Local Turf-Sharing Accord With the Taliban Raises Alarm in Afghanistan --- KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan Army commander stationed in the deadliest corner of Helmand Province brokered a cease-fire and turf-sharing deal with local Taliban insurgents there, according to government and police officials, in an example of the sort of ground-level bargaining that some see as increasingly likely once international troops withdraw next year. -- Details of the accord, which took place in the district of Sangin, remain murky. But the issue was fraught enough that the army scrambled to send a delegation there to investigate on Tuesday, officials said. And local residents say that commanders were promising that the deal would halt immediately and never happen again. - More, nytimes, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/world/asia/a-local-peace-accord-afghanistan.html?ref=world