One-time Montreal resident Abdul Jabbar Sabit returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and was appointed attorney-general three months ago. He is kicking ass and taking names on the corruption front there.

From washingtonpost.com:

The Marine Corps may need to grow to sustain deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps, the new Marine commandant said yesterday.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters, Gen. James T. Conway also warned that it could take years to adequately train and equip the Iraqi security forces -- longer, perhaps, "than the timeline that we probably feel ... our country will support."

 
"This is tough work. It doesn't happen overnight," and patience by the American people will be needed, he said. On the plus side, he said, Marines he has talked to in recent days are encouraged by the progress they are seeing among Iraqi forces.

Conway said the current pace of Marine rotations to Iraq -- seven months there and seven to nine months at home -- is limiting other types of training that units can receive and could eventually prompt Marines to leave the service.

"There is stress on the individual Marines that is increasing, and there is stress on the institution to do what we are required to do, pretty much by law, for the nation," Conway said.

The goal, he said, is for units to spend at home twice the amount of time spent on deployment -- for example, seven months deployed and 14 months at home.

From the Beeb:

India and China to double trade

Key China-Pakistan deals expected

The Beeb blurb: Lebanon is the most politically complex and religiously divided country in the Middle East, which is what makes it such a potentially explosive factor in an unstable region.