President Obama knows that the Afghan war is going badly, but he insists that the specter of an al-Qaeda comeback makes Afghanistan a "war of necessity." So he has ordered some 30,000 new troops to the front, hoping to hold the line enough that Afghan forces can be built up to eventually take over the mission from the U.S. It may sound like a limited goal, after the sweeping visions of democracy promised during the Bush years. But even that relatively modest strategy is based on some very questionable assumptions.
Here are five of them:
The Al-Qaeda Threat Requires a Ground War
Obama made the threat of al-Qaeda's returning on the back of a Taliban victory the primary rationale for escalating the war in Afghanistan. But as many have pointed out, al-Qaeda doesn't need sanctuaries in order to plot terrorist attacks, and its leadership core is based in the neighboring tribal areas of Pakistan — which means that 100,000 U.S. troops are now being committed to a mission whose goal is to prevent a few hundred men from re-establishing a base of operations.
And then there's the problem that having masses of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, for whatever reason, inevitably creates a nationalist backlash that fuels the insurgency — a problem that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had noted early in the debate. The fact that the Taliban is now effectively in control of as much as half of the country eight years after being routed by the U.S.-led invasion is a sign that the local population is at least more tolerant of an insurgency against foreign forces. Expanding the ground war may not solve this problem. As University of Michigan historian Juan Cole wrote last week, "The U.S. counter-insurgency plan assumes that Pashtun villagers dislike and fear the Taliban, and just need to be protected from them so as to stop the politics of intimidation. But what if the villagers are cousins of the Taliban and would rather support their clansmen than white Christian foreigners?"
Afghan Security Forces Can Be Trained to Take Over the Mission
The centerpiece of Obama's exit strategy is the training of Afghan security forces to take responsibility for fighting the Taliban, just as Iraqi forces have taken charge of security in Iraq. But Afghanistan is nothing like Iraq, and training may not be the decisive issue: although the U.S. has officially trained 94,000 Afghan soldiers, there's no sign of an effective Afghan security force capable of fighting the Taliban. Desertion rates are high — 1 in 4 soldiers trained last year, by some accounts. So are rates of drug addiction. Most important, the most effective elements of the military are dominated by ethnic Tajiks, which does little to help win support of the Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group and the one among which the insurgency is based. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan had no powerful army or strong state before the U.S. went in — nor does it have the oil wealth that allows Iraq to pay for its own armed forces. There's also the question of whether they'll be willing to fight the Taliban on behalf of a foreign-backed government.
President Karzai Can Be an Effective Partner
Aside from the serious allegations of ballot fraud in the recent vote, the bigger legitimacy problem in Hamid Karzai's re-election was that only 1 in 4 registered voters actually turned out on election day. In the absence of any credible alternative, Washington will use Karzai's dependence on the West for funding and security to pressure him to deliver the sort of governance that can win popular support. But Karzai's government is widely seen as corrupt, ineffective and a tool in the hands of a foreign invader, and Afghans are mostly gloomy about the prospects for reforming it. While Karzai could be forced to respond to some egregious cases of corruption, his instinct will be to continue to use the power of patronage to broker local support. Corruption and nepotism may be just as much as a symptom of the weakness of the central government as its cause. Even in the times of greatest stability, Afghanistan has been governed from the center via a loose consensus among powerful regional and ethnic leaderships. Karzai might, in fact, have been governing the way a leader without a major national political base of his own deems it necessary to survive in a post-U.S. Afghanistan. And putting his government under stronger Western tutelage risks further undermining his legitimacy in the eyes of many of his own people.
Signaling a U.S. Departure Date Creates Leverage
Some critics suggest that by announcing July 2011 as the target date to begin a troop drawdown, President Obama has encouraged the Taliban to simply wait out the Americans. Supporters counter that by declaring that the U.S. commitment is finite, the President is forcing Karzai and the Pakistanis to take more responsibility for fighting the Taliban. That debate may be missing the point: everyone in the region is already acting on the assumption that the U.S. presence is temporary, knowing that America can't sustain a permanent occupation. One reason Karzai has made common cause with some notorious thugs is that he feels the need to have some muscle behind him when the U.S. goes. The Pakistanis, for their part, want to ensure that the U.S. leaves on the basis of a deal with the Taliban that replaces the present government, which is too close to India for Islamabad's comfort. And the Taliban — like any indigenous insurgency confronting a foreign military — knows that time is on its side.
Pakistan Shares the U.S.'s Goals
The Obama Administration has stressed that its Afghan plan can't work unless Pakistan shuts down Taliban safe havens on its side of the border. But Pakistan has declined to do so, because its key decision makers — the military leadership — don't share the U.S. view of the conflict in Afghanistan. Months of cajoling and exhortation by U.S. officials have failed to shake the Pakistani view that the country's prime security challenge is its lifelong conflict with India rather than the threat of Taliban extremism, and the Pakistani military sees the Karzai government as being under Indian sway. As a result, Pakistan's large-scale military offensives against the Taliban have been confined to those who challenge the authority of the Pakistani state; those who use Pakistan as a base from which to launch attacks in Afghanistan have been largely unmolested.
While U.S. officials decry the distinction between the Afghan and Pakistani Talibans, Pakistan's generals believe that their domestic Taliban insurgency will stop only once the Americans have left Afghanistan. But they want the U.S. to leave in an orderly fashion, on the basis of a political settlement: a deal negotiated with the Taliban that sees the Karzai government replaced or remade in a new arrangement that gives Pakistan-aligned Pashtuns far greater power.
#3
1. B.S., it absolutely does.
2. Racist.
3. Doesn't matter, we can replace him at any time.
4. It absolutely does!
5. Got one out of five right! Yay Time!
#4
Parabellum:
1) AQ probably does require a ground war, but as stated, not (just) in A'stan.
2) Afghans might possibly, eventually be able to take over the mission, but nothing shown in their history to-date gives me confidence.
3) Karzai - probably the best we can do, which again gives no confidence (were Ky, etc. any improvement over Diem?)
4) Defined departure date creates leverage - for the other side.
5) Pakistan clearly does not share US goals.
So, all five assumptions are indeed flawed.
#5
I didn't get very far in this opinion piece. Here is where I stopped,
"The fact that the Taliban is now effectively in control of as much as half of the country eight years after being routed by the U.S.-led invasion is a sign that the local population is at least more tolerant of an insurgency against foreign forces."
This is a non sequitur. What if the Taliban control (which is mostly rural) is due to the local population being too weak to fight them. In that case, the surge is the only way to break the Taliban hold.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/16/2009 9:19 Comments ||
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#6
I am not, and have not, been convinced that a large-scale operation in Afghanistan is required to meet our needs.
I absolutely support our guys and want them to have everything they need. If McChrystal says he needs more, I bow to his judgment; give him more.
But I am not convinced.
The goal in late 2001 - 2002 was to destroy al-Qaeda, break the control of the Taliban over the country, and ensure that Afghanistan couldn't be used as a base to plan and conduct terrorist operations against us. All of which we did.
Mission accomplished, to borrow a phrase.
We then got sucked into the problem of rebuilding Afghanistan, on the understandable premise that we had to do something to prevent someone else (the Taliban, the Paks, but I repeat myself) from filling the void when we pulled out.
With respect to Dubya whom I continue to admire, that's where we went wrong.
The plan of the Army of Steve would have been different: we would have turned to the people of the Northern Alliance (e.g., Dostum), as nasty as they were, handed them the keys to the place and said "here, it's yours." We would have funded and supplied them to keep the Pashtuns in their natural pecking order and keep the Talibs from getting strong. We would have kept an air support unit in the north (around Mosur-al-Sharif, say) and in the west (e.g., Herat) with helicopters and perhaps some A-10s on call to support the Northern Alliance.
It would have been tricky because of the danger of being sucked into the petty squabbles of the region. But it would have had the virtues of being low-maintenance and being completely within the goals of our original strategy -- keep al Qaeda out. In time the press would forget all about Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance would build something (or not), the Pashtuns would be a ward of Pakistan which would suit the ISI, and al-Qaeda, every time they stuck their heads up, would be bombed.
Now we have the surge. Okay, as I said, I support the guys and I'll support McChrystal. But I think we have a high-maintenance solution to what is a low-maintenance problem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2009 10:02 Comments ||
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#7
Steve's take is right on target.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/16/2009 10:11 Comments ||
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#8
The goal in late 2001 - 2002 was to destroy al-Qaeda, break the control of the Taliban over the country, and ensure that Afghanistan couldn't be used as a base to plan and conduct terrorist operations against us. All of which we did.
And to insure that Afghanistan not be a base again, you have to look to Pakistan and the frontier areas where the disease starts. Annnnnd, you have to look to the financiers and take them out or put the fear of God into them, which we did not do on the scale required.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2009 10:23 Comments ||
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#9
Our objective in 2001 was to destroy the Taliban as a hosting government and to render Al Qaeda homeless so they could not continue to train the next generation of terrorists and plan the next round of terror attacks. In this we succeeded. However, Pakistan has stepped up to the plate as host, now that what they view as their backyard has been taken from them. How are we to leave the region until that situation is rectified? We are already seeing attacks and major attempted attacks around the world including in the U.S., planned and sourced by Pakistani terror groups with connections (whether current or former) to Pakistan's ISI, which means ultimately members of the armed forces senior officers.
So long as we remain active in Afghanistan, Pakistan's internal situation will remain stirred up, until they actually realize that supporting terror proxies is not acceptable... or until between Talibs, etc and the army they break enough of their own country that they quit out of sheer exhaustion.
#11
I think TW has nicely summarized the situation in 2 paragraphs. Quitting, while tempting, is no solution.
I hope the strategies of Gen McChrystal work as a lot of blood and treasure are invested in them. But sitting there like a lump (defensive positions, pushed back on our heels) was not working, resembled Basra.
#14
My analysis is the opposite of tw's. The Northern Alliance would fight the Pushtun's to a more or less stable truce or stalemate roughly along ethnic territorial lines. The Pushtun would then use their stable rear (now in Afghanistan) to attack Pakistan and that would inevitably collapse the Pakistan state or result in a Taliban takeover.
[Maghrebia] A prominent sheikh of Morocco's takfirist movement is drawing wary scrutiny in Maghreb religious and academic circles for his description of attacks on foreigners as "treason against Islam".
Sheikh Mohammed Fezeizi, who is serving a three-decade prison term for a terrorism-related case in Morocco, sent a letter to his daughter in July in which he broke with his own past proclamations about the virtue of killing foreigners.
All the cool jihadis are doing it nowadays.
"I'm not ashamed to say that I have recanted some of my previous beliefs," Fezeizi, who was imprisoned for inciting the perpetrators of the May 16th, 2003 terror attacks in Casablanca, said in the letter.
In the letter, Fezeizi rebutted al-Qaeda's justifications for terrorist attacks targeting civilians in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, based on Germany's membership in NATO, fighting Muslims in Afghanistan, and supporting the state of Israel.
Ooooh -- I wonder if he'll get a response from Al Qaeda, too. Dr. Z gets so touchy when his intelligence is questioned, however indirectly.
Fezeizi, who is still praised on jihadist websites, countered the al-Qaeda justification by noting that "the German people I know are against war and occupation, and have already publicly expressed their hatred of war". He appealed to Arab and Muslim immigrants in Europe to express their opinions in a peaceful way.
"Those who want only killing, blood and theft, they have nothing to do with God's religion, either in Germany or elsewhere," Fezeizi said in the letter, which was reprinted in Der Speigel.
Fezeizi, who is considered the leader of jihadist Salafism in Morocco, started his career in 1976 as a preacher at a small mosque in Tangier. He soon embraced the fundamentalist school of Salafism and started forming links with jihadist movements in Algeria and Europe. This career was capped by a meeting with Sheikh Omar Abu Ammar, one of Osama Ben Laden's top aides, in London in 1999. In 2000, Fezeizi gave lessons on takfir [the practice of declaring others kuffar or apostates] and jihad at a mosque in Hamburg.
But Fezeizi's apparent split with his past comrades and positions has yet to fully convince everyone.
"Did Fezeizi find out that Germany is a land of peace and tolerance only when he landed in prison?" asked Moroccan researcher Mohammed Kallaoui. "We have to wait and see whether the positions he expressed actually stem from political awareness, a true ideological, intellectual and doctrinal review, or whether they're just the result of the conditions under which Fezeizi lives in prison and out of a desire" to go free.
However, Kallaoui noted that Fezeizi's letter comes in the context of a larger trend toward contraction of the Salafist movement.
"Many of those who were arrested on terrorism-related cases, whether in Morocco or other countries, now regret their acts and believe they got carried away in the movement and made some mistakes in the fever of the jihadist discourse," said the researcher. "Those people have already pulled back from those ideas."
Abdullah Rami, a researcher at the Moroccan Centre for Sociological Studies in Casablanca, said Fezeizi's letter to his daughter, along with other letters in which Fezeizi apologised to Arab intellectuals he had previously targeted in fatwas, were still only personal notes leaked to the press.
"We can talk about a review [of ideological documents underpinning takfirism] when Fezeizi issues a public document, not based on personal messages," said Rami. "The effect and influence of these messages are still limited."
"I've personally seen a program on Al Jazeera ... in which Fezeizi called without hesitation for killing a number of independent thinkers who he accused of atheism," said Moukhtar Abdellaoui, head of the Hassan II University's philosophy department. "Fezeizi may be true in his new claims, but his words may also be an attempt to win sympathy."
"In either case, I think we're faced with a 'return to awareness' about the importance of dialogue and avoidance of final and absolute judgments," added Abdellaoui. "We need to know that dividing the world into two halves is a premature thing in which the Islamic world is likely to lose more than win."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Takiya: it's not just for kufr anymore.
Posted by: ed ||
12/16/2009 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
Gee, it's almost as if he knew his mail was being read...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been "the best recruiting officer" for U.S. military efforts to partner with Arab states over the past year. That's according to General David Petraeus, who as commander of Centcom is responsible for overseeing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and security efforts throughout the region. "There were certain countries which used to hold us at arm's length that have over the last year embraced Central Command in certain cooperative endeavors," Petraeus told TIME in an interview on Dec. 13, citing ballistic-missile defense agreements and shared early-warning systems. "Ahmadinejad's rhetoric is very alarming among countries in this region."
What's been good for Centcom has also been good for the high-tech U.S. arms industry. Despite the global recession, Arab states have signed huge deals for U.S. military hardware, whose sophistication has been on full display in two long wars in the neighborhood. Petraeus said countries in the region now deploy eight Patriot missile-interceptor batteries — up from zero a few years ago — made by Raytheon Corp. And the Pentagon last month announced that Kuwait had ordered upgrades of its Patriot missile system, in a deal worth $410 million. But Raytheon isn't the only beneficiary of anxiety over Iran. The United Arab Emirates this year ordered $9 billion worth of U.S. military gear, Petraeus noted, including 70 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets of a generation more advanced than those being used by the U.S. Air Force. "The Emirati air force can now take out Iran's air force," Petraeus said.
Yet Iran's air force is not what has the region nervous. Much of last weekend's annual Manama Dialogue in Bahrain — a conference of top military and government officials from across the region, where Petraeus spoke with TIME and which was also attended by an Iranian delegation — was devoted to angry clashes over Tehran's nuclear program and allegations that it is waging proxy warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Petraeus, in language more blunt than that typically used by Obama Administration officials, lashed out that Iran, "which had become a theocracy, has become a thugocracy because of the hijacked elections and people's response to them." He said Arab hostility toward Iran had helped win support for U.S. strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, he said, there were almost daily attacks using explosive devices manufactured in Iran, while Tehran was using its leverage to strengthen Iranian influence over Iraq's government. Iran sells about 350 million watts of electricity a day to Iraq. "Iraqis see Iran expanding its influence to the degree that they can then call the shots politically, because of Iraq's dependence on Iran for fuel and electricity," said Petraeus.
The most immediate flash point in tensions between Iran and its Arab neighbors is Yemen, one of the regions poorest and most unstable countries, where Shi'ite Houthi rebels in the north launched attacks in neighboring Saudi Arabia last month, sparking an air strike by Saudi jets on Houthi territory. U.S. officials say they have no proof that Iran is involved in the Yemen conflict, but deeply suspicious gulf states, including Yemen, are sure Tehran is stoking a potentially explosive war. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told TIME last month that the rebels "want to follow the system of Iran," and a Yemeni official in Manama insisted that his country's security forces had found proof of Iranian backing for the rebels.
While senior Iranian officials and uniformed U.S. military officers munched on muffins within touching distance of one another during informal breaks in the Manama discussions, such affability is likely to be in short supply as regional tensions escalate over Iran's growing influence in the Arab world and over the stalemate in diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff. That's likely to see nervous Arab regimes drawing closer to the U.S. military — and, presumably, to continue shopping at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Leaders of the six Gulf Arab states wrapped up their two-day summit where they agreed to create a joint force for quick intervention to address security threats, announced they were opposed to any military action by the West against neighboring Iran and moved closer to a monetary pact.
Kuwait's emir on Monday opened the Gulf leaders' summit by voicing full support for Saudi Arabia in its fight against Yemeni rebels and calling on Iran to comply with international legitimacy but rejecting a strike on the Islamic republic, which lies across the Arabian Gulf.
"We do not accept any military action against Iran," Sheikh Mohammad said at the end of a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
"Any tension in the region will reflect on our situation. We have many problems already and we do not want any more," the minister, whose country chairs the GCC, told a news conference.
"We urge Iran to comply with what is required from it by the International Atomic Energy Agency and deal positively with international legal resolutions."
The final communique of the Gulf summit said its leaders welcome "international efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear program crisis through peaceful means."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.
Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.
Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahis disappearance. Richard Baker, Labours justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotlands reputation at risk. “This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahis conditions of licence,” he said.
Eliot Engel, a New York congressman, said: “I think it was a tremendous mistake to let him out in the first place. I dont think a convicted terrorist has any integrity to abide by any type of agreement.”
Relatives of the victims were furious in August when Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, released al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months.
On Sunday evening The Times called at the bombers home in suburban Tripoli. A policeman sitting on a plastic chair outside was asked to deliver a message to al-Megrahi. He spoke no English, but indicated that al-Megrahi was not there.
HATE preacher Abu Hamza has got huge new wardrobes in his prison cell - after he whinged about his robes getting creased.
Taxpayers paid hundreds of pounds for the Ikea-style furniture after he moaned a lack of storage was crumpling his Islamic prayer garments.
Belmarsh prison staff ordered and built the flat pack just days after the request by hook-handed Hamza, who is wanted in the US over al-Qaeda-linked terror charges.
A source at the South East London nick said: "Once again, Hamza demands special treatment and the authorities cave in.
"Everyone's joking about what they'll do next for him - perhaps a butler."
Hamza, 51, jailed in 2006 for inciting hatred, had ÂŁ650 lever taps put in his cell this year. The Ministry of Justice said the wardrobes were for "disability reasons".
#2
The should have just delivered the Ikea package to his cell and let him figure out how to assemble it.
Doesn't that hand doesn't come with a screwdriver attachment?
A plane loaded with North Korean weapons that was seized in Thailand has been linked to the suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the ''Merchant of Death'' for allegedly supplying the world's dictators and warlords.
Thai authorities focused yesterday on inspecting the 35 tonnes of weapons seized from the cargo plane, as details of the alleged shady past of the Ilyushin Il-76 emerged. Its ultimate destination remained a mystery.
According to the crew's Thai lawyer, the plane was registered to Air West, a cargo transport company in Georgia.
Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said the plane had also been registered under a company named Beibars, linked to the Serbian arms trafficker Tomislav Damnjanovic, and with three companies identified by the US Treasury as companies controlled by Mr Bout.
Mr Griffiths is monitoring air cargo companies involved in arms trafficking. ''They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change from one company to another because the previous company has either been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a UN trafficking report,'' he said.
The arms dealers had changed the plane's country of registration to Georgia because the EU had banned all cargo carriers registered in Kazakhstan, where Beibars is registered.
Mr Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft had been documented by the UN as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the plane had also been used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in October.
The five-man crew - four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus - were denied bail on Monday. They are being held at Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok, where Bout is detained. He was arrested in March 2008 and is fighting extradition to the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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The recent Swiss referendum vote to ban the building of minarets seems to confirm the trend of Europeans becoming increasingly strident in their attempts to "protect" their culture against Islam. However, a newly published report by the Open Society Institute (OSI), the think-tank set up by billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros, details the complex relationship between Muslims and Europe and reveals that the suspicion is mutual. Muslims believe they are being shut out of European society.
About 20 million Muslims live in the European Union, mostly in capital cities and large industrial towns; they already make up 25% of the population in Marseilles and Rotterdam, 20% in Malmo, 15% in Brussels and Birmingham and 10% in London, Paris and Copenhagen. The report, published on Dec. 15, surveyed Muslims in 11 cities across the E.U., and found that 55% of respondents believed religious discrimination had risen in the past five years. And while many Muslims are a long-standing and integral part of the fabric of their cities, the report says they are still almost three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslims. But far from seeking out Islamic ghettos, many Muslim families appear desperately keen to integrate. "A lot of Muslims - especially parents - were sad they could not live in mixed neighborhoods, where they could experience diversity," says Tufyal Choudhury, lead author of the report.
Posted by: ed ||
12/16/2009 17:30 ||
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#1
one answer? Participate in european society, not replicating the third-world shit-hole tribal sharia dump you came from. Might make a difference
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/16/2009 18:35 Comments ||
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#2
And here I thought Moslems weren't supposed to drink.
Y'all want some French cheese to go with that whine?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/16/2009 20:22 Comments ||
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#3
In the future, I think the alternatives will be assimilation, deportation or the European equivalents of Bantustans.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2009 22:18 Comments ||
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#5
Nice to see Georgie is doing his best to mess up Europe, too. I guess he's taking a break from the US for now.
But I also don't think "integration" means the same to Muslims as it does to the Europeans, based on their actions toward the native populations. Why else would the Dutch, the most tolerant group on the planet, have to prepare a "this is how we play nice here" presentation for new (mostly Muslim) immigrants?
[Al Arabiya Latest] A French government minister drew angry reactions on Tuesday for saying young Muslims should not speak slang or wear their caps back to front, a general trademark of youth across the world who consider themselves "hip."
Nadine Morano, junior minister for the family and social unity, said she wanted a young Muslim to "love France when he lives here, to find a job, not speak slang and not wear his cap back to front."
The Socialist opposition and anti-racism campaigners criticized her comments, made at a discussion organized as part of a national debate on French identity which has been widely criticized as divisive.
Morano said her remarks had been "taken out of context."
"I was saying that with this caricature, and the stigmatization that exists, I would advise them not only to wear their cap straight and not speak slang, but I explained also (they should) use the potential of their double culture," she said on Tuesday.
Her comments on young Muslims referred to "verlan," French street slang formed by reversing the syllables of words.
Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said her comments were "very serious."
"That confirms the caricatured view that several members of the government have of the youth of this country, with improbable generalizations about young Muslims suspected of not looking for work," he told AFP.
Campaign group SOS Racisme described her words as "another blunder" in the debate, which has sharpened sensitivities over France's Muslim majority -- Europe's biggest -- and been cast as a government bid to win right-wing votes.
"They are part of a long series of racist and stigmatizing comments made during the debates on national identity," the association said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Nadine Morano, junior minister for the family and social unity, said she wanted a young Muslim to "love France when he lives here, to find a job, not speak slang and not wear his cap back to front."
The Socialist opposition and anti-racism campaigners criticized her comments...
Nice try Nadine, but most muslim youth in France are now so deeply imbued with the sociopolitical ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood (see the "Project," delineated in the 1980's, about destroying Western Civilization from within), that they have absolutely no desire to acclimate to French culture.
[Dawn] A Chicago man accused of planning the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege also had Bollywood and one of India's most sacred Hindu temples in his sights, US prosecutors said Monday.
David Coleman Headley, 49, is accused of being a scout for two different terrorist groups who used a friend's immigration company as a cover for his surveillance activities.
The Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat and American mother, Headley reportedly befriended Bollywood stars and even dated an actress during his lengthy surveillance trips to Mumbai.
Nearly a year after the bloody 60-hour siege which began November 26, 2008, Headley was allegedly recorded discussing five future targets.
Prosecutors said the targets included: Bollywood; the Indian temple Somnath; the National Defense College in Delhi; Shiv Sena, a political party in India with roots in Hindu nationalism; and a Danish newspaper which sparked a furore in the Muslim world by publishing 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested in October on terror charges related to the plot to attack Denmark's highest circulating daily, Jyllands-Posten, and kill an editor and the cartoonist.
Headley -- who prosecutors say is cooperating with investigators -- was charged last week with spending two years casing out Mumbai, even taking boat tours around the city's harbor to scope out landing sites for the attackers.
Rana, who owns the Chicago-based First World Immigration Services that Headley allegedly used as a cover, insists that he is a pacifist who was 'duped' by his friend.
But prosecutors said Monday that the Pakistani-born Canadian national knew about the Mumbai attacks days before they occurred and released fresh details from a secretly recorded conversation to support their claims.
While Rana has not been charged in the Mumbai attack, which left 166 people dead and hundreds wounded, prosecutors said 'the investigation into Rana's conduct continues.'
'Rana's own statements, made in what he believed to be a private conversation, belie his argument to this court that he believes in non-violence,' prosecutors wrote in a 10-page memo in support of Rana's detention pending trial.
They cite a September 7 conversation recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in which Rana 'asked Headley to pass Rana's compliments directly to the specific Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member they both knew who had coordinated the (Mumbai) attacks.'
Headley allegedly told Rana that he was going to ask this LeT member to target the National Defense College in Delhi 'first,' to which Rana responded that he agreed and allegedly said 'they should be really commended. I appreciate them from my heart.'
Rana allegedly also told Headley that he learned about the upcoming Mumbai attacks during a November 2008 meeting with retired Pakistani military officer Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed in Dubai.
'It is clear from the conversation and extrinsic corroboration that Rana was told just days before the Mumbai attacks that the attacks were about to happen,' prosecutors wrote.
Syed, who has also been charged in the Danish newspaper plot, is accused of having ties to LeT and being Headley's direct link to Ilyas Kashmiri, who the Department of Justice said is the operational chief of a terrorist organization called Harakat-ul-Jihad-Islami (HuJI), which has links to Al-Qaeda.
India and Washington blamed the deadly Mumbai rampage on Pakistan's banned militant group LeT. The attacks stalled a fragile four-year peace process between the two nuclear-armed south Asian rivals.
Syed's alleged foreknowledge of the attack could expand the scope of the investigation to HuJI. He has not been charged with helping to plot that attack.
Rana is scheduled to appear in a Chicago court at 2030 GMT Tuesday for a detention hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Offering prayers behind any imam who endorses terrorism and suicide attacks on Muslims, mosques, imambargahs, women and children and the country's security forces is declared haram (forbidden in Islam), according to a decree issued by religious scholars on Tuesday. "Suicide bombings and terrorist attacks in Pakistan are haram. Offering namaz behind those religious leaders who support suicide bombings and terrorism in the country is also haram," the decree stated. The decree against the pro-terrorism clerics and religious party leaders came at an Ulema Convention that was held at the Jinnah Ground, under the aegis of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. The clerics urged unity among the various sects of Islam, saying that all sects should respect each other in the light of the teachings of the holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). MQM chief Altaf Hussain had appealed to scholars to condemn pro-terrorism leaders as well. The MQM chief asked religious scholars to create awareness among the masses about religious extremism. He said their role was crucial in defeating extremism in the country. He said use of force to impose sharia as well as terrorists involved in suicide bombings had defamed Islam across the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Suicide bombings and terrorist attacks in Pakistan are haram.
The key word being "in".
Posted by: ed ||
12/16/2009 0:32 Comments ||
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#2
So the Ulema at the Jinnah says namaz is haram. Thats probably taqiyya (holy hypocrisy).
[Geo News] NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Tuesday said that no talks would be held with the extremists until they were defeated by the forces. Why would you bother talking to them then?
To accept their surrender, to declare terms. That kind of thing.
Speaking at a school function in Swat, he said we are followers of Hazrat Iman Hussain (R.A), we will sacrifice our lives, but will never bow down to the militants. He said Swat is a place where it had become difficult to live. But now healthy activities have started. "We give a message to the world that we are not terrorist. We are peaceful people," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban leadership is sending messages from various sources to the government for holding dialogue, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday. "The government cannot hold talks with unreliable people who don't even fulfil their commitments. If the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) really wants to hold dialogue with the government, they must surrender and lay down their arms first," Malik said.
He said TTP leader Hakeemullah Mehsud had accepted responsibility for the Parade Lane mosque attack in Rawalpindi, adding that the TTP had time and again accepted the responsibility of terrorist attacks in various parts of the country including suicide attacks on students at the International Islamic University. "How can they (Taliban) blame the country's secret agencies for carrying out terrorist attacks," he asked, adding that, "TTP spokesman Azam Tariq is a liar. He is the person who first announced the death of Hakeemullah Mehsud and said Faqir Muhammad will be the head of the TTP, but later backtracked."
"The leadership of TTP has realised that their so-called and self-designed jihad is meaningless now as the clerics have denounced suicide attacks and their jihad, which is against innocent people," Malik said. He said "the banned outfit is losing the support of their own people as well because there is no justification for their self-designed jihad, after the decree by ulema." To a question, the minister said the government could consider holding dialogue with the TTP but only if they lay down their arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
#1
When a side is "eager for talks" that means they are losing. You dont push for talks when you are winning.
If your enemy wants something dont let him have it just on general principles. Even if you dont need it yourself, dont let him have it. Use it for toilet paper and grin.
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - From the battle at Belleau Wood, where Marines earned the name "Devil Dog," to the iconic image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps history is embedded in every Marine from initial training at boot camp, and it continues to provide inspiration to those who serve.
Some veterans of past wars not only hold on to the memories of their service, but also are making new ones while they serve in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Viriato B. Sena, first sergeant for Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 46, is one of the few Vietnam veterans still serving in the Marines.
Sena, who joined the Marine Corps in 1973, participated in the evacuation of Vietnam and now is deployed to Iraq during the drawdown of U.S. forces and equipment, which has been noted to be the largest operation of its kind since Vietnam.
In April 1975, Sena, attached to Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, participated in the evacuation of Saigon while working as part of a security team aboard the ships USS Midway and USS Enterprise.
"There were 10 of us, all combat engineers," Sena said. "Our function was to make sure that Vietnamese civilians brought nothing on to the ship that would jeopardize the mission, such as weapons or grenades." Once on the ships, the civilians were taken to refugee camps in the Philippine Islands.
Sena then became part of a team of Marines who helped set up more refugee camps for the Vietnamese civilians and provide security for displaced South Vietnamese nationals.
"I was only 19 at the time, and it was a hell of an experience," Sena said. "It has been a drastic change from those days to now."
The Marine reservist from Providence, R.I., also noted changes he saw during a recent visit to his first duty station at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
"I remember being back at Camp Lejeune right before this deployment," he said. "I was driving on base with a young Marine, and we passed by what used to be an open squad bay. Now the area is well built up."
Camp Lejeune, which was a tobacco barn, farm house and temporary tent cities back in 1941, has grown to a 246-square-mile military training facility. Today, the base boasts 11 miles of beach capable of supporting amphibious operations. There are 78 live-fire ranges, 98 maneuver areas, 34 gun positions, 540 tactical landing zones and a state-of-the-art Military Operations in Urban Terrain training center.
"Things have changed so much since I was stationed there when I was active duty," Sena said. "Who would have thought I would be back there on the base that I was on in 1973, and it's now 2009."
Sena is leading his Marines through the drawdown process. Their missions include retrograde of gear and equipment from Al Asad and other small forward operating bases in western Iraq, and resupply and general service support to the forward operating bases. He uses his knowledge of the evacuation of Vietnam to prepare his Marines for their Iraq mission.
Four months ago, Sena gave a class to the battalion about the difference between the evacuation of Vietnam and the current drawdown of U.S. forces and equipment.
One difference is the speed at which U.S. forces are withdrawing. During the Vietnam War, as soon as the fight was over, U.S. troops were on their way home. However, he explained, troops in Iraq have stayed past the fight to assist the Iraqis in rebuilding their country and training their military forces.
"We're taking our time, because we're not forced to pull out all at once as we were in the fall of Saigon," he said.
Back home, Sena works as a lieutenant supervisor with the Department of Veterans Affairs Police in Boston. He has served a total of 23 years of active duty in the Marine Corps.
"The Marine Corps has made me a better person and has guided me in the right direction," he said. "I love the responsibility that the Marine Corps instills in me to take care of my junior Marines.
"I'm going to stick around for the Marines until they kick me out," he joked. "I have a great bunch of Marines in my company. They are the future of the Marine Corps."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says that foreign countries carried out the recent bombing attacks in Baghdad as part of attempts to hinder the forthcoming legislative elections in the country. "Foreign countries stand behind the recent terrorist operations in Baghdad to hinder the electoral process and to destroy the democratic experience in Iraq," Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted Maliki as saying on Monday in a meeting with EU ambassadors to Baghdad.
The Iraqi Prime Minister added, "These operations aim also to prevent investments and to frighten foreign companies from investing in Iraq."
"I entered Iraq through Syria`s Al-Bukamal border region along with three Saudi, Libyan and Algerian nationals and was deployed in Iraq's Diyala Province," Saudi national Mohammed Hassan al-Shemari explained.
Senior military officials in Iraq poined their fingers at Saudi Arabia over Iraq's multiple coordinated bombings on December 8, which killed 127 people and injured over 450 others.
The head of the ordnance department of Iraq's Interior Ministry said the terrorists behind the deadly attacks had used explosives that came from other countries like Saudi Arabia. "The four bombings on Tuesday used explosives that originated abroad. They came from outside of Iraq, from Baathists and al-Qaeda, with the help of a neighboring country. That requires money and a large amount of support from Syria, Saudi Arabia or another country. Those states would not be unaware," Jihad al-Jabiri said.
He added, "If you want to fill (explosives) a small car, you need 850 kg and it costs $100,000. But yesterday (Dec 8), the attacks were committed with a van and pick-up," he added, noting that "this explosive is very expensive and the plastic is very powerful. The C-4 plastic explosives used in the attacks are very expensive which cannot be produced inside Iraq."
Iraq has also criticized Syria over the violence in the country, after multiple bombings in August destroyed finance and foreign ministries.
Iraqi authorities aired a videotaped confession by a Saudi Arabian man who said he and his friends have been trained by Syrian intelligence agents to act against Iraq's national security. "I entered Iraq through Syria`s Al-Bukamal border region along with three Saudi, Libyan and Algerian nationals and was deployed in Iraq's Diyala Province," 29-year-old Mohammed Hassan al-Shemari explained.
The Baghdad government has frequently accused its neighbors of failing to prevent foreign fighters from crossing its borders, and of not doing enough to clamp down on funding for al-Qaeda and remnants of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party. Most Sunni-run Iraqi neighbors used to enjoy warm relationships with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The Palestinians will demand a United Nations resolution declaring that all lands seized by Israel in 1967 are occupied territory because of stalled peace talks, which will only resume if Israel halts settlement building, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.
"We will say to the Security Council that we want a resolution based on previous resolutions that the occupied territories are the lands occupied in 1967," Abbas told his Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
"Israel accuses us of acting unilaterally but they act unilaterally every day," he added, during a meeting of the umbrella organization aimed at deciding whether to extend parliamentary and presidential mandates past Jan. 24, when they run out and with no new elections set.
"Why are we doing this? Because the negotiations have stopped. Why have they stopped? Because Israel cannot stop the settlements or recognize international law."
Israel last month agreed to a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank after months of American pressure, but the Palestinians have said it is not sufficient for restarting peace negotiations.
Abbas said the freeze ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not sufficient, since it was only a partial halt to construction and Israel was now pouring more money into the settler communities.
"When Israel stops settlement activity for a specific period and when it recognizes the borders we are calling for, and these are the legal borders, there would be nothing to prevent us from going to negotiations to complete what we agreed to at Annapolis," Abbas told the PLO legislature in Ramallah.
"A return to violence? I won't accept it," he said.
Abbas, who is under pressure from the United States and the European Union to resume talks that have been frozen for the past year, said he was not setting terms but simply reiterating Israel's obligations under the "road map" agreement for talks.
It was Israel that was setting pre-conditions by insisting that Jerusalem would be excluded from negotiations and that settlement expansion would continue, he said.
The PLO council began a two-day meeting which was expected to extend the term of Abbas and endorse his opposition to re-starting negotiations with Israel unless it first halts all settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
And everyone who left Israel before 1967 is no longer a refugee? Nice try, Abu.
#2
Demand, huh? What er ya gonna do? hold yer breath til you turn blue and drop dead? Hokay
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/16/2009 8:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Seems to me that the Arabs are the ones that had trouble with those borders in '67.
This has always seemed to me similar to a team losing a football game 42 - 0 at halftime saying that "Well, okay. We agree to start the second half at 0-0.
#6
I think he means the borders before the Six Day War. The UN General Assembly may vote for it, but I don't think -- even under the current American president -- the Security Council will go along.
#7
has the UN ever been able too enforce any of it's votes anyway? Pretty much just a reason for the boys and girls too go clubbin in NY
Posted by: chris ||
12/16/2009 13:55 Comments ||
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#8
The General Assembly is where the unimportant countries go to posture, chris. Only the Security Council matters, which is why there is such a fight for the rotating seats... although in the end even in the SC only the Permanent Five countries (the U.S., Russia, China, France and Britain, if I recall correctly) matter, because each has a veto.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Tuesday that Islamist groups would back
"We are all parts of the same body ... We all should fight against the mutual enemy."
Iran if the country was attacked by Israel as the United Nations said 44 percent of the West Bank was occupied by the Israeli military and Jewish settlers. "All Islamist militant groups will form a united front with Iran against Israel if it attacks Iran," Meshaal told a news conference. "We are all parts of the same body ... We all should fight against the mutual enemy. But how, the leaders will decide based on our capacities."
Israel has said it was readying all options to try to force Iran to halt its atomic programme, which the West fears is a cover to build nuclear bombs. Iran denies the charge.
Meshaal said Israel was a danger for the Middle East region. "God willing a regional resistance has the capacity to confront this danger," Meshaal said in the televised news conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
"God Willing", you can buy a ticket to Brazil.
Join Iran? yeah? That the plan?
So... buy some pretty pink pumps before you leave.
#2
The problem is that the Islamists in the West Bank are kept on a pretty tight leash these days... and in the Gaza Strip Hamas is still reeling from Operation Cast Lead a year ago. Mr. Meshaal is blowing smoke.
God very clearly is not willing that the "regional resistance" has the capacity to do much of anything.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman has reacted to recent remarks by the US Secretary of State regarding Tehran's ties with Latin American countries.
Hillary Clinton on Friday alluded to Iran's business partners in Latin America, including Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia, warning them of consequences of bolstering ties with Iran.
"We can only say that is a really bad idea for the countries involved," said the former first lady. "If people want to flirt with Iran, they should take a look at what the consequences might well be for them. And we hope that they will think twice," she said during a question-and-answer session at the State Department.
In his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Mehman-Parast said the comments infringed accepted diplomatic norms regarding the relations between the countries.
"I think it's evident enough that such comments are in contravention of diplomatic norms," he said, adding that the best evidence was the reaction of those countries in the ALBA conference, which "unanimously rejected and condemned such comments."
In response to Clinton's remarks, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a regional trade group known as ALBA, promised closer ties with Iran.
The leaders of ALBA, an alliance for regional integration between the countries of Latin America and Caribbean, pledged to further develop ties with Iran and denounced the US stance toward the Islamic Republic.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the oft-states remarks were "ridiculous."
"It's ridiculous, the threat of the secretary of state, and we aren't afraid of her," Chavez said.
Bolivian President Evo Morales also said that his country would not back down from holding closer relations with Iran.
This is not the first time that the US has expressed dismay over Iran's soaring popularity in Latin America, which it regards as its "strategic backyard."
Earlier in May, Clinton said that the US was "disturbed" by Iran's "gains" in the Latin America region.
Other than Venezuela and Bolivia, the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys growing relations with other Latin American countries namely Brazil and Ecuador.
In his very recent visit to Latin America in November, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela, where he signed several cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding with South American leaders on joint ventures.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
Have to agree with the Iranians in this case, but then, that's easy because they're talking about Hildebeast. It's ridiculous to go around making veiled threats to our Latin American neighbors when we don't have the guts to confront Iran head on.
One year after Israel's grinding war on Gaza, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution says should Israel start a new armed conflict against Gazans, it would suffer a much heavier blow.
Speaking during a meeting with visiting Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pledged Iran's unwavering support for Palestinians.
"One of the main reasons behind the enmity of the global hegemony toward the Islamic Republic is the Palestinian issue," said the Leader on Tuesday.
"If Iran had backtracked about the Palestinian issue, much of such hostilities would have ceased to exist; however, regarding this matter we stand fast," Ayatollah Khamenei added.
The Leader blasted Arab states for failing to support the Palestinian cause, saying, "certain Arabs under the guise of Muslims who betray the people of Palestine" are a major concern regarding this matter.
Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say that the only solution to the Palestinian crisis is "resistance, having trust in God and taking action."
Calling to mind the plight of the people of Gaza during a deadly Israeli assault in 2008, the Leader warned Israel against waging another war in the region.
"If the Israeli regime launches another war against the people of Gaza, they will receive a much heavier blow and suffer a more crushing defeat than before," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in 2008 -- seeking to topple the democratically-elected government of Hamas in the Palestinian territory -- left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to medical sources.
The Israeli assault led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses, UN compounds and government buildings, which Israel has a responsibility to protect under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Is there a trademark on "Heavy Blows" yet as there is on "Dire Revenge"?
I always liked "Jackals of the Upper Classes sniveling at the heels of the Proletariat", myself.
It had that nice mellifluous "ring" to it, dont'chaknow.
cant have a war without having stirring words...like "heavy Blows" and "dire revenge".
And "Great Satan"...they should give that guy a medal and a free Lunch.
[Al Arabiya Latest] United States President Barack Obama early Tuesday asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in White House talks to take action against arms smuggling into Lebanon, which he said threatened Israeli security.
Despite vowing support for Lebanese democracy, Obama said there were some issues on which he and Suleiman would not agree, and noted they discussed the implementation of the U.N. resolution on ending the 2006 war in Lebanon.
"I want to be clear. I emphasized to him our concerns about the extensive arms that are smuggled into Lebanon that potentially serve as a threat to Israel," said Obama.
"President Suleiman and I are not going to agree on every issue with respect to... Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinians and Syria. What we do agree on is we can resolve these issues through dialogue and negotiations, rather than through violence," added the U.S. President.
Suleiman said he had brought up Israel with Obama.
"We also discussed the Israeli threats against Lebanon which are taking place and place obstacles to the economic growth of the country," Suleiman said.
"We asked President Obama and the U.S. to exert further pressure on Israel to implement Resolution 1701."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week denounced the resolution, saying it had proven to be a failure, despite ending the war between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah armed group.
In November, Israel intercepted a ship that it said was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran destined for Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lucy Van Pelt must hold football steady: Charlie Brown
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.
A plane loaded with North Korean weapons that was seized in Thailand has been linked to the suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the ''Merchant of Death'' for allegedly supplying the world's dictators and warlords.
The Taliban leadership is sending messages from various sources to the government for holding dialogue, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday. "The government cannot hold talks with unreliable people who don't even fulfil their commitments. If the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) really wants to hold dialogue with the government, they must surrender and lay down their arms first," Malik said. 
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says that foreign countries carried out the recent bombing attacks in Baghdad as part of attempts to hinder the forthcoming legislative elections in the country. "Foreign countries stand behind the recent terrorist operations in Baghdad to hinder the electoral process and to destroy the democratic experience in Iraq," Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted Maliki as saying on Monday in a meeting with EU ambassadors to Baghdad. 
