Free Republic

Like father, like son, assert U.S., European and Arab intelligence agencies who believe one of Osama bin Laden's youngest children is beginning to call the shots at the Iranian branch of al-Qaida. Saad bin Laden is one of an estimated 400 operatives of the terror network recruited and protected by Tehran's hard-line clerics, according to the Washington Post. Tehran's elected government, headed by the reformist President Mohammed Khatami, does not appear to have control over this group, called the Jerusalem Force. The Post reports the 24-year-old bin Laden is computer savvy and fluent in English. His father groomed him for...

Afghanistan’s two presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah have finally agreed a power-sharing deal, drawing a line under a contested election that has dragged out for almost six months. The agreement, which bestows substantial power on the losing candidate, was finalised on Saturday and made public in a ceremony on Sunday. Parties met late into the night over the past few days to seal the deal before Sunday, when an announcement of the final result of the UN-run election audit is expected. Negotiations, begun in July and finalised earlier this week, were drawn out because Mr Abdullah, the losing...

Afghan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah has claimed victory in last month's poll, despite results giving a lead to his rival, Ashraf Ghani. Addressing supporters in the capital, Kabul, Mr Abdullah repeated claims that the election was marred by fraud. US Secretary of State John Kerry had earlier warned against a power grab, amid reports that Mr Abdullah was planning a "parallel government".

BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon. > The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.” This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian]...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main political rival is questioning the president's commitment to fighting corruption. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew days ago from a second-round runoff vote because of concerns over fraud. On Tuesday, he said Mr. Karzai's government lacks legitimacy because of the controversial election process that declared Mr. Karzai the winner by default. Abdullah addressed a news conference in Kabul. It followed a similar conference by Mr. Karzai Tuesday in which the president vowed to "make every possible effort" to eradicate government corruption, but also appeared to reject removing high-level officials in any anti-corruption purge.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Abdullah Abdullah, the chief rival to President Hamid Karzai, plans to announce on Sunday his decision to withdraw from the Nov. 7 Afghan runoff election, handing a new five-year term to Mr. Karzai but potentially damaging the government’s credibility, according to Western diplomats here and people close to Mr. Abdullah. But Mr. Abdullah seemed to be keeping his options open until the last second, as he has done through the Afghan political crisis. Those close to him, speaking on condition of anonymity on Saturday, said Mr. Abdullah was still trying to decide whether to publicly denounce Mr....

No one will ever know how Afghans voted in their country's presidential elections on Aug. 20, 2009. Seven weeks after the polling, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission ... is still trying to separate fraudulent tallies from ballots. In some provinces, many more votes were counted than were cast. E.U. election monitors characterize 1.5 million votes as suspect, which would include up to one-third of the votes cast for incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Once fraud occurs on the scale of what took place in Afghanistan, it is impossible to untangle. Afghanistan's fraudulent elections complicate President Obama's job as he weighs a...

The main challenger to President Karzai accused him yesterday of rigging last week’s Afghan presidential election as investigators began wading through hundreds of complaints that could leave the country in political limbo for more than three weeks. However, Abdullah Abdullah told The Times that he would challenge alleged fraud only through legal channels, rather than calling his supporters out in protest, and would accept defeat if it was ultimately confirmed by election bodies. His moderate stance — after talks with US officials — eased short-term fears that the country could split along ethnic lines and erupt in protest after Mr...

The Talk Shows Sunday, March 19th, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Vice President Dick Cheney. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi; Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah; former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page Meme: Fissures in the GOP - immigration Topics: "Are Republicans headed for a political meltdown over immigration?" (as per Opinion Journal web site)"Immigration reform controversy: We'll examine policies under consideration" (as per FNC show page)"Plus, what a hard line on immigration means for this year's midterm elections" (as per FNC show page) Guests Colorado Governor Bill Owens I have a plan, just like the plan that's failing the President Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review illegal immigration isn't really a problem, really Stephen Moore, Walls Street JournalJason Riley, Walls Street JournalPaul Gigot, Walls...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - A series of witnesses place six top al-Qaida fugitives in Africa buying up diamonds in the run-up to the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a confidential report by UN-backed prosecutors obtained by The Associated Press. The first-person accounts detailed by the prosecutors add to long-standing claims that al-Qaida laundered millions of dollars in terror funds through African diamonds before launching its deadliest offensive. Al-Qaida figures, including some already wanted in pre-Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. targets, dealt directly with then-president Charles Taylor and other leaders and warlords in the West African country of Liberia from 1999...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said Tuesday he would like to see international peacekeepers stay on in the country after December, when their existing mandate expires. Speaking in an interview with Reuters in Kabul, Abdullah said there was also an urgent need to focus more on a Japanese-led drive to disarm and demobilize regional militias loyal to provincial warlords, an issue President Hamid Karzai would discuss on a state visit to Tokyo later this month. Asked whether he thought it would be possible to hold elections due in June next year without the presence of the...