WORLD BRIEFS

AFGHANISTAN: Curbing intrusion on civilians

American troops knocked on the door, and before the Afghan family could find the key to let them in, the soldiers broke it down. There was no time to take women in the home to another place, said Mohammad Nabi, 77. And that's what troubled the retired schoolteacher most about the intrusion in the southern town of Marjah. A new directive, confirmed Wednesday by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, aims to limit such nighttime raids on civilians. It was prompted by a storm of complaints from Afghans who, like Nabi, were enraged over foreign soldiers bursting into their homes. "We didn't understand what a cultural line it was," McChrystal said during a luncheon with a group of young Afghans involved in a leadership program. "We are trying to change the way we do these," he said.

IRAQ; Shia cleric's followers eye election

The political movement of Iraq's best-known anti-American cleric has emerged as a major contender in the March 7 national elections, raising the possibility that the next prime minister could be openly hostile to the United States and friendly toward Iran. A prime minister loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr might push the U.S. military to speed up its withdrawal timetable and pose a threat to future military and economic cooperation between the United States and Iraq. Such a choice also could undermine efforts to reconcile Iraq's religious groups, with memories still fresh of brutal sectarian warfare between al-Sadr's Shia militiamen and Sunni extremists. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's standing has been hurt by a series of bombings in Baghdad that exposed the inadequacies of Iraq's security forces.