President Barack Obama Team On Wrong Foot with Pakistan?

President Barack Obama Team On Wrong Foot with Pakistan?

*Analysis: The Obama Team is working in the right direction with Pakistan and have to put their foot down and require for accountability as the current government of Pakistan under Zardari were following the path of their predecessor Pervez Musharraf. Last eight years under Pervez Musharraf administration, Taliban and al Qaeda gathered memento in strength and he was milking U.S. for $10 billion in economic and military aid plus got large sum of foreign debts erased. Pakistan has to get it's agenda right, otherwise there is no solution to Afghan conflict.

One thing good, if Iran can be involved in Afghan theatre that would replace Pakistan and solve to a large extent Afghan conflict. Lastly, Afghan-Pak border must be sealed, unable Taliban to reinforce militants in Afghanistan and poppy cultivation eradicated, would stop Taliban revenue. (DTN Defense-Technology News)

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON — April 17, 2009: US President Barack Obama has made rooting out extremism from Pakistan a key priority, but experts from both countries warn that his team is off to a shaky start. Japan on Friday holds a major donors meeting for Pakistan, but Islamabad has already bristled at proposed conditions in the US aid package. US Army armored humvees patrol in Paktika province, situated along the Afghan-Pakistan border. US envoy Richard Holbrooke, who will take part in the Tokyo talks, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military commander, last week visited Islamabad, where they faced a storm of protest over US drone attacks that have killed both wanted militants and civilians. Pakistani analyst Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, was not charitable about the Obama team's debut in Islamabad. "This was probably the worst ever visit by an American team to South Asia in history," Nawaz said. "It was a complete disaster. "If this is how you are going to win friends, I just wonder how you are going to create enemies," Nawaz told a seminar at The Jamestown Foundation, another think-tank. Nawaz faulted Holbrooke and Mullen for publicly demanding that Pakistan's civilian President Asif Ali Zardari rein in elements of the intelligence service believed to support extremists. Obama has thrown his support behind a bill before Congress to pump 1.5 billion dollars annually into Pakistan for at least five years to build schools and infrastructure that can nurture democracy. With the United States in a painful recession, the Obama administration has made clear to US taxpayers that it would set benchmarks on Pakistan's progress in fighting extremism. But Nawaz said such conditions made the aid politically untenable for Zardari, widely seen to be in a weak position faced with Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence service. Ahmed Rashid, a leading Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert, said that the United States would do well to set more general parameters for aid. He said he was "absolutely shocked" by the conditions in drafts of the US congressional aid bill to his country. "No political government can accept a bill like this in Pakistan, even if it is on its knees -- which it is, economically speaking," Rashid said. Obama, announcing his new strategy last month, said that the United States should take a broader regional approach that encompasses both Pakistan and Afghanistan in the fight to eliminate Islamic extremism. Leading members of the Al-Qaeda movement -- including its leader Osama bin Laden -- are widely believed to be holed up in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas near the Afghanistan border. Pakistan was the premier supporter of the extremist Taliban regime in Afghanistan, but military ruler Pervez Musharraf switched sides overnight and became a key US ally after the September 11, 2011 attacks. Marin Strmecki of the Smith Richardson Foundation warned that the United States ran the risk of telling Pakistan that "having security problems in the region is a good way to get paid to alleviate the problem." The United States should instead signal that "we want to build a positive long-term relationship with Pakistan for its own sake" and only quietly lay out US goals for Islamabad to fight militants, Strmecki said. Obama has also backed a bill to give duty-free access to US markets for some goods made in the troubled tribal regions of Pakistan. Stephen P. Cohen, an expert on South Asia at the Brookings Institution, said that the United States has made excessive demands of a weak Pakistani leadership -- from fighting extremists to safeguarding its nuclear program to treating women better and reforming its economy. "We've asked the Pakistanis to do too much -- there are limits to what a government can do that can barely stay in power," Cohen said. "If we think that they can do everything, they will wind up doing nothing well."

Pakistani Taliban In Swat Say Won't Give Up Guns

Pakistani Taliban In Swat Say Won't Give Up Guns

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 16, 2009: Pakistani Taliban will not lay down their arms in a northwestern valley as part of a deal that included the introduction of sharia law but will take their "struggle" to new areas, a militant spokesman said on Wednesday.

President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, signed a regulation on Monday imposing Islamic sharia law in the Swat valley to end Taliban violence.

Pakistan's hard-line cleric Sufi Muhammad leaves Mingora with his supporters in Pakistani troubled valley of Swat on Thursday, April 9, 2009. A hard-line cleric who negotiated a peace accord that halted fighting between the Taliban and security forces in part of northwest Pakistan said Thursday he is leaving the region to protest the government's failure to impose Islamic law.

The strategy of appeasement has alarmed U.S. officials, while critics say the government has demonstrated a lack of capacity and will to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Details of the deal have not been made public but government officials backing the pact have said part of it was that militants would give up their arms.

But a Pakistani Taliban spokesman in the scenic valley, a one-time tourist destination 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, said they would be keeping their guns.

"Sharia doesn't permit us to lay down arms," Muslim Khan said by telephone. "If a government, either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies, it's out of the question that Taliban lay down their arms."

Surging violence across Pakistan and the spread of Taliban influence through the northwest are reviving concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally vital to efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

The government has struggled to come up with an effective strategy, alternating in different areas between military offensives and peace deals.But the militants have been gaining strength and violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has been on the rise.

MILITANTS TO AFGHANISTAN?

Some Taliban fighters last week moved out of Swat and into Buner district, only 100 km (60 miles) from Islamabad, and Khan said his men would push into new areas.

"When we achieve our goal at one place, there are other areas where we need to struggle for it," he said.

Militants infiltrated into Swat in 2007 from strongholds on the Afghan border to the west to support a radical cleric.

The White House voiced disappointment over the introduction of sharia law in Swat saying the decision went against U.S. goals of promoting democracy and human rights.

Visiting U.S. Senator John Kerry said late on Tuesday he was pessimistic about the pact: "I have serious reservations about whether or not it will hold."

The insurgency had made progress over the past few months and the government needed to act with urgency, he said. "I don't think that the effort has been resourced the way that it needs to be either in personnel or strategy," Kerry said.

Afghanistan said its security could be hurt by the deal in Swat, even though the valley is not on the Afghan border.

Khan said militants would go to Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces if Afghan Taliban called for help. "Our struggle is for a cause and that's to enforce Allah's rule on Allah's land. We will send mujahideen to Afghanistan if they demand them," he said.

One security analyst, retired Brigadier Syed Mehmood Shah, said peace could be found if the government disarmed the militants: "The agreement should be given a chance."But another said the Swat militants were part of an expanding network."

There is no comprehensive counter-insurgency strategy from the military or government. They are not taking it seriously," said Khadim Hussain of the Aryana Institute think-tank.

In a decision militants will welcome, the Supreme Court ordered the release on bail of a radical cleric held since just before soldiers stormed his Red Mosque complex in Islamabad in 2007 to clear out gunmen.

Taliban Execute Eloping Young Lovers In Afghanistan

Taliban Execute Eloping Young Lovers In Afghanistan

*Analysis: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has signed a regulation imposing Islamic sharia law in the Swat valley in the northwest of the country, as part of a deal to end Taliban violence. Under Taliban rule, there will be no music, any kind of entertainment, schools, women are not permitted to work or walk on the street alone....so on. The execution of the eloping young couple is just the beginning of Taliban's control, which would reflect in FATA tribal area. We feel sorry for the people of Pakistan, who are innocent victims of the future set forth making of Pakistan. (DTN Defense-Technology News)

(NSI News Source Info) April 15, 2009: A young couple who tried to elope in one of the most lawless and conservative parts of Afghanistan have been publicly executed by Taliban gunmen after their parents handed them over to be tried by insurgents. Officials from the south-western province of Nimroz say Gul Pecha, in her late teens, and her boyfriend Abdul Aziz, 21, were shot by a firing squad outside a mosque in their home village of Lokhi on Monday. Image taken from the Pakistani private Dawn News channel on April 4, 2009, shows a burqa-clad woman face down on the ground being held by her arms and feet by three men while a man flogs her in Swat valley. Pakistan ordered an investigation into the video of a woman being flogged in the former resort of Swat, where the government signed an agreement with a pro-Taliban cleric to allow sharia law. Apparently filmed on a mobile phone, the video shows two men pinning down the burqa-clad woman by her feet and shoulders, as a bearded man in a turban flogs her 34 times with a whip. The couple had fled to a nearby village and were planning to start a life together without the permission of their parents, according to the province's police chief Abdul Jabar Pardeli. But they were found by their parents and turned over to the Taliban, who held them for four days in Lokhi's mosque before putting them on trial. Ghulam Dastageer Azad, the governor of Nimroz, said the couple's execution was "against Islam, against the law and against the constitution". An unofficial justice system, often dispensing brutal punishment to people found guilty of petty crimes or breaking the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic values, has become the hallmark of areas where insurgents enjoy a high degree of influence. A recent report by a human rights group said the Taliban systematically terrorise civilians with threatening "night letters", executions and limb amputations in order to force communities not to support the government. Taliban commanders are even issued with manuals telling them what techniques to use and who to target. Officials say the couple's home district of Khash Rod is under almost complete Taliban control. Sadiq Chakhansor, the head of the provincial council, said he thought the couple were intending to flee to Iran, where many young people from the region grew up as refugees, enjoying a relatively liberal environment before returning to their much more restrictive homeland. Although the provincial governor, chief of police and leader of the local council all claimed Taliban gunmen were responsible for the murders, a spokesman for the movement denied Taliban involvement. "I have contacted our fighters in the area and I can say that none of them were involved," said Qari Yousuf Ahmadi. "But it was a very bad thing for these people to escape from their homes without permission and it is right that they should be punished according to Sharia law." There are almost no Afghan or foreign troops in Khash Rod, which is seen as a resting area and a passageway for militants moving through into neighbouring Helmand province where most of Britain's effort in the country is directed.

Pakistan: Taliban Begin Enforcing Islamic Law In Bajaur

Pakistan: Taliban Begin Enforcing Islamic Law In Bajaur

(NSI News Source Info) April 11, 2009: The Pakistani Taliban have begun enforcing Islamic law in the Bajaur tribal region even as scores of militants consolidated their hold on Buner district, located just 100 km from the federal capital. Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the militant commander in Bajaur Agency and a deputy of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, announced the decision to enforce Shariah in the region during a broadcast on his illegal FM radio station on Friday. Mohammad also barred women from stepping out of their homes without male relatives, banned shaving of beards and warned people against availing assistance from the Benazir Income Support Programme, a government project to provide financial aid to women. During a 40-minute speech on radio, Mohammad said he and his fighters would spare no effort to strictly implement Islamic laws in the region. The Taliban have formed an "action group" to ensure the enforcement of Shariah and to punish people who violate their edicts. Mohammad said that shaving of beards and men not wearing skull caps are "practices of Jews and their followers" which the Taliban would not allow in Bajaur. People who listened to his radio broadcast described Mohammad's tone as "aggressive". The militant commander also said people supporting the Benazir Income Support Programme and NGOs would be produced before Shariah courts. Pakistan's army soldiers patrol a road in Loisam town, in the Bajaur tribal region. Pakistani forces have turned the corner in the country's main front in its war against militancy with the capture of the strategically important village after heavy fighting, the commander of the operation said on Saturday. Meanwhile, scores of Taliban fighters from Swat who entered Buner district, located just 100 km from Islamabad, have begun consolidating their hold on the region and taking control of more areas, including the shrine of Sufi saint Pir Baba. Earlier, following peace talks with a tribal jirga, the militants had announced that they would pull out of Buner. The security forces offered no resistance as the militants took over more areas, the Dawn newspaper reported. "They have taken control of vast areas in Buner. They are freely moving around while police and other law enforcement personnel remain confined to their posts," said a man who lives near the shrine of Pir Baba. He said the militants had earlier announced that they would leave after holding a march in the area. Local residents said the militants had occupied the homes of influential people organising an anti-Taliban lashkar or militia and were patrolling the road leading to Daggar, the headquarters of Buner district. Militants set on fire TV sets, pictures and paintings and audio and video cassettes before Friday prayers. They locked the shrine of Pir Baba and stopped followers of the saint from visiting the site. The militants also delivered sermons in village mosques. A Pakistan's army soldier walks past damaged houses in Loisam town in the Bajaur tribal region. Pakistani forces have turned the corner in the country's main front in its war against militancy with the capture of a strategically important village after heavy fighting, the commander of the operation said on Saturday. "We have been asked by our seniors not to interfere with the Taliban," an officer of the Pir Baba police station told Dawn. He said the Taliban had advanced weapons, some of which he had "never seen before". The officer said the militants had not harmed anyone so far. "Their prime targets have already fled," he added. A militant spokesman announced that people who had fled the area should return to their homes. He warned that those who had taken up arms against the Tailban would not be spared. Local residents said the militants met hundreds of local people, especially youths, who remained with them the whole day. The Taliban were also seen patrolling several parts of Buner in vehicles they had captured. People flee from the troubled Bajaur region in Pakistan. About 100,000 Pakistani villagers have fled clashes between security forces and militants in the northwestern region raising the danger of a big humanitarian problem, a government official said on Friday. Security forces and militants have been fighting in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, since the militants attacked a security post last week. An official at the commissioner's office at Saidu Sharif in Swat had said on Thursday that the Taliban had agreed to leave Buner after talks with a peace mission of tribal elders. However, sources privy to the talks between the militants, administration officials and a local jirga said no agreement had been reached. :

Pakistan Displays Defiance In Washington

Pakistan Displays Defiance In Washington

*Pakistan: U.S. New Conditions Incorporated Into Pakistan Aid Bill....DTN Defense-Technology News April 10, 2009

*U.S. Envoy To Afghanistan And Pakistan Richard Holbrooke's Trip Exposes Standoff Between U.S., Pakistan....DTN Defense-Technology News April 9, 2009

*Pakistan's ISI Has Contacts With Extremists: US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates....DTN Defense-Technology News April 7, 2009

*Analysis: Pakistan is still in denial and living in a delusional world, it has to make up it's mind to fully control and administrate FATA tribal area and not to hand it over to Islamic extremist pro-Taliban group., otherwise there is no solution to ending Afghan conflict. (DTN Defense-Technology News)

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - April 11, 2009: Pakistan’s new found defiance against the United States was on full display in Washington on Thursday evening when Ambassador Husain Haqqani urged Americans not to attach ‘intrusive’ conditions to the aid they offer. ‘Once again there’s talk of fixing Afghanistan and Pakistan. ‘Once again there’s talk of fixing Afghanistan and Pakistan. Please do not fix us,’ said the ambassador in a joint appearance with his Afghan counterpart at a Washington think-tank, the Atlantic Council.

Please do not fix us,’ said the ambassador in a joint appearance with his Afghan counterpart at a Washington think-tank, the Atlantic Council. ‘The world is not a problem for America to fix. The world is a place for the Americans to understand.’

He also defended the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), an institution seen by civilian quarters in Islamabad as too intrusive and too politicized.

‘It is important that the institutions that are to be partners in this (anti-terrorism) effort do not start feeling under attack, whether it is ISI or the Pakistani military,’ he said.

‘Mistakes have been committed on all sides. But this lack of trust will be addressed by talking to us, not by beating down on us.’

Mr Haqqani said that the Pakistanis these days were very concerned about an ‘unbridled indictment’ of their security services, giving no credit to Pakistan for the efforts that have been made.

‘We lost a lot of people along the border with Afghanistan. We have become a major victim of terrorism. More Pakistanis have died as a result of terrorist incidents in the last two years than in any other country.’

Diplomatic observers noted that Pakistan’s new defiant posture is not an instant flare up of sentiments on the part of the Pakistani leaders.

The change of mood followed a collective decision of the government and the security establishment to adopt a tough posture.

No blank cheques When President Barack Obama announced his new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan late last month, telling Islamabad not to expect blank cheques from Washington, Ambassador Haqqani welcomed it as a step in the right direction.

He said Washington had consulted closely with Islamabad on formulating the policy and it was not formed in the clouds.

But on Thursday, he appeared offended with President Obama’s reprimand that the US will no more write blank cheques. ‘We will not accept a blank cheque, nor would we write any,’ said the Pakistani envoy.

Aid package Mr Haqqani, who until Thursday was all praise for a $7.5 billion aid package, trumpeting its introduction in the US Congress last week as a show of support for democracy in Pakistan, appeared much less enthusiastic while talking about the same package at the seminar.

Referring to the US government’s decision to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars to mismanaged corporations and risk-taking Wall Street brokers, the ambassador said Washington should re-think its priorities.

‘A company at the verge of failure is quite clearly able to get a bigger bailout than a nation that has been accused of failure,’ Mr Haqqani said. ‘That's something that in this town needs a review.’ He said investments in Pakistan's schools and infrastructure to help battle Al Qaeda and home-grown terrorists would be worth the money. Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the US is re-focusing efforts to fight the resurging Taliban and terrorism, deserve more than ‘some failed insurance company or some car company whose achievement is that they couldn't make cars that they could sell,’ he said.

Mr Haqqani said Pakistan will ask for its own ‘Marshall Plan’ — up to $30 billion in aid from its allies at the ‘Friends of Pakistan’ meeting in Tokyo on April 17.

Restrictions on Pakistan The Pakistani ambassador was also unhappy with the metrics and conditions attached to the aid to Pakistan, saying that they were too ‘intrusive.’

He urged Congress to revisit the bill and remove some of the recommended restrictions. Pakistan, he said, the importance of using the money accountably and effectively.

‘But there is a difference between accountability and intrusiveness. And that is something that needs to be understood,’ he said.

Regional contact group The ambassador also opposed President Obama’s suggestion to form a regional contact group for fighting extremists in the Pak-Afghan region, saying that such groups had been formed in the past as well but they did not succeed.

‘It is much better for us to be able to engage bilaterally with various regional powers instead of trying to create a new institutional mechanism which could run into some kind of logjam because there will be too many people, too many ideas.’

He explained that one of the reasons behind the many problems in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan since 1979 is that too many external actors have been involved. ‘Al Qaeda is an external actor.

Al Qaeda is not something that is indigenous to Pakistan and Afghanistan. These are people who came from outside, with an outside idea.’

Drone attacks

The ambassador said that Pakistan was not happy with the drone attacks because they did not show sufficient regard for Pakistan’s national sovereignty. ‘It will be easier for Pakistanis to accept the American technology being used to take out terrorists if it is done in partnership with Pakistan.’

There’s also concern on collateral damage, he said, explaining that the loss of life angers the people and provides opportunity to al-Qaeda for waging its propaganda.

‘The point is working out a mechanism whereby our concerns about sovereignty and collateral damage are addressed. We consider the US as partner and we expect them to consider us as partners,’ he said.