Jack Kimball

Iraq Kurds again likely to be kingmakers post-poll

By Jack Kimball
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Tensions between Iraq’s Kurds and Arabs may one day lead to armed conflict but, after an election in March, Arab parties will be vying with each other to court Kurdish allies expected to emerge as powerful kingmakers…

The struggle for transition in Afghanistan’s troubled south

By Jack Kimball
NOORZAI BAZAAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – In the sun-baked centre of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, once known as a fearsome Taliban stronghold, gunfire cracks over a British convoy as insurgents try to show they are still a force to be reckoned with…

The price of a life? In Afghanistan, it’s as little as $210

By Jack Kimball
KABUL (Reuters) – In Afghanistan, if NATO forces kill a member of your family, it is better in terms of money if they come from Germany or Italy than the United States or Britain.

In the cold calculation of how much to pay for victims of the decade-old war, British forces have doled out as little as $210, while German forces have paid as much as $25,000, according to a study by the human rights NGO CIVIC…

SCENARIOS – Possible Iraqi election outcomes

By Jack Kimball and Suadad al-Salhy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliamentary election on March 7 may be a make-or-break moment for the oil-producing nation as it tries to emerge from decades of economic decline, dictatorship and war…

Afghans store opium as hedge against uncertain future: U.N.