By empty (7/14/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Caspian Sea countries have backed the idea of establishing a task force for fighting terrorism in the region, a senior officer in the Russian Navy said Thursday. \"The idea is to create a task group of the littoral states\' ships, similar to the Black Sea Force group, to fight terrorism, drug trafficking, and bio-terrorism,\" said Vice-Admiral Yury Startsev, who commands the Russian Caspian Flotilla. An international conference devoted to security in the Caspian is taking place in the Astrakhan region, in Russia\'s Volga area.

By empty (7/13/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Suspected Taleban militants have shot dead a pro-government cleric in southern Afghanistan, the fourth such killing in the past two months. Maulvi Saleh Mohammad was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle in Lashkargar, the capital of Helmand province. A leading cleric in Paktika province and two in Kandahar have also been killed in recent weeks.

By empty (7/13/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Australia is to send 150 special forces troops to Afghanistan by September to help counter increasing rebel attacks. Prime Minister John Howard said the deployment would begin in the run-up to Afghanistan\'s parliamentary elections and would last 12 months. Canberra sent more than 1,500 troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but they were withdrawn the following year.