April 9, 2012, in Baghlan Province an explosion left seven people wounded.  Three are Afghan intelligence officers.

Officials say a bomb was placed in a culvert, and exploded as the vehicle carrying the intelligence officers drove over it.  Four civilians are wounded as well.

And it has been revealed that despite yesterday’s “deal” signing, U.S. led forces will still conduct night raids, and other special operations.

The deal supposedly gave the Afghan military the lead role in special operations. Even Afghanistan’s Defense Minister said night raids would be done by Afghan forces: “From now on only Afghan forces can search the homes and private properties as part of night operations.”-Abdul Rahim Wardak

Yet the deal allows Afghan military leaders to request that U.S. led forces still carry out such operations “as required or requested”.

The U.S. state of South Carolina is sending 500 members of their state militia to
Afghanistan.  The 169th Fighter Wing of South Carolina’s Air National Guard deployed on Easter Sunday.

The Christian Science Monitor has published an article that tries to explain who and what the “Taliban” Mujahideen groups are, and shows that they are not the same as al Qaeda, and in fact it is the Mujahideen (not the United States) that have prevented al Qaeda from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan:  “Such differences cause natural tensions between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has not been able to hijack the insurgency the way it did in Iraq.”– NATO intelligence officer

The Pashtuns (who make up the majority of Afghans) consider the Mujahideen “Taliban” to be their only legitimate political representatives: “One of the most important things to an Afghan, especially in the context of the last 30 years of open warfare, is personal security. The central government and to a degree NATO/Coalition forces have failed in this regard. The Taliban, in the view of ordinary Pashtuns, is the only entity able to impose law and order.”-Matthew DuPee, Afghan Affairs U.S. Naval Postgraduate School