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“We - not just the French, but all nations - have to combat terrorism.” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, during a visit to the United Arab Emirates Article, 1AAfghan hoping U.S. won’t desert nation

KABUL - Afghanistan’s defense minister expressed optimism Tuesday that the United States will not abandon his country after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014.

Bismullah Khan Mohammadi said he does not believe that America will repeat the mistake it made after the 1989 Soviet pullout from Afghanistan and “forget” his country.

Many Afghans felt abandoned by the U.S.

after 1989. U.S. support to mujahedeen fighters who had battled the Soviets dried up a few years later, and Afghanistan then sank into civil war. That was followed by the rise of the Taliban and the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, which was using Afghanistan as a sanctuary.

Mohammadi, who accompanied Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a visit to Washington last week, said he does not think the U.S. wants Afghanistan to once again become an al-Qaida haven.

Iraq bombing kills

Sunni lawmaker

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber assassinated a Sunni lawmaker in western Iraq on Tuesday, raising tensions in a part of the country that has been roiled by weeks of demonstrations. Seven people were killed in the attack.

While it was unclear who carried out the attack, the killing is likely to further strain relations between the central government and minority Sunnis who have been demanding reforms to policies they believe unfairly target their sect. Suicide bombings are frequently the work of Sunni extremists, such as al-Qaida, who seek to exacerbate Iraq’s sectarian divide.

The governor of Anbar province, Qassim al-Fahdawi, said parliament member Ifan Saadoun al-Issawi was killed on his way to join one of the anti-government protests when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Fallujah.

The attack comes two days after a convoy carrying Iraq’s Sunni finance minister, Rafia al-Issawi, was struck by a bomb as he traveled to the city.

Italy pulls staff from Benghazi consulate

ROME - Italy closed its consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and withdrew its staff because of security concerns, after an attempted ambush of the Italian consul over the weekend.

Although the diplomat, Guido De Sanctis, escaped unharmed, the episode raised concerns about the tenuous security situation in Libya as the transitional government struggles to rebuild the country after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi nearly two years ago.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said the attack was an attempt to disrupt the Libyan government’s efforts, “further proof of the international community’s need to intensify support for the Libyan people and institutions.”

In the ambush Saturday, gunmen fired on De Sanctis as he drove throughBenghazi, but none of the bullets penetrated his vehicle, an armored model that was issued to him after the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/16/2013

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