Thalif Deen

The U.S.-backed government in Kabul is facing large-scale desertions by western-trained local security forces as it tries to establish a safe environment in the run-up to scheduled June elections. The success of the upcoming vote has been predicated primarily on the creation of a 10,000-strong Afghan National Army (ANA) and a 20,000-strong police force, both … Continue reading “Army Desertions Complicate Afghan Election Plans”

UN premises are inviolable – and any country defying that sanctity is guilty of an illegal act, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday, responding to assertions that intelligence officers spied on Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "We have seen today’s media reports alleging that the secretary-general’s phone conversations were tapped by British intelligence," Eckhard told reporters. "We … Continue reading “UN Demands Halt to Spying in Premises”

A potential World Court ruling against Israel for building a controversial "security barrier" in the occupied territories would remain a "moral" victory unless the Jewish state were penalized, say U.S. observers. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague will conclude its three-day hearing Wednesday and later provide an advisory opinion" to the U.N. … Continue reading “Lacking Penalties, World Court Decision Will Have Little Effect on Israel”

A United Nations fact-finding team has shot down a proposal to hold U.S.-style regional political caucuses to elect a homegrown transitional government in Iraq, leaving open the question of who will take over from the occupying power Jun. 30. The team, led by U.N. Under-Secretary-General Lakdhar Brahimi, said the caucus-style system proposed by the U.S.-led … Continue reading “UN Report Warns Against Early Elections, Offers No Solutions on Transition”

Multiple suicide bombings in Iraq early this week and escalating violence against U.S.-led multi-national military forces are stymieing U.N. efforts to return to the war-devastated country. The world body pulled its international workers out of the occupied nation after a suicide bombing against its offices there in August killed 22 employees, leaving only local staff … Continue reading “Violence Stymies UN Efforts to Return to Iraq”

Proposed new US curbs on the proliferation of nuclear weapons are fundamentally hypocritical, US academics, military analysts and peace activists said Wednesday. “(US) President George Bush seems committed to writing a new chapter in the grotesque saga of US nuclear policy: ‘do as we say, not as we do’,” Norman Solomon, executive director of the … Continue reading “New US Plans for Nukes Hypocritical, Say Experts”

Pressed by the United States, the United Nations will send an electoral team to assess the feasibility of holding nation-wide elections in Iraq before the end of June. But some observers doubt the world body will be able to present an unbiased perspective of the view on the ground, because of U.S. opposition to the … Continue reading “Is the UN Returning to Iraq as US Front?”

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed Monday to send a team of experts to Baghdad to assess the feasibility of holding direct elections in Iraq this year, an idea the United States has already rejected as impracticable. ”The issue now is whether the technical, political or security conditions exist for general direct elections to take place … Continue reading “UN May Side With Iraqis Over US on Early Elections”