Pakistan says mortar fire wounds 6 security forces

By MUNIR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Mortar shells fired from Afghanistan wounded six Pakistani security forces along the border, and Pakistan has lodged a "strong protest" with NATO, the army's top spokesman said Friday.(The Washington Post)

Editorial: The Taliban's Rising Tide

For the sake of Pakistan’s stability, its leaders will need to commit to fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists in the border region. (The New York Times)

Pakistan accuses India of violating cease-fire

By MUNIR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's army spokesman accused Indian forces of violating a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir on Thursday, but a top Indian official denied the country's army had fired on Pakistan's positions in the disputed Himalayan region.(The Washington Post)

Pakistani Lawyer At Helm of Change

By Nora Boustany
Leading a motorcade marathon from Islamabad to Lahore in May last year, lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan threaded his way gingerly through throngs of impassioned Pakistanis lining the road in the 110-degree heat. At the climax of his campaign to get the country's suspended Supreme Court chief justice reinstat...(The Washington Post)

Previous NWFP government was better informed

By Rana Fawad

WASHINGTON: The previous provincial government in the NWFP (North-West-Frontier-Province) was conservative but it was stable and its members had knowledge about social services needed in their areas.

This was stated by Pakistan Scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), Samia Altaf, while responding to a question at an event "Aid Effectiveness in Pakistan: Case Study of the Health and Population Sector" organized by the the WWICS on Wednesday.

Earlier, Asia Program Director Robert M. Hathaway told the audience that Dr Samia Altaf was the Wilson Center’s 2007-08 Pakistan Scholar. In her career she had contributed to the management and coordination of complex health delivery systems for low-income populations

She was acting director and later on senior advisor with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Islamabad before she joined the Wilson Center in Washington. She also had the opportunity to work for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as a primary health care program officer.

Moreover, she provided consultancy to international aid agencies. On the academic side, Dr Altaf has served on the faculty at Pakistan’s Aga Khan University Medical College.

During Question and Answer session, Dr Samia Altaf agreed with the Agha Khan Foundation official that the political stability was important in carrying out projects.

She pointed out that it is interesting to note that the government of mullahs in the NWFP was very conservative but it was stable for five years whereas its representatives were very knowledgeable as compared to other provinces.

She told the audience that though their female representatives were veiled from head to toe and you could only see their eyes while talking to them, they had far better understanding and information about the social services needed in their respective areas.

Propounding her suggestions and recommendations regarding aid in Pakistan, Dr Altaf commented that the future projects in Pakistan should incorporate the local perspective in its design. She was of the view that the current methodology was outmoded and did not pay attention to the requirements at the field level of projects.

She regretted that the consumers of the aid, people, have no knowledge that it was being done on their behalf and added that in Washington D.C., the information is placed in the community in a language or languages which they could understand before the project is launched. She suggested that the target audience of a project in Pakistan should also be provided with sufficient information about the activity.

Analyzing the current situation of foreign aid and it's executing in Pakistan, Dr Samia Altaf illustrated that there were five to six permanent actors like Government of Pakistan, donors, sub-contractors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc., that follow a script to play their roles.

She remarked that if the script is changed according to the modern day requirements, those actors could do a better job. Plus, a component of incentives for them should be added to projects.

Referring to the growth of NGOs in Pakistan, she mentioned that NGOs have sprouted like flowers because there is money to be spent and many of them do a very good job.

Highlighting another factor, she regretted that the government officials take leave from their official duty and become consultants for certain projects.

Commenting on the aspect of donors' agenda through their aid packages, Dr Samia Altaf said donors always had certain tasks to accomplish in helping out a country. She added that if a country thought the aid was tied to some other things it could always be rejected. She mentioned that once the Indonesian officials faced a similar situation and they refused to take the World Bank aid.

NATO sees jump in Pakistan attacks

By JASON STRAZIUSO
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Mortar and rocket attacks by militants in Pakistan across the border into Afghanistan have spiked in the last month and U.S. and NATO forces have been returning fire, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan said.(The Washington Post)

Foreign Agents Blamed In Deadly Kabul Attack

By Candace Rondeaux
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, July 8 -- Investigators have found evidence that a deadly suicide bombing attack against the Indian Embassy in Kabul this week was planned with the help of a foreign intelligence agency, a spokesman for Afghanistan's president said Tuesday.(The Washington Post)

Suicide Bombing Leaves 40 Dead In Central Kabul

By Javed Hamdard and Candace Rondeaux
KABUL, July 7 -- At least 40 people were killed and 141 injured Monday in a powerful suicide blast near the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan's capital, Afghan officials said.(The Washington Post)

Off the track: Washington Post Signals Shift With a New Editor

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA Marcus W. Brauchli, a former top editor of The Wall Street Journal, will succeed Leonard Downie Jr. (The New York Times)

Bomber Near Pakistani Mosque Kills at Least 11

By JOEL ELLIOTT A suicide bomber set off an explosion next to a group of police officers guarding an area near the Red Mosque, where a restive crowd had gathered to commemorate a deadly clash last year. (The New York Times)

Taliban fighters free two Pakistani journalists

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants released two Pakistani journalists on Saturday more than 36-hours after they were abducted in a tribal region near the Afghan border.(The Washington Post)

Militants abduct two Pakistani journalists

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked militants have abducted two Pakistani journalists who the militants accused of snooping on their members and positions near the Afghan border.(The Washington Post)

Turning Away From Musharraf

By Robert D. Novak
President Bush appears finally ready to work with Pakistani democrats.(The Washington Post)

1 year later, Pakistan mosques spirit lives on

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A year after the deadly military siege of the Red Mosque, the radical spirit of the pro-Taliban stronghold lives on. (The New York Times)

Pakistan says militants' compound is destroyed

By RIAZ KHAN
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistani forces destroyed a major militant compound in the troubled Khyber tribal region Tuesday as an operation against extremists entered its fourth day, a government official said.(The Washington Post)