Top news: Amid allegations that Afghans employed by U.S. forces had killed and tortured villagers in the area, the government of President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday that it will ban U.S. special forces from operating in Wardak province, a key area just west of Kabul used by the Taliban to stage attacks on the capital.
Arguing that the measure was taken as a last resort after coalition commanders turned a deaf ear on complaints of abuse, Afghan officials said that a university student in Wardak had been abducted and later found with his head and fingers cut off. "Those Afghans in these armed groups who are working with the U.S. special forces, the defense minister asked for an explanation of who they are,' presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said, implying that the Afghan employees in question are members of U.S.-run militias. "Those individuals should be handed over to the Afghan side so that we can further investigate."
On Monday, NATO announced that it so far had found no evidence of wrong-doing in Wardak, which over the course of the war has been a focus for counter-terrorism operations. Special forces represent a key bulwark of the Obama administration's withdrawal strategy from Afghanistan, and their inability to move freely around the country to strike at terrorist groups would hamper White House plans for the country after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Cuba: Cuban president Raul Castro announced Sunday that he will resign as president in 2018 at the end of his current five-year term, signaling the end of an era on the Communist-ruled island. Since 1959, Cuba has been ruled by one of the Castro brothers, and Fidel Castro was in attendance Sunday at Raul's speech, at which he designated a political heir, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
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