– Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan of using the Taliban to fight a proxy war in his country, saying “Pakistan has pursued a double game toward Afghanistan, and using terrorism as a means continues.”
– Syrian activists said that more than 3,000 people had been detained in one of the country’s most restive cities as part of a three-day government offensive against opposition protests that have increasingly turned violent.
– U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta criticized Congress for suspending $200 million in aid for the Palestinian territories, warning this is “no time to withhold those funds.”
– Though already scaling back, the State Department faces deep foreign aid budget cuts imposed by Congress that could lead to food, medical, disaster, economic and political aid all being slashed, dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s “smart power” diplomacy.
– More than 70 percent of social workers, nurses and doctors working for the Department of Veterans Affairs said in a survey that they think the department lacks the staff and space to meet the needs of growing numbers of veterans seeking mental health care.
– Confronted with pressure to make changes more quickly, the leaders of Libya’s rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) said they would step down as soon as the last remnants and hold-outs of deposed Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s regime are captured or beaten on the battlefield.
– TNC leader Mahmoud Jibril will head post-revolutionary Libya’s ruling body, the country’s new leaders said on Monday, in an announcement that underlines their efforts to project an image of political stability amid the hunt for Qaddafi.
– Iranian military leaders rejected a U.S. proposal for a military-to-military hot line between Washington and Tehran to prevent potential clashes between U.S. and Iranian planes and ships in the Persian Gulf.
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