John Kerry hosts Afghan-Pakistan talks in Belgium

US Secretary of State John Kerry has hosted talks near Brussels between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani military chief Ashfaq Kayani.

Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained over links between the Afghan Taliban rebels and Pakistan.

Following the talks, Mr Kerry said progress had been made.

But there is no sign that either side is ready to make concessions before Nato's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, says the BBC's David Loyn.

Mr Kerry met the officials at Truman Hall on the outskirts of the Belgian capital.

Following the three-hour long meeting, he said: "It's fair to say that there is a good feeling among all of us that we made progress in this dialogue."

But he added: "We have a lot of homework to do. We are not going to raise expectations or make promises that can't be delivered."

The talks come a day after Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on Pakistan to combat militants who used the country as a launch-pad for attacks on Afghanistan.

Mr Rasmussen said: "We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan, but in the region."

The 100,000 remaining Nato International Security Assistance Force soldiers are due to be withdrawn by the end of 2014, after which Nato says its role in the country will essentially be a training one.

Earthquake rocks eastern Afghanistan

At least seven people have been killed, dozens injured and many homes destroyed when a powerful earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

Wednesday's quake, measured at a magnitude of 5.6 by the US Geological Survey, sent people rushing from their homes in worst-hit areas and was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

It struck at 09:25 GMT at a depth of 62km, with its epicentre 24km northwest of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad near the Pakistani border, the USGS said in a revised update.

Six people died in Nangarhar province of which Jalalabad is the capital, said provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, and 75 people were injured. Forty of them were given first aid and the rest admitted to hospital for further treatment.

"We are still in the process of getting information from the affected areas. Among the dead are some children," Abdulzai told AFP news agency.

Afghanistan sees 'troubling rise' in civilians killed

Afghanistan has suffered “a troubling rise” in killings of civilians, with the figure surging almost 30% in the first three months of the year, according to a United Nations envoy.

Despite the sobering statistic, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that other facts “highlight the improved security across the country,” including dramatic increases in the number of children in school and the share of Afghans who have access to healthcare.

The death toll is being closely watched because Afghan forces are slated to take over responsibility for securing the country ahead of the departure of most foreign troops in 2014. The latest figures were released as Afghanistan faces the seasonal resurgence of heavier fighting, triggered by warmer weather that eases militants’ movements through mountain passes.

Jan Kubis, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, told NATO foreign ministers meeting Tuesday in Brussels that he was particularly troubled that the Taliban had declared courthouses and their personnel targets. Attacks this month on a courthouse and government offices in western Afghanistan were “nothing less than a war crime,” he said.

Overall, 475 civilians were killed from January through March of this year, Kubis said. Last year, civilian casualties fell 12%.

Nonetheless, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., commander of the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that the insurgency was losing relevancy for many Afghans. The bulk of the attacks – 80% -- occur in areas where fewer than 20% of Afghans live, he said in a statement.

As Afghan forces take control of security nationwide, Dunford said, “the insurgency can no longer use the justification that it is fighting foreign occupiers – that message rings hollow.”

Afghans protecting Afghans “will continue to undermine the influence and effectiveness of the insurgency,” Dunford said.

Iran’s finance minister: ‘Sanctions haven’t crippled us’

The tactic of choice to derail Iran’s nuclear program has been "crippling sanctions," imposed by the United States and other Western countries.

Iranian Finance Minister Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini said that sanctions have driven up prices to some degree, but he downplayed the larger effect. Hosseini spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Tuesday.

“I am not saying that they haven't had any impact on our country,” Hosseini said of the sanctions. “But on the other hand, I don't believe that such sanctions have crippled us.” 

The Obama administration has painted a completely different picture.

“Few thought that sanctions could have an immediate bite on the Iranian regime,” President Obama declared last year. “They have – slowing the Iranian nuclear program and virtually grinding the Iranian economy to a halt in 2011.”

The efforts to isolate and penalize Iran by cutting it off from international markets are based on the hope that sanctions will force Iran to come into compliance with U.N. resolutions.

Sectors that depended on foreign imports have been weakened, Hosseini admitted to Amanpour. But he also claimed that some of the negative measures placed on the economy have actually had a positive impact.

“Non-oil exports grew,” Hosseini said. “Our industrial exports grew twenty percent. And in comparison, our imports were reduced by fourteen percent. As such that we met our foreign import requirements by non-oil exports.”

Hosseini maintained his country’s stance that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and that the sanctions won’t stop its efforts.

Israel UN envoy slams Iran hypocrisy over ME arms

Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor addressed the UN on Wednesday, highlighting two key Israeli concerns; the Iranian race for nuclear arms and Palestinian intolerance towards Israel.

"Earlier this month, the Iranian delegate stood in front of the General Assembly to share Iran's so-called concerns with the Arms Trade Treaty...this is like the mafia complaining that the crime rate in New York is high," Prosor said.

He continued to warn the UN, "Make no mistake - Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons is the single greatest threat to the Middle East and the entire world.   

Prosor noted that following last month's negotiation attempts with Iran, "Iran announced two key infrastructure projects. Surprise, surprise, both of them expanded Iran's ability to process Uranium."

Prosor slammed Iran for sending Hezbollah fighters to Syria to effectively help Syrian President Bashar Assad butcher the Syrian people.

Though the bulk of Prosor's speech centered around the Iranian nuclear problem, he reserved some choice words to address the issue of Palestinian intolerance as a society towards the Israeli people.

Americans killed in Afghanistan attacks

A car bomb blast in Afghanistan has killed five Americans, including three US soldiers and a young diplomat, while an American civilian died in a separate attack.

An Afghan doctor was also killed in Saturday's attack in Zabul province.

The US diplomat and other Americans were in a convoy of vehicles when the blast occurred, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

The soldiers and the diplomat died in the blast along with a civilian employee of the Defence Department and Afghan civilians, Kerry said. His statement gave no overall death toll.

The convoy was near a hospital and a NATO base at the time of the explosion.

"Our American officials and their Afghan colleagues were on their way to donate books to students in a school in Qalat, the province's capital, when they were struck by this despicable attack," Kerry said in his statement.

Provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasery was in the convoy, but was unharmed.

"One doctor and one civilian were killed and two of my body guards have been injured," he told the AFP news agency.

Taliban claim

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Zabul attack in a text message from Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the group's spokesman.

He said a car bomb killed seven foreigners and wounded five others, though he later revised the toll to 13 foreigners killed and nine wounded

Pakistan summons Musharraf over treason case

Pakistan's former leader Pervez Musharraf has been ordered to appear in court over treason allegations and has barred him from leaving the country. 

The orders were issued on Monday after the country's Supreme Court heard applications from lawyers that the former military ruler was to face a treason trial for imposing emergency rule and arresting judges in November 2007. 

"It is necessary to issue notice to the respondents in these petitions. The office shall ensure service of notice to the respondents for tomorrow," Justice Jawad Khawaja told the court, referring to Musharraf and the state.

Government officials should "ensure that the respondent [Musharraf] does not leave the jurisdiction of Pakistan", he added.

Khawaja, part of a two-member bench of the top court, heard the petition against Musharraf on Monday after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry recused himself from the initially formed three-member bench.

Diplomat killed in Afghanistan 'was the rock of our team'

Risks come with serving as a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East, but Anne Smedinghoff hardly dwelled on them and took all the precautions while in the field, her colleagues said Monday.
"I think for Anne, (the risks are) what she saw as part of the job," said John Rhatigan, a deputy information officer who worked with Smedinghoff, who was killed Saturday in Afghanistan in a roadside attack. "She believed in the work she was doing … I think she wanted to be out there with the Afghan people as much as possible."
Still shaken by Smedinghoff's death, colleagues who knew her well described her as eager, kind and hard-working. Smedinghoff poured her heart into projects that built relationships between the Afghan public and Americans, they said.
"Anne was the rock of our team," said Solmaz Sharifi, an assistant information officer who met Smedinghoff while they were training together before their assignment in Kabul. "She was also exceptionally good at brightening up our day after an especially long day."
The young diplomat, from River Forest, and four other Americans were killed while delivering donated  textbooks to children at a new school. She and the other victims were traveling in a convoy when a bomb set off by the Taliban exploded, according to the State Department.
As an assistant press information officer, Smedinghoff spent most of her time working on public engagement and public diplomacy initiatives between the United States and Afghanistan. Often, she reached out to both the international and Afghan press with stories that showed locals a different side of America that they may not have known.

Kerry pledges support for Israel against Iran threat

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran on Monday that his country would not hesitate to take military action if the diplomatic process failed to prevent Tehran from continuing its drive for nuclear weapons.

“No option is off the table. No option will be taken off the table,” he said during a joint press conference with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. Kerry is in Israel on a three-day visit. “And I confirm to you, Mr. President, that we will continue to seek a diplomatic solution. But our eyes are open, and we understand that the clock is moving. And no one will allow the diplomatic process to stand in the way of whatever choices need to be made to protect the world from yet another nuclear weapon in the wrong hands,” Kerry said.

The two met in advance of Kerry’s Monday night dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz and senior officials such as chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror. As of press time, the dinner was ongoing.

Kerry is also expected to meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday before leaving for London. The secretary of state also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region Philip Gordon is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday.

In Kerry’s meetings with Israeli officials, he spoke about regional security issues such as Iran’s push to produce nuclear weapons, the unrest in Syria and its store of chemical weapons, Jerusalem’s renewed ties with Turkey and the possibility of restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

When speaking with Peres at the latter’s official residence, Kerry assured the Israeli president that Washington understands the nature of the Iranian threat, as US President Barack Obama has said many times.

“You have a friend in President Obama; he doesn’t bluff,” Kerry declared.