Today's AfPak roundup:
Taliban have killed one pro-government Afghan for each day of 2010. The insurgent group's assassination campaign against Afghan government supporters has made it nearly impossible for NATO and Kabul to fill key government posts in Kandahar province—in one recent recruiting drive, Kabul received only four applicants for 114 posts in Kandahar. "[Even] If we pay good salaries, if we find people, we will not be able to protect them," said one official. "We can't ask them to stay in police or military barracks." [McClatchy]
British PM comes close to claiming Pakistan supports terrorism. In a speech in Bangalore, India, David Cameron said that "We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world." Later on, Cameron refused to directly accuse Pakistan's government of supporting terrorism, saying only that this "has been the case in the past and it is an issue that we have to make sure that the Pakistan authorities are not looking two ways." [Guardian]
Kabul attacks U.S. for Pakistan aid. It is "not justifiable" for the United States to give $11 billion in aid to a country whose forces "train terrorism," Afghan national security chief Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said yesterday, adding that Washington should be punishing, not aiding, countries that support terrorism. Spanta's statement came after WikiLeaks released documents which indicated U.S. officials believed Pakistani officials were aiding the Taliban. [Reuters]
Afghans accuse NATO of deliberate attack on civilians. This claim was made by several survivors of a rocket attack alleged to have taken place in the town of Regey in Helmand province. The Afghan government says the attack killed 52 civilians, but NATO says a joint investigation by itself and the Helmand provincial government yet to find evidence that an attack took place. [Guardian]