From CBS, Dec. 11:

Sources tell CBS News the al Qaeda operative believed killed in a drone strike in Pakistan this week is Saleh al-Somali, who was in charge of external operations for the group. He was considered one of a half dozen top Qaeda operatives.

An "Open Letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee," online across the anti-war blogosphere (e.g. Antiwar.com):

On December 10, you will award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, citing "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people." We the undersigned are distressed that President Obama, so close upon his receipt of this honor, has opted to escalate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with the deployment of 30,000 additional troops. We regret that he could not be guided by the example of a previous Nobel Peace Laureate, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who identified his peace prize as "profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time—the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."

The Lahore High Court chief justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif served notice on Pakistan's Interior Ministry for not replying to a petition demanding full disclose on the activities of Blackwater in the country, and warned that if the interior secretary does not reply by Dec. 14 he could be prosecuted for contempt of court. Sharif also called for a detailed report from the Foreign Ministry on a request to search of the US embassy to recover illegal weapons. Hashim Shaukat Khan, president of Pakistan's Watan Party, had filed the petition. His attorney, Barrister Zafarullah, said the day Blackwater stepped into Pakistan, terrorism and suicide attacks stepped up. He also alleged that illegal arms are being stored in the US embassy, which were being used for "sabotage acts" in the country. (Pakistan Daily Times, Dec. 5)

President Barack Obama has ordered 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan, but pledged he would begin to withdraw the military by 2011. The new deployment over six months will bring US troop strength in the country to more than 100,000. (Shortly after taking office, Obama doubled US troop levels in the country from 30,000 to 60,000.) Some 32,000 other foreign troops are serving in Afghanistan. In his Dec. 1 speech at the West Point military academy, Obama said any comparison with Vietnam was based on "a false reading of history." (BBC News, AlJazeera, Dec. 1)

A front-page New York Times story Nov. 28, "Afghans Offer Jobs to Taliban If They Defect," indicates that Hamid Karzai's government—presumably with Washington's support—is enlisting traditional tribal elders "to lure local fighters and commanders away from the Taliban by offering them jobs in development projects..." Note the "and commanders"—claims that the amnesty was just aimed at Taliban cannon fodder appear to have been the thin end of the wedge. The Canadian Press meanwhile reports that with the insurgency gaining ground—and a corrupt government unable to keep its promises—the amnesty effort is winning few former fighters. "The Taliban are getting stronger than they were before," said Haji Agha Lalai, a prominent Panjwaii district elder and former director of Kandahar's reconciliation program. "Also the government does not support us very well and we could not fulfill our promises to Taliban."

The Afghan attorney general's office announced Nov. 23 that two cabinet ministers are being investigated on corruption charges. The ministers are suspected of embezzlement and are among 15 government officials currently under investigation. The announcement came a week after President Hamid Karzai vowed in his inaugural address to fight corruption. The identities of the ministers will remain unknown, pursuant to Afghan law, which prohibits the naming of suspects until a conviction is upheld by the Supreme Court. Despite last week's pledge to fight corruption, Karzai has delayed signing the necessary arrest warrants needed to begin a trial of several senior officials.

Appearing before a House of Commons committee in Ottawa Nov. 18, Richard Colvin, a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan, blasted his country's detainee policies, testifying that all detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured—and that many of them were innocent.

International human rights officials toured the new US detention facility in Parwan, Afghanistan, at the edge of Bagram Air Base Nov. 15. The new facility, which has room for 1,400 detainees, is part of the Obama administration's wider efforts to improve its Afghan detainee system and will eventually be controlled by the Afghan government. In a US Embassy press release, officials promised greater transparency based on a case management system, which will allow detainees to be informed of the charges against them and provide them with the right to challenge government witnesses. Amnesty International and other human rights groups called on the Obama administration to make sure its detention policy conforms to international law.