via AlJazeeraEnglish As change sweeps the Middle East, there are fears of a new crackdown in Iraq. After anti-government demonstrations last week, security forces beat and arrested hundreds of protestors. Although officials have since apologised, but protesters fear that further repressive measures may be on the way. Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf…

via Euronews In Afghanistan, despite the end of years of Taliban rule, there is still only one female governor. Dr Habiba Sarobi has been in charge of Bamiyan province since 2005. In that time she has received death threats and faced violent opposition in what is still very much a man’s…

Christopher Hitchens says that he has had to defend his support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to his leftist, anti-war former compatriots. Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358656n#comments#ixzz1FxESlpqO

via AlJazeeraEnglish Iyad Allawi, the leader of Iraq’s cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition, has said that power sharing in his country is a myth. Allawi, whose bloc won the most seats in Iraq’s election last year, was appointed to head a new statutory body intended to promote inclusivness, but turned the position down.…

via AssociatedPress U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said says that both the U.S. and Afghan governments agree the American military should remain involved in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 end of combat operations, unlike the agreement with Iraq.

via cnbc Insight on the massive twin bombings in Iraq, with Hussein Al-Uzri, Trade Bank of Iraq chairman.  

via rferl.org WATCH: Dozens were killed in a suicide bombing at a funeral procession for the wife of an anti-Taliban militiaman near Peshawar in northwest Pakistan. Wounded mourners were rushed to a nearby hospital. Video by Reuters The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at…

via NATOCOMMUNITY Thirty former taliban shook hands with government officials in Kandahar recently, a first such event to happen in the city which was once the Taliban’s heartland.

via CBSNews Watch (Iraq talk starts at about 1:50) tpmdc noticed “McCain’s answer was… unexpected.”  

NATO video Six southern governors, ministers, development workers and ISAF forces gathered in Kandahar City to talk about their priorities for development in their provinces.