By empty (11/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

More than 120 kilograms of heroin were seized on the Tajik-Afghan border near Parkhar, 250 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe, Abdulsattor Gulakhmatov, press secretary of the Tajik state border guard committee, told Interfax on Sunday. Border guards fired on a group illegally crossing the border, he said. \"One man, an Afghan citizen, was detained.

By empty (11/26/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Police in Azerbaijan\'s capital used truncheons and water cannon on Saturday to break up a protest by opposition supporters complaining of fraud in an election earlier this month. A Reuters reporter at the scene said he saw dozens of protesters with blood coming from head wounds after riot police moved in to disperse a crowd of about 10,000 people in a square on the outskirts of Baku. Police said the protesters were breaking the law.

By empty (11/25/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

NATO allies are in intensive talks to allay security concerns among nations key to a plan to expand peacekeeping in Afghanistan amid growing violence there, alliance sources said on Friday. The Netherlands, one of three nations earmarked to lead the expansion into the more dangerous southern region in the first half of next year, has raised questions over whether NATO will have sufficient forces to handle serious trouble, they said. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is due on Monday to meet New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who insists she will not transfer to NATO a 120-strong reconstruction team in Bamiyan province unless the alliance guarantees robust support.