London's The Observer newspaper reported that top bankers from Barclays Private Bank Ltd., the U.K.'s second largest bank, met with Taliban officials last month about investment opportunities in Afghanistan, citing senior members of the Taliban ministry as its source.
A spokesperson for Barclays confirmed that Barclays Director Mark Warner was in Afghanistan in November, but claimed that he was there on vacation, and not business.
Under the Taliban's repressive decrees, women and girls have been restricted from going to school, working, or leaving their homes without a male relative. When they do leave their houses with a chaperone, they are forced to wear a burqa, a cumbersome garment which greatly restricts sight and movement. The windows of houses where women live and bus windows must be obstructed so that women cannot be seen. In addition to enforcing these barbaric laws, the Taliban has also admitted to harboring international terrorist Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of last August's bombing attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
