The Times reports Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, was transferred from the U.S. naval detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to a prison in Kabul and released by the Afghan government in 2008.

The report cites British and Taliban officials who said Rasoul is now the Taliban chief of operations in the southern province of Helmand and the mastermind of a spate of attacks against British forces there.

"He is back in Helmand since his release," Taliban officials told The Times. "He is in the border area now, sometimes in Pakistan and sometimes in Afghanistan. He is a very big commander."

U.S. military officials transferred Rasoul from Guantanamo to Kabul following six years of detention when authorities determined he posed no threat to national security.

Taliban officials had told The Times that prior to his capture in Afghanistan in December 2001, Rasoul had served as a top official under Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Shoe-throwing Zaidi to appeal sentence

Lawyers for Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi said Thursday they would launch an appeal challenging the three-year prison term handed down by the courts.

In December, Zaidi, a journalist with the al-Baghdadia television station, threw two shoes at visiting U.S. President George W. Bush, saying it was a "farewell kiss" to the American "dog."

An Iraqi court Thursday sentenced Zaidi to three years behind bars on charges of assaulting a visiting head of state.

"The court, presided by Justice Abdul Ameer al-Rikabi, took into consideration that the journalist has not been previously convicted in any crime, but we intend to appeal against the verdict," Ahlam al-Lami, a member of Zaidi's defense team, told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

Zaidi had worked for al-Baghdadia since it was established, following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. VOI reports the journalist was known for his condemnation of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

SOI transfers progressing

Baghdad is prepared to assume full responsibility of the Sons of Iraq program by transferring its members to vocational or security roles, U.S. officials said.

"Now that we've got the transfers nearly complete, we are turning our focus to the transition of SOI into jobs," U.S. reconstruction official Col. Jeffrey Kulmayer said.

The paramilitary Sons of Iraq grew out of the Sunni-led Awakening Councils, a tribal political entity. The unit is tasked with general policing duties, manning checkpoints and conducting basic security operations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he would transition about 20 percent of the SOI program into national security forces, while the remainder would work in government-backed vocational programs.

Baghdad controls more than 81,000 SOI members in eight provinces with remaining units scheduled for transfer by April 1. More than 3,000 work currently with Iraqi security forces, and another 15,000 are in various stages of the hiring process, the U.S. military reports.

The Iraqi government has allocated funding for the SOI in its 2009 budget for the members under its control currently. They are scheduled to be part of the regular budget.

"It's a perfect fit," Kulmayer said. "A system is in place."

Maliki travels to Australia

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki to Canberra on Thursday, praising the developments in Iraq.

Rudd said his country admired the ability of Iraq to move toward democracy, noting the success of the January provincial elections, The Australian newspaper reports.

"Australia is strongly supportive of measures Iraq is taking to strengthen democracy and welcomes the recent free and fair elections, giving Iraqi citizens a voice in the future of their country," Rudd said.

Australia pulled its troops out of Iraq in September 2008. Rudd said that as Iraq continues on its path to re-engaging the international community, Australia would look forward to broader engagement with the country.

"Australia continues to provide significant development assistance to Iraq to support its efforts to bring greater prosperity to the Iraqi people," he said.

Maliki is expected to meet with Australian defense officials before heading to Sydney later this week.

Poverty complicates Afghan food insecurity

Falling food prices and increased donor aid are doing little to help the 42 percent of the Afghan population living on less than $1 a day, officials said.

A 2008 drought pushed food prices up, in some cases by as much as 150 percent, while export restrictions from Pakistan made the situation in Afghanistan dire.

The Afghan government and the United Nations launched an appeal in April for some $400 million in food aid and other assistance measures.

Kabul also waived taxes on some food imports and set aside $100 million for wheat and other food products, pushing prices down 15 percent in the past three months, the U.N. humanitarian news agency IRIN reports.

"Food items are adequately available in the country thanks to a number of measures taken by the government and also owing to donations from countries like India, China and Russia," said Saddudin Safi with the Afghan agricultural ministry.

While the decline in food prices is helpful to some, experts said food insecurity is widespread as 42 percent of the estimated 27 million Afghans live on less than $1 a day.

More boots on the ground, Afghan diplomat says

Western nations can sway moderate elements in the Taliban, though the effort there requires additional troops and resources, an Afghan diplomat said.

Said Jawad, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told an audience at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government that more troops are needed to put Western nations in a position of strength if they hope to reconcile with some members of the Taliban, The Boston Globe reports.

"We don't have enough boots on the ground," he said, adding that Afghan forces are currently at half of the strength needed for security purposes.

The envoy issued praise for Washington's move to boost the troop strength in Afghanistan and review the overall strategy there, adding that it would reverse years of mismanagement that left the Taliban in power in parts of the country.

He cautioned that negotiating with elements within the Taliban carried risks, however, saying it was important to know which factions of the Taliban were likely to acquiesce to Western ambitions in Afghanistan.

There were some Taliban militias, however, that may prove helpful, such as those in the drug trade or those simply upset with the international effort there.

"This group can be reconciled -- through dialogue, through buying off, through bribery, coercion," he said. "We can bring them over."

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THE STANS

Kyrgyzstan says 'doors open' for US base talks
Bishkek (AFP) March 5, 2009
Kyrgyzstan is ready to talk to the United States about keeping open an airbase used to support operations in Afghanistan, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was quoted on Thursday as saying.