Two successive suicide bomb blasts hit the central Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, killing at least 24 and wounding more than 60 early Sept. 4. The first bomber detonated his exposives on a bus carrying government workers. Minutes later, a motorcycle bomb exploded in a nearby market. "Today's attack was in the heart of the high security zone," said Ijaz-ul Haq, religious affairs minister. "This cannot be allowed to go on and measures have to be taken to ensure political stability." Brigadier Javed Cheema, interior ministry spokesman, said "both suicide blasts are interlinked and acts of the same network" with "tentacles" extending from Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. (AlJazeera, Sept. 4)

Opium production in Afghanistan has hit a record $3 billion this year, accounting for more than 90% of the world's illegal output, according to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Production is concentrated mainly in the strife-torn south of the country, where the Taliban—who banned poppy cultivation when they were in power—now profit from the trade, the report alleges. The reports says the area under opium cultivation rose to 193,000 hectares from 165,000 in 2006, while the harvest soared by more than a third to 8,200 tons from 6,100 tons. The amount of Afghan land used for growing opium was larger than the total under coca cultivation in Latin America, the report says.

Way to go, guys. From The Guardian, Aug. 25:

Three British troops killed by US jet
An urgent investigation was under way last night into why a US fighter plane killed three British soldiers, and seriously injured two others, after it was called in to support UK troops engaged in a fierce battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.

Note the last sentence of this Aug. 19 AFP account. Do you think Hamid Karzai grasps the irony?

Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain
President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistan's Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the country's young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.

Radical students July 27 again occupied Islamabad's Red Mosque—hours before a suicide bomber killed 13 people in a market down the street from the mosque. Seeking a political solution to the multiple converging crises he faces, Pervez Musharraf reportedly met abroad with exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Security forces recaptured the mosque after several hours, but scenes of police firing tear gas and protesters calling for jihad recalled the nine-day siege at the Red Mosque that claimed more than 100 lives earlier this month. "The security situation here is getting worse every day," said student Bilal Hassan. "You expect this in the remote areas, but not in our capital." (WP, July 28) On July 18, Bush's top counterterrorism advisor told Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America" that the US does not rule out sending in US troops if Pakistan allows al-Qaeda continued refuge in the Tribal Areas. "The answer...is what we want to do is work with our Pakistani partners," Frances Townsend said in response to Sawyer's question. "But the president's been very clear. There are no options off the table because job No. 1 is protecting the American people, and nothing will get in our way." (ABC, July 18)

Afghanistan has announced three days of official mourning for the country's former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, 92. Announcing his passing, President Hamid Karzai, a relative, hailed Zahir Shah as the "father of the nation." (RFE/RL) An editorial bidding him farewell in Arab News states: "Today, with the country seemingly sliding again into violence, it is not surprising that many Afghans look back on the 40 years that Zahir Shah reigned, from 1933 to 1973 when he was overthrown by his cousin, as a golden age. As well as peace and stability, there was also reform. Zahir Shah was a king who saw himself as an enabler rather than a ruler and who wanted to democratize his country. He did not want or enjoy personal power... Sadly it was his desire to reform that led to his overthrow. His 1964 constitution barring members of the royal family from involvement in politics was bitterly resented by his ambitious cousin Mohammad Daoud, against whom it was in part directed. Daoud's coup opened a Pandora's Box that has proved impossible to close ever since."

In a surprise ruling July 20, Pakistan's Supreme Court dealt a harsh blow to President Pervez Musharraf, voting unanimously to restore Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to his post. The court also voted 10-3 to dismiss charges of misconduct that Musharraf filed against Chaudhry. (AP, July 20) The ruling comes amid a nationwide wave of terror. One day earlier, three suicide attacks left scores dead across Pakistan. In the deadliest attack, 14, many army recruits, died in a blast at a military mosque in the northwest garrison town of Kohat. Seven police officers and 22 bystanders were killed in Hub, near Karachi, in a car bomb attack on a police vehicle protecting a convoy of Chinese mining company workers. Another car bomber detonated his payload when guards prevented him from entering the police academy in Hangu, about 70 kilometers southwest of Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province. (NYT, National Post, July 20)

Lawyers across Pakistan boycotted courts July 18, the day after a bomb attack on an anti-government rally by attorneys in Islamabad killed 15 people. Gen Musharraf strongly condemned the "terrorist attack" and called for calm, but lawyers called the blast an attempt to disrupt their opposition movement. Ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was due to attend the rally. He arrived two hours after the blast, Justice Chaudhry visited the venue of the rally where he led brief prayers for the victims, including many supporters of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP).