Speculation surrounds Pak arrests of Taliban
Junaid: Rumors are flying that Pakistan’s arrests of Taliban leaders may signal secret negotiations. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4863 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Great game, Islamabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, state, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, war
Taking on the Taliban, by Steve Coll
Cross Post from The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/03/01/100301taco_talk_coll The Taliban’s jihad, like rock and roll, has passed from youthful vigour into a maturity marked by the appearance of nostalgic memoirs. Back in the day, Abdul Salam Zaeef belonged to the search committee that recruited Mullah Omar as the movement’s commander; after the rebels took power in Kabul, he served as ambassador to Pakistan. “My Life with the Taliban,” published this winter, announces Zaeef’s début in militant letters. The volume contains many sources of fascination, but none are more timely than the author’s account of his high-level relations with Pakistani intelligence. While in office, Zaeef found that he “couldn’t entirely avoid” the influence of Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence. Its officers volunteered money and political support. Late in 2001, as the United States prepared … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, India, Islamabad, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
Coming Full Circle
By Cyril Almeida From www.dawn.com, Published February 12, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/13+cyril-almeida-coming-full-circle-220-za-02 Our boys in uniform have a spring in their step again. Domestically, they have taken on two enemies and appear to be winning: the civilian government has been reduced to parroting the army’s line on security issues, while the TTP is a significantly degraded force. Regionally, they can barely suppress their grins. In a few short weeks, the Americans have gone from threatening a ‘Pakistan first’ option in the war against Al Qaeda and associated movements to desperately seeking someone in Islamabad, or more accurately Pindi, who can put them in touch with the Taliban’s so-called ‘reconcilable’ elements. It’s not quite a wave of triumphalism that is sweeping over the army but there definitely is a widely shared sense of validation. And that should worry … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, Egalitarian Pakistan, FATA, India, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, People's Pakistan, Taliban, USA, war, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Drone attacks and US reputation —Farhat Taj
In terms of the drone attacks, the US must not make any distinction between al Qaeda and the Taliban. They both have internalised a global ideology that is anti-civilisation and anti-human There is news coming up in the media that al Qaeda in Waziristan may run away to Yemen in the face of growing drone attacks. The people of Waziristan have expressed deep concern at this news. They do not want al Qaeda to run away from Waziristan. They want al Qaeda along with the Taliban burnt to ashes on the soil of Waziristan through relentless drone attacks. The drone attacks, they believe, are the one and only ‘cure’ for these anti-civilisation creatures and the US must robustly administer them the ‘cure’ until their existence is annihilated from the world. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, FATA, Islam, Islamism, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Peshawar, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, war
Pakistan: Military Undermines Government on Human Rights
Battling Taliban No Excuse for Complicity in Abusive Counter-terrorism Practices (New York, January 21, 2010) – Pakistan’s military actively undermined the civilian government’s human rights agenda in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today in its new World Report 2010. The 612-page report, the organization’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide. The report says that Pakistan’s military publicly and privately resisted the government’s reconciliation efforts in the troubled province of Balochistan and attempts to locate people “disappeared” there during General Pervez Musharraf’s military rule. The military also opposed the international community’s attempts to end military intervention in the political and judicial processes through aid conditions. “The Pakistani military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, human rights, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
Is this Patriotism?
By Bilal Qureshi In an article published in The New Republic, respected American journalist Nicholas Schmidle shares some of his experiences and observations about the over all paranoia and hysteria that has been increasingly visible across Pakistan’s electronic media. Specifically, Mr. Schmidle describes his awkward interaction with Shireen Mazari. Mazari had no information about Mr. Schmidle’s background, but she assumed, incorrectly of course, that Mr. Schmidle is working for C.I.A just because he was an American. This attitude towards foreigners, especially towards Americans is misguided. If everyone visiting Pakistan is working for Blackwater or C.I.A, Islamabad should not allow these people to travel to Pakistan. Otherwise, Pakistan’s public, particularly those who write opinion pieces or appear on Television should not accuse everyone of being a spy because this attitude is alienating … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Army, Democracy, Islamabad, journalism, Media, Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism, USA, war
OBAMA’S LATEST SURGE: A TIGHT BALLOON IN HOT AIR
(A Brace for Bloody Winters) By Samson Simon Sharaf The long awaited Obama Speech is over. It is to wait and see the impact of the third surge in a highly destabilized, charged and violent region. The endgame if one dares, is not what Secretary Clinton wants us to believe. I would describe the new strategy as a tight balloon in hot air that may rapture even before it reaches close to its objectives. The speech makes all the right noises of an establishment given up on the doctrine of ‘Shock and Awe’ that promoted absolutism in distant lands. It recognizes Pakistan’s integrity, sovereignty and welfare of the people. Following intense lobbying between State Department and Pentagon, there appears a lead role for the Pentagon working in tandem with Joint Special Operations Command … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
Grow up Guys
Cross Post from Daily The Dawn December 10, 2009 By Cyril Almeida Afghanistan is so last week. What with the NRO hearings, suicide bombings, drone strikes, talk of the Quetta shura and Al Qaida’s safe havens there really is too much going on for anyone to think about Afghanistan right now. In any case, so much has been written and said about Afghanistan post-Obama’s speech that it is difficult to imagine anything new or original being added to the debate. Except, having digested much of what has been talked about here in Pakistan, there is a nagging feeling that the state has missed yet another chance. A chance if not for a fresh start, then to be creative or even add something positive to the mix. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, Democracy, Economy, India, Iran, Islam, Islamabad, Pakistan, quetta, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, war
Afghanistan's Great Game And Superficial Analysis By US Foreign Policy Analysts
By Yasser Latif Hamdani The article below from Examiner epitomizes bad analysis that some in the US insist on carrying out which is damaging to the much flaunted “common objective”. God forbid if the author is right, it just means that the US is pursuing a perilous path by ignoring advice from Pakistan’s hardened policy hands. The author is absolutely wrong when she says the Pakistan Army “has never been excited” about US aid and intervention. The Pakistani military has always been very close to the Pentagon. What Obama needs is a sustainable strategy which brings on board every key player including Pakistan’s civilian federal government and the Pakistan Army. This means that the US will have to address Pakistan’s concerns vis a vis Indian involvement in Afghanistan. All of India’s so called interests in Afghanistan are Pakistan specific. Furthermore, the US needs … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, India, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism, USA, violence, war, World, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Five Flawed Assumptions Of Obama's Afghan Strategy
President Barack Obama knows 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. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA, war
Prime Minister Gillani: Do not trivialise Benazir Bhutto's Murder
by Omar Khattab Prime Minister Gillani pulled an impossible, unthinkable surprise when yesterday in a joint press conference with Britain’s Gordon Brown in London he claimed that it was Baitullah Mehsud who was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Anyone who has any respect for Benazir and the rule of law in Pakistan must be shocked by Gillani’s statement. The question is: who is Gillani is working for? Who is he trying to please? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Army, Benazir Bhutto, Justice, Pakistan, Politics, Taliban, violence, war, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Obama's Afghan Policy and Pakistan
By Bilal Qureshi So far, in 2009 alone, 9000 Pakistanis have died in Pakistan because of terrorism – that is bombings, suicide attacks and other acts of extreme violence against Pakistan, and Pakistani society by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Yes, 9000 (nine thousand) Pakistanis have died because of terrorism in 2009 alone. This terrorism according to Pakistan is the direct result of failed American strategy in Afghanistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Politics, Taliban, USA, war
Moving on from Finger-Pointing
By Bilal Qureshi A brilliant work of investigative journalism by Jason Motlagh helps us understand that it is in the interest of everyone to try to solve issues by talking to each other instead of letting the nuts take advantage of our inability to commit to a constructive dialogue. Take for example the Mumbai tragedy. Right after the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, people in Pakistan declared it to be an Indian conspiracy and … Read entire article »
The demons of Major Nidal Malik Hasan
This is a New York Times story that gives first glimpses of the internal demons haunting Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and the time line of events leading up to wanton murders at Fort Hood. All text is copied from New York Times website, all rights reserved with New York Times Company (AZW) Fort Hood Gunman Gave Signals Before His Rampage Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company By James C. McKinley Jr. and James Dao Nov. 9 (New York Times) — KILLEEN, Tex. — It was still dark on Thursday when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan left his aging apartment complex to attend 6 a.m. prayers at the brick mosque near Fort Hood. Afterward, he said goodbye to his friends there and asked forgiveness from one man for any past offenses. “I’m going traveling,” he told a fellow worshiper, giving … Read entire article »
Pakistan Attacks Show Tightening of Militant Links
By JANE PERLEZ ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A wave of attacks against top security installations over the last several days demonstrated that the Taliban, Al Qaeda and militant groups once nurtured by the government are tightening an alliance aimed at bringing down the Pakistani state, government officials and analysts said. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Lahore, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, violence, war
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