CFR

Note to Readers

There will be no Daily News Brief on Labor Day, Monday, September 7.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

- NATO airstrike kills ninety in Afghanistan.

- Final stages of uranium enrichment for N. Korea.

- Iraq PM calls for UN investigation of bombings.

- U.S. aid cut to Honduras.

Top of the Agenda: NATO Airstrike

A NATO airstrike (Pajhwok) this morning hit fuel tankers that had been hijacked last night by insurgents in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. Afghan officials said more than ninety people were killed, some forty of which were civilians (Guardan).

The Telegraph reports villagers were gathered around one of the tankers, which was stuck in a river, to get cooking oil when it was bombed. A spokesperson for the International Security Assistance Force said a commander called in the strikes "after observing that only insurgents were in the area," but said reports of civilian deaths are being investigated (Reuters).

Separately, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan (Christian Science Monitor), days after Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military official in the country, called for sweeping strategic changes. Speaking at the Pentagon, Gates said he does not believe (VOA) "the war is slipping through the administration's fingers."

Analysis

Kabul-based analyst John Dempsey tells CFR that U.S. officials should be prepared to commit more military and civilian resources to stave off resurgent Taliban forces.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, CFR's Dan Senor and the Ethics and Public Policy Center's Peter Wehner express concern over a "neo-isolationist outlook" among conservatives calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan.

CFR's Max Boot writes that the war cannot be fought from "offshore" as some commentators have argued. He says any sign of U.S. wavering in commitment to the war effort will send a signal to Pakistan that "their old strategy of cutting deals with Islamic militants is more necessary than ever."

Background

Global Post reports on allegations that United States Agency for International Development funds are being funneled to the Taliban.

An interactive CFR timeline chronicles the war in Afghanistan.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: India-China Tensions

The New York Times reports relations between China and India are worsening over a disagreement about a border area in the Himalayas that has strong Tibetan cultural influences.

PACIFIC RIM: North Korea Enrichment

North Korea said the country has entered the final phase of uranium enrichment (Yonhap). Extracted plutonium "is being weaponized," Pyongyang's state media reported, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

In an interview with CFR, Korea expert Victor Cha says recent conciliatory gestures from Pyongyang are a result of effective UN sanctions, but says prospects for the regime to give up nuclear weapons in future talks still appear remote.

China: Protests took to the streets in the Chinese city of Urumqi after a series of attacks with hypodermic needles (Xinhua). The city's Han Chinese say they have been targeted in the attacks. Nearly two hundred people, most of them Han Chinese, were killed in clashes with ethnic Uighurs in Urumqi in July.

Myanmar: Pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers launched an appeal (AFP) against the eighteen-month extension of her house arrest. Her sentence was extended after she violated the terms of her detention by allowing a U.S. citizen to visit her home.

MIDEAST: Maliki Calls for UN Investigation

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked the U.N. Security Council to investigate bomb blasts (AP) that killed ninety-five people in Baghdad last month. In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Maliki reportedly called on the Security Council to create an independent investigation commission and an international tribunal.

Gaza: The UN and international aid agencies have called on Israel to ease its blockade on Gaza Strip to allow repairs to the water and sewage systems (UN News Centre). More than thirteen million gallons of Gaza's raw or partially treated sewage flows into the sea daily because of insufficient treatment facilities.

AMERICAS: Honduras Aid Cut

The United States announced it would formally suspend some $30 million in aid (NYT) to the Honduran government, which took power in a coup in June. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that the United States may not recognize the country's elections in the fall if ousted President Manuel Zelaya is not returned to power.

FP Passport says the Honduras debate in the United States is really about "where Obama falls on the ideological debate" in Latin America.

Mexico: Mexican authorities arrested Salvador Rocha Vargas (BBC), the secretary for public security of the state of Quintana Roo, on suspicion that he was collaborating with drug cartels.

A CFR Backgrounder looks at Mexico's drug war.

AFRICA: Post-Election Violence in Gabon

Gabonese officials locked down (BBC) the city of Port Gentil after violent protests in response to the results of the country's presidential elections. Critics said the election was fixed in favor of Ali Bongo, who was declared the winner. Bongo is the son of former president Omar Bongo, who died in June after forty-one years in power.

Somalia: Humanitarian aid organization Oxfam said the standard of living in refugee camps in Somalia is "barely fit for humans," (Reuters) and called on the international community to increase pressure on Kenya to help alleviate overcrowding in the camps. There are an estimated one million internally displaced people in Somalia, and thousands more are fleeing to Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

EUROPE: Russian Investigation

Russia's Supreme Court ordered a new investigation (Deutsche Welle) into the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The case has been reopened following her family's appeal for a more thorough investigation.

Greece: Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis confirmed that Greece will hold a snap general election (Athens News Agency) on October 4, and asked President Karolos Papoulias to dissolve parliament as of Monday.

TRANSNATIONAL: HIV Antibodies

TIME reports on the discovery of two new antibodies to HIV that could lead to the development of an immunization against the virus.

Climate: NPR looks at the "no-till" method of farming as a potential means to curb carbon emissions.