World Scene

PAKISTAN

Taliban waiting for reply on soldier

DERA ISMAIL KHAN | A militant commander who is holding a U.S. soldier abducted in Afghanistan said Sunday that Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s council is waiting for a response to its demands before deciding the American’s fate.

It was the first news of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released July 18.

Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, told the Associated Press that the Taliban’s governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the United States for his return.

Sangin would not elaborate on the demands or say whether any deadline had been given. A spokesman for Sangin had previously said that the soldier would be killed unless the United States stops air strikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan.

ANGOLA

Clinton urges reform of oil-rich nation

LUANDA | Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton brought her democracy and development tour of Africa to oil-rich Angola on Sunday, encouraging the war-ravaged country to continue reforms and pledging to boost trade ties with a major energy producer.

Mrs. Clinton, on the third leg of a seven-nation trip, came to the Angolan capital to reinforce the United States’ presence in a country where it increasingly is competing for resources with China. Beijing has loaned Angola billions of dollars in recent years without pressing for reforms.

After meeting Foreign Minister Assuncao Afonso dos Anjos, Mrs. Clinton urged the government to build on successful legislative elections held in 2008 — the first in 16 years — through presidential elections and dealing with the legacy of its 27-year civil war.

Mrs. Clinton planned to meet Monday with President Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled for 30 years and has been criticized for postponing a presidential vote that was scheduled for this year.

HONDURAS

OAS negotiators barred from visit

TEGUCIGALPA | The interim government announced Sunday that it was canceling a visit by foreign delegates aimed at resolving Honduras’ political crisis because it could not accept the participation of a regional official who insists on reinstating the ousted president.

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