital. "The state is responding to the aspirations of the people." Yet more than 80,000 of the 1.5 million residents have fled the region. "The Taliban are taking Swat back to the Dark Ages and the Pakistani government is now complicit in their horrific abuses," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Tossing out the rights...