Kabul,Afghanistan

Written by a Pakistani journalist about India.......

Capital suggestion
By Dr Farrukh Saleem

Here's what is happening in India :

The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.

In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 bill ion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.

This shows that political expediency takes precedence over ethics and morality. We should all be ashamed of our leaders :O(

British and American officials rushed to congratulate Mr Karzai as the country's "legitimate leader" as the international community tried to draw a line under months of paralysing political limbo following the Aug 20 vote which was mired in fraud.

But London and Washington also made clear that they expect him to make immediate moves towards bolstering the ranks of the armed forces, tackling corruption and giving the defeated opposition a role within his new government.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.

http://www.nytimes.c...

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KABUL: A strong earthquake centered in the towering Hindu Kush mountains shook a wide area of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Friday, swaying buildings in Kabul and Islamabad.

There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake.

The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered in the mountains about 167 miles (268 kilometers) northeast of Kabul and 140 miles (230 kilometers) west of Mingaora, Pakistan, according to the US Geological Survey.

Buildings shook in Peshawar and Islamabad, and the quake was felt as far east as Lahore near the Indian border, Pakistani television stations reported.

The Indian and pakistan chromosome:By Dr Farrukh Saleem

The Indian chromosome
By Dr Farrukh Saleem

Twenty-five thousand years ago, haplogroup R2 characterized by genetic marker M124 arose in southern Central Asia. Then began a major wave of human migration whereby members migrated southward to present-day India and Pakistan (Genographic Project by the National Geographic Society; http://www.nationalg...). Indians and Pakistanis have the same ancestry and share the same DNA sequence. Here's what is happening in India:

Please read it all -----------------------

At first light last Friday, in the Chardarah district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, the villagers gathered around the twisted wreckage of two fuel tankers that had been hit by a Nato airstrike. They picked their way through a heap of almost a hundred charred bodies and mangled limbs which were mixed with ash, mud and the melted plastic of jerry cans, looking for their brothers, sons and cousins. They called out their names but received no answers. By this time, everyone was dead.

Once again we support a corrupt president just to further our own ends... However, this time, people are beginning to question.................................

An international summit on the future of Afghanistan was Gordon Brown’s answer last night as the clamour for an exit strategy from the conflict grew louder. With President Karzai ready to claim outright victory in Afghanistan’s flawed elections, the Prime Minister announced his plans for the meeting, which could take place this year in either London or Kabul.

KABUL: Taliban militants cut off the ink-stained fingers of two women Afghan voters in the south during the presidential election.

The voters who had dipped their index fingers in purple ink - a fraud prevention measure - were attacked in Kandahar province shortly after voting on Thursday, said Nader Nadery, the head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the militia denied the claims. Militants had warned they would cut off voters' ink-stained fingers before the election.

Election observers said the landmark polls were generally fair in the face of huge challenges, but admitted there were flaws and intimidation.

A Taliban video posted to a Web site shows held captive.
The soldier is shown in the 28-minute video with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video, one of his captors holds the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number are clearly visible. He is shown eating at one point and sitting on a bed.
The soldier said the date is July 14. He says he was captured when he lagged behind on a patrol. He is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, which he calls extremely hard, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was