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At the sidelines of the SCO summit in Yekaterinburg on June 15, Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan pledged to cooperate more strongly for fighting the Taliban insurgency. Though the possibility of a military role in the ongoing operations for Russia was ruled out, the country has allowed the delivery of non-lethal supplies to Western forces through its territory and wrote off a debt of over $10 billion that was owed by Kabul1.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal meanwhile took over as the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan on June 15. He announced that an assessment of US and NATO troop’s deployments would be made, adding “we don't have enough forces to do everything, everywhere2." Gen. McChrystal later stated that the use of air strikes will be sharply restricted in an effort to reduce the number of civilian causalities, which were undermining the American-led mission. He stated that air power contained “the seeds of our own destruction if we do not use it responsibly3.”
President Karzai and 40 other candidates began their official campaigns for the Afghan presidential election from June 16. According to the schedule of the Election Commission, the campaign period begins on June 23 and will close on August 18, two days before the date of voting4.
In other developments, David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by Taliban on November 10, 2008 outside Kabul managed to escape after more than seven months of captivity5.
- 1. “Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan pledge Taliban fight,” Reuters, June 15, 2009, at http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSTRE55E6LK20090615?sp=true
- 2. “New Afghanistan Commander Will Review Troop Placements,” Washington Post, June 16, 2009, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/06/15/AR2009061...
- 3. “U.S. Toughens Airstrike Policy in Afghanistan,” The New York Times, June, 21, 2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html?ref=globa...
- 4. “Afghan presidential candidates prepare to campaign,” The Associated Press, June 15, 2009, at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gH6zTk0ZvJGljIu7bpEh3P...
- 5. “Times Reporter Held by Taliban Escapes,” The New York Times, June 20, 2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/world/asia/21talibancnd.html?scp=10&sq...