NATO Backs Afghan Official Despite Jail Accusation, The Washington Post, 6 March 2010
EXCERPT: "The NATO-led military force in Afghanistan said on Saturday it had confidence in the choice of a man picked to run a former Taliban stronghold, despite a NATO commander saying he spent years in a German prison for assault. Abdul Zahir, head of the new administration installed in the town of Marjah, denies the accusation that could set back the biggest NATO military operation of the eight-year-old war by damaging his legitimacy. The commander of NATO troops in southern Afghanistan, British Major General Nick Carter, told the Wall Street Journal NATO has known for two weeks that Zahir had been convicted in Germany of assaulting his stepson and jailed for four years. Marjah, a town in southern Helmand Province, was seized last month in the massive Operation Mushtarak."
Read the full story.
Related articles:
New Afghan chief in Marjah has criminal record, The Associated Press, 6 March 2010
US forces face scepticism after taking Afghan town, ABC News, 5 March 2010
Afghanistan military operation concludes in Helmand province, Eurasia Review, 4 March 2010
Afghanistan war: NATO unfolds blueprint to rebuild Marjah, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 March 2010
Related posts:
Focus in Marjah turns to building government, 1 March 2010
Afghan officials claim control over Taliban area, 25 February 2010
Helmand handover to begin next year, 12 November 2009
Securing Helmand, 29 September 2009

