January 19th Morning Readbook

An Afghan policeman keeps watch in front of a shopping centre, burnt after a Taliban attack, in Kabul January 19, 2010. Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on the center of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and militants battling security forces from inside a shopping center engulfed in flames. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood


Taliban Leaders Unlikely to Accept Offer, Gates Says
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that there could be a surge of Taliban followers willing to reintegrate with the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, but that for now an Afghan government reconciliation with the Taliban leadership was unlikely.


Taliban Strike Heart of Afghan Capital
The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan capital Monday, paralyzing the city for most of the day as militants set off explosions, took over buildings and attempted to disrupt the swearing-in of new cabinet ministers.


Gates: US seeks stability between India, Pakistan
The United States would like to help India and Pakistan focus less on each other and more on the terrorism threat, but the two countries prefer to settle their differences themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday


Could a Ban on Sunni Candidates Imperil Iraq's Election?
Like the knee-jerk decision to dismantle the Iraqi army, the U.S. decision in 2003 to ban members of the former ruling Baath Party from joining the new Iraqi government was one of the biggest blunders of the early American occupation of post-Saddam Iraq. It instantly alienated an entire spectrum of civil servants and politicians, many of whom didn't have much loyalty to the old regime and could have been enlisted in the construction of a new government. And because many of them were Sunni, it helped widen the sectarian split in Iraqi society that eventually led to civil war.


Saddam's Cousin 'Chemical Ali' Sentenced to Death




Pakistani 'Al Qaeda' scientist trial begins in NY
The trial of a Pakistani neuroscientist educated in the United States and accused of trying to kill US personnel in Afghanistan was due to start Tuesday in New York. US authorities say Aafia Siddiqui, 37, is an Al Qaeda-linked, would-be terrorist who tried to murder American officers on July 18, 2008, after she was detained by security services in Afghanistan.


Five Americans in Pakistan Allege Torture
Five young Americans arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of trying to join militant Islamist groups allege they are being tortured in custody.


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