I was 41 in 2004, when I was first shown this black-and-white picture: four men posing on horseback, one with a baby boy in his arms. It was the first time I'd ever seen my grandfather, Parkizat Sharipzhan.
One of Pakistan's most wanted militant leaders is back. And with the return of Hakimullah Mehsud and his brash rhetoric, comes decision time for the Pakistani military.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry says it has canceled military computer exercises with U.S. forces that were scheduled for May, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said he did not know the reasons for the cancellation.
Officers from Tajikistan's antidrug agency descend upon a village in a remote southeastern province, confiscate 15 kilograms of hashish and a kilo of heroin, detain a drug smuggler -- and let him go.
There has been some speculation that Russia might be maneuvering, behind the scenes, to get Kyrgyzstan's new leaders to shut down the Manas Air Base. This analysis from RFE/RL calls attention to a visit that a Kyrgyz opposition leader made to Moscow just before the demonstrations, where Vladimir Putin expressed support for the opposition. The country's new interim leader, Roza Otunbayeva, made her first phone call to Putin. And a senior unnamed Russian official told Reuters:
"In Kyrgyzstan, there should be only one base -- Russian. He said Bakiyev had failed to fulfill a promise to close the U.S. base."
Later in the RFE/RL piece, Alexander Cooley (him again) points out that it is totally reasonable for Otunbayeva to make her first call to Moscow:
Central Asia observers aren't surprised by the new Kyrgyz leadership's courting of Russia. Columbia University professor Alexander Cooley, who wrote a book about the Manas air-base dispute, says relations between Bakiev and the Kremlin had deteriorated so much, Otunbaeva's first order of business was "to make nice" with Moscow.
"It's not surprising that the first public phone call she makes is with Putin," Cooley says. "She doesn't do a CNN appearance, she doesn't call Obama."
When Temir Sariev returned from a trip to Moscow on April 6, the opposition leader carried a surprise message. He told supporters he'd just met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who pledged support for Kyrgyzstan's opposition.
KHORUGH, Tajikistan -- Officers from Tajikistan's antidrug agency descend upon a village in a remote southeastern province, confiscate 15 kilograms of hashish and a kilo of heroin, detain a drug smuggler -- and let him go.
KHORUGH, Tajikistan -- Officers from Tajikistan's antidrug agency descend upon a village in a remote southeastern province, confiscate 15 kilograms of hashish and a kilo of heroin, detain a drug smuggler -- and let him go.
On March 25, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went before a congressional committee to request additional funding for the State Department's operations in Afghanistan.
"The military offensive rightly may get the headlines, but what happens behind the scenes is equally important," Clinton said. "As our military leaders put it, after clearing, we must hold, build, and transition."
MARY PROVINCE, Turkmenistan -- For Bagul, a 35-year-old mother of three struggling to make ends meet in one of Turkmenistan's most fertile regions, farming means survival.
