Afghanistan summary here and here.

Pakistan summary here.

Fragile respite:

After four days of bloody clashes in South Waziristan between the Pakistani security forces and militants, both sides have agreed on a ceasefire and prisoners’ swap brokered by a tribal jirga.

“Under the deal, the Pakistani government will release ten militants. In return, the militants would set free 15 paramilitary personnel,” ‘The News’ reported on Monday, quoting a senior member of the tribal peace committee as saying.

“The prisoners would be released in three phases and the process may take a few days,” said Senator Saleh Shah, another member of the jirga, who claimed to have held meeting with militant commander Baitullah Mahsud.

He said it was a condition of the militants to release the held paramilitary personnel in a phased manner.

However, following the ceasefire on Sunday evening, the roads leading to Wana — headquarters of South Waziristan — and other parts of the tribal region have been reopened, according to the daily. Article

Possibly related to the timing of that just above?

The few weeks between the visits to Pakistan of Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state who left last week, and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who arrives on September 10, could prove crucial in determining the fate of Afghanistan.

This is the timeline for secret three-party talks to establish teega (a Pashtu word for a peace deal that resolves a conflict) between the Western coalition forces in Afghanistan (with Pakistan), the Afghan government, and the anti-coalition insurgents of Afghanistan. The first round of talks has already begun in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, Asia Times Online has learned.

The outcome of the talks will to a large extent decide the agenda of Negroponte’s visit and the course of the US-led “war on terror” in the region.

[snip]

The Taliban, under the command of Mullah Mansoor…are in Satellite town, Quetta, to talk of teega. The next rounds are scheduled for Peshawar, the provincial capital of North-West Frontier Province, and in the Waziristan tribal areas with Taliban commanders of the southeastern provinces.

Specifically, the deals aim to stop violence in selected areas and give the Taliban limited control of government pending the conclusion of a broader peace deal for the country and the Taliban’s inclusion in some form of national administration. Article

And a topically relevant piece on the German experience:

The [German Institute for International and Security Affairs’] Afghanistan experts have identified a hard core of ideologically and religiously schooled mujahedeen leaders surrounding Taliban leader Mullah Omar. This hard core is surrounded by a second circle of Taliban, consisting of indoctrinated students from religious schools in Pakistan and foreign sympathizers. But the periphery consists of militants from Pashtun tribes and other groups that fight as paid mercenaries against US troops. The gangsters who kidnapped German engineer Rudolf B. five weeks ago and have since been trying to obtain a ransom for him probably come from this layer.

Such “local, non-ideological agents of the insurrection” could at least be integrated into the reconstruction process, according to the SWP study. Volker Perthes, director of SWP, believes that, given the current situation, “there will be no way around negotiating with parts of the Taliban” at some point. He is backed by high-ranking German military officials, one of whom takes a particularly sober view of the situation: “When you go to a party, you just have to dance with whatever gals are there,” he says. Article

Following up on this story mentioned here last week:

Pakistani troops on Monday in a pre-dawn raid freed 21 people who were kidnapped by militants in southeastern Iran and then whisked over the border, security officials said.

Troops freed the 21 hostages, all Iranians, who were captured on Sunday in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province in a town close to the border, killing the leader of the kidnap gang and arresting the others.

Pakistani authorities began handing over the freed hostages at an airbase late on Monday.

“The 21 recovered abductees are being handed over to Iranian officials and they are fulfilling formalities at an airbase near Quetta,” said the head of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, Major General Salim Nawaz. Article

Hmm.

A Pakistani computer expert alleged to have had links with al-Qaeda has been released without charge after three years in custody.

Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, 25, has been reunited with his family in the city of Karachi, officials and his lawyer said.

Mr Khan was accused of acting as a link between al-Qaeda leaders and militants.

His detention led to the arrest of a suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, and information on terror plots in the UK and US.

Deputy attorney general Naheeda Mehboob Ilahi announced his release in a Supreme Court hearing, but gave no further details.

[snip]

Security sources told the BBC that Mr Khan had been quietly released several weeks ago and that his home in Karachi was under surveillance. Article

Tracking the aftermath of the Chaudhry crisis, still.

#1:

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered senior intelligence service officers to produce a German national and two other illegally-detained men or face severe consequences.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry directed a representative of the top military spy organization, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to produce on Tuesday Aleem Nasir, a German national of Pakistani origin.

‘If the man is not produced the ISI chief will be summoned in the court,’ Chaudhry said after an intelligence official told the court that Nasir was suspected of having links to al-Qaeda and pro-Taliban militants in the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

He also ordered the head of the civilian Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Tariq Pervez, to produce another man. Abdul Basit has been missing since 2004 when he was arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill President Pervez Musharraf.

‘If you fail to locate him, you will be sent to prison,’ said the judge, who has made a number of rulings against state authorities since he was appointed by Musharraf in 2005. Article

#2:

The Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court has not accepted the resignation of six judges who had quit in protest against making Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry non-functional.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that the SHC Chief Justice did not accept the resignations… and reinstated them with immediate effect. Article

Ramping up the nuclear rhetoric.

Pakistan said Monday it will review its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing if India resumes tests, and cited the threat of an arms race in South Asia if Australia goes ahead with plans to sell uranium to New Delhi.

[snip]

Despite also freezing nuclear weapons tests since 1998, India has refused to rule out a resumption as it prepares to implement a far-reaching pact with the United States on civilian nuclear power generation. Article

Keeping up with the ongoing South Korean hostage situation:

Taleban militants holding 19 South Koreans hostage yesterday signalled growing impatience with negotiations as sources close to the talks said they had turned down a cash ransom.

[snip]

“Their efforts are not sufficient,” according to the statement, read over the telephone to AFP by a Taleban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed.

He said the South Korean hostage negotiators had pleaded for more time during a telephone conversation with the Taleban yesterday.

“Our negotiating team were in telephone contact with the South Korean delegation today (Monday). The Koreans are asking for more time,” he said. “The Koreans are telling us that ‘we’re trying to persuade the Kabul administration and the US government to accept the Taleban demands’-but it seems they can’t,” he added.

[snip]

“The Koreans sent a delegation to the Taleban to ask them what they want, other than a prisoner exchange,” the source told AFP, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly refused to bow to the Taleban demand. Washington has also come out strongly against a prisoner swap.

“The Koreans’ message to the Taleban is ‘we can’t help free your prisoners. (Do you have) any other demand?” the source said.

The kidnappers have refused a cash ransom, he said, but refused to give details. Article

Some stories just stand as monuments to how out of whack policy can get. Should news of this filter to the farmers in Afghanistan, picture their confusion and resentment.

A British company is recruiting farmers to cultivate opium to meet the growing demand for diamorphine in hospitals across the country.

The news comes as troops contine to struggle to contain the opium industry in Afghanistan. Figures due to be released by the United Nations next month are expected to show that the poppy crop has reached a record level. They are expected to show an increase in cultivated area to 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres).

Britain has spent £290 million on its counter-narcotics campaign in the country and is planning to spend an extra £22.5 million next year.

[snip]

The possibility of buying opium from Afghan farmers, who illegally grow poppies, to meet the demand for diamorphine has been raised in the past. However, with the illegal Afghan crop providing 90 per cent of the heroin trade in Britain alone, the possibility of medical uses for it has never been viewed as practical or realistic. Article

Noted FYI:

Mail sent from Britain to the nation’s troops in Afghanistan and Iraq will soon be shipped postage-free.

The decision by Royal Mail to eliminate the cost of postage for parcels headed to British soldiers was made after many relatives signed a petition asking the government to help foot the bill, the BBC reported Monday. Article