March 18th Morning Readbook

Swat's displaced fret about handouts 




Drone Strike Said to Kill a Leader of Al Qaeda
A strike by an unmanned drone last week killed a senior commander of Al Qaeda who had played a significant role in planning the killing of Central Intelligence Agency operatives in late December at a base in Afghanistan, according to American officials.


US operations 'already started' in Kandahar
Operations to push the Taliban out of their iconic Afghan stronghold of Kandahar are underway and will steadily build in the months ahead, military officials said Thursday.


Soaring IED attacks in Afghanistan stymie U.S. counteroffensive
Taliban fighters more than doubled the number of homemade bombs they used against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last year, relying on explosives that are often far more primitive than the ones used in Iraq.


Iraq's election adds to sectarian divide
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is relying on his Shiite Muslim religious identity to gain an edge over Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite whose loss would be a huge setback to Sunni Arab voters.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera