Word: ashraf
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Abdullah's rallies are unusual in a country racked by insurgent violence. While Karzai campaigns from the lofty, army-secured heights of head of state and another contender, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani (who polled 3% in May), dominates television debates, Abdullah is taking his platform straight to the streets, or, as the case may often be, the country's bumpy mud tracks. In a period of less than two months, the onetime warrior will have been to more than half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, throwing rallies under the massive, multicolored tents usually reserved for weddings. The dangers...
...Baghdad act now? The sudden escalation with Ashraf may have more to do with a bruised Iranian regime's bid to stamp out its opponents both at home and abroad than with any pressing Iraqi national interest. Iran's regime - roiled by continuing postelection unrest at home that poses the most serious threat to its rule since the 1979 Revolution - may have finally put its foot down regarding the MEK. (See pictures of the turbulent aftermath of Iran's presidential election...
...hasn't stepped into the fray, insisting that the situation is a matter for the Iraqi government to handle. "This is completely within their purview," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington, adding that the U.S. had received assurances that Baghdad would not forcibly transfer Ashraf's residents, especially to countries like Iran where they may face persecution or physical harm...
...long said that it will not leave its "home" in Ashraf. But on Monday it indicated - for the first time - that its members in Ashraf may be willing to return to Iran if strict, and many would say unrealistic, conditions are met. The group's elusive Paris-based leader, Maryam Rajavi, said in a statement that MEK members would return if Tehran promised in writing to the U.N., the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.S. and Iraq that the MEK "would enjoy immunity from arrest, prosecution, torture, execution, and formation of any criminal record and that they will...
Currently there are few signs of an immediate end to the standoff in Ashraf. If casualties escalate, the U.S. may feel compelled to intervene, complicating Iraq's delicate balancing act between its two rival allies, the U.S. and Iran. Perhaps the most likely, and best-case, scenario is a return to the old stalemate, with the MEK refusing to leave and the Iraqis refusing to kick them out. But for now, Iraqi troops are inside the wire, not on the outside looking in at their unwanted guests...