The U.S. government designated the Pakistani Taliban a terrorist group Wednesday and accused its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, of involvement in a December suicide bombing that killed seven Americans at a CIA post in eastern Afghanistan.
Mehsud and another Taliban official, Wali ur-Rehman, became "specially designated global terrorists" with rewards of up to $5 million offered for information leading to their capture.
PRESSURE RISES ON KABUL BANK
Afghanistan's top bank official tried to calm fears of a meltdown at the Kabul Bank, while scores of Afghans lined up to empty their accounts and found the bank unwilling to comply.
Central Bank Chairman Abdul Qadir Fitrat held a news conference to say that Kabul Bank was more stable than the huge financial losses revealed this week suggested. "The bank is solvent, the bank is solvent," he insisted.
On Tuesday, Kabul Bank, at the behest of the Central Bank, changed its leadership after the discovery of losses approaching $300 million.
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