Latest news
27 March 2013
The United States has transferred all but a ‘small number’ of the Afghan prisoners at the Bagram prison to the Afghan government. The New York Times writes that the Bagram commander, Gen. Ghulam Farouk Barakzai, said the Americans gave the Afghans control of 4,000 prisoners in the last year since the transfer began, but a small number still remains in American custody. He did not say how many or for how long they might be held by the Americans.
It also is reported that the transfer was made possible as the United States probably choose long-term influence in Afghanistan over holding firm on difficult issues. The Obama administration made a priority of reaching agreement on an American military presence in Afghanistan after 2014, allowing the US to keep an eye on Pakistan and Iran and control extremists in Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal areas.
Source: The New York Times | Karzai Has Nothing but Praise for U.S. Upon Bagram Prison Transfer
25 March 2013
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced that it will receive some 5,000 refugees from Syria. The first refugees should arrive in Germany by June. According to the official statement, the German Ministry of Interior intends to promote a coordinated European response together with UNHCR to protect refugees from Syria. The Minister will meet the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in April, when he will launch a resettlement appeal to the EU.
Source: Bundesministerium des Innern | Nachrichten | Flüchtlinge aus Syrien (in German only)
25 March 2013
The New York Times reports that in recent months, with help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters. The airlift has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Qatari and Saudi cargo planes landing at Esenboga airport near Ankara, and at other Jordanian and Turkish airports. American intelligence officers helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, and vetted groups and rebel commanders to determine who should receive the weapons when they arrive.
Source: The New York Times | Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid
24 March 2013
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup has taken responsibility for a joint decision of all 17 ministers of the Eurogroup to impose a tax on depositors in Cyprus.
The Eurogroup is the group of finance ministers of the 17 states that use the euro. In response to questions in the European Parliament, Dijsselbloem said that the decision to impose the levy on small depositors ‘was not stopped by me because it was a compromise which brought together the different interests and the different goals that we share.’ He stated that ‘As the Eurogroup president, I will take responsibility’, but added that the levy was ‘a joint decision.’
Source: The New York Times | Negotiator New to the Game Takes Blame for Cyprus Failure
21 March 2013
On 20 March 2013, a German court of first instance in Bonn began to hear the complaints by several relatives of Afghans killed by airstrikes in northern Afghanistan near the city of Kunduz in September 2009. The airstrikes were targeted at two stolen tankers but led to the death and injury of numerous civilians. The strikes were executed by American planes, but ordered by a German NATO officer. The German government has already paid 330,000 euros to the victims of the airstrikes, but the claimants before the Bonn District Court claim ten times this amount from Germany.
Source: Euronews | Germany in the dock over Kunduz airstrike
Source: Der Spiegel | Kunduz-Prozess: Was darf ein Offizier im Krieg? (in German)