Digest

AFGHANISTAN

Government vows to tackle corruption

Afghanistan will form a new anti-corruption unit to investigate high-level graft after widespread criticism and demands from the United States that it do more amid a wider regional strategy review.

Monday's announcement came a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that President Hamid Karzai and his government must do better, saying Washington wanted to see tangible evidence of Kabul's fight against rampant corruption.

Afghanistan has made similar announcements in the past, although previous efforts have borne little fruit.

-- Reuters

MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians seek E.U. backing for plan

The Palestinians asked the European Union on Monday to back their plan to have the U.N. Security Council recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent.

The idea of seeking U.N. intervention has been gaining steam in the Arab world. The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in 1967.

The plan appears to be largely symbolic, given that the United States, Israel's chief ally, would likely veto such an initiative at the United Nations. It also would not remove the 500,000 Israelis living in West Bank settlements and in East Jerusalem neighborhoods. The move, however, reflects growing Palestinian frustration with the deadlock in peace efforts.