Iraq’s unpaid Awakening Councils
Iraq’s unpaid Awakening Councils
Awakening Councils have been credited with bringing relative security to towns and cities in Iraq.
Local Sunni fighters opted to stop fighting US-led forces in 2006, and help them fight al-Qaeda instead.
They are still on patrol, but they haven’t been paid since the US handed over its command to the Iraqi government.
Al Jazeera’s Omar Al-Saleh gained rare access to the city of Samarra and sent this report.
US drone attacks anger Pakistanis
While an Al Jazeera/Gallup Pakistan survey has found there is a popular consensus on fighting the Taliban in Pakistan, there is massive opposition to US involvement in the conflict.
Sixty-seven per cent of people said they oppose US drone attacks against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in the country, citing numerous civilian deaths.
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder reports from Islamabad.
