To the Point

The Afghan Agreement

In Germany, four groups of Afghans have signed a landmark accord for a post-Taliban government. The consensus leader, Hamid Karzi, is an ethnic Pashtun, and his cabinet will include two women. But, after 23 years of civil war and Soviet occupation, even the UN official who brokered the deal calls it only a "first step." We look at the challenge of unifying the ethnically disparate country, the stabilizing potential of a multi-national peace force, and the role of Western redevelopment aid, with Afghans, Afghan specialists, and a Clinton administration State Department official who knew and worked with Karzai. Newsmaker: US Soldiers Killed by High-Tech US Fire - America's most serious casualties in Afghanistan have been self-inflicted. At least three Americans have been killed and 19 injured by "friendly fire" from misdirected "smart" bombs. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, offers plausible causes for the accident that also killed five anti-Taliban Afghan soldiers and reportedly injured Afghanistan's just-named interim Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai. Reporter's Notebook: Enron and the Bush Administration - Energy trader Enron, a major player in the Vice President's task force this spring and whose CEO was a major contributor to President Bush, has become the largest US firm ever to file for bankruptcy. Like many Congressional Democrats, California's Henry Waxman want to know what went on in closed-door meetings. Brookings fellow Thomas Mann says the GAO's defense of "private consultation" threatens public accountability.