ISW News Roundup - August 18, 2009

August 17, 2009 Roundup                                                           August 19, 2009 Roundup 

Iraq

New York Times - U.S. Will Release More Members of an Iraqi Shiite Milita, by Rod Nordland and Sam Dagher

Washington Post - Iraq May Hold Vote On U.S. Withdrawal, by Ernesto Londono

Wall Street Journal - Iraqi Candidates Peer Over Sectarian Gap, by Charles Levinson

Times Online UK - US troops to return to Iraq despite Barack Obama's withdrawal plan, by Oliver August

Department of Defense - Odierno Proposes Three-Part Security Force for Northern Iraq, by John J. Kruzel

LA Times - Troops may be sent to Iraq's Arab-Kurdish 'trigger line', by Liz Sly

Afghanistan

RFE/RL - Obama Defense Afghan Strategy In Speech Before Veterans, by Heather Maher

Associated Press - Bomb attack kills 7 in Kabul; UN staff among dead, by Fisnik Abrashi

Times Online UK - Soldiers from Nato-led forces killed in Kabul suicide attack, by Jeremy Page

Reuters - Suicide car bomb, rockets strike Kabul ahead of vote, by Hamid Shalizi

BBC - Afghan election fraud is unearthed, by Ian Pannell

Washington Times - Security ramps up for Afghan election, by Jason Motlagh

New York Times - Peace Talks With Taliban Top Issue in Afghan Vote, by Carlotta Gall

Wall Street Journal - Afghan Candidate Is Unlikely Power Broker, by Matthew Rosenberg

Washington Post - Militia Commander Campaigns for Karzai, by Joshua Partlow

Christian Science Monitor - Dostum's return to Afghanistan: a nod to 'warlord politics', by Ben Arnoldy

LA Times - Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai scrambles to hold on, by Laura King

New York Times - As Afghanistan Votes, Will the Taliban Win? by Hassina Sherjan, Atif B., Mirwais Ahmadzai and Ahmad Wali Arian

Reuters - Pakistan has no favorite in Afghan vote: minister, by Robert Birsel

BBC - Afghans call for better roads, by Lyse Doucet

BBC - Putting Bamiyan back on the map, by Lyse Doucet

Associated Press - Afghan warfare gets wired in quest to spare lives, by Heidi Vogt

Pakistan

Associated Press - Forces capture Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman, by Munir Ahmad

Reuters - Pakistan seizes aide to "dead" Taliban chief, by Zeeshan Haider

Long War Journal - Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman captured in Mohmand, by Bill Roggio

Reuters - Pakistan needs "months" for Waziristan push: general, by Adam Entous

LA Times - In Pakistan tribal belt, female reporters get a voice, by Alex Rodriguez

Reuters - Afghan refugees in Pakistan yearn to vote, by Zeeshan Haider

Region

Central Asia

New York Times - Central Asia Sounds Alarm on Islamic Radicalism, by Clifford J. Levy

Iran

Associated Press - Iran ready for nuclear talks with West: state TV, by Zahra Hosseinian

Hamas

Christian Science Monitor - Growing threat to Hamas: Gazans who think it has sold out, by Erin Cunningham

Veteran Affairs

Christian Science Monitor - Obama vows to bring his reform agenda to the Pentagon, VA, by Gordon Lubold