The clash began when insurgents in a nearby village attacked a joint Afghan and American military outpost in Konar province early Sunday morning, NATO said in a statement. The insurgents fired on the base with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades for several hours, injuring 19 Afghan and NATO troops. Attacks in eastern Afghanistan have increased sharply in recent months as insurgents have streamed across the country's mountainous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan as part of an offensive declared this year by top Taliban leaders in Pakistan. Border skirmishes with insurgents have been especially heavy in the eastern provinces, where at least 11 NATO soldiers have been killed and 25 wounded in insurgent-led attacks in the past two months. Last week, a NATO soldier was killed and four were injured when their convoy rolled over a roadside bomb in Konar. Also Sunday, at least 24 people were killed and 30 injured in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan when a suicide bomber set off explosives near a police convoy. Five police officers were among those killed, but most of the dead were shopkeepers and boys selling items at a busy intersection. That bombing was one of several suicide attacks in the country in recent months. Last week, at least 50 people were killed and more than 141 injured in Kabul, the capital, when a suicide bomber rammed his car into the gates of the Indian Embassy. The attack was the deadliest in Kabul since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in 2001.

(Source: Washington Post)

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The BBC has raised the possibility that Iran may target NATO forces in Afghanistan, which include several thousand Canadian troops stationed in the province of Kandahar, with short-range missiles. Those who focused on the possibility of Iran and Israel going to war or a strike against the U. S. Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf have overlooked the chance that attacking elsewhere might also serve Iran's strategic interests, the BBC said in an article on its Web site last week. "People always look towards the west of Iran, but we need to look east as well," Christopher Pang, head of African and Middle Eastern research for the highly respected Royal United Services Institute, told the British network. "There are plenty of U. S. interests and international troops stationed in Afghanistan which can be targeted from the east of the country." Worried by what Tehran describes as its power-generating civilian nuclear program, Israel has been considering if and when to try to destroy Iran's nuclear sites with air strikes and missiles launched from submarines. The Jewish state has also been improving its air defence system to protect itself against the latest variants of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, which could reach Tel Aviv with a one-ton conventional payload between 11 and 14 minutes after being launched. (Source: National Post-CAN)

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Both the United States and Britain are hoping to reduce their military commitment in Iraq to focus on Afghanistan. The US is considering cutting American troop numbers to below 120,000, compared with 170,000 last year. Up to three combat brigades could be withdrawn in September. Britain is also looking to cut troop numbers by almost a half in Iraq, from 4,000 to about 2,500, although not until next year. This would give the Government the option of deploying more units to Helmand province, where the Taleban has intensified its operations, using suicide attacks, roadside bombs and mines. More American and British troops are now dying in Afghanistan than in Iraq, and with both countries committed to supporting the Kabul Government, the availability of additional troops to fight the Taleban is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. The Americans have about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, spread out in eastern and southern provinces. The British have 7,800 in Helmand and in neighbouring Kandahar province. This figure is expected to rise to more than 8,000 by the end of the year. American commanders have been calling for another 10,000 US troops for Afghanistan. The Pentagon has already sent an additional 3,200 Marines, who provide a mobile reserve force for southern Afghanistan, but it has been difficult for the US military planners to send more because of the commitment in Iraq. Britain is in the same position, struggling to maintain the required troop levels for two long-running campaigns. (Source: The Times-UK)

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The top diplomat for Pakistan has said that there are currently no foreign military representatives in Pakistan hunting for Osama bin Laden, and that none would be allowed into the country to search for him. In an interview Saturday, the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said the new government of Pakistan had ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants including Osama bin Laden, the head of Al Qaeda. "Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers," Qureshi said. "They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive. People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in." The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, where the United States has offered to contribute troops to strike at terror networks. (Source: IHT)

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Amidst growing fears of a unilateral American action against "terrorist sanctuaries" in tribal areas, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen made an unscheduled visit to Islamabad on Saturday and met top military leadership of the country to persuade it to “act decisively” against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants suspected of mounting cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Sources said that the United States was “deeply frustrated” with Pakistan’s lack of ability or willingness, or both, to move decisively to end the rising infiltration by the Taliban militants into Afghanistan. Recent reports in the Washington Post and New York Times claimed that the U.S. administration was considering using direct military force to stop the infiltration and it may use commando forces, besides direct missile attacks, on militants’ targets. (Source: World Tribune)

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Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses but maintain they never intended to destroy airliners, a jury was told Monday. Prosecutors say the five, along with three other defendants, wanted to kill hundreds of passengers with bombs concealed in soft drink bottles as their flights crossed the Atlantic Ocean or passed over North American cities. Prosecutors say they were close to carrying out their plan when they were arrested in August 2006 and that they had created "martyrdom" videos to be shown after the suicide-bombings were carried out. The alleged plan's unraveling quickly led to tough new restrictions on the amount of liquids and gels airline passengers could take in their carry-on luggage, restrictions which remain in place. (Source: AP)

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One of the suspects detained in connection with the armed attack on the United States Consulate in Istanbul last week was formally charged with membership in an illegal organization, the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency reported on Sunday. The agency did not identify the organization. The news agency identified the suspect only as Dursun P.; a private television news station, NTV, gave the man's name as Dursun Patan. Membership in an illegal organization can bring a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. An Istanbul court also ordered the release on their own recognizance of two other suspects, identified as Servet C. and Resat A., according to the Anatolian News Agency, although both are expected to stand trial soon. (Source: IHT)

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Settling into a chair in his office, Michael J. Heimbach, the newly appointed assistant director for the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, wastes no time laying out his problem. "As we approach almost seven years after Sept. 11, I'm really concerned about the complacency setting in amongst the American people." Speaking in a serious and measured tone, and pointing out that there's no evidence to suggest an imminent attack, Heimbach says, "Let there be no mistake, Al Qaeda or other like-minded individuals are still focused on attacking the homeland." Those like-minded individuals left a calling card in 2006. "If we go back to the aviation plot, it is very clear that was going to be as big, if not bigger than 9/11," said Heimbach. The transatlantic scheme to detonate liquid explosives on board several airliners traveling from the United Kingdom to the U.S. and Canada was discovered by UK police before it could be carried out. The plot led to unprecedented security measures restricting the amount of liquid that passengers can carry on airplanes. Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses but maintain they never intended to destroy airliners, a jury was told Monday. (Source: AP)

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Iraq

The Interior Ministry said Sunday that Iraqi security forces were poised to launch a major crackdown in Diyala Province, the latest in a series of operations aimed at stabilizing the country. Sunni Islamists with links to Al Qaeda have sought to stoke tensions in the religiously and ethnically mixed northeastern province, which has been hit by a string of suicide bombings in recent months. Gunmen attacked a soccer match north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing a police officer and a Sunni Muslim allied with the United States against Al Qaeda. The attack near Duluyia, 75 kilometers, or 45 miles, north of Baghdad, also wounded three, including a nine-year-old and a member of the local Awakening Council. In other violence, a roadside bomb exploded near the house of a police captain 65 kilometers west of Baghdad on Sunday, killing four police officers and wounding eight. (Source: IHT)

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By the end of July, US and Iraqi officials hope to finalize a deal that would map out the role and length of stay for US troops in the country. But this is likely to be a temporary "bridge" agreement, including specific goals for terms of US withdrawal from major cities, followed by further talks on a long-term status of forces agreement (SOFA), says a senior US administration official involved in the talks here. The US shift to a short-term deal follows comments last week by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggesting for the first time that a timetable be set for the departure of US troops. On Saturday, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said that "we need a timetable for withdrawal" and that the US should not commit to a long-term occupation of Iraq. But a key question is whether any deal can be sold to Iraq's political factions in an election year. The Iraqi government is beset by divisions and conflicting agendas with regard to the status of US forces that are playing out both in the media and in private. There is strong opposition to any deal from the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as well as from Iran, which exercises large sway over Shiite factions inside and outside the government and objects to any US troop presence in Iraq. (Source: AP)

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United States

Defense Secretary Robert Gates finished his sweeping transformation of the Army's top leadership Friday, with the nomination of two three-star generals to key command posts. Army Lieutenant General Martin E. Dempsey has been nominated by President Bush to get a fourth star and serve as the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. The job puts him in charge of shaping the training and education of an Army that must be able to fight conventional foes as well as conduct the counterinsurgency missions needed in the current war on terror. Also Friday, Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Carter Ham to also receive a fourth stars, and take command of U.S. Army Europe. Both Dempsey and Ham are considered rising stars in the Army ranks, and have played prominent roles in the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Source: AP)

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Three Americans freed after being held more than five years by rebels in Colombia gave thanks Saturday and urged people to not forget other hostages who were left behind. They headed home to Florida after 10 days of treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. The men had been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungle in February 2003. (Source: AP)

Africa

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The charges filed Monday include masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is asking a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of those still under attack in Darfur from government-backed janjaweed militia. He says the genocide is continuing and must be stopped. (Source: AP)

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Asia

Negotiators in the North Korean nuclear talks have agreed to a blueprint for verifying North Korea's nuclear disarmament as part of a deal under which it would disable its main Yongbyon nuclear weapons complex by the end of October in exchange for energy and economic aid. The accord, announced Saturday by China in a joint communiqué among the six nations involved in the talks, gives new momentum to the negotiations, yet leaves many difficult issues unresolved in what has been a long and halting process to rid North Korea of its nuclear arsenal. No timetable has been set for full disarmament. In the coming weeks, negotiators will try to hammer out critical details of the verification process that will be used by international inspectors to ensure that North Korea carries out its commitment to disarm. Under the new agreement, international inspectors will be allowed to visit North Korean nuclear facilities, review documents and interview technical personnel. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency will be allowed to participate in the verification process. (Source: IHT)

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South Korea's ruling party on Monday proposed holding parliamentary talks with North Korea, which has spurned all official contact over the shooting death of a southern tourist and rejected Seoul's offer to revive reconciliation efforts. Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the Grand National Party, said the talks are necessary to prevent a further chill in relations between the countries after a North Korean soldier gunned down a 53-year-old housewife at a mountain resort in the North. (Source: AP)

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South Korea said Monday it will recall its ambassador from Japan over a rekindled debate about disputed islands between the countries, as the new Seoul government seeks to lift its sagging popularity at home with an appeal to nationalism. Japan announced its intention Monday to recommend in a government teaching manual that students learn about Tokyo's claims to the nearly uninhabitable islets, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, that are currently under South Korean control. The dispute has been a long-standing thorn in relations between the Asian neighbors. (Source: AP)

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An assailant threw a homemade firebomb into the U.S. consulate compound on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, home to most of the American troops based in Japan, but nobody was injured in the attack. The Molotov cocktail fell in the garden inside the compound and burned itself out. He declined to give further details. A local resident told police that a person driving a black motorbike fled the scene after the attack. Okinawa, located 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, is home to more than half the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan and is considered a linchpin in the American military posture in Asia. There has long been anti-U.S. military sentiment on the island, with Okinawans complaining of soldier-related crimes. (Source: AP)

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About 500 Nepalese riot police who revolted and took their senior officers hostage to protest poor working conditions released their captives and surrendered after a two-day standoff, officials said Monday. Seven senior police officers were released unharmed just after midnight Sunday. The armed policemen took over a riot police camp Saturday at Nepalgunj, about 310 miles west of Katmandu. They were protesting the alleged ill treatment of lower-ranking officers by their supervisors, low-quality food and other issues. Hundreds of police surrounded the camp Sunday after the government ordered an immediate end to the standoff. (Source: IHT)

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Europe

Two senior army commanders with unrivalled experience in Iraq and Afghanistan have been identified as the top candidates to become the next head of the Armed Forces. The choice of General Sir David Richards, who commanded NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Lieutenant-General Sir Nick Houghton, who was deputy commander of the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq, means that the next generation of top army officers are deemed by ministers to be more suitable to take on the role of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) than any of the present Service chiefs. The decision amounts to a revolution within the Ministry of Defence, with a deliberate move to bypass the ones who would, traditionally, be the most eligible candidates, the heads of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF, and to wait for the new breed of commanders to take the top spot. (Source: The Times-UK)

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All Territorial Army soldiers are to be required to risk their lives on the front line in Afghanistan and Iraq, the head of the Armed Forces has said. Territorial Army soldiers are presented with Iraq service medals by the Prince of Wales. Until now such tours have been voluntary. At present, overseas service for the part-time soldiers is voluntary, with only half of the TA's 25,000 troops making themselves available for active service. Instead of being asked to volunteer for Iraq and Afghanistan, part-time soldiers will in future be warned that they may be asked to resign if they fail to respond to a call up. A review has now been launched which is expected to slim the service down to around 15,000 men and women, who will all be required to go on a tour of duty at least once every six years. (Source: The Telegraph-UK)

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The leaders of 43 nations from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa have launched a Union for the Mediterranean, a brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy that aims to improve cooperation in the region with practical projects that parallel efforts toward Mideast peace. Sarkozy's ambitious plan overlaps with European Union projects already in progress, and it was melded into EU efforts and expanded to include 27 members of the EU, not just those on the Mediterranean coast. Nearly all of the 43 nations sent a president or prime minister to the summit. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi objected to the idea and refused to come. (Source: AP)

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Prosecutors on Monday indicted 86 secular Turks, including high-ranking ex-military officials, on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government. The suspects, believed to include at least one former general and an opposition politician, allegedly plotted to provoke a military coup to topple Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, Istanbul's chief prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said. They face charges of forming or belonging to a terrorist organization, or of provoking an armed uprising with the aim of bringing down Erdogan's government, he said. The indictment is the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the Islamic-rooted government and nationalists seeking to defend the secularism established by modern Turkey's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Secularists, backed by the military, judiciary and some trade groups, accuse Erdogan and his government of seeking to push an Islamist agenda and making too many concessions to Christian and Kurdish minorities as part of the nation's bid to join the European Union. (Source: AP)

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Middle East

Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded late Friday night near the Lions Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. In the attack, which was captured by security cameras, a Palestinian with a handgun snuck up on the two security officials posted at the site, shooting them in the head and chest. One of the officers returned fire at the attacker, who managed to flee through a nearby Muslim cemetery. The attack is the sixth since the beginning of the year in the city. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

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David Chriqui, 19, the border policeman shot in the head at close range Friday by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem, remained in critical condition Sunday, hospital officials said. "We are praying for a miracle," said Dr. Yuval Weiss, Director of Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

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Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday fired a rocket into Israel in a new violation of a June 19 cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. (Source: Ha'aretz)

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Palestinians in Gaza fired two mortar shells on Sunday that landed near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. (Source: Ynet News)

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After 22 years, two photographs of missing Israel Air Force airman Ron Arad, as well as three letters written by him and fragments of a diary, were given to his wife Tami on Sunday. The personal material was part of an 80-page report by Hizbullah detailing the group's search for Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon and captured alive in 1986. The report, which did not solve the mystery of what happened to Arad, represents the first stage of a planned prisoner swap with Hizbullah. The Hizbullah report is merely an updated version of a report it passed to Israel in 2004, defense officials said on Sunday. The conclusion remains the same as the 2004 report, that Arad had tried to escape when his guards went to fight during Israel's Maydun operation on May 4, 1988, and probably died. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

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Rami Igra, head of the Mossad's department for prisoners and missing persons until 1999, reportedly traveled overseas more than 100 times to meet with sources and colleagues from other intelligence agencies to gather information about missing navigator Ron Arad. By the end of his tenure, he had concluded that Arad had most likely died while escaping from his captors in May 1988. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

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Israel's intelligence community has reported to the government that the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has accumulated an arsenal of more than 40,000 missiles and rockets in Lebanon. On the eve of the 34-day war in July 2006, Hizbullah was believed to have possessed 14,000. The Hizbullah rocket and missile arsenal has exceeded 40,000 weapons, according to the assessment by military intelligence, the Mossad and the Israel Security Agency. In an assessment relayed to the Cabinet on July 9, the intelligence community also said Hizbullah has deployed at least 2,500 fighters in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. The fighters were said to have restored weapons and rocket bunkers linked in an advanced command and control network. (Source: World Tribune)

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Hizbullah is speeding up preparations in South Lebanon to celebrate an expected prisoner swap with Israel. A Hizbullah media worker in Nabatieh said hundreds of volunteers have been hanging banners throughout the South to praise Hizbullah's role in having secured the exchange. The decorations adorn the coastal road all the way from the Israeli border up to Sidon, with slogans taken from speeches by Hizbullah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah. (Source: Agence France Presse/Daily Star-Lebanon)

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Lebanon's political leaders formed a new cabinet on Friday, formalizing an earlier agreement that hands decisive new powers to Hizbullah and its allies in the opposition. Under the deal, the opposition won a "blocking third" in the cabinet, which allows it to stop any major government decision. (Source: New York Times)

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"In case the United States and Israel dare to shoot a bullet, Iran will target the heart of Israel and 32 U.S. bases in the region imminently," said Mojtaba Zolnoor, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saturday. (Source: Xinhua-China)

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Joe Varner is Assistant Professor and Program Manager for Homeland Security at American Military University