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NATO Approves Training Mission in Afghanistan; U.N. Pressures Pak on Nuclear Weapons; India Seeks Death Penalty for Hijackers

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NATO Approves Training Mission in Afghanistan; U.N. Pressures Pak on Nuclear Weapons; India Seeks Death Penalty for Hijackers

NATO Approves Training Mission in Afghanistan; U.N. Pressures Pak on Nuclear Weapons; India Seeks Death Penalty for Hijackers

<p> <i> </i><b style="font-size: 1.135em; line-height: 1.7em">Afghanistan</b> </p><br><p> <i>NATO approves U.S.-led training mission in Afghanistan</i> </p><br><p> On Tuesday, NATO foreign ministers agreed to launch a new training mission in Afghanistan beginning Jan. 1, 2015 (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8AXsPo-rO9Fsl7A7495 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRE4A110f style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Pajhwok</a>). Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the new mission, named Resolute Support, will replace the combat troops who are set to pull out by the end of this year with troops to train and assist Afghan security forces. Under the NATO plan, a contingent of 12,000 foreign troops, mostly from the United States due to delays in contributions from other NATO countries, will remain in Afghanistan. "Afghanistan's future is now in the hands of Afghans," Stoltenberg told the NATO foreign ministers. </p><br><p> <i>Afghanistan, Pakistan, India improve rank in Corruption Perceptions Index</i> </p><br><p> Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India all improved their ranking in Transparency International's <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRE6A871b style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Corruption Perceptions Index</a>, released on Wednesday. The report ranks countries based on a 100-point "corruption perception" scale, with zero being a highly corrupt score and 100 being very clean. Afghanistan's score rose four points this year, improving from 8 to 12 on the scale (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFHA2dfd style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Pajhwok</a>). Pakistan's score rose one point, from 28 in 2013 to 29 in this year's report (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFSAf532 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Dawn</a>). India improved by two points from 36 to 38 in 2014 (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFcA7435 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Times of India</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFfA3e90 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">IBNLive</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFhA3d8a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Livemint</a>). Turkey's score decreased the most -- falling five points this year -- and Angola, China, Malawi, and Rwanda all decreased by four points (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFnA5de5 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">CNN</a>). It is the first time in 18 years that India was ranked as less corrupt than China. The United States scored 74, up one point from last year. </p><br><p> <b>Pakistan</b> </p><br><p> <i>U.N. urges Pakistan to give up nuclear weapons</i> </p><br><p> A United Nations General Assembly resolution on working towards a nuclear-weapon-free world on Wednesday that called on Pakistan, India, and Israel to voluntarily give up their nuclear weapons was passed overwhelmingly by the assembly (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFpA6b32 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Dawn</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFqAac18 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">ET</a>). However, the United States joined India in voting against a key part of the resolution that required the three countries to accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon states. The resolution is not binding under the U.N. Charter, but is symbolic in nature. </p><br><p> <i>Police register blasphemy case against 'disco mullah'</i> </p><br><p> Pakistan police said on Wednesday that they were investigating blasphemy allegations against Junaid Jamshed, a man formerly dubbed the "disco mullah" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFsAaa31 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>). Jamshed quit his career in pop music to become a preacher in the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat organization. Mobeen Qadri, a member of the religious political party Sunni Tehreek, brought the blasphemy case against Jamshed after he used the example of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives to illustrate an argument about the failings of women in a video, which then went viral. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, but the law does not define what is blasphemous and human rights groups say the law is mostly used against minorities and the poor to settle personal disputes or seize property. </p><br><p> <i>--Emily Schneider</i> </p><br><p> <b>India</b> </p><br><p> <i>India to punish flight hijackers with death penalty</i> </p><br><p> Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet approved an anti-hijacking bill, which provides for ?stringent punishment, including the death penalty, of hijackers of Indian airplanes, according to news reports on Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRFwA9af2 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Business Standard</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRF0Ac347 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank"> Hindustan Times</a>). The government said in a statement: "The (anti-hijacking) Bill provides death punishment for the offence of hijacking, where such offence results in the death of a hostage or of a security personnel; or with imprisonment for life and the moveable and immoveable property of such persons shall also be liable to be confiscated" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRF4Ac433 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Livemint</a>). </p><br><p> The Anti-Hijacking Amendment Bill, 2010 was introduced in response to the hijacking of Indian Airlines -- now known as Air India -- Flight IC-814 in 1999, when a flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to New Delhi was seized by five Pakistani nationals. The flight, carrying 180 passengers and crew, was forced to make a detour in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and the hostages were let go after three militants were released from prisons in India. </p><br><p> <i>Bhopal gas leak victims demand justice</i> Hundreds of people marched in the streets of Bhopal -- located in the central state of Madhya Pradesh --? on Tuesday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy and demand justice for the victims (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRGDAb4e2 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRGWA582d style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank"> NDTV</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRGrAa7f2 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank"> WSJ</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRG6A0248 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank"> BBC</a>). The Indian Parliament also remembered the victims of the incident on Wednesday. Sumitra Mahajan, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament, said: "[The] House expresses its support and commitment to the people affected by the gas leak" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmONWzSWRHNA9e15 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Economic Times</a>). Hamid Ansari, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha (upper house), said: "It is incumbent on us to do our utmost to support the surviving victims in every manner possible" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c721m23.1xxw/VH8TLUmO-Qg7YWJyAef18 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">DNA</a>). </p><br><p> The Bhopal Gas tragedy, one of the world's worst industrial disasters, occurred on Dec. 3, 1984, when approximately 40 metric tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas accidentally leaked from the Union Carbide Corporation, a U.S.-owned pesticide factory. The leaked gas spread into the surrounding slums, killing 2,000 people instantly, and injuring thousands more. According to scientific studies, the factory has still not been entirely cleaned. While the victims continue to demand compensation, the Dow Chemical Company (a U.S.-based chemical corporation), which now owns Union Carbide, has denied further liability, as it settled ?by paying $470 million to the Indian government in 1989. </p><br><p> <i>-- Neeli Shah</i> </p><br><p> <i>Edited by Peter Bergen</i> </p><br>

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