Afghanistan summary here and here.

Pakistan summary here and here.

Calling a spade a spade: The other quagmire.

NATO risks losing the war in Afghanistan because of a “tremendous deterioration” in the popularity of the government of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke said Saturday.

“Afghanistan represents the ultimate test for NATO,” Holbrooke - who recently toured the war-torn country - told the Brussels Forum, an annual transatlantic security conference.

[snip]

Holbrooke said he was struck during his visit by how unpopular Karzai’s government had become because of corruption caused by the country’s burgeoning drug problem.

“I have heard increasingly that the government has lost its momentum,” he said.

“I can sense a tremendous deterioration in the standing of the government. Afghans are now universally talking about their disappointment with Karzai. Let’s be honest with ourselves … the government must succeed or else the Taliban will gain from it.”

[snip]

Holbrooke, who was instrumental in formulating U.S. policy toward the United Nations, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, remains best-known for his role as the architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the war in Bosnia.

[snip]

He lambasted the U.S.-financed effort to train the Afghan police, saying it had produced a force that was corrupt and incompetent.

“The U.S. training program (for the police) under DynCorp is an appalling joke … a complete shambles,” he said. He referred to Falls Church, Virginia-based DynCorp International Inc. a major provider of security and defence services in Afghanistan, Iraq and other troublespots.

“I don’t want to appear negative, but unless we are honest about the problem we will continue saying year after year that we are making progress, but have lost ground. We all know where that leads.” Article

Keeping up with the fairly major ruckus in Canada (see the past few days’ postings as well):

#1:

Urging an end to the “political circus” over Afghan detainees, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Canada says no Canadians, including corrections officers, have monitored treatment of prisoners turned over by Canadian military forces.

However, Ambassador Omar Samad said in a Global National interview that Canadian officials will soon have “unrestricted access” to prisons under an agreement currently being worked out with Canada in the wake of political uproar over alleged torture of detainees.

Samad contradicted assertions by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day that Corrections Canada officers have been monitoring prisoner treatment — an assertion Day repeated in the Commons Friday, saying they are there “to see if there are cases of torture.”

[snip]

“From the Afghan point of view, it’s clear there was no followup or monitoring of detainees caught by Canadian forces turned over to Afghans, especially to the NDS (National Directorate of Security) that took place prior to this current time.” Article

#2:

Most House of Commons resignation calls are cheap political posturing, merely a dramatic plea to be quoted by the media and best paid no heed, but the O’Connor’s-a-goner campaign is starting to gain traction - and may rate serious consideration.

[snip]

After falling into Canadian hands, these detainees apparently get some gentle arm-twisting for intelligence before being handed over to the Afghans for a safekeeping that’s not supposed to include involuntary tooth extractions and electric shock treatment.

That’s not to say detainee reports of abuse should be accepted and acted upon as gospel truth. When terrorist suspects complain about their lousy prison treatment, it’s best downed with a shaker of salt.

But there’s a presumption of detainee innocence here and a moral obligation to ensure we’re not replicating the American role in the Maher Arar saga, which is to say knowingly handing over suspects for torture by a foreign power.

[snip]

Had O’Connor merely accepted and admitted what he must’ve known to be true - that the Afghans have an internationally recognized reputation as severely inhospitable hosts - and vowed to obtain access to detention centres for Canadian monitors, there would’ve been no messy talk of his political demise.

But as always with many governments, the bungled reaction was worse than the original problem.

After giving the surprising and perhaps unscripted revelation that Canada had negotiated a detainee inspection deal, O’Connor engaged in a runaway commentary followed by news release clarifications, document denials and more changed stories - all the while leaving confused cabinet colleagues in the dark. Article

Noted FYI:

Controversially suspended by President General Pervez Musharraf, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry will address the Sindh High Court Bar Association on May 12.

SHCBA President Abrar Hasan said Saturday that he has met the chief justice in Islamabad after filing a petition against the presidential reference at the Supreme Court principal seat on behalf of the bar.

[snip]

During his last address to the Peshawar Bar, the chief justice was welcomed by 12 judges of the Peshawar High Court, including the chief justice of Peshawar High Court.

It was on this occasion, the chief justice read the famous Urdu couplet, which meant: “I alone started my journey to the destination - then people started joining me and a caravan came into being.”

The chief justice reached Peshawar from Islamabad after a journey of nine hours. He was showered with rose petals all the way by ordinary people, political workers and lawyers at different places during his travel on April 21. Article