From Human Rights Watch, March 10:

Afghanistan: Repeal Amnesty Law
Measure Brought into Force by Karzai Means Atrocities Will Go Unpunished
New York — The Afghan government should urgently act to repeal a law that provides an amnesty to perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today.

A building of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore was targeted in a suicide car bomb blast March 8, killing at least 13, including two security officials, and injuring 89 others. The targeted building is variously described as an "office" where terrorist suspects were interrogated and a "safe-house"—implying it may have been a clandestine prison. While the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility, Xinhua quoted officials including the ex-secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Brigadier Mehmood Shah, saying the operation was beyond the Taliban's capability—which raises the question of who really did it. (Blackwater, the paranoid will doubtless tell us.) (Dawn, March 9; Xinhua, VOA, March 7)

Fierce clashes left some 50 fighters dead in northeast Afghanistan's Baghlan province March 7, pitting Taliban forces against their erstwhile allies in Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami militia. The fighting was be centered in Baghlan-e-Markazi district, a stronghold of Hezb-e-Islami, in a village called Qaisar Khail. Hekmatyar has reportedly offered to join forces with the government against the Taliban. (Times of India, WP, March 7)

At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded early Feb. 26, when multiple suicide bombers attacked a hotel popular with foreigners and the surrounding area in the center of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. The bombing is the first attack in the city since Jan. 18, when teams of suicide bombers and gunmen targeted government buildings, leaving 12 dead, including seven attackers. It is also the first attack in Kabul since the start of a major NATO-led offensive against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (AlJazeera, Feb. 26)

Pakistani authorities are reported to have arrested nearly half of the Afghan Taliban's top leadership in recent days, in what is being portrayed as a crucial blow to the insurgent movement. In total, seven of the insurgent group's 15-member leadership council, thought to be based in Quetta, have been apprehended in the past week, unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials told the Christian Science Monitor.

The Netherlands' coalition government collapsed Feb. 19 after the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw Dutch troops from Afghanistan later this year, as had been planned. The cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende fell apart following 16 hours of talks in The Hague. Balkenende's Christian Democrat Appeal (CDA) had pushed for keeping a reduced force in Afghanistan for a year past the August 2010 deadline. This was met with opposition from the Labour Party of deputy prime minister Wouter Bos, the deputy prime minister. "A plan was agreed to when our soldiers went to Afghanistan. Our partners in the government didn't want to stick to that plan, and on the basis of their refusal we have decided to resign from this government," Bos said.

An Afghan Taliban spokesman denied reports that the organization's military commander had been arrested by US and Pakistani forces in a secret operation. "The rumors reported today on the arrest of Mullah Baradar are all untrue. It is a big lie," Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "He is currently in Afghanistan, where he is leading all jihad activities... He is here with us and is in contact with us."

Two NATO rockets aimed at Taliban insurgents in Helmand province missed their target Feb. 14, killing 12 civilians sheltering in their home. The incident occurred in Nad Ali, where British troops are operating. A UK Ministry of Defence representative said the rockets were a "US responsibility." The new anti-Taliban offensive Operation Moshtarak (meaning "together" in the Dari language) involves 15,000 troops, mostly US, British and Afghan, targeting the areas of Nad Ali and Marjah. (The Guardian, AOL News, BBC News, Feb. 14)