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Former army chief General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has said that Pak-US relations have reached a critical stage and it's time Pakistan took a decisive action in this regard. Speaking exclusively to Geo News on Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath, Musharraf said that the time has come for the army and ISI to come down the fence and decide to take or not to take action against Haqqani network. Otherwise, things may take a turn for worse, he said, adding indecisiveness is not going to help the situation at all. Musharraf went on to say that Pakistan should boldly take US...

Mohamed al Zawahiri and seven others were cleared of terrorism charges by an Egyptian military court, according to Reuters. Zawahiri is the brother of Al Qaeda's current leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, who acted as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man for years before bin Laden's death. The court overturned an earlier conviction of Zawahiri and the others based on charges of "committing terrorist crimes, harming national security, and planning to overthrow the state," lawyer Mamdouh Ismail told Reuters. The case was 14 years old, and also involved another prominent person, Mohamed al Islambouli, the brother of Khalid al Islambouli, the man...

The Obama administration declared Friday that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network of militants is a terrorist body despite misgivings about how the largely symbolic act could further stall planned Afghan peace talks or put yet another chill on the United States' already fragile counterterrorism alliance with Islamabad. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision, signed Friday ahead of a Sunday deadline set by Congress, bans Americans from doing business with members of the group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States. The order, which will go into effect within 10 days, completes an odyssey of sorts for the...

For the past two years, the Obama Administration has pursued on-again, off-again reconciliation talks with Taliban leaders in an effort to bring an end to the Afghan war. As part of this process, it has wrestled with how to handle the Haqqani network, a Taliban affiliate organization headquartered in Pakistan’s tribal border areas that has extensive influence in eastern Afghanistan and is responsible for some of the most vicious attacks against coalition forces. Congress recently passed legislation, which President Obama signed into law on August 10, requiring the Administration to determine within 30 days whether the Haqqani network should officially...

A recent article published by the Heritage Foundation calls on the Obama administration to officially designate the Haqqani network, the deadliest militant group in Af-Pak and a close ally of the Taliban, as a terrorist organization. The Congress recently passed a bill requiring the administration to either designate the group a terrorist organization within 30 days, or provide a detailed explanation if it chooses not to. The administration has been divided over the issue, with some arguing against the designation as the group would be crucial to any future negotiated settlement. The article, authored by Lisa Curtis, asserts that ruling...

Excerpted from ABC News: U.S. officials said today that an American drone strike likely took out a top commander of a powerful militant group the U.S. says is responsible for deadly, high-profile terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. Badruddin Haqqani, described by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point as the “chief of operations” of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, had been reported killed last week in a drone strike. After those reports, however, a Taliban spokesperson denied Badruddin’s death, saying in an email to reporters that he was alive and well in Afghanistan. Today two U.S. officials, including a senior American diplomat,...

A volley of C.I.A. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt early Friday killed at least 18 people, security officials said, capping a week of missile attacks that have renewed tensions between Pakistan and the United States, but may have killed a major militant leader. Senior American officials said they had strong indications that Badruddin Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani network, which is responsible for some of the most spectacular assaults on American bases and Afghan cities in recent years, was killed in a drone strike this week.

Al-Qaeda names Zawahiri to succeed bin Laden By Lynne Nahhas (AFP) – 7 hours ago DUBAI — Al-Qaeda on Thursday named Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri to succeed slain leader Osama bin Laden and vowed no let-up in its deadly "jihad" against arch-foes the United States and Israel. "The general command of Al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the jihadist network said in a statement posted on an Islamist website. Zawahiri, the group's long-time number two, succeeds bin Laden who was killed by US commandos in a May 2 raid in Pakistan....

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone attack targeting a militant compound killed 10 insurgents in a troubled Pakistani tribal region on Wednesday, security officials said. Moreover, a BBC Urdu report quoted local authorities as saying that those killed in the strike were militants from the Haqqani network. Two missiles hit the compound located in Tappi, 10 kilometres southeast of Miramshah, the main town in volatile North Waziristan near the Afghan border, a military official in Peshawar said. “The attack triggered fire in the compound and 10 militants were killed,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised...

As if the Taliban wasn’t bad enough. KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday confirmed a meeting with the Haqqani insurgent group, as signs of a dialogue between the United States and rebels continue to grow. ‘We had one meeting with Haqqani network,’ Marc Grossman told a news conference in Kabul. His remarks come after US and the Taliban militants confirmed preliminary talks for opening an liaison office for the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha – increasing speculation of an end to the decade-long bloody insurgency in this war-torn country.

The AP reported last week that "U.S. officials from the State Department and White House plan to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives." The AP report went on to say that "one member of the Taliban negotiating team has been publicly identified as Tayyab Aga [Agha], an emissary of Pakistan-based Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar." But sadly, and ironically, while the Obama administration is desperately reaching out to Mullah Omar, Mr. Omar is strengthening his resolve to kill US troops and to wreak havoc upon Afghanistan. From the Times of India: Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network leader in the Sabari district of Afghanistan’s Khost province yesterday, military officials reported. The Haqqani leader distributed bombs and coordinated attacks against Afghan forces. Several suspects were detained during the operation. In other Afghanistan operations yesterday: -- In the Aliabad district of Kunduz province, a combined force detained two suspects while searching for a Taliban leader who coordinates attacks with other insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan. -- A combined force detained multiple suspects during a search for a Taliban leader in the Marja district...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that the United States had held a preliminary meeting with representatives of the Haqqani network, a group of militants Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan. The revelation came soon after Clinton, in Islamabad with a heavyweight team of U.S. military and intelligence leaders, warned that tough action would have to be taken against Afghan and Pakistani militants if they did not cooperate in efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and pursue peace. Clinton was asked at a roundtable with journalists about reports that U.S. officials had met with Haqqani representatives directly,...

Mr Musharaff told The Daily Telegraph that it was important for his country to spell out to the world why the Haqqani network was being allowed to operate on its soil... "Certainly if Afghanistan is being used by India to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan, we would like to prevent that." He said the Haqqani group was the source of a "terrible" lack of trust and confidence and added: "The United States must understand Pakistan has its own national interest. The United States must accept the compulsions of Pakistan and give assurances." ... Mr Musharraf said Pakistan must "talk straight" about...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US missile strike killed at least six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the third such American missile attack in as many days. The officials said four missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region. The strike was targeting fighters of Maulvi Nazir, a militant commander who is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to direct cross-border attacks, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nazir is believed to have an agreement with...

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO captured a senior leader of the Al Qaeda- and Taliban-allied Haqqani network active inside Afghanistan, the alliance said Saturday, describing it as a "significant milestone" in disrupting the terror group's operations. NATO said Haji Mali Khan was seized Tuesday during an operation in eastern Paktia province's Jani Khel district, which borders Pakistan. It was the most significant capture of a Haqqani leader in Afghanistan, and could dent the group's ability to operate along the porous border with Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. State Department announced this week that it finally is going to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, it was a nonevent for most of our countrymen. That's because few Americans know how deadly the organization is. For that we can thank those at Foggy Bottom who are wedded to the naive hope of a near-term "diplomatic breakthrough" in Afghanistan. Couple that misguided belief with the Obama administration's self-deception that the radical Islamic jihad against the West ended with the demise of Osama bin Laden and it's understandable why the Haqqani network...

WASHINGTON — They are the Sopranos of the Afghanistan war, a ruthless crime family that built an empire out of kidnapping, extortion, smuggling, even trucking. They have trafficked in precious gems, stolen lumber and demanded protection money from businesses building roads and schools with American reconstruction funds. They safeguard their mountainous turf by planting deadly roadside bombs and shelling remote American military bases. And they are accused by American officials of being guns for hire: a proxy force used by the Pakistani intelligence service to carry out grisly, high-profile attacks in Kabul and throughout the country. Today, American intelligence and...

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad said in remarks broadcast Saturday that there is evidence linking the Haqqani insurgent network to the Pakistani government, a charge that could raise tensions in an already strained anti-terror alliance between Washington and Islamabad. The U.S. and NATO blame the Haqqani network for many of the attacks in Afghanistan, including this week's strike on the U.S. Embassy. The group — affiliated with both the Taliban and al-Qaida — and its army of several thousand fighters is widely assumed to be based just over the Afghan border in Pakistan. U.S. officials have long...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 4, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained a Haqqani network leader yesterday during a security operation in the Sperah district of Afghanistan’s Khost province, military officials reported. The detained leader was responsible for directing more than 250 fighters, including Uzbek foreign fighters, in attacks against Afghan government officials and soldiers. He also planned and coordinated several attacks on the Sperah District Center. In other Afghanistan operations yesterday: -- In the Baghlan-e Jadid district of Baghlan province, an Afghan and coalition force detained a Taliban facilitator and an associate. The detained facilitator is linked...