#1
thanks CNN Nic Robertson! Taliban Nic...is that a good nickname? If they're winning, why are they hiding? CNN is on the other side. At least their broadcasts aren't widely watched. Heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2009 20:31 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan President Obama is pouring more than 20,000 new troops into Afghanistan this year for a fighting season that the United States military has called a make-or-break test of the allied campaign in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban have worked on both sides of the border.
But if Taliban strategists have their way, those forces will face a stiff challenge, not least because of one distinct Taliban advantage: the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan barely exists for the Taliban, who are counting on the fact that American forces cannot reach them in their sanctuaries in Pakistan.
One Pakistani logistics tactician for the Taliban, a 28-year-old from the countrys tribal areas, in interviews with The New York Times, described a Taliban strategy that relied on free movement over the border and in and around Pakistan, ready recruitment of Pakistani men and sustained cooperation of sympathetic Afghan villagers.
His account provided a keyhole view of the opponent the Americans and their NATO allies are up against, as well as the workings and ambitions of the Taliban as they prepared to meet the influx of American troops.
It also illustrated how the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella group of many brands of jihadist fighters backed by Al Qaeda, are spearheading wars on both sides of the border in what for them is a seamless conflict.
The tactician wears a thick but carefully shaped black beard and a well-trimmed shock of black hair, a look cultivated to allow him to move easily all over Pakistan. He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by his fellow Taliban members.
But on an array of issues, discussed over six months of interviews with The Times, he showed himself to be knowledgeable of Taliban activities, and the information he provided matched up consistently with that of other sources.
He was well informed and unconcerned, he said of the plans of the head of the United States Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus, to replicate in Afghanistan some of the techniques he had used in Iraq to stop the Sunni tribes from fighting the Americans.
I know of the Petraeus experiment there, he said. But we know our Afghans. They will take the money from Petraeus, but they will not be on his side. There are so many people working with the Afghans and the Americans who are on their payroll, but they inform us, sell us weapons.
He acknowledged that the Americans would have far superior forces and power this year, but was confident that the Taliban could turn this advantage on its head. The Americans cannot take control of the villages, he said. In order to expel us they will have to resort to aerial bombing, and then they will have more civilian casualties.
The one thing that impressed him were the missile strikes by drones virtually the only American military presence felt inside Pakistan. The drones are very effective, he said, acknowledging that they had thinned the top leadership of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the area. He said 29 of his friends had been killed in the strikes.
The drone attacks simply prompted Taliban fighters to spend more time in Afghanistan, or to move deeper into Pakistan, straddling both theaters of a widening conflict. The recruits were prepared to fight where they were needed, in either country, he said.
In the fighting now under way in Buner and Dir Districts, in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban are taking on the Pakistani Army in a battle that is the most obvious front of a long-haul strategy to destabilize and take over a nuclear-armed Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban are directly singling out the United States and NATO forces by sending guerrillas to assist their Afghan Taliban allies in ousting the foreigners from Afghanistan.
While to the Taliban those conflicts are one fluid and sprawling war, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan has long presented a firm barrier for the United States.
Although Pakistan is an official ally of the United States, the Pakistanis will not allow American troops to cross the border from Afghanistan. They will also not allow the troops to be present as a fighting force alongside the Pakistani military in the tribal areas that Al Qaeda and the Taliban use as a base.
The United States has helped Pakistan and Afghanistan recently open a series of joint posts to share intelligence and improve border monitoring. But those efforts are slight when compared with the demands of a 1,600-mile frontier of unforgiving terrain.
Despite years of demands by American and NATO commanders for Pakistan to control Taliban infiltration, the Taliban tactician said getting his fighters over the border was not a problem. The Pakistani paramilitary soldiers from the Frontier Corps who guard the border were too busy looking after their own survival, he said.
He has already begun moving 80 Taliban fighters in four groups stealthily into Afghanistan in the past month to meet the new American forces, he said.
The tactician says he embeds his men in what he described as friendly Afghan villages, where they will spend the next four to six months with the residents, who provide the weapons and succor for the missions against American and NATO soldiers.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Somalia accuses neighboring Eritrea of fueling the country's already unbridled violence by arming the Somali fighters despite an international arms embargo.
On Monday, Somalia's Security Minister, Omar Hashi Aden said two arms-laden aircraft had successively touched down in the southern region of Lower Shabelle having departed from Eritrea.
Eritrea used to house the leadership of the Somali opposition faction, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) while the group and its fighters, Al-Shabaab were in intense confrontation with the former transitional authorities.
However, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was succeeded by a Unity Government headed by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and the UIC promised cooperation with the new administration.
Eritrea's Information Minister, Ali Abdu, for his part refuted the claims saying he would not comment on the matter as his country did not recognize the incumbent Somali administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lock up Christian Priests, Smuggle arms, and mass troops at the Aetheopian borders, and the world is looking at American Idom.
#2
#1: Lock up Christian Priests, Smuggle arms, and mass troops at the Aetheopian borders, and the world is looking at American IdomIdiot. Posted by: newc|
Fixed that typo for ya, newc.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/05/2009 15:28 Comments ||
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Gulf Arab countries should help Pakistan and Yemen bolster security in the face of rising militant violence that could spread their way, the European Union's anti-terrorism chief said on Monday.
Gulf authorities should also tighten control on possible transfers of funds to militant groups through Pakistani and Yemeni expatriates living in the oil-exporting region, Gilles de Kerchove said.
"It's a question of knowing if we can together work with Gulf countries to try and avoiding Pakistan and Yemen becoming what we commonly call 'failed states' and gradually safe havens for Al Qaeda organisations," he said on the sidelines of a conference on terror financing.
Yemen is battling a new wave of Al Qaeda attacks over the past year as well as secessionist sentiment in the south which led to clashes this week that provoked a rare call by the United States for the parties to act to keep Yemen united.
Sanaa also faces a Zaydi Shia rebellion in the north and rebellious tribes who reject central authority, forming fertile ground for militant groups to operate.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has said it fears instability in Yemen could allow it to become a launching pad for a revival of a 2003-2006 campaign by Al Qaeda to topple the US-allied ruling Al Saud family.
De Kerchove said Gulf countries needed to 'do more' to combat money laundering that could benefit militants.
As of June 2007, travellers to and from Saudi Arabia are required to declare cash amounts, transferable monetary instruments or precious metals exceeding $16,000.
Control: He said Saudi Arabia should tighten control along its long and porous border with Yemen, as well as offer Pakistan financial support to train its police force in counter-insurgency methods.
"Much of the anti-terrorism campaign has been led by the Pakistani army, an army that has not been adequately trained to deal with an insurgency," he said. "In Yemen, there is a huge amount of work to be done (and) a weakening state apparatus."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Gulf Arabs must help?
What an interesting concept..
Have they run it by a study group that includes Gulf Arabs?
[Bangla Daily Star] An official move to reinvestigate the deadly attack on an Udichi programme in Jessore is yet to be made, although detained militant linchpin Mufti Abdul Hannan admitted Harkatul Jihad al Islami's (Huji) involvement in it.
Officials in Criminal Investigation Department (CID) say they have written to the law ministry a couple of days ago seeking steps to obtain a court order for fresh investigation.
Ten people were killed and over 100 injured in that grisly attack on March 6, 1999.
"We're already unofficially carrying out investigation into the mayhem and waiting for the court permission," says a top CID official asking not to be identified.
CID ASP in Jessore Abdul Quyyum Sikder told The Daily Star yesterday they have started collecting witnesses' accounts and already shown Hannan arrested in the case.
The CID sources add they need court permission for fresh investigation as the Jessore Special Court acquitted all the accused in the two cases on June 28, 2006.
Huji operations commander Mufti Hannan in his confessional statement also revealed he and 14 Huji men were involved in plotting and executing the Udichi blasts.
On March 7, 1999, the then sub-inspector Abdul Aziz filed two cases -- one under Section 302 of Bangladesh Penal Code for murder and another under the Explosive Substances Act -- with Jessore Kotwali Police Station without naming anyone.
After investigation, the then ASP of Jessore CID Dulal Uddin Akand pressed charges on December 14, 1999 against 24 people including BNP leader and former minister Tariqul Islam.
Tariqul was exempted from the charges by the Supreme Court on August 12, 2003 after hearing of his leave-to-appeal petition, while the rest 23 were acquitted in the verdict by the Jessore court.
The judge while delivering the verdict made his observation that stern action must be taken against the investigation officer for submitting a motivated and weak charge sheet devoid of evidence required for punishment of the accused.
Jessore District Udichi General Secretary Shaheeduzzaman said CID has already talked to them as part of their fresh initiative to reinvestigate the case.
Asked to comment about acquittal of all accused, he said, "We want detection and punishment of those who were really involved."
HANNAN'S STATEMENT ON UDICHI BLAST
The Huji leader said they chalked out the plan for the attack at their Mohammadpur office in 1999.
Among others, Abdur Rouf (Madaripur), Hafez Jahangir Badar (Dohar), Yahia (Sylhet), Abu Bakar (Sylhet), and Maolana Sabbir (Bogra) were present at the meeting.
The meeting decided to stop the "naked musical performances" of Udichi even if it were to take a huge effort and conveyed the decision to the organisation's Amir Mufti Shafiqur Rahman.
They said they had learned from the media that Udichi was going to arrange about a month-long programme in Jessore.
Informed of the decision at Mugda office, Shafiqur directed Maolana Abu Bakar, Abu Musa and Sabbir to visit the area and report to him.
After the team returned from the field inspection, he assigned Sabbir and Musa to make some bombs and use those at the venue of Udichi programme.
Following a call from Rouf, Hannan went to Jessore on March 5 and stayed at Khurshidia Madrasa. Later, Musa along with Rouf and Sabbir went there and informed Hannan that the bombs were kept at madrasa teacher Samsul Haq's house.
For planting the bombs, they brought Abdullah, aged about 17, from Chittagong and Waliur, 20, from Jessore. The two did their parts on orders of Rouf.
The bombs went off between 12:30pm and 1:00pm, killing 10 people and injuring over 100.
Hannan said he returned to Magura after handing the bombs over to Rouf, Waliur and Abdullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has expanded its nuclear task force to deal with North Korea's warning that it will conduct a second nuclear test, a foreign ministry official said Monday. The ministry added non-governmental psychiatrists nuclear experts and government officials to the ad hoc unit launched in April last year so as to strengthen its technical analysis, the ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
The expanded task force, led by Seoul's deputy chief envoy to nuclear disarmament talks, Hwang Joon-kook, includes officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, national defense and unification, the National Intelligence Service and the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae as well as think tank experts and scholars, the official said.
"The new task force will deal with all technological issues concerning North Korea's nuclear program," the official said. "In particular, its mission includes sharing information about North Korea's move toward reprocessing (spent fuel rods) and a nuclear test, analyzing their technological significance and establishing countermeasures," the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday accused the United Nations of being unfair to countries not aligned with the United States, citing its condemnation of Pyongyang's April 5 rocket launch as evidence.
Pyongyang withdrew from six-nation nuclear disarmament talks in protest of the U.N. Security Council's rebuke of the launch. The North also said it would conduct a second nuclear test and has begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, a process which extracts plutonium used to make nuclear bombs. North Korea tested unsuccessfully its first nuclear device in 2006.
The Norks no doubt figure that their latest temper tantrum will provoke new concessions from the West. They're likely to be right.
The Security Council "continues to adopt unjust documents under U.S. instigation," and its April 13 presidential statement condemning the North Korean launch is "obvious evidence" of its unfairness, the Rodong Sinmun, a major newspaper published by the Workers' Party, said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
The Security Council's sanctions committee froze foreign assets of three firms in North Korea suspected of financing the country's nuclear and missile activities.
And froze the cognac supply ...
The paper noted the Security Council has never taken issue with a satellite launch and blasted its punishment of North Korea's as an "unfair, extreme application of double standards and an act of despotism."
They're going to keep pretending that they launched a satellite.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea blasted U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday as no different from his predecessor in trying to "stifle" countries that are uncooperative with the U.S., referring to Washington's move to punish Pyongyang's rocket launch. The Obama administration with its allies led the U.N. Security Council's efforts to adopt a presidential statement condemning the April 5 launch and tighten sanctions against the North.
"With nothing can the U.S. justify such illegal provocation as forcing the UNSC to table the issue of the DPRK's (North Korea) launch of a satellite for peaceful purposes and issue 'a presidential statement,'" the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in an interview with the Korean Central News Agency.
"All the facts go to clearly prove that although the present U.S. administration plays tricks, talking about 'change' and 'multilateral cooperation diplomacy' it is nothing different from the preceding administration which frantically worked to stifle by force other countries which incurred its displeasure," the unidentified spokesman said.
The spokesman also said the reality of international relations forces North Korea to bolster its nuclear power in self-defense. "The DPRK is firmly convinced that it was entirely just when it opted for bolstering the nuclear deterrent to protect the sovereignty and the right to existence of the country and the nation," he said.
Pyongyang has refrained from name-calling and smearing Obama, a common recurrence during the preceding George W. Bush government, amid speculation that it wants to mend ties with Washington after eight years of largely frayed relations. Obama has yet to begin bilateral talks with Pyongyang, as his policy agenda is crowded by other foreign and economic issues.
The North's spokesman renewed the country's claim that the country successfully launched a satellite. The Kwangmyongsong-2 is "regularly going round the earth," he said, citing ungrounded confirmation by U.S. scientific and military institutes. "It is only the U.S. administration and unsavory forces subservient to it that insist the DPRK's satellite launch was a ballistic missile launch," he said.
Pyongyang said it will conduct a second nuclear test and inter-continental ballistic missile tests unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes for punishing its launch.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Poor babies, mabey they need to do some more soul searching because they dont seem to have realized that they (North Koreans) are just barely one up on the primitive scale from hyenas
In 1990 Robyn Hutchinson took her five children to Peshawar in Pakistan to join the global Islamic Jihad. Now known as Rabiah she went on to become a trusted insider of the Al Qaeda leadership. She married a leading al Qaeda strategist and was also handpicked by Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman Al Zawahiri to set up a new women's hospital in Kandahar. The linked site contains an interview with Sally Neighbour, an Australian journalist and author of The Mother of Mohammed: An Australian Woman's Extraordinary Jouney into Jihad
[Geo News] The former Ameer Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said the innocent people are being killed amid army operation in Swat and termed military operations as a bid to bag US dollars. Talking to media during a gathering here, Qazi said that Sufi Muhammad, the chief of Tehreek-e-Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) is not against me but the government and media are trying to raise conflicts between us. Â"The innocent people are being targeted in Swat operation while the government has launched military operation in Swat for sake of US dollarsÂ", Qazi said adding, Â"US can never see peace flourishing in PakistanÂ". The people are unsecured here due to fragile law and order situation in Pakistan, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Senators John F. Kerry and Richard Lugar introduced legislation today to put into effect key elements of President ObamaŽŽs new strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bill would triple US aid to PakistanŽŽs government to $1.5 billion a year -- and decouple it from military aid, which would be determined each year based on cooperation with the United States on fighting Al Qadea and the Taliban. The legislation would also require the president to submit a detailed strategy for assistance to Pakistan. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Lugar, a senior Republican on the panel, say that there needs to be an overhaul of the US-Pakistan relationship. ŽŽThe status quo is not working: the United States believes it is paying too much and getting too littleÂ--and most Pakistanis believe exactly the opposite,ŽŽ they said in a summary of the bill. ŽŽThe Kerry-Lugar approach towards Pakistan emphasizes a long-term relationship built on mutual trust and cooperation: only then will the people of Pakistan see the United States as an ally with shared interests and goals, such as defeating militant extremists that threaten the national security of both countries.ŽŽ
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
NO.
First, Kerry & Lugar are a pair of first-class doofuses and shouldn't be allowed to sit in a kindergarten class, much less the US Senate. Secondly, aid money is money to the Taliban. That is now totally evident to anyone with an IQ above the freezing point of water. Thirdly, Pakistan is heading for the slaughterhouse faster than a stampeeded longhorn, and will collapse into tribal chaos (with a thin veneer of taliban and A-Q on top) within the next three to five years. Every dime we send to Pakistan is wasted. Both "foreign aid" and "military aid" needs to be cut off, permanently.
The only thing Pakistan is good for is as a testing ground for new munitions.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/05/2009 15:47 Comments ||
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#2
A good rule of thumb is, if Kerry's for it, anyone with an ounce of sense will be against it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/05/2009 19:01 Comments ||
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Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned the Taliban of stern action if they do not lay down weapons, a private TV channel reported on Monday. In an interview with the channel, the minister said no one should doubt Pakistan's efforts in the war on terror as the country and its economy had suffered losses in the war. He urged the US government to stop conducting drone attacks on Pakistani soil as they were worsening the situation in the NWFP. Malik said 'the do more' demand had always been made of Pakistan but its problems had never been addressed. He said the NWFP government had announced the setting up of Darul Qaza in line with the wishes of the people of Malakand. He told the channel that Afghanistan's soil had been used against Pakistan, adding that the Kalashinikov culture came in Pakistan after the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Malik said the recent statements issued by the US leadership had no importance, and appealed to the international community to play their due role in stopping the flow of weapons to the Taliban, Online reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He urged the US government to stop conducting drone attacks
But from another article on this page: Pakistani logistics tactician for the Taliban, a 28-year-old from the countrys tribal areas, in interviews with The New York Times (said) the one thing that impressed him were the missile strikes by drones ... acknowledging that they had thinned the top leadership of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the area. He said 29 of his friends had been killed in the strikes.
So whose side is he on, anyway?
Nepal's first Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, resigned today, less than nine months after coming to power at the head of a multi-party coalition, when the country's president blocked his controversial move to sack the army chief, describing it as "unconstitutional and illegal".
Dahal's position had also become untenable after two key alliance partners deserted the government, reducing the ruling coalition led by the Communist party of Nepal-Maoist to a minority in the constituent assembly.
They'll get theirs ...
After Dahal triggered a political crisis by asking the army chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, to step down on Sunday, accusing him of disobeying instructions not to hire new recruits and refusing to accept the supremacy of the civilian government, President Ram Baran Yadav sent a letter to army headquarters late at night, directing the general not to quit.
Nepal's new constitution is still being finalised following last year's abolition of the monarchy, so Dahal insisted in a television address announcing his resignation that "the interim constitution does not give any right to the president to act as a parallel power".
But he was stepping down, the Maoist leader said, "for the protection of democracy and peace".
And who would know more about democracy and peace than a Maoist?
Although the Maoists organised angry protests in Kathmandu and threatened to "continue the struggle" until both the president and the army chief were removed, there was a feeling in the capital that the political crisis was unlikely to degenerate into bloodshed.
"We've pulled back from the brink," a political analyst, Kanak Mani Dixit, said. "The credit must go to Dahal. He surprised many by announcing his resignation. He has decided to take the parliamentary high road. We can look forward now to the revival of the peace process."
Until the Maoists pick up their weapons ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Calling the Pakistani government and army "enemies of Muslims", the Swat Taliban vowed on Monday to march forward till death. "Either we'll be martyred or we'll march forward," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Reuters by telephone. He said elements in the military and the government were trying to sabotage the peace process to please the United States. "This is not our army, this is not our government," he said. They're worse enemies of Muslims than the Americans. They're US stooges." "We will give a fitting reply to security forces if Sufi Muhammad decides to revoke the deal with the government," he said while talking to AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
just wish the pakis had the stones too give them what they wish for
President Asif Ali Zardari left on Monday for the US for his first ever meeting with US President Barack Obama on bilateral matters and other issues common to the two countries.
The president, who flew by a commercial flight, was seen off at Heathrow Airport by Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan and other senior officials. Federal Interior Minister Senator Rehman Malik also accompanied the president.
President Zardari had earlier arrived in the British capital on Saturday evening at the conclusion of his three-day visit to Libya.
On Sunday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Altaf Hussein met the president.
Also on Monday, ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha and chief of military operations Maj Gen Javid Iqbal left for Washington to attend the US-backed trilateral security talks, a private TV channel reported.
According to the channel, the trilateral talks on the regional security would begin on Wednesday. President Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai would also be in Washington to take part in the meeting.
Military sources said Pakistan would raise the issue of drone attacks with the US administration and would press Washington to halt them. Pakistan has long been protesting that the drone attacks are proving counter productive and damaging the military's efforts to fight the war against terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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The NWFP government will not tolerate any violation of the Swat peace agreement any longer, provincial Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said on Monday. Except for occupying Mingora, of course...
Talking to reporters after a seminar, the top NWFP government spokesman said his government had demonstrated full sincerity in the promulgation of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation and had announced the establishment of Darul Qaza to fulfil the demands of Sufi Muhammad and the Taliban for peace in Malakand. But he warned of stern action and "the use of the second option" against anyone who would challenge the writ of the state. "What's the 'second option'?"
"Second verse, same as the first!"
The minister asked the Taliban to lay down weapons and support the government in its peace initiatives, and told them the government would not tolerate any violation of the agreement in future after the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl.
Meanwhile, NWFP Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah has said that Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Sufi Muhammad is not authorised to appoint qazis in Malakand division. "Only the provincial government can appoint qazis in Malakand division, not Sufi Muhammad," he told reporters on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
IF? WTF?
sorry for caps but I begin to see where Joe is coming from.
In a bid to influence Sikh voters of the Indian Punjab, which goes to polls on May 7 and 13, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday asked the Taliban-harassed Sikhs in Pakistan to migrate to India. I have no idea why anyone who's not an appropriately flavored Muslim with a turban and an automatic weapon still remains in Pakistain. I'm with Ralph Peters: It's a total loss with no insurance.
A statement issued by the BJP said, "The BJP fully assures that the Sikhs who migrate to India will be provided full assistance by the National Democratic Alliance government for their rehabilitation and resettlement."
Strongly condemning the imposition of jizia -- a tax levied on non-Muslims living under Islamic law -- on the Sikhs, the BJP called upon the Pakistan government to provide protection and compensation for the Taliban's acts, including the property seized by them. But they won't. They let it happen in the first place, so you know they won't. Even if they go through the motions, the pols will skim most of the funds -- with the top ten percent going to Mr. President.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the worlds busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.
This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line.
This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects Chinas supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West.
Even India, Sri Lankas long-time ally and the traditionally dominant power in South Asia, has found itself sidelined in the past two years to its obvious irritation. China is fishing in troubled waters, Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indias Home Minister, warned last week.
The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a string of pearls strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma.
Chinas aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost $1 billion last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain just £1.25 million.
#2
great, thats the last thing they need, Nepal has already "fallen" to the Chi Comm's with their "so-called" Maoist's, Now Sri Lanka ! India needs to wake up as they are being surrounded, time to get up off the "chosen" Brahmin ass of yours and take charge
#3
So that's why the Tigers have taken such a beating lately. The government made a deal with the devil. What do you bet the Sri Lankan government asked our government for help before the Chicoms stepped in to fill the void? And while our government loses a strategic square on the global chessboard, John Frickin' Kerry and Senator Sugar and getting ready to squander more billions on those two-faced Pak bastards. They just don't get it, do they?
#4
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC TAIWAN AND CHINA ASSOCIATION GROUP CLAIMS JAPANESE COAST GUARD PRESENCE IN DISPUTED DAOYU ISLANDS HAD INCREASED TO APPROXI 80 VESSELS. ASSOCIATION PLANS TO CHARTER A FISHING BOAT TO PROCLAIM PAN-CHIN SOVEREIGNTY [indisputable/non-negotiable] OVER THE DAOYUS.
Also from WMF > AS THE BRITISH DID IN THE LATE 1980's WITH THE FALKLANDS AGZ ARGENTINA, CHINA CAN SEND ELITE SPECIAL FORCES UNITS TO THE DAOYUS AND OTHER DISPUTED ISLANDS TO PROTECT CHIN'S SOVEREIGNTY CLAIMS. CHINA FOR NOW SHOULD SUPPORT A DIPLOMATIC RESOLUTION AGZ CLAIMS BY OTHER NATIONS [Japan], AND ONLY NEEDS A SOLID MINOR FOOTHOLD IN THE ISLANDS, CHIN DOES NOT NEED TO SEND LARGE MIL/COMBAT FORCES TO DISPUTED ISLANDS JUST YET.
* SAME > CHINA MUST INTENSIFY ITS MILITARY-CENTRIC CONSTRUCTION IN ITS WESTERN REGIONS TO HELP DEFEND PAKISTAN AGZ ISLAMIST THREAT [ + TIBET agz INDIA]. IOW, catch the Militants includ Uighurs in-between the PK Army inside PK, + the PLA in West China.
#6
John Frickin' Kerry and Senator Sugar and getting ready to squander more billions on those two-faced Pak bastards. They just don't get it, do they?
Oh they get it alright, they profit somehow or it won't happen, the fact that we havent yet figured their angle, is what they're counting on.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/05/2009 21:27 Comments ||
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#7
See also PAKISTANI DEFENSE FORUMS > SETHUSAMUDRAN: A STRATEGIC ASSET. India desires Naval, Trade passage in GULF/STRAIT OF MANNIR bwtn INDIAN STATE OF TAMIL NADU + SRI LANKA, instead of ships having to traverse the long way around SLanka. PROJECT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR INDIA IN ORDER TO OFFSET CHINA'S SPREADING MILPOLECON INFLUENCE IN INDIAN OCEAN.
Also on PDF > THE WORLD'S NEW/NEWEST SUPERPOWER [China] + US TO PRESSURE PAKISTAN TO SHIFT TROOPS TO WESTERN BORDERS AND MAKE MASSIVE CONCESSIONS TO INDIA [overland trade route bwtn INDIA-AFGHANISTAN thru PAKLAND].
* OTOH RB today > PAKI wants INDIA to make the first troops move before it does.
#8
* PDF POSTER > on improv relations bwtn TAIWAN-CHINA > reminds that TAIWAN's KMT PARTY historically or originally claimed [curr unenforceable]sovereignty = sovereign domain over AP OR ZANGAN [India LOC], PARTS OF BURMA[Myanmar], the WHOLE OF MONGOLIA, PARTS OF RUSS/SOVIET FAR EAST, DAOYU ISLANDS [Japan's SENKAKUS Isles] + OTHER DISPUTED ISLANDS, + ANY AND ALL OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF THE CCCC = now CPC [mainland Communist China].
* WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC JAPAN: THE POST-WW2 FINAL STATUS OF TAIWAN REMAINS UNRESOLVED BWTN MAINLAND CHINA, JAPAN, AND THE USA. IN 1945 DEFEATED JAPAN SURRENDERED TAIWAN TO THE USA, NOT TO CHIANG KAI-SHEK. INDEPENDENT TAIWAN MAY BE THE ONLY LASTING/WORKABLE SOLUTION FOR ALL NATIONS AND THE TAIWANESE PEOPLE.
Israeli plans to withdraw troops from part of a divided village on the Lebanese border are a ploy to divert attention from spy networks uncovered in Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Monday. "This shrewd propaganda by the Israeli press reflects Israeli anger and embarrassment in the face of several Israeli spy networks uncovered by Lebanese security throughout Lebanon," Siniora said in a statement.
His comments followed reports in the Israeli press that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to announce this week that Israel wants to withdraw its troops from the northern part of the divided border village of Ghajar. Israel's Security Cabinet is expected to discuss the issue on Wednesday.
Following the end of Israel's war on Hezbollah in Lebanon in August 2006, Israel has kept a military presence in the northern part of the village and has built a security fence to prevent Shi'ite guerrillas from entering.
After the war, Israel said it would keep its troops in northern Ghajar until security arrangements were agreed with UN and Lebanese forces, but such accords have not yet been struck.
The village, at the foot of Mount Hermon straddling the Lebanese-Syrian border, is perched on a cliff overlooking the precious Wazzani spring, which has been a source of continuous disputes between Israel and Lebanon.
Siniora said Israeli media reports that the withdrawal was a bid to boost his own government ahead of the June legislative elections were but a ploy to divide the Lebanese.
"No one will be fooled by these claims," he said, adding that since the 2006 war Lebanon has been demanding that Israel withdraw from Ghajar unconditionally in line with UN Resolution 1701.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2009 00:00 ||
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"A to da Qizzy iz in da house . . ."
The latest video from Somalia's al Qaeda-backed Al-Shabaab wing is as slickly produced as a reality TV show but with a startling message -- complete with a hip-hop jihad vibe.
Experts think Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, dubbed "The American" by al Qaeda, speaks in the Somali video. "Mortar by mortar, shell by shell, only going to stop when I send them to hell," the unidentified voice raps on the video, which runs at least 18 minutes.
The video also shows a man reported to be Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, dubbed "The American" by al Qaeda. He apparently is now in Somalia training and counseling Somalis from North America and Europe. He speaks in American English. "Away from your family, away from our friends, away from ice, candy bars, all those things is because we're waiting to meet the enemy," says the man believed to be al-Amriki.
Intelligence experts say the video was probably made in recent weeks and comes on the heels of an audio message in March purportedly from Osama bin Laden. In that recording, the al Qaeda leader calls on his "Muslim brothers in Mujahid Somalia" to overthrow President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed for cooperating with the West.
"We're seeing perhaps their most sophisticated attempt so far to really reach an audience of potential recruits in America, and that's one of the things that made that video very significant," said Ben Venzke of the IntelCenter, a Washington-based research group that tracks al Qaeda's development and messages. "They're casting it in a way that's going to speak to the youth of today," Venzke said. "Most of the time, what we're seeing in their videos directly parallels what the groups are doing operationally, what they are targeting, where they're recruiting."
Sheik Ahmed Matan knows that firsthand. A respected member of Britain's Somali community, Matan said he knows of hundreds of young Somali men who have returned to Somalia for terrorist training. "A lot of young people from here, from America, from Canada, from everywhere from Europe -- they went there," he said.
He added that these men are capable of being sent back home to conduct terrorist operations, even suicide bombings. "It can be, they can train anytime and send them here, anytime," Matan said.
Matan said he often challenges "recruiters" at mosques and elsewhere in Britain, demanding that they stop brainwashing younger Somalis about Islam. He said the government should play a greater role in monitoring what is said and done at these mosques -- but, he concedes, doing so has proved highly controversial in Britain and throughout Europe.
There is some evidence that al Qaeda is successfully preying on some of those with Western backgrounds. One of them was a business student from London who suddenly left for Somalia. He surfaced about 18 months ago on a martyrdom video, just before blowing himself up in southern Somalia, killing at least 20 people, officials say.
U.S. Defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said months ago that one of their worst nightmares would be al Qaeda operating freely in Somalia. Now that nightmare continues, with Somalis in North America and Europe admitting that al Qaeda's reach is spreading.
Venzke said Al-Shabaab has put out more videos than ever before in the past year. "If that's what they're doing publicly, we can only assume how their operations have developed," he said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan President Obama is pouring more than 20,000 new troops into Afghanistan this year for a fighting season that the United States military has called a make-or-break test of the allied campaign in Afghanistan.
SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday accused the United Nations of being unfair to countries not aligned with the United States, citing its condemnation of Pyongyang's April 5 rocket launch as evidence.
[Geo News] Senators John F. Kerry and Richard Lugar introduced legislation today to put into effect key elements of President ObamaŽŽs new strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bill would triple US aid to PakistanŽŽs government to $1.5 billion a year -- and decouple it from military aid, which would be determined each year based on cooperation with the United States on fighting Al Qadea and the Taliban. The legislation would also require the president to submit a detailed strategy for assistance to Pakistan. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Lugar, a senior Republican on the panel, say that there needs to be an overhaul of the US-Pakistan relationship. ŽŽThe status quo is not working: the United States believes it is paying too much and getting too littleÂ--and most Pakistanis believe exactly the opposite,ŽŽ they said in a summary of the bill. ŽŽThe Kerry-Lugar approach towards Pakistan emphasizes a long-term relationship built on mutual trust and cooperation: only then will the people of Pakistan see the United States as an ally with shared interests and goals, such as defeating militant extremists that threaten the national security of both countries.ŽŽ
Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned the Taliban of stern action if they do not lay down weapons, a private TV channel reported on Monday. In an interview with the channel, the minister said no one should doubt Pakistan's efforts in the war on terror as the country and its economy had suffered losses in the war. He urged the US government to stop conducting drone attacks on Pakistani soil as they were worsening the situation in the NWFP. Malik said 'the do more' demand had always been made of Pakistan but its problems had never been addressed. He said the NWFP government had announced the setting up of Darul Qaza in line with the wishes of the people of Malakand. He told the channel that Afghanistan's soil had been used against Pakistan, adding that the Kalashinikov culture came in Pakistan after the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Malik said the recent statements issued by the US leadership had no importance, and appealed to the international community to play their due role in stopping the flow of weapons to the Taliban, Online reported.
President Asif Ali Zardari left on Monday for the US for his first ever meeting with US President Barack Obama on bilateral matters and other issues common to the two countries. 
Israeli plans to withdraw troops from part of a divided village on the Lebanese border are a ploy to divert attention from spy networks uncovered in Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Monday. "This shrewd propaganda by the Israeli press reflects Israeli anger and embarrassment in the face of several Israeli spy networks uncovered by Lebanese security throughout Lebanon," Siniora said in a statement.
