On March 5, NATO foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Brussels, Belgium. The top item of discussion was what to do about Afghanistan. Clinton is seeking more troops from other NATO members to join the 17,000 U.S. troops that U.S. President Barack Obama has committed to the fight against the Taliban. The foreign ministers want to make sure that Afghanistan is secure against Taliban attacks during the August 20 presidential and provincial elections, which the Taliban have sworn to disrupt.
While the NATO ministers were meeting, the Taliban blew up the tomb of 17th-century poet Rehman Baba, in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Northwest Province. Explosives blew four large holes in the building, a place of pilgrimage for Pakistanis who believe in Sufism, a sect of Islam. The attack spread anger among hundreds of Baba's followers, many of whom visit the tomb daily as a shrine. The reason for the attack, says the Times of India, was apparently because women visited the shrine. Rehman Baba is a revered poet and mystic with particular appeal to women. Pakistan's government vowed to repair the shrine's damage as soon as possible.
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