Gates criticizes NATO forces

In an unusual public criticism, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan do not know how to combat a guerrilla insurgency, a deficiency that could be contributing to the rising violence in the fight against the Taliban.

“I’m worried we’re deploying (military advisers) that are not properly trained and I’m worried we have some military forces that don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations,” Gates said in an interview.

Gates’ criticism comes as the Bush administration has decided to send 3,200 U.S. Marines to southern Afghanistan on a temporary mission to help quell the rising number of attacks. It also comes amid growing friction among allied commanders over the Afghan security situation.

But coming from an administration castigated for its conduct of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, such U.S. criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is controversial. Many NATO officials blame inadequate U.S. troop numbers earlier in the war in part for a Taliban resurgence.

Nairobi, Kenya

Police fire halts mass rallies

Police firing tear gas and bullets halted protests Wednesday, blocking mass rallies the opposition hoped would show the power behind their demands for the president to step down. At least two people were fatally shot by police.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga called for three days of protests after violence that killed more than 600 people and international mediation failed to move President Mwai Kibaki. Observers say the vote tally from the Dec. 27 election was rigged.

Police had declared Wednesday’s protests illegal. In Nairobi, helmeted riot police on horseback chased small clusters of protesters from skyscraper- lined streets downtown. Businesses shut as tear gas was fired, and thousands of panicked office workers in suits and high heels streamed away on foot.

Havana

Castro says he’s not ready to speak

Fidel Castro said Wednesday he is not yet healthy enough to address Cuba’s people in person and can’t campaign for Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

“I am not physically able to speak directly to the citizens of the municipality where I was nominated for our elections,” the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published by state news media.

He has not been seen in public since July 2006, when emergency intestinal surgery forced Castro to cede power to a provisional government headed by his brother Raul, five years his junior.

Mexico City

Mexico gets access to arms database

The United States is giving Mexico access to an electronic database to help trace weapons smuggled from the U.S. into the hands of well-armed Mexican drug gangs, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday.

The database, known as e-Trace, has already been installed at U.S. consulates in the northern cities of Monterrey and Hermosillo and in the western city of Guadalajara. It will be expanded to the remaining six consulates by March, and should be available in Spanish soon.

Mexican police will be able to use the system to determine the origin of weapons seized from criminals and then notify U.S. authorities. Officials north of the border would “figure out what dealer that came from, and then target that dealer,” Mukasey said.

Mexico has long complained that its northern neighbor isn’t doing enough to stop the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico, where drug traffickers and other organized gangs sometimes outgun police.