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As U.S.-Taliban talks stall, hope for political solution dims

Karen DeYoung — Wed, 9 May 2012 05:30:00 EST

After more than a year of sporadic contact, U.S.-Taliban talks have been stalled for months, deflating the Obama administration’s hopes that progress toward a political solution to the Afghan war would be well underway this spring.

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India promises “some austerity” as rupee collapses

Simon Denyer — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:16:19 EST

NEW DELHI — Facing a collapse in investor confidence and a decline in the rupee to a record low against the dollar, India’s finance minister said Wednesday it was time for “some austerity” — but not time to panic.

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2 Pakistani lawsuits pressure government to deal with CIA drone strikes

Michele Langevine Leiby — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:22:42 EST

ISLAMABAD — Although Pakistan’s leaders have complained bitterly about CIA drones targeting militants on their country’s soil, they seem powerless to stop them. Now attorneys for drone strike victims want to know why the government has failed to act.

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Pharmacy bombing kills 7 in Afghanistan

Sayed Salahuddin — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:16:00 EST

KABUL – At least seven Afghan civilians were killed in a pharmacy on Monday in a suspected suicide bombing, an official said, the latest attack in a spate of rising violence in the country.

The blast took place in Ghormach, a remote and a restive district in a relatively secure province of northwestern Faryab province, provincial governor Abdul Ahad Shafaq said.

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Arsala Rahmani, Taliban leader turned Afghanistan peace mediator, slain in Kabul

Kevin Sieff, Sayed Salahuddin — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:53:00 EST

KABUL — A former Taliban leader turned peace negotiator was assassinated Sunday by three unidentified gunmen in a brazen attack in the Afghan capital, hours before leaders here announced the next phase in the country’s security transition.

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Sun, 13 May 2012 11:53:00 EST

Indian intelligence blunder sparks anger in Pakistan, jokes at home

Rama Lakshmi — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:12:00 EST

NEW DELHI — India’s intelligence agency sparked outrage in Pakistan and self-deprecatory jokes at home this week after it listed ordinary Pakistani shopkeepers as terrorists on a mission to attack some of India’s landmark institutions.

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Many will profit if Pakistan reopens NATO supply routes

Richard Leiby — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:17:00 EST

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.S. commanders in Afghanistan want to get war supplies rolling across Pakistan’s borders again. So do Pakistanis in places high and low — from officials trying to balance the nation’s budget to black marketeers who stand ready to plunder the NATO-contracted trucks and oil tankers expected to shortly resume passage into Afghanistan after nearly six months of closed border crossings.

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