Patrick Cockburn in the Independent.

The US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, who was boasting of military progress only three months ago, confessed last week that "nobody is winning". His only claim now is that the Taliban have lost momentum compared with last year.

[...]

The semi-official Pakistani view is that the US, Britain and Nato forces have become entangled in a civil war in Afghanistan between the Pashtun community, represented by the Taliban, and their Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara opponents who dominate the Kabul government. They expect the Pashtun to go on fighting until they get a real share in power. One Pashtun, a former colonel in the Pakistani army, said: "It will be difficult for the Americans and British to win the hearts and minds of the people in southern Afghanistan since at the centre of Pashtun culture is a hatred of all foreigners."

Reuters report.

Russia has signed deals to sell Syria warplanes, anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, a senior Russian arms trader said on Friday, prompting an outcry from Syria's foe Israel.

IMEMC report.

Turkey has installed Anti-Aircraft Hawk Missiles at a village close to the Syrian border in an attempt to prevent Israeli war jets from violating Turkish Airspace in case of an attack against Iran or Syria.

Al-Manar report.

High-ranking sources in the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure with Turkey over deploying anti-aircraft batteries along the Syrian border in the Iskenderun district.

The Turkish daily Hurriyet meanwhile, quoted a military source as saying that "this move aims at repelling a US or Israeli attack against Iran or Syria."

Hillary Mann Leverett in Politico.

Sorting this out must start with sober recognition of an essential truth: America's war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan was not, is not and will never be Karzai's war.

Americans are not entitled to feel affronted when Karzai does not meet our expectations of him as a "wartime ally" -- whether in combating opium cultivation and trafficking, pursuing "good governance," advancing women's rights or building a genuinely national Afghan army and national security apparatus. None is a high priority for him.

From Middle East Online.

Rice's record as National Security Advisor is devastatingly attacked by CIA Director George Tenet and Counter-Terrorism chief Richard Clarke. They reveal how she ignored scores of warnings in the spring and summer of 2001 that an Al Qaeda attack was imminent.

[...]

Richard Clarke, chief counter-terrorism adviser between 1992-2003 concurred: "Rice decided what torture to use on what person."

"American Faust" reveals that the techniques that Rice approved went far beyond the mock executions and water-boarding already made public. Our film has first-hand accounts of torture techniques that make stress positions look like a slap on the wrist.

Olivia Hampton on the Guardian's CiF.

But don't be fooled by appearances. Tensions are still boiling just below the surface. For all the pomp and circumstance of the four-day visit by the Afghan president and his posse of cabinet ministers and senior advisors to the US capital, the Obama administration is working hard behind the scenes to weaken his authority by reinforcing local governance to boost elusive stability of a war-torn country.

AlertNet story.

Beset by questions about the future of Jerusalem in talks with the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin reached for the Bible on Wednesday to stake out the Jewish state's disputed claim on the city.

Netanyahu told a parliamentary session commemorating Israel's capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war that "Jerusalem" and its alternative Hebrew name "Zion" appear 850 times in the Old Testament, Judaism's core canon.

Jerusalem Post report.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of trying to "stir up" a war between Israel and Syria.

Speaking during a tour of the IDF's Northern Command on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu said Iran was "spreading lies in order to escalate tensions."

Associated Press report.

Israel's deputy premier said Monday that Israel's air force has improved its capabilities and is better prepared for a war with Iran, considered a dangerous enemy because of its nuclear program.

Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief, says the air force now has better refueling and range, and has made "a massive improvement in the accuracy of ordnance and intelligence."

BBC report.

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.

[...]

The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base.

BBC report.

More than 100 people have died and 350 been wounded in a series of shootings and suicide bombings in Iraq - the worst day of violence there this year.

The central city of Hilla saw the deadliest attack, when staff at a textiles factory were hit by three bomb attacks, killing at least 45 people.

Guardian report.

In private, diplomats in Kabul compare him to the head of a mafia-style criminal syndicate. But very few people will criticise him publicly, particularly anyone who lives in Kandahar. Some foreign policy analysts have broken the silence however, most notably Steve Coll, a former journalist and respected observer of Afghanistan, who wrote last month that Ahmed Wali "is the most visible, most intractable symbol of the corruption and the corporate self-interest of the Karzai government in southern Afghanistan".

[...]

Forsberg argues that Karzai's commercial empire does not just anger ordinary Kandaharis. "Many of the local powerbrokers who are excluded from Wali Karzai's network see the Taliban insurgency as the only viable means of political opposition," he said.

AlertNet story.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the U.S. military on Saturday it must rein in spending that he called out of sync with today's tough economic times, and said budget woes could be a factor in deciding whether to use force against Iran and others.

[...]

"I do think that as we look to the future, particularly for the next couple of years or so while we're in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think the Congress and the president would look long and hard at another military operation that would cost us $100 billion a year," Gates told reporters.

Guardian report.

Mohammad Rida Rahimi, the Iranian vice-president, made the statement today at the end of a visit to Syria that was billed as underlining the strategic relationship between the two countries.

"We will stand alongside Syria against any [Israeli] threat," Rahimi said at a news conference with the Syrian prime minister, Mohammad Naji Otri. "If those who have violated Palestinian land try anything, we will cut off their feet," he promised.

Press Association report.

The US government has warned Iran and Syria that America's commitment to Israel's security was unshakeable and they should understand the consequences of threats to the Jewish state. In a speech, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said Syrian transfers of increasingly sophisticated weaponry, including rockets, to militants in southern Lebanon and Gaza could spark new conflict in the Middle East.