listing 1-16
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Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
My only problem with Quadiyanis is that that they should stop calling themselves Muslims and their religion as Islam.
Sorry...you live in the US of A and US laws say the ahmedis can call themselves muslim if they want to and there's nothing you can do about it..
suck it up..
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 7, 2008 10:32 am
#389 Posted by Urstruly on January 7, 2008 9:25:45 amMy only problem with Quadiyanis is that that they should stop calling themselves Muslims and their religion as Islam.
Sorry...you live in the US of A and US laws say the ahmedis can call themselves muslim if they want to and there's nothing you can do about it..
suck it up..
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
2. Both Nehru and Mountabten did not want Pakistan to have control over Kashmir
suck to be you...kashmir ain't gonna banega pakiland..
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 7, 2008 10:15 am
#384 Posted by Urstruly on January 7, 2008 7:35:55 am2. Both Nehru and Mountabten did not want Pakistan to have control over Kashmir
suck to be you...kashmir ain't gonna banega pakiland..
Pakistan After The Assassination: Interview with Pervez Hoodbhoy
Get a life fool
That's Dr fool to you...
PH has a PhD... you, OTOH, only get published on lulu.com.
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 07:54 pm
#6 Posted by masadi on January 6, 2008 6:46:40 pmGet a life fool
That's Dr fool to you...
PH has a PhD... you, OTOH, only get published on lulu.com.
Pakistan After The Assassination: Interview with Pervez Hoodbhoy
Let me summarize mushy's response: "The bitch was asking for it"....yup...
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 07:52 pm
I just saw mushy's interviewed on 60 minutes by the infobabe Lara Logan.Let me summarize mushy's response: "The bitch was asking for it"....yup...
A Cursed Nation
yes...the army made her give the jag-jag mo-mo- han-han speech in which she threatened to chop up the kashmir governor if he dared to come to pureland occupied kashmir...
what a clueless apologists...
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 01:31 pm
#32 Posted by nasah on January 6, 2008 9:11:27 amyes...the army made her give the jag-jag mo-mo- han-han speech in which she threatened to chop up the kashmir governor if he dared to come to pureland occupied kashmir...
what a clueless apologists...
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
More soldiers of the Pakistan Army have been killed than the Mujahideen in Lal Masjid.
Great...more of that coming up too..either way, it's dead pakis all around..and that, obviously, is a good thing...
BTW: do you still stand by your kashmir forecast...remember...you only have 3 years..so get moving..
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 11:47 am
#265 Posted by zeemax on January 6, 2008 6:22:21 am More soldiers of the Pakistan Army have been killed than the Mujahideen in Lal Masjid.
Great...more of that coming up too..either way, it's dead pakis all around..and that, obviously, is a good thing...
BTW: do you still stand by your kashmir forecast...remember...you only have 3 years..so get moving..
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
YLH stands no chance from the islamic hordes.
what're you saying??!! that quoting jinnah's speech from aug 11th won't help him?
hmm..figures....quoting that speech didn't make ahmadis muslims...pakis still wiped out the "muslim" from dr salam's gravestone...
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 11:43 am
#306 Posted by mohar11 on January 6, 2008 8:29:32 amYLH stands no chance from the islamic hordes.
what're you saying??!! that quoting jinnah's speech from aug 11th won't help him?
hmm..figures....quoting that speech didn't make ahmadis muslims...pakis still wiped out the "muslim" from dr salam's gravestone...
A Cursed Nation
the woman is already dead
So the fact that hitler is dead means we shouldn't talk about his role in the holocaust?
Bhutto’s Deadly Legacy
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
New Delhi
WHEN, in May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was killed by a suicide bomber, there was an international outpouring of grief. Recent days have seen the same with the death of Benazir Bhutto: another glamorous, Western-educated scion of a great South Asian political dynasty tragically assassinated at an election rally.
There is, however, an important difference between the two deaths: while Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them, Ms. Bhutto was apparently the victim of Islamist militant groups that she allowed to flourish under her administrations in the 1980s and 1990s.
It was under Ms. Bhutto’s watch that the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, first installed the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was also at that time that hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madrassas to do the agency’s dirty work in Indian Kashmir. It seems that, like some terrorist equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, the extremists turned on both the person and the state that had helped bring them into being.
While it is true that the recruitment of jihadists had started before she took office and that Ms. Bhutto was insufficiently strong — or competent — to have had full control over either the intelligence services or the Pakistani Army when she was in office, it is equally naïve to believe she had no influence over her country’s foreign policy toward its two most important neighbors, India and Afghanistan.
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 05:53 am
#24 Posted by nasah on January 5, 2008 7:56:12 pmthe woman is already dead
So the fact that hitler is dead means we shouldn't talk about his role in the holocaust?
Bhutto’s Deadly Legacy
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
New Delhi
WHEN, in May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was killed by a suicide bomber, there was an international outpouring of grief. Recent days have seen the same with the death of Benazir Bhutto: another glamorous, Western-educated scion of a great South Asian political dynasty tragically assassinated at an election rally.
There is, however, an important difference between the two deaths: while Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them, Ms. Bhutto was apparently the victim of Islamist militant groups that she allowed to flourish under her administrations in the 1980s and 1990s.
It was under Ms. Bhutto’s watch that the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, first installed the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was also at that time that hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madrassas to do the agency’s dirty work in Indian Kashmir. It seems that, like some terrorist equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, the extremists turned on both the person and the state that had helped bring them into being.
While it is true that the recruitment of jihadists had started before she took office and that Ms. Bhutto was insufficiently strong — or competent — to have had full control over either the intelligence services or the Pakistani Army when she was in office, it is equally naïve to believe she had no influence over her country’s foreign policy toward its two most important neighbors, India and Afghanistan.
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
people who're only qualified to be 7/11 clerks and cab drivers wouldn't understand these things..
regardless, you already have egg on your face from the time you claimed the ninja chix were invincible because al-lah was on their side...turned out, white phosphorus is more effective..
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 04:10 am
#231 Posted by zeemax on January 6, 2008 3:42:56 ampeople who're only qualified to be 7/11 clerks and cab drivers wouldn't understand these things..
regardless, you already have egg on your face from the time you claimed the ninja chix were invincible because al-lah was on their side...turned out, white phosphorus is more effective..
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
i think the USA started firing the first shots from 1989.
really? how so?
at least we have to give credit to whoever did it for breaking he myth that the us mainland
they were only able to do that because the US gave the people visas and the hijackers used the visas to come in and attack people..
there is a very effective alternative...round up and deport every muslim in the US..then we'll see how many "myths" are broken...the reason that isn't done is because, the way things are, the american people won't stand for it..of course, if the jihadis set off a nuke or something, their tolerance level will change dramatically...hello internment camps..
so the "brilliance" of the 9/11 attacks is only like the brilliance of a cat that drinks milk left on the doorstep...if the homeowner gets a fence, a dog and a gun, the cat won't be able to pull off such brilliant operations..
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 03:16 am
#228 Posted by pavocavalry on January 6, 2008 3:06:51 ami think the USA started firing the first shots from 1989.
really? how so?
at least we have to give credit to whoever did it for breaking he myth that the us mainland
they were only able to do that because the US gave the people visas and the hijackers used the visas to come in and attack people..
there is a very effective alternative...round up and deport every muslim in the US..then we'll see how many "myths" are broken...the reason that isn't done is because, the way things are, the american people won't stand for it..of course, if the jihadis set off a nuke or something, their tolerance level will change dramatically...hello internment camps..
so the "brilliance" of the 9/11 attacks is only like the brilliance of a cat that drinks milk left on the doorstep...if the homeowner gets a fence, a dog and a gun, the cat won't be able to pull off such brilliant operations..
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
Suicide bombings are the most ineffective weapons used in a conflict.
Suicide bombings only seem effective against forces of democratic government because the people in these countries would not accept their army kicking up the brutalities up a notch.
at some point, the army that is the target of the suicide bombing, will stop caring about collateral damage...
take a look at saddam's army...no suicide bombing problem in iraq...if one nut blew himself up, saddam would have executed his whole village.
the israelis are hurting because the israeli people won't let their army do what needs to be done..kick it up a notch...widespread instead of targeted retribution..
regardless, the facts on the ground are clear...chechniya, kashmir, israel, iraq, afghanistan, sri lanka etc...hmm..all the "occupation forces" are still around...
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 03:11 am
#189 Posted by Ranjit on January 5, 2008 11:09:41 pmSuicide bombings are the most ineffective weapons used in a conflict.
Suicide bombings only seem effective against forces of democratic government because the people in these countries would not accept their army kicking up the brutalities up a notch.
at some point, the army that is the target of the suicide bombing, will stop caring about collateral damage...
take a look at saddam's army...no suicide bombing problem in iraq...if one nut blew himself up, saddam would have executed his whole village.
the israelis are hurting because the israeli people won't let their army do what needs to be done..kick it up a notch...widespread instead of targeted retribution..
regardless, the facts on the ground are clear...chechniya, kashmir, israel, iraq, afghanistan, sri lanka etc...hmm..all the "occupation forces" are still around...
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
first they were after USSR , now against Islam
huh? what about that little incident with the planes flying into buildings?
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 6, 2008 03:02 am
#176 Posted by pavocavalry on January 5, 2008 9:54:17 pmfirst they were after USSR , now against Islam
huh? what about that little incident with the planes flying into buildings?
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
U.S. Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan
By STEVEN LEE MYERS, DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
This article is by Eric Schmitt, David E. Sanger and Steven Lee Myers.
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The debate is in response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts to destabilize the Pakistani government, according to several senior administration officials.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met at the White House on Friday to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of Pakistan’s opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Several of the participants in the meeting argued that the threat to the government of President Pervez Musharraf is now so grave that both Mr. Musharraf and Pakistan’s new military leadership are likely to give the United States more latitude, officials said. But no decisions were made, said the officials, who declined to speak on the record because of the highly delicate nature of the discussions.
The specifics of the option under discussion are unclear, and may not have been decided. But they would involve the C.I.A. working with the military’s Special Operations forces.
The Bush administration has not formally presented any new options to Mr. Musharraf, who gave up his military role last month, or to his successor as the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who the White House thinks will be more sympathetic to the American position than Mr. Musharraf. General Kayani was an aide to Ms. Bhutto early in his career, and later led the Pakistani intelligence service.
But from the White House to the Pentagon, officials see an opportunity in the changing power structure for the Americans to advocate for the expanded authority in the nuclear-armed country. “After years of focusing on Afghanistan, we think the extremists now see a chance for the big prize — creating chaos in Pakistan itself,” one senior official said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was on vacation last week and did not attend the White House meeting, said in late December that “Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people.”
In the past, the administration has largely stayed out of the tribal areas, in part for fear that exposure of any American-led operations there would so embarrass the Musharraf government that it could further empower his critics, who have declared that the Pakistani leader was too close to Washington.
Even now, according to officials, some in the State Department are arguing that American-led military operations on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan could result in a tremendous backlash, and could ultimately do more harm than good. That is particularly true, they said, if Americans were captured or killed in the territory.
In part, the White House discussions may be driven by a desire for another effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al- Zawahri. Currently, C.I.A. operatives and Special Operations forces have limited authorities to conduct counterterrorism missions in Pakistan based on specific intelligence about the whereabouts of those two men, who have eluded the Bush administration for more than six years, or of other members of the terrorist organization hiding in or near the tribal areas.
The C.I.A. has launched missiles from Predator aircraft in the tribal areas several times, with varying degrees of success. Intelligence officials said they believed that in January 2006, an airstrike narrowly missed killing Mr. Zawahri, who had attended a dinner in Damadola, a Pakistani village. But that, apparently, was the last real evidence American officials had about the whereabouts of their chief targets.
The new options for expanded covert operations include loosening the reins of the C.I.A. to strike selected targets in Pakistan, in some cases using intelligence provided by Pakistani sources, officials said. Under current law, most counterterrorism operations in Pakistan have to be conducted by the C.I.A.; in Afghanistan, where military operations are under way, including with NATO forces, the military can take the lead.
The legal status would not change if the administration decided to act more aggressively. However, if the C.I.A. were given broader authority, it could call for help from the military, or deputize some Special Operations forces to act under the authority of the agency.
The United States now has about 50 troops in Pakistan. Any expanded operations using C.I.A. operatives or Special Operations forces, like Navy Seals, would be small and tailored to specific missions, military officials said.
Critics said more direct American military action would be ineffective, anger the Pakistani Army and drive up support for the militants. “I’m not arguing that you leave Al Qaeda and the Taliban unmolested, but I’d be very, very cautious about approaches that could play into hands of enemies and be counterproductive,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. Similar warnings have been issued by some American diplomats in South Asia, officials said.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a leading Pakistani military and political analyst, said that raids by American troops would spark a powerful popular backlash against Mr. Musharraf and the United States.
In the wake of the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many Pakistanis suspect that the United States is trying to dominate Pakistan as well, he said. Mr. Musharraf — who is already widely unpopular — would lose even more popular support.
“At the moment when Musharraf is extremely unpopular, he will face more crisis,” Mr. Rizvi said. “This will weaken Musharraf in a Pakistani context.” He said that such raids would be seen as vote of no confidence in the Pakistani military in general, including General Kayani.
The meeting on Friday, which was not publicly announced, included Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top intelligence officials.
Spokesmen for the White House, the C.I.A., and the Pentagon declined to discuss the meeting, citing a policy against doing so, but the discussion reflected an urgent concern that a new Qaeda haven was solidifying in parts of Pakistan and needed to be countered, one official said. There was also discussion of how to handle the period between now and the Feb. 18 elections, and the aftermath of those elections.
Although some officials and experts have criticized Mr. Musharraf and questioned his ability to take on extremists, Mr. Bush himself has remained steadfast in his support, and it is unlikely any new measures, including direct American military action inside Pakistan, would be approved without Mr. Musharraf’s consent.
“I’ve always been a supporter of President Musharraf,” Mr. Bush said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. “I believe he is strong in the war on terror. He understands clearly the risks of dealing with extremists and terrorists. After all, they’ve tried to kill him.”
The Pakistan government has identified a militant leader with links to Al Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud, who holds sway in tribal areas near the Afghanistan border, as the chief suspect behind the attack on Ms. Bhutto. American officials are not certain about Mr. Mehsud’s complicity but said the threat he and other militants posed was a new focus — even though he is not a member of al Qaeda, and is a Pashtun. He is considered, they said, an “Al Qaeda associate.”
In an interview with foreign journalists on Thursday, Mr. Musharraf warned of the risk any counterterrorism forces — American or Pakistani — faced in confronting Mr. Mehsud in his native tribal areas.
“He is in South Waziristan agency, and let me tell you, getting him in that place means battling against thousands of people, hundreds of people who are his followers, the Mehsud tribe, if you get to him, and it will mean collateral damage,” Mr. Musharraf said.
The next few weeks before parliamentary elections — which were originally scheduled for Tuesday — are seen as a critical period because of threats by extremists to disrupt the vote. But it seemed unlikely that any additional American effort would be approved and put in place in that time frame.
Administration aides said that Pakistani and American officials shared the concern about a resurgent Al Qaeda, and that American diplomats and senior military officers had been working closely with their Pakistani counterparts to help bolster Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations.
Shortly after Ms. Bhutto’s assassination, Adm. William J. Fallon, who oversees American military operations in Southwest Asia, telephoned his Pakistani counterparts to ensure that counterterrorism and logistics operations, like trucking in fuel and supplies for American operations in Afghanistan through Pakistan, remained on track.
In early December, Adm. Eric T. Olson, the new head of the Special Operations Command, paid his second visit to Pakistan in three months to meet with senior Pakistani officers, including Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Admiral Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from border tribes that the United States is planning to help train and equip.
But the Pakistanis are still years away from fielding an effective counterinsurgency force, and some senior American officials have voiced concerns that the United States may have to take direct action against militants in the largely ungoverned tribal areas.
So far, American officials said the crisis surrounding Ms. Bhutto’s assassination had not diminished the Pakistani counterterrorism operations, and there were no signs that Mr. Musharraf had pulled out any of the 100,000 Pakistani forces deployed in the tribal areas to help police urban unrest.
Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Islamabad, and David Rohde from New York.
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 5, 2008 06:56 pm
play with the islamic terrorism snake....get bit..U.S. Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan
By STEVEN LEE MYERS, DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
This article is by Eric Schmitt, David E. Sanger and Steven Lee Myers.
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The debate is in response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts to destabilize the Pakistani government, according to several senior administration officials.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met at the White House on Friday to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of Pakistan’s opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Several of the participants in the meeting argued that the threat to the government of President Pervez Musharraf is now so grave that both Mr. Musharraf and Pakistan’s new military leadership are likely to give the United States more latitude, officials said. But no decisions were made, said the officials, who declined to speak on the record because of the highly delicate nature of the discussions.
The specifics of the option under discussion are unclear, and may not have been decided. But they would involve the C.I.A. working with the military’s Special Operations forces.
The Bush administration has not formally presented any new options to Mr. Musharraf, who gave up his military role last month, or to his successor as the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who the White House thinks will be more sympathetic to the American position than Mr. Musharraf. General Kayani was an aide to Ms. Bhutto early in his career, and later led the Pakistani intelligence service.
But from the White House to the Pentagon, officials see an opportunity in the changing power structure for the Americans to advocate for the expanded authority in the nuclear-armed country. “After years of focusing on Afghanistan, we think the extremists now see a chance for the big prize — creating chaos in Pakistan itself,” one senior official said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was on vacation last week and did not attend the White House meeting, said in late December that “Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people.”
In the past, the administration has largely stayed out of the tribal areas, in part for fear that exposure of any American-led operations there would so embarrass the Musharraf government that it could further empower his critics, who have declared that the Pakistani leader was too close to Washington.
Even now, according to officials, some in the State Department are arguing that American-led military operations on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan could result in a tremendous backlash, and could ultimately do more harm than good. That is particularly true, they said, if Americans were captured or killed in the territory.
In part, the White House discussions may be driven by a desire for another effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al- Zawahri. Currently, C.I.A. operatives and Special Operations forces have limited authorities to conduct counterterrorism missions in Pakistan based on specific intelligence about the whereabouts of those two men, who have eluded the Bush administration for more than six years, or of other members of the terrorist organization hiding in or near the tribal areas.
The C.I.A. has launched missiles from Predator aircraft in the tribal areas several times, with varying degrees of success. Intelligence officials said they believed that in January 2006, an airstrike narrowly missed killing Mr. Zawahri, who had attended a dinner in Damadola, a Pakistani village. But that, apparently, was the last real evidence American officials had about the whereabouts of their chief targets.
The new options for expanded covert operations include loosening the reins of the C.I.A. to strike selected targets in Pakistan, in some cases using intelligence provided by Pakistani sources, officials said. Under current law, most counterterrorism operations in Pakistan have to be conducted by the C.I.A.; in Afghanistan, where military operations are under way, including with NATO forces, the military can take the lead.
The legal status would not change if the administration decided to act more aggressively. However, if the C.I.A. were given broader authority, it could call for help from the military, or deputize some Special Operations forces to act under the authority of the agency.
The United States now has about 50 troops in Pakistan. Any expanded operations using C.I.A. operatives or Special Operations forces, like Navy Seals, would be small and tailored to specific missions, military officials said.
Critics said more direct American military action would be ineffective, anger the Pakistani Army and drive up support for the militants. “I’m not arguing that you leave Al Qaeda and the Taliban unmolested, but I’d be very, very cautious about approaches that could play into hands of enemies and be counterproductive,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. Similar warnings have been issued by some American diplomats in South Asia, officials said.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a leading Pakistani military and political analyst, said that raids by American troops would spark a powerful popular backlash against Mr. Musharraf and the United States.
In the wake of the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many Pakistanis suspect that the United States is trying to dominate Pakistan as well, he said. Mr. Musharraf — who is already widely unpopular — would lose even more popular support.
“At the moment when Musharraf is extremely unpopular, he will face more crisis,” Mr. Rizvi said. “This will weaken Musharraf in a Pakistani context.” He said that such raids would be seen as vote of no confidence in the Pakistani military in general, including General Kayani.
The meeting on Friday, which was not publicly announced, included Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top intelligence officials.
Spokesmen for the White House, the C.I.A., and the Pentagon declined to discuss the meeting, citing a policy against doing so, but the discussion reflected an urgent concern that a new Qaeda haven was solidifying in parts of Pakistan and needed to be countered, one official said. There was also discussion of how to handle the period between now and the Feb. 18 elections, and the aftermath of those elections.
Although some officials and experts have criticized Mr. Musharraf and questioned his ability to take on extremists, Mr. Bush himself has remained steadfast in his support, and it is unlikely any new measures, including direct American military action inside Pakistan, would be approved without Mr. Musharraf’s consent.
“I’ve always been a supporter of President Musharraf,” Mr. Bush said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. “I believe he is strong in the war on terror. He understands clearly the risks of dealing with extremists and terrorists. After all, they’ve tried to kill him.”
The Pakistan government has identified a militant leader with links to Al Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud, who holds sway in tribal areas near the Afghanistan border, as the chief suspect behind the attack on Ms. Bhutto. American officials are not certain about Mr. Mehsud’s complicity but said the threat he and other militants posed was a new focus — even though he is not a member of al Qaeda, and is a Pashtun. He is considered, they said, an “Al Qaeda associate.”
In an interview with foreign journalists on Thursday, Mr. Musharraf warned of the risk any counterterrorism forces — American or Pakistani — faced in confronting Mr. Mehsud in his native tribal areas.
“He is in South Waziristan agency, and let me tell you, getting him in that place means battling against thousands of people, hundreds of people who are his followers, the Mehsud tribe, if you get to him, and it will mean collateral damage,” Mr. Musharraf said.
The next few weeks before parliamentary elections — which were originally scheduled for Tuesday — are seen as a critical period because of threats by extremists to disrupt the vote. But it seemed unlikely that any additional American effort would be approved and put in place in that time frame.
Administration aides said that Pakistani and American officials shared the concern about a resurgent Al Qaeda, and that American diplomats and senior military officers had been working closely with their Pakistani counterparts to help bolster Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations.
Shortly after Ms. Bhutto’s assassination, Adm. William J. Fallon, who oversees American military operations in Southwest Asia, telephoned his Pakistani counterparts to ensure that counterterrorism and logistics operations, like trucking in fuel and supplies for American operations in Afghanistan through Pakistan, remained on track.
In early December, Adm. Eric T. Olson, the new head of the Special Operations Command, paid his second visit to Pakistan in three months to meet with senior Pakistani officers, including Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Admiral Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from border tribes that the United States is planning to help train and equip.
But the Pakistanis are still years away from fielding an effective counterinsurgency force, and some senior American officials have voiced concerns that the United States may have to take direct action against militants in the largely ungoverned tribal areas.
So far, American officials said the crisis surrounding Ms. Bhutto’s assassination had not diminished the Pakistani counterterrorism operations, and there were no signs that Mr. Musharraf had pulled out any of the 100,000 Pakistani forces deployed in the tribal areas to help police urban unrest.
Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Islamabad, and David Rohde from New York.
This Pyre Will Burn…!
Pakistan, OTOH, has blown past 9% in the past years and Pakistani companies are on a roll...
oh...wait..
7.2pc growth target unlikely, says SBP
* Central bank report says annual inflation may rise to 7.5 percent
* Economy faces challenges including large current account deficit
By Mushfiq Ahmad
KARACHI: The country is likely to miss its GDP growth target of 7.2 percent, and is expected to end the financial year with a 6.6-7.0 percent growth, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Saturday.
Inflation: It said annual inflation might rise to 7.5 percent in 2007/08, as the target is 6.5 percent.
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 5, 2008 04:08 pm
Yup....jihadi sure is bleeding india...with Uncle Sam's support after 9/11, kashmir will soon banega pakistan..Pakistan, OTOH, has blown past 9% in the past years and Pakistani companies are on a roll...
oh...wait..
7.2pc growth target unlikely, says SBP
* Central bank report says annual inflation may rise to 7.5 percent
* Economy faces challenges including large current account deficit
By Mushfiq Ahmad
KARACHI: The country is likely to miss its GDP growth target of 7.2 percent, and is expected to end the financial year with a 6.6-7.0 percent growth, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Saturday.
Inflation: It said annual inflation might rise to 7.5 percent in 2007/08, as the target is 6.5 percent.
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
Jinnah (who had bent over backwards to keep India United
I, for one, am thankful that his efforts failed...
Thanks to jinnah, we now have a clear distinction..
one nation associated with IT and the other associated with the other IT(yup..that's islamic terrorism, regardless of what anthony mitchell said in 2004)...
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 5, 2008 04:58 am
#112 Posted by MantoLives on January 5, 2008 4:36:28 amJinnah (who had bent over backwards to keep India United
I, for one, am thankful that his efforts failed...
Thanks to jinnah, we now have a clear distinction..
one nation associated with IT and the other associated with the other IT(yup..that's islamic terrorism, regardless of what anthony mitchell said in 2004)...
Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan
AFP
200 Taliban rebels killed in Musa Qala operation: Afghan official
KABUL (AFP) - More than 200 militants were killed in last month's major operation to retake the southern Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala, the Afghan defence ministry said Thursday.
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Seventeen Taliban commanders were among the dead following the military operation to drive out the rebels who had held the small town in volatile Helmand province for 10 months, the ministry said.
"This is an assessed death toll. Now we know that over 200 Taliban were killed within the frame of operation Musa Qala," said senior defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
"Seventeen of them were Taliban commanders," he added, declining to provide details. At least four civilians were also killed in the fighting, he said.
Afghan military forces backed by the mainly British NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) captured the trouble-torn town in December in what they said was the year's biggest operation.
Posted by
arjun_2
Jan 5, 2008 04:44 am
200*72 you know what...AFP
200 Taliban rebels killed in Musa Qala operation: Afghan official
KABUL (AFP) - More than 200 militants were killed in last month's major operation to retake the southern Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala, the Afghan defence ministry said Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Seventeen Taliban commanders were among the dead following the military operation to drive out the rebels who had held the small town in volatile Helmand province for 10 months, the ministry said.
"This is an assessed death toll. Now we know that over 200 Taliban were killed within the frame of operation Musa Qala," said senior defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
"Seventeen of them were Taliban commanders," he added, declining to provide details. At least four civilians were also killed in the fighting, he said.
Afghan military forces backed by the mainly British NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) captured the trouble-torn town in December in what they said was the year's biggest operation.
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