The insurgency in Afghanistan has become more pervasive, more sophisticated and more violent, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff here today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a news conference with Afghan and American reporters that the insurgents “have a dominant influence in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.” The insurgents are becoming more effective at using improvised explosive devices and small-unit tactics, Mullen said. “I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan,” he said. Getting at this network is key to success in the country, the chairman added.

-- American Forces Press Service

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Top U.S. commanders discuss strategy with Afghan and Pakistani leaders - Ayaz Gul, Voice of America. The top U.S. military commander met with Afghan leaders in Kabul to discuss the upcoming U.S troop buildup and training of local security forces. Meanwhile, the regional commander met with civilian and military leaders in neighboring Pakistan to urge them to step up pressure on Afghan Taliban hiding on the Pakistani side of the border. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Kabul just hours after suspected Taliban militants killed at least 16 Afghan policemen, underscoring the security crisis in the country. Foreign troops under command of General Stanley McChrystal also have suffered record numbers of casualties this year in Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters after talks with Afghan leaders, Admiral Mullen painted a grim picture of the security situation in the country. "The insurgency has grown more violent, more pervasive and more sophisticated," said Admiral Mullen. "By General McChrystal's own estimate insurgents now have a dominant influence in 11 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, and they are becoming much more effective in the use of improvised explosive devices and small unit tactics."

Afghan insurgency more pervasive, Mullen says - Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service. The insurgency in Afghanistan has become more pervasive, more sophisticated and more violent, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff here today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a news conference with Afghan and American reporters that the insurgents “have a dominant influence in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.” The insurgents are becoming more effective at using improvised explosive devices and small-unit tactics, Mullen said. “I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan,” he said. Getting at this network is key to success in the country, the chairman added. Mullen said he will discuss with Afghan and Pakistani leaders how all can better cooperate and coordinate activities against the terror network, and that he’ll meet with Pakistani Gen. Asfaq Kiyani later this week. The Pakistani offensive in South Waziristan is going well, he said, and the Pakistani military is meeting its objectives. “The Pakistani military, while taking a significant number of casualties, is taking the fight to this most dangerous enemy of their state,” he said. Consolidating military gains by ensuring a safe environment for building and governance is the most difficult part of counterinsurgency operations, Mullen said. During visits with troops at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., last week, the chairman said, he told the troops to “steel themselves for more combat and more casualties, even as I told them to use the time before deployment to learn all they can about the Afghan culture.

Key to Afghanistan success lies in southern provinces - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service. The road to success in Afghanistan goes through the South, a former commander of international forces there said today. “We all recognize that key to success in Afghanistan is the situation in southern Afghanistan,” Dutch army Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif said during a Pentagon press briefing. De Kruif is a former commander of International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command South, which oversees operations in extremist strongholds such Helmand and Kandahar provinces. De Kruif, who relinquished his command last month, explained that conditions in his former region changed greatly during his 12-month assignment. He noted that early in his tenure it was government, not security, that was central in the planning process. De Kruif’s force quickly grew from about 18,000 U.S. and NATO troops to roughly 40,000, as the level of violence grew, he said. An order by President Barack Obama in March sent about 21,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, allowing U.S. and international forces there to extend their reach to parts of the country, including the South, where there was little coalition interaction. The increase provided more troops to train Afghan security forces, with some allotted for combat-focused operations. “You can’t do just a little bit of counterinsurgency,” the general said. “You do counterinsurgency and protect 90 to 95 percent of the population, or you don’t do counterinsurgency at all.” Not only did NATO military leaders need to address the emerging threat of insurgent attacks on Afghan security forces, they recognized that civilian assistance to improve governance and local development is needed for the enduring efforts, he said. “I think we’ve learned that it’s not security that’s going to deliver the effect, but it’s the integrated approach, the comprehensive approach, and you will never have security without the civilian capabilities to support government, reconstruction and development,” he added.

Military faces challenges in deploying more troops to Afghanistan - Eric Schmitt, New York Times. The senior allied operational commander in Afghanistan warned Monday that the military faced stiff challenges to deploying 30,000 additional American troops here on the tight schedule that President Obama has ordered. The officer, Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the deputy commander of American and NATO forces here, said that bad weather, limited capacity to send supplies by air and potential attacks on ground convoys carrying equipment for the troops from Pakistan and other neighboring countries presented formidable hurdles to meeting the goal of sending all of the reinforcements by next fall. Under Mr. Obama’s order early this month to accelerate the troop deployments, the White House initially said the additional forces would be in place within six months. Pentagon officials quickly amended that to say the bulk of the forces would be on the ground by next summer, but it would take a few months after that before all troops were in place.

Supplying troops in Afghanistan with fuel is challenge for U.S. - Steven Mufson and Walter Pincus, Washington Post. President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan will magnify one of the Pentagon's biggest challenges: getting aviation and diesel fuel to U.S. air and ground forces there. As the number of U.S. and coalition troops grows, the military is planning for thousands of additional tanker truck deliveries a month, big new storage facilities and dozens of contractors to navigate the landlocked country's terrain, politics and perilous supply routes. And though Obama has vowed to start bringing U.S. forces home in 18 months, some of the fuel storage facilities will not be completed until then, according to the contract specifications issued by the Pentagon's logistics planners. "Getting into Afghanistan, which we need to do as quickly as we can possibly do it, is very difficult because . . . next to Antarctica, Afghanistan is probably the most incommodious place, from a logistics point of view, to be trying to fight a war," Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said recently. "It's landlocked and rugged, and the road network is much, much thinner than in Iraq. Fewer airports, different geography."

General wants troops ready for ‘complex human terrain’ - American Forces Press Service. U.S. troops need to be prepared to operate in a “complex human terrain” when they arrive in Afghanistan, the commander of International Security Assistance Force Joint Command said here today. Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez took over the job just two months ago. He commands U.S. troops assigned to NATO and troops of 42 other nations for daily operations throughout Afghanistan. “Now that we know where [U.S. troops] are going and when they are coming in, I think we’ll be able to make them well-prepared for what they need to do,” he said during an interview with reporters traveling with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The general said the long pole in the tent is situational awareness for the troops coming in. “It’s tougher to do than the actual training itself,” he said. Over the past eight years, U.S. forces have adapted to stress counterinsurgency operations, as simply clearing an area of insurgents and then moving on proved not to be enough. “We have to synchronize our efforts with civilian and international partners so we can help build the infrastructure and help the national and local governments,” Rodriguez said. What he called “the complex human terrain” is the biggest challenge facing NATO in Afghanistan, the general said. “Some of the most important things we do is build relationships,” he explained. Servicemembers preparing for Afghanistan are looking at all the Afghan units they work with, and civilians as well, he said. They also must be aware of tribal, ethnic and cultural differences, he added.

Rebuffing U.S., Pakistan balks at crackdown - Jane Perlez, New York Times. Demands by the United States for Pakistan to crack down on the strongest Taliban warrior in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, whose fighters pose the biggest threat to American forces, have been rebuffed by the Pakistani military, according to Pakistani military officials and diplomats. The Obama administration wants Pakistan to turn on Mr. Haqqani, a longtime asset of Pakistan’s spy agency who uses the tribal area of North Waziristan as his sanctuary. But, the officials said, Pakistan views the entreaties as contrary to its interests in Afghanistan beyond the timetable of President Obama’s surge, which envisions reducing American forces beginning in mid-2011. The demands, first made by senior American officials before President Obama’s Afghanistan speech and repeated many times since, were renewed in a written message delivered in recent days by the United States Embassy to the head of the Pakistani military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, according to American officials. Gen. David H. Petraeus followed up on Monday during a visit to Islamabad.

U.S. pressures Pakistan to target Afghan Taliban enclaves - Matthew Rosenberg, Wall Street Journal. The U.S. is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to widen the scope of an offensive against the Taliban in its tribal areas, fearful the current operation's limits could blunt the impact of the fresh American troops being dispatched to neighboring Afghanistan. For the past two months, Pakistan's military has been driving against Taliban hideouts in the tribal area of South Waziristan in what U.S. officials describe as a welcome campaign against the militants. But the focus of the campaign is the main faction of the Pakistan Taliban - an offshoot of the Afghan movement; Afghan Taliban havens in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas and its southwestern province of Baluchistan remain unmolested. With those sanctuaries intact, "our fear is that no matter how many boots we put on the ground [in Afghanistan], the enemy still has a place from where it can regroup, rearm and strategize," said a senior U.S. military commander overseeing operations in Afghanistan. To change that, "there will be a concerted diplomatic effort to address the sanctuary problem," said a senior U.S. official in Afghanistan. But Pakistan so far has no plans to move against Afghan Taliban havens in its territory, say officials from both countries. "It would be very helpful if additional pressure could be put [by Pakistan] on the leadership elements that are causing problems in Afghanistan," Gen. David Petraeus, the chief of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters Sunday at a security conference in Bahrain.

Suicide car bomb in Afghanistan kills 8 - Voice of America. Afghan officials say a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul has killed at least eight people and wounded 40 others. Authorities say the bomber blew himself up Tuesday in front of the Heetal Hotel and the home of a former Afghan vice president in Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan district. The blast damaged the fortified hotel and surrounding buildings. The Heetal Hotel is frequented by foreigners. It is unclear if the bomber was targeting the hotel or the former vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud. The blast came as lawmakers, government officials, and foreign ambassadors gathered in the city for a conference on fighting endemic corruption within the government. During a speech at the conference, Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing, calling it a "terrorist attack" against humanity and Islam. Mr. Karzai called for the conference as his first official act after his swearing in last month. Last month, Transparency International released a poll that showed Afghanistan is now perceived to be the second-most corrupt country in the world, behind Somalia. On Monday, the top U.S. military officer said that the security situation in Afghanistan is worsening.

Suicide car bomb blast in Kabul - Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Sangar Rahimi, New York Times. Hedyatullah Rahmani gathered himself from the force of the blast and raced two blocks to the scene of the suicide car bomb that struck central Kabul on Tuesday morning. He saw two men being burned, trapped inside a car. The driver thrust his hand out the window and was waving it frantically, said Mr. Rahmani, who with two other men pulled the driver from the car. “We threw him in the ditch of water to kill the fire on his body,” Mr. Rahmani said. But the other passenger, he said, could not be rescued. The blast killed at least eight people and wounded 40 more, the Afghan authorities said. Four women were among the dead, according to the Interior Ministry. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a telephone interview that he did not know whether the bomb was the work of the Taliban. The explosion occurred just outside a hotel frequented by foreigners and several buildings owned by a former Afghan vice president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, who may have been the target. Mr. Massoud is the brother of the legendary guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who battled Soviet forces during the 1980s and was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Sept. 9, 2001.

Car bomb strikes in Kabul's diplomatic district - Anand Gopal, Wall Street Journal. At least nine people died when a suicide car bomb exploded in Kabul's diplomatic district Tuesday in an attack that may have been targeting an upscale hotel used by foreigners or the home of a former vice president. The blast, which also injured more than 40 people, took place near the house of the former Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud, the brother of slain Northern Alliance warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud. Eyewitnesses said a black SUV had slowly driven to an intersection near Mr. Massoud's house and then exploded. Mr. Massoud, who was in his own car at the time of the attack, narrowly escaped the blast, according to his aide. Mr. Massoud's home was heavily damaged, and the street nearby was strewn with shattered glass and charred body parts. Two of his bodyguards were killed in the blast. "I heard a loud blast, and the whole earth shook," said Sidiqullah, an office worker in the area who goes by one name. "I ran towards my office and there were bodies everywhere."

Not much time for good decisions on Afghanistan - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. The speedy surge into Afghanistan isn't going to be quite as rapid as the White House recently suggested - further complicating President Obama's hopes for a quick in-and-out fix. As one of the selling points of the plan to send an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, rather than the full 40,000 troops Gen. Stanley McCrystal requested, the president's aides touted the idea that the extra forces would be sent in the next six months, rather than over the full year that McChrystal originally thought necessary. But a top military planner says the actual timetable will be closer to what McChrystal proposed. I asked Lt Gen. David Rodriquez, the No. 2 US commander here, in a briefing tonight how long the deployment of the extra 30,000 would take. He answered that "it will happen between nine and eleven months," starting in January 2010. Which means that some troops might not arrive until November 2010. The next month after that, December 2010, is when Obama plans to assess how well the troops are doing - so he can decide how many to pull out when the withdrawal begins in July 2011. That doesn't give him much time to make good decisions. Am I the only person who worries that "fuzzy math" is being used here?

IRAN

U.S. nears sanctions for Iranian nukes - Matthew Mosk, Washington Times. Efforts by the Obama administration to reach out to Iran have not produced a deal to halt Tehran's apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday, and the U.S. now appears closer to moving forward with potentially crippling new sanctions. "I don't think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of a positive response from the Iranians," Mrs. Clinton told reporters before a speech on human rights that also criticized Iran. "Certainly, additional pressure is going to be called for." Mrs. Clinton was the latest senior U.S. official to signal that more sanctions could be imposed early next year. President Obama has set a year-end deadline to see whether his strategy of diplomatic outreach can persuade the Iranians to curb a program that could give them the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates predicted Friday that "significant additional sanctions" were looming, while the White House issued a stern statement the same day saying "there will be consequences" to Iranian inaction. Mr. Obama added pointed language to his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, signaling that he expects the rest of the world to join the U.S.

Evidence of Iran's nuclear arms expertise mounts - Joby Warrick, Washington Post. Long denied access to foreign technology because of sanctions, Iran has nevertheless learned how to make virtually every bolt and switch in a nuclear weapon, according to assessments by U.N. nuclear officials in internal documents, as well as Western and Middle Eastern intelligence analysts and weapons experts. Iran's growing technical prowess has been highlighted by a secret memo, leaked to a British newspaper over the weekend, that purportedly shows Iranian scientists conducting tests on a neutron initiator, one of the final technical hurdles in making a nuclear warhead, weapons analysts said Monday. There was no way to establish the authenticity or original source of the document, which is being assessed by officials at Western intelligence agencies and the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Even so, former intelligence officials and arms-control experts said that if it is a genuine Iranian government document, it is a worrisome indication of an ongoing, clandestine effort to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Iran has steadfastly denied seeking nuclear arms.

Iran intends to go forward with espionage trial of 3 Americans - Kay Armin Serjoie, Thomas Erdbrink and William Branigin, Washington Post. Three Americans who were accused of espionage after entering Iran illegally during a hiking trip will be put on trial, Iran's foreign minister said Monday, raising the stakes in a case likely to exacerbate tensions with the United States. The announcement comes after Iran last week demanded the release of 11 Iranians who it says are being held by the United States - a possible signal that Tehran wants to use the Americans as bargaining chips. The development also coincides with an international stalemate over Tehran's nuclear program. The Obama administration has warned Iran that it faces tougher sanctions over its uranium-enrichment activities unless it accepts a proposed deal by Dec. 31. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not say when the trial would begin or specify the charges, saying only that the Americans had "entered Iran illegally, with suspicious objectives."

Clinton rejects Iranian spy charges against American hikers - David Gollust, Voice of America. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday rejected as totally unfounded spy charges against three Americans held in Iran since June after they apparently strayed into Iranian territory while hiking in northern Iraq. The announcement in Tehran by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that the three Americans will stand trial on spy charges that could bring the death penalty triggered a strong reaction from Secretary Clinton, who said the charge is unfounded and baseless. "The three young people who were detained by the Iranians have absolutely no connection with any kind of action against the Iranian state or government. In fact, they were out hiking, and, unfortunately, apparently, allegedly walked across an unmarked boundary. We appeal to the Iranian leadership to release these three young people and release them as soon as possible." Iranian authorities said last month spy charges were pending against the Americans - Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and John Fattal, but the comments from the Iranian Foreign Minister were the first indication that a trial might be imminent. Despite the insistence of the families of the three that they entered Iran from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq inadvertently, Mottaki said they entered Iran with suspicious aims, and that authorities would try them and impose what he termed relevant sentences.

Iran arrests protesters over torn Khomeini photos - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. Iranian opposition supporters deny having burned Khomeini's picture, saying the government is using the alleged incident to crack down on them. Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jaffari Dolatabadi says arrests have been made in the incident in which a widely circulated video clip allegedy show portraits of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being burned. Dolatabadi told a news conference "those who were (present)" at the scene of the alleged portrait-burning were "identified ... detained ... and arrested." He was quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA as saying "no mercy will be shown to those who insulted (Khomeini)." The remarks came amid a government-orchestrated campaign to arouse public ire against the portrait-burners, whom official media allege are members of the opposition. Opposition supporters say the government staged the burning to discredit them.

Tehran's nuclear trigger - Washington Times editorial. A smoking-gun document has emerged that indicates Iran is closer than ever to developing a nuclear weapon. Top-secret technical notes leaked from deep within the Iranian nuclear program - and making the rounds of Western intelligence agencies - detail research on a neutron initiator, a device that sets off a nuclear detonation. It is the smoking gun's trigger. The Islamic republic has long argued that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes, but there is no peaceful use for the neutron initiator. It is not a "dual-use" technology; it only sets off bombs. Iran apparently has been working on the initiator since at least 2007, coincidentally the same year that a National Intelligence Estimate from the United States Intelligence Community determined that Iran had no intention of seeking nuclear weapons. In light of this and other revelations, that finding needs a serious rethinking.

Why Iran can't be contained - Danielle Pletka, Washington Post opinion. Iran is proceeding with an aggressive nuclear weapons program, and a few dogged holdouts notwithstanding, much of the Obama administration has come to terms with that reality. Official Washington has resigned itself to pursuing a containment policy that some argue will limit Iran's ability to proliferate, terrorize and otherwise exploit being a nuclear power. But it is wrong to think a nuclear Iran can be contained. The containment argument runs along Cold War lines: The price of breakout is too high; the regime cares only about power, not about using weapons; containment will be simple because the Arabs are so scared of Iran they'll do anything to help us; President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't have his finger on the button. In fact, these arguments are either false or misleading. The Shiite regime in Tehran is far more skilled than its Sunni counterparts in the world of nuclear aspirations and sponsoring terrorists. A careful student of history, it surely realizes that the international community has meted out little punishment to nuclear transgressors. Tehran probably sees itself more in the mold of India, a great power whose nuclear weapons are acknowledged and now accepted, than of North Korea, a lunocracy without serious global aspirations or influence. Those Iranian officials who advocate withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty do so not because they see Iran becoming the Shiite hermit kingdom but because they think Persia no longer needs to be constrained by status-quo powers and their status-quo treaties.

The Tehran-Caracas nuclear axis - Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal opinion. Here's one from the Department of We Are The World: Hugo Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address the U.N.'s climate summit in Copenhagen. Say what you will about these two gentlemen - the support for terrorists, the Holocaust denial, the suppression of civil liberties - at least nobody can accuse them of being global warming "deniers." On the contrary, the two leaders, who met in Caracas last month for at least the 11th time, have been nothing if not cooperative when it comes to environmentally friendly and carbon-neutral technologies. Bicycles, for instance: In 2005, Chávez directed his government to "follow seriously the project of manufacturing Iranian bicycles in Venezuela." An Iranian dairy products plant (no doubt ecologically sensitive) also set up shop hard on the Colombian border, in territory controlled by Colombia's terrorist FARC. Then there was the tractor factory Iran built in Ciudad Bolivar. In January, the Associated Press reported that Turkish authorities had seized 22 containers labeled "tractor parts." What they contained, according to one Turkish official, "was enough to set up an explosives lab." But perhaps the most interesting Iranian venture is a supposed gold mine not far from Angel Falls, in a remote area known as the Roraima Basin. The basin straddles Venezuela's border with neighboring Guyana, where a Canadian company, U308, thinks it has found the "geological look-alike" to Canada's Athabasca Basin. The Athabasca, the company's Web site adds, "is the world's largest resource of uranium."

THE LONG WAR

U.S. to announce transfer of detainees to Ill. prison - Peter Slevin, Washington Post. Dozens of terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be moved to a little-used Illinois state prison that will be acquired and upgraded by the federal government, an Obama administration official said. The critical step toward fulfilling President Obama's pledge to shut the Guantanamo detention center will be announced Tuesday, said the official, who reported that Obama has ordered the acquisition of the eight-year-old Thomson Correctional Center, about 150 miles northwest of Chicago. Obama made the move despite the objections of Illinois Republicans, who fear the transfer of prisoners - some for indefinite detention, some for trial - could make the state a target for terrorists. Rep. Mark Kirk has called the move "an unnecessary risk."

UNITED STATES

Human rights essential to U.S. policy, Clinton says - Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that human rights and democracy promotion are central to U.S. foreign policy, in a major speech after months of criticism that the Obama administration was being too timid about denouncing abuses of basic freedoms abroad. Clinton emphasized that the U.S. government could demand other countries observe human rights only if it got its own house in order, a reference to President Obama's moves to end torture and close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center. She also put new focus on expanding the human rights discussion to include freedom from hunger and disease, an approach often emphasized by Third World countries. But perhaps the most notable aspect of Clinton's speech was that she gave it at all, said activists and other experts on human rights. Her talk, and one last week by Obama at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, appeared to respond to concerns that the administration has not been forceful enough about abuses in places such as China.

Clinton defends human rights approach - Mark Landler, New York Times. The Obama administration on Monday laid out a human rights agenda that recognized the limits of American authority: emphasizing the need for change within countries, defending engagement with adversaries like Myanmar and Iran and asserting that differences with big countries like China and Russia are best hashed out behind closed doors. “We must be pragmatic and agile in pursuit of our human rights agenda, not compromising on our principles, but doing what is most likely to make them real,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a wide-ranging address at Georgetown University. Mrs. Clinton’s remarks came a week after President Obama, in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, warned that there would be consequences for countries that brutalize their own people. Together, the speeches appeared to be an attempt to answer critics who say the Obama administration has not staked out a forceful position on human rights. But while Mr. Obama’s tone was soaring, Mrs. Clinton’s was more earthbound. She offered a list of examples of how the United States could affect change in countries by working with democracy groups, multilateral organizations and socially responsible corporations.

Is greater spending for diplomats' security at odds with State Department's mission? - Washington Post. If you apply the adage "Follow the money," the security of our diplomats has become almost as important as the diplomacy they practice. State Department appropriations for the next fiscal year - part of the $447 billion spending measure Congress passed this weekend - include $8.2 billion for diplomatic and consular programs. Of that, $2.7 billion is for human resources, i.e., people; $2.5 billion is for overseas programs that directly support them, including locally employed foreign staff; and $1.5 billion is for security programs. Add to that security figure $847 million for priority security upgrades for embassies, missions and other facilities, and you get $2.3 billion. The construction money devoted to security represents almost half of the State Department's $1.7 billion budget for construction, maintenance and operation of all its buildings. But today let's look at an idea raised last week before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs oversight subcommittee: whether "the best security possible for State's diplomatic corps has at times been in tension with State's diplomatic mission." Those words came from Jess T. Ford, a Government Accountability Office official who was testifying about challenges facing State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

UNITED KINGDOM

U.K. audit bodes cuts by military - Alistair MacDonald, Wall Street Journal. The armed forces of the U.K., the U.S.'s biggest military ally, will need billions of dollars more than they have to spend, according to a government audit report, requiring what analysts say will be fundamental cuts to operations. The audit report comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces public and opposition pressure to better equip the armed forces to fight in places such as Afghanistan. Mr. Brown has denied that troops there haven't been adequately equipped. The report by the National Audit Office, which audits the accounts of all government departments and many state-funded bodies, said current plans for the British military will create a deficit of between £6 billion and £36 billion ($9.75 billion to $58.5 billion). With Britain battling a record budget deficit, many political analysts say funding for the armed services will fall rather than increase. The audit report says the Ministry of Defence has reduced the gap between funding and planned expenditure by £15 billion, but that the deficit was in part the result of poor project management by the ministry and will need to be adressed by a strategic review of Britain's defense capability.

AFRICA

U.N. urged to cease aid to Congo regime accused of horrific acts - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo is collaborating with known human rights abusers as it backs a brutal Congolese military operation that has led to the deliberate killing of at least 1,400 civilians and a massive surge in rapes, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The 183-page report, the fullest accounting so far of the operation, is a chronicle of horrors. It describes gang rapes, massacres, village burnings and civilians being tied together before their throats are slit - many incidents carried out by a Congolese army being fed, transported and otherwise supported by the United Nations. The report calls for the U.N. peacekeeping mission to "immediately cease all support" to the Congolese army until the army removes commanders with known records of human rights abuses and otherwise ensures the operation complies with international humanitarian laws.

ASIA PACIFIC

South Korea on track to assume defense lead - Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service. South Korea’s military is on track to assume the lead for its nation’s defense as scheduled a little more than two years from now, the top U.S. military officer posted there said here today. Under an agreement with the United States, South Korea is slated to assume wartime operational control of its military forces on April 17, 2012. The South Korean military possesses the professionalism and capability “to take command of a war fight, if we had to go to war on the peninsula,” Army Gen. Walter “Skip” Sharp said today at the Center for Strategy and International Studies, a Washington “think tank.” Sharp has commanded United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces in Korea since June 2008. About 28,500 U.S. forces serve in South Korea, Sharp said, a number that’s expected to remain about the same for the foreseeable future. Exercises to evaluate restructuring of command and control and staffing systems to accommodate the upcoming transition are being conducted, Sharp said. After the transition occurs in 2012, U.S. ground and naval assets will come under South Korean leadership in the event of war on the peninsula, the general said. However, he added, the United States will maintain command and control of its air assets under the agreement. The U.S.-South Korean military partnership also will be augmented by an improved staffing system designed to enhance wartime coordination and communications between the leaders of U.S., South Korean, and allied forces. It only makes sense that South Korea takes responsibility for its national defense, Sharp said, noting senior South Korean officers inherently know important aspects of their native land.

Seizure of N. Korean arms cargo shows strength of sanctions - Kurt Achin, Voice of America. Thailand will hold the crew of a cargo plane in prison while investigating their role in smuggling weapons from North Korea. Regional experts say the seizure reflects the firmness of international sanctions against the North. A Thai court on Monday denied bail for the five crew members of the plane that landed Friday in Bangkok loaded with North Korean weapons. Police spokesman Pongsapat Pongchareon says they will be held pending investigation. He says bail was denied was because of the quantity of the war weapons aboard the plane, and the fact the crew are foreigners. If they were released temporarily on bail, he says, they may escape, and there is also an issue of their own safety. Pongsapat says the crew will be incarcerated for 12 days. Thai police say the four Kazakhstan and one Belarussian crew members say they did not know they were carrying 35 tons of armaments, including rocket-propelled grenades, surface-to-air missile launchers.

U.N. reports rise in opium cultivation in Burma - Ron Corben, Voice of America. United Nations officials say opium cultivation in Burma rose for the third straight year as ethnic rebel groups sell drugs to buy arms. The increase reverses past successes in cutting opium cultivation in Southeast Asia. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime - UNODC - said Monday that opium poppy cultivation in Burma rose more than 10 percent in 2009 - the third successive year of growth. The agency's latest report covering Thailand, Laos and Burma says the area poppies are cultivated on around 31,700 hectares. The increase followed a dramatic decline from 1998 to 2005 from 130,000 hectares to just over 20,300 hectares in 2006. UNODC officials say part of the reason for the increase may be political instability in Burma, also called Myanmar. Some ethnic militia groups, such as the Wa and Kachin, are selling drugs to buy weapons to fight the government. Burma's military has set a deadline for ethnic groups, many who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy, to surrender their armies. News reports say some of those groups do not want to disarm and are preparing to fight.

MIDDLE EAST

The Palestinians' opposite poles - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. More than ever before, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank represent opposite poles of a future state of Palestine, each increasingly distinct, adding fresh obstacles to the quest for a two-state solution that envisions Israel and Palestine existing side by side. Gaza has become imbued with a narrow Islamist culture that considers Israel's elimination the ultimate goal; the West Bank, in contrast, has become relatively open and secular, with its government trying to resolve disputes with Israel through politics and diplomacy. In the process, the two Palestinian territories have grown increasingly antagonistic toward each other. The notion of a single "Palestine" seems to be receding, for the Barakat brothers and all Palestinians, a process accelerated by Israeli policies that restrict travel into and out of the Gaza Strip and limit its economic growth in a bid to undercut support for the area's ruling Islamist Hamas movement. Gaza and the West Bank are not only run by competing governments but also differ in indicators such as birthrates, population growth, cultural and religious attitudes, and prosperity. What is a two-hour car trip seems like a world away, with travel and other restrictions making it difficult for friends to visit and family members to gather.

Relations with Turkey kindle hopes in Syria - Robert F. Worth, New York Times. Ever since Syria and Turkey lifted their visa restrictions in September, Turkish visitors have poured into this picturesque northern city. Hawkers in Aleppo’s ancient souk now call out to shoppers in Turkish, and cross-border commerce has soared. The two countries have embarked on a very public honeymoon, with their leaders talking about each other like long-lost friends. But this reconciliation is about far more than trade, or the collapse of old Turkish-Arab enmities. At a time of economic and political uncertainty here, the new warmth with Turkey has stirred hopes about Syria’s future direction, in areas that include religion, oil and gas, and peace with Israel. For some here, the new closeness with secular, moderate Turkey represents a move away from Syria’s controversial alliance with Iran. For others, it suggests an embrace of Turkey’s more open, cosmopolitan society. And for many - including Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad - it conjures different dreams of a revitalized regional economy, less vulnerable to Western sanctions or pressure. “It’s much more than an economic relationship,” said Samir al-Taqi, director of the Orient Center for International Studies in Damascus. “It’s about regathering the region, and a feeling that the West is much weaker, less liable to do anything here. I think Syria has lots of ambitions to redefine its geopolitical position.

Obama meets Lebanese President at White House - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. U.S. President Barack Obama for the first time has met Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. Their discussions at the White House on Monday focused largely on efforts to prevent another outbreak of violence between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. President Obama said that what happens in Lebanon has an impact far beyond its borders. "Obviously, Lebanon is a critical country in a critical region," said President Obama. "And we want to do everything we can to encourage a strong, independent and democratic Lebanon." He said he spoke with President Suleiman about the implementation of a United Nations Security Council Resolution passed in 2006 that was intended to end fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Mr. Obama said there has been progress, but not enough. He noted that while there might be differences between Washington and Beirut on the situation in the region, the two see eye-to-eye on the best approach.

SOUTH ASIA

Bid to partition Indian state leads to political paralysis - Jim Yardley, New York Times. The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh sank into a contentious political paralysis on Monday as local lawmakers adjourned indefinitely without addressing a controversial resolution to divide the state. Elsewhere in India, demands for statehood have intensified in several regions as the issue has mushroomed into a nationwide political tempest for the governing Congress Party. In Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, the State Assembly adjourned Monday morning after shouting broke out and supporters of maintaining a unified state began waving banners. The authorities moved to prevent potential confrontation in the streets after hundreds of pro-unity protesters were blocked from entering the capital city on Sunday and placed in police custody. Officers also denied permission for their leader, a lawmaker, to enter Hyderabad and start a hunger strike.