European leaders call for Afghanistan summit after disputed election; China plans world's biggest solar plant; America freezes North Korean assets; 12 dead after drone attack in Pakistan; and more

Top of the Agenda: Appeal for Int'l Summit on Afghanistan, Possible Vote Recount

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for an international summit (AP) to discuss Afghanistan's future.

This comes following last month's disputed elections in Afghanistan. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai appears to have the votes to avoid a runoff vote in the country's presidential elections, but the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), which can veto the outcome, ordered a partial recount (Reuters), citing "clear and convincing evidence of fraud."

Separately, a NATO military raid freed Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter who had been held hostage since Saturday by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan. Farrell's Afghan interpreter and a British commando were killed in the effort, and there were unverified reports of civilian casualties.

Analysis:

Journalist Ahmed Rashid, in an interview with RealClearWorld, says the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan needs a minimum of two to three years to work, and says impatience among the American public is "misplaced and unfair."

In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says he supports the European proposal for an international summit, as U.S. allies in Europe "might be less likely to pull out entirely, which would leave the U.S. alone in the lurch."

Background:

The New York Times looks at the difficult position of the United States in Afghanistan's disputed vote.

A CFR Backgrounder looks at the rise and current state of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

 

PACIFIC RIM: U.S.-China Solar Deal

U.S. energy group First Solar signed a deal (China Daily) to build the world's biggest solar power plant in China. The company plans to build a two-gigawatt power plant that could power about three million Chinese households, at Ordos City, in Inner Mongolia.

North Korea: The United States froze the assets (Yonhap) of General Bureau of Atomic Energy and the Korea Tangun Trading Corp, two North Korean companies believed to be supporting North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The United States also banned U.S. companies from doing business with them.

Korea expert Victor Cha, in a recent CFR interview, says prospects for North Korea to give up nuclear weapons in future talks still appear remote.

 

ELSEWHERE:

Drone strike in Pakistan.

Deadly day for troops in Iraq.

 

This is an excerpt of the CFR.org Daily News Brief. The full version is available on CFR.org