Standing near the spot in Virginia where Al-Qaeda terrorists rammed a hijacked passenger plane on 11 September 2001 into the Pentagon, Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai on 14 June called on NATO to "fulfill the promise that" has been made to Afghanistan by expanding its presence in the country before the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September.
A challenge from a western Afghan regional leader threatened to turn Afghanistan's third-largest city into a battlefield as 1,500 Afghan National Army troops headed for Herat Province on 22 March -- possibly with support from coalition forces -- in an attempt by the Kabul-based government to restore order to an area whose governor has resisted the cession of power to the Afghan Transitional Administration. An analysis of the situation from Amin Tarzi.
An initial report suggesting that Afghan Planning Minister Mohammad Mohaqeq had stepped down gave way on 9 March to Mohaqeq's accusation that Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai improperly dismissed him after a rift over the levers of government in Kabul.
