Afghanistan ‘plans to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for adultery’

Afghanistan ‘plans to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for adultery’
Twelve years after the Taliban was ousted from power Afghanistan is planning to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for adultery, according to a new draft penal code. The move has shocked human rights campaigners and will dismay donors who have poured billions of pounds into the country for reconstruction.

Afghanistan elders seek US security pact signing in 2013
Afghan elders at a grand assembly in Kabul have called for a security deal with the US to be signed this year. The pact allows thousands of US troops to remain in Afghanistan once combat operations end in 2014. But President Hamid Karzai, who wants to delay the deal, told delegates he would only sign it once the US had brought peace to his country.

Poll: 51% Want All U.S. Troops Out of Afghanistan Next Year
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States should withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by 2014 and leave Afghan troops to fight the Taliban on their own. Thirty-eight percent (38%) would rather some U.S. troops remain in the country after next year. Ten percent (10%) are undecided. 

Karzai tells Susan Rice of more demands for accord extending U.S. troop presence
Efforts by the United States and Afghanistan to finalize a long-term security arrangement appeared on the brink of collapse Monday as Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a new set of demands, and the Obama administration said it would be forced to begin planning for a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces at the end of 2014.