Word: programer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...early 2008, Karzai set up a Peace and National Reconciliation program headed by his old mentor, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, a religious scholar and former President. The U.S. and other donors put up $3 million, but refused to contribute more after they learned that Mojaddedi, 83, spent a large chunk of the money on salaries for his family and loyal retainers. "Mojaddedi's people say they had 5,000 Taliban hand over their guns," says one angry Afghan official, "but I asked them if they had any big commanders among them, and they couldn't name a single...
...cutoff in new Western funds to the program has crippled whatever chances the amnesty project had of coaxing in Taliban fighters. The Kandahar office says it now operates with a budget of $700 a month and has only reeled in 537 disaffected Taliban in nearly two years. "We can only offer them $20 for their weapon. They can get far more than that in the bazaar," says Kandahar director Haji Agha Lalai. "We should be able to give them a job, rent money, but we can't." This paltry offering cannot compete with the wages and benefits that a Taliban...
...Helmand, where coalition forces have encountered fierce Taliban resistance, British officials rightly concluded that many of the Taliban fighters were local tribesmen with grievances against Karzai's personally appointed officials, many of whom were shaking down villagers for bribes. In 2007, A British-led program to rehabilitate Taliban fighters and give them job training was abruptly shut down by Karzai himself, who accused the British of colluding with the Taliban. The situation is complicated by a century and a half of suspicions about Britain's colonial legacy in Afghanistan...
...blames this year's spike of boat arrivals - almost all with the help of human smugglers from Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of Asia - on Rudd's new border policy. If nothing else, the Pacific Solution was at least an effective deterrent, they claim. In 2001, before Howard's program was implemented, there were 5,516 arrivals by boat; by 2002, there was just one. The numbers stayed below 60 until 2007, but have been increasing steadily ever since. "When you weaken laws for unauthorized arrivals, you are in fact creating a brilliant marketing scheme for people smugglers," says Sharman...
...This week the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department decided to make another run at the problem by launching Groping Prevention Week, a five-day program designed to spark greater public awareness of the threat and give police a chance to sharpen their ability to identify and investigate occurrences. "We're taking intensive measures to crack down," says a police spokeswoman. "Our intent is to repress groping incidents and raise awareness in society through cooperation with railway companies...