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WASHINGTON: The United States has come perilously close to calling Pakistan a terrorist state by alleging that the country’s spy agency ISI recently spirited Taliban leader Mullah Omar to Karachi to save him from American drone attacks in Quetta. In the most direct charge of its kind, current and former US intelligence officers are saying on background that the one-eyed leader and illiterate leader of the Afghan Taliban, ''has fled a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan and found refuge from potential US attacks in Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service.'' Washington believes that Omar was in...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta arrived in Pakistan Friday to discuss the issue of the location of the leadership of the Taliban with security officials. Panetta was to meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and top military and intelligence officials, Pakistan's The National newspaper reported. He is expected to discuss issues related to the leadership of the Taliban believed to be hiding in the tribal border regions along the Afghan border. Pakistani officials denied claims the leadership is in the area, the report said.

A suspected US drone aircraft fired two missiles in North Waziristan on Friday, killing eight people, the second such attack this week. Eight militants were killed in a US missile strike in northwest Pakistan on Friday, officials said. The United States has carried out 45 attacks with its pilotless, missile-firing aircraft in northwest Pakistan this year as its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan have faced an intensifying Taliban insurgency.

Obama 'shocker' leaves New Delhi confused, suspicious Last updated on: November 20, 2009 09:22 IST A week before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] and United States President Barack Obama's [ Images ] first high-level talks in Washington, India [ Images ] got a 'shocker' from Obama via Beijing [ Images ]. The joint statement issued by US and China, after the talks between Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, declared that both sides "support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan." This created much confusion and suspicion in New Delhi [ Images ]. "At a...

CHICAGO — One of two Chicago men accused of plotting an armed attack on a Danish newspaper may have been involved in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, authorities in that country say. The FBI for now is saying only that it has evidence David Coleman Headley was in contact with the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba — which the Indian government blames for the Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead and 308 wounded — while he allegedly planned and carried out reconnaissance this year near the newspaper offices in Copenhagen. Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were...

New Delhi: Angered by US President Barack Obama’s attempt to envisage a role for China in South Asia, India on Wednesday made it clear that it objects any move to give a wider footprint to China in the region. The Ministry of External Affairs said that it had objections to Obama giving China a greater role in South Asian affairs, adding a third country’s role cannot be envisaged in the bilateral relationships between countries of the region. The MEA further said a role for a third country in the region was not necessary and India was committed to resolving all...

The US has killed four Taliban fighters in just the second airstrike in Pakistan's tribal areas this month. Unmanned aircraft, likely remotely piloted Predator or Reaper drones, hit a Taliban compound in the village of Shanakhora, which lies six miles west of Miramshah in North Waziristan, with two Hellfire missiles. “It was a US drone attack which targeted a militant compound killing four militants and wounding five others,” a senior Pakistani security official in the region told AFP. “The compound was being used by Taliban militants, however it is not clear whether there were any foreign militants or high-value targets,”...

SARAROGHA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces have captured most main Taliban bases in their offensive in South Waziristan and will soon fan out into the rugged countryside to hunt for militants there, commanders said on Tuesday. Soldiers have advanced faster than expected in their month-long offensive, seizing main roads and Taliban bases but militant leaders have apparently melted away while their bombers have unleashed carnage in towns. The United States, weighing options for how to turn an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan, has welcomed the offensive but is keen to see Pakistan tackle Afghan Taliban factions based in lawless enclaves along...

One of the most wanted Taliban leaders in Pakistan has escaped to Afghanistan and is planning new attacks on Pakistani forces, he has told the BBC. Maulana Fazlullah founded the Swat Taliban to enforce a hardline version of Islamic law. The government at first accepted his demands, but later accused the militants of reneging on a peace deal and sent troops into the valley. Maulana Fazlullah was said by officials to have been wounded or killed in July. Threats "I have reached Afghanistan safely," Maulana Fazlullah told BBC Urdu. "We are soon going to launch full-fledged punitive raids against the...

The CIA has paid millions of dollars to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) since 9/11, "accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget", says a media report. The ISI also collected "tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA programme", which pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a newspaper reported on Monday citing current and former US officials. An intense debate has been triggered within the US government due to "long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban extremists who undermine US efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda...

Washington: US President Barack Obama has written a letter to his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, asking him to step up the offensive against the Taliban and al Qaeda. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Obama administration was leaning on Pakistan to step up its fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Obama’s National Security Adviser General James L. Jones was sent to Islamabad with a letter for Zardari, The New York Times quoted sources, as saying. “His (President Obama’s) message, officials said, was that the new American strategy would work only if Pakistan broadened its fight...

SNIPPET: "TERROR mastermind Rashid Rauf has been linked to a fresh Al Qaida plot to launch attacks on the US. The Birmingham-born extremist has been named by witnesses due to testify against Najibullah Zazi, who was arrested for plotting suicide bombings in New York. MI6 officers have linked the plot to a complex terror network said to be directed from Pakistan by Rauf and fellow jihadists. Zazi, 24, was identified through an intercepted communication, and was further implicated by US national Bryant Neal Vinas, who was captured in Pakistan last November. Vinas, 26, allegedly admits meeting Rauf and receiving training...

In light of the Holder KSM move. You know showing the world how wonderful this administration is and how this administration uses due process. I was wondering why Obama/Holder thinks that the bombing of a sovereign country (Pakistan) is ok? What legal right does he think we are legally operating under? Or for that matter why the Attorney General doesn't shut this down. Shouldn't we be using diplomtic due process with Pakistan instead of this cowboy diplomacy? It seems to me if you were the uber-liberal your head would be exploding over this. I think it's probably the correct thing...

SNIPPET: "An Irish jihadist living in Pakistan’s Swat valley says he is preparing to wage war against British and allied troops in Afghanistan. Khalid Kelly, a former altar boy from the Liberties area of Dublin who used to be known as Terry, told The Sunday Times he is undergoing weapons training in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region in order to fight jihad against the enemies of Islam. His dream is to face a British soldier in combat, although he would “settle” for an American, he said. “I’m already on the path to jihad. I’ve already picked up a gun and done...

No one should be surprised by this. But all the learned analysts who know how much we need Pakistan will be. Double Game Update: "Pakistani Army ran Muslim extremist training camps, says anti-terrorist expert," by Charles Bremner in the Times Online, November 14 (thanks to Kris): The Pakistani Army ran training camps for a Muslim extremist group, at least until recently, with the acceptance of the US Central Intelligence Agency, according to France's foremost anti-terrorist expert. Jean-Louis Bruguière, who retired in 2007 after 15 years as chief investigating judge for counter-terrorism, reached this conclusion after interrogating a French militant who...

"I decapitated with blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan," Mohammed said in a written declaration submitted to a military tribunal at Guantanamo last weekend. "For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Iternet holding his head," KSM said in his statement. US officials had told ABC News that identifying marks on the hand of the masked man holding Pearl's head matched those of KSM.

Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a former French investigative magistrate who specialized on al Qaeda and investigated the terror group in Pakistan, has more damning information on al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the groups' ties to each other and the Pakistani state. From Reuters: In an interview, Bruguiere said he was convinced Lashkar-e-Taiba, first set up to fight India in its part of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, had become part of an international network tied to al Qaeda. 'Lashkar-e-Taiba is no longer a Pakistani movement with only a Kashmir political or military agenda. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a member of al Qaeda. Lashkar-e-Taiba has...

How China gifted 50kg uranium for two bombs to Pakistan Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN 13 November 2009, WASHINGTON: China’s dirty little secret of nuclear proliferation to Pakistan, including virtually giving Islamabad two nuclear weapons on a platter while the US remained oblivious and smug, has exploded in Washington. Embarrassingly for President Barack Obama, the disclosures come on the eve of his much-anticipated visit to Beijing. The broad story is known to every Tom, Dinesh, and Hamid in strategic circles — that sometime in the early 1980s, China provided Pakistan with nuclear know-how and materials to enable it to make the bomb,...

A suicide car bomb devastated Pakistan's main spy agency building in the northwest city of Peshawar, striking at the heart of the institution overseeing much of the country's anti-terror campaign. At least 11 people have been confirmed dead and 39 injured in the blast, the police co-ordination officer Saebzada Anees confirmed. The attackers struck at the headquarters of the ISI intelligence agency, which was completely razed by the blast, in the city's most high security neighbourhood. The homes of the chief minister, provincial governor, the army corp commander and the American consultate are all close by.

President Barack Obama has demanded the inclusion of an exit plan in the new US strategy for Afghanistan. White House officials said that in a meeting with Pentagon chiefs Mr Obama had made clear he wants his decision on troop reinforcements to offer a strong suggestion of when and how responsibility for security would be turned over to the Afghans. After two months of discussions with his advisers he rejected all four options they had touted on the number of troops to be sent, in a surprise move that risked provoking further allegations of “dithering”. While he is still expected...

A nuclear power's act of proliferation Accounts by controversial scientist assert China gave Pakistan enough enriched uranium in '82 to make 2 bombs By R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 13, 2009 In 1982, a Pakistani military C-130 left the western Chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and provided to The Washington Post. The uranium transfer in five stainless-steel boxes was part of a broad-ranging, secret nuclear deal approved...

A year after 26/11, no takers for bodies of nine slain terrorists IANS 12 November 2009 MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Almost a year after they were killed during the terror assault on Mumbai last November, the bodies of the nine terrorists continue to remain in Mumbai's J.J. Hospital morgue. There are no claimants and the authorities are clueless on what to do with them. They continue to remain in a room sealed with round-the-clock security and where the temperature is set at four degrees Celsius to prevent any decomposition. The 10 gunmen killed over 170 people in a series of coordinated attacks...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Authorities say seven people have been killed and 35 wounded in a bomb blast outside the headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency in the northwest. The attack Friday took place in the city of Peshawar.

And the evidence mounts: Authorities have been examining whether Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan wired money to Pakistan in recent months, an action that one senior lawmaker said would raise serious questions about Hasan's possible connections to militant Islamic groups. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said sources "outside of the [intelligence] community" learned about Hasan's possible connections to the Asian country, which faces a massive Islamist insurgency and is widely believed to be Osama bin Laden's hiding place. Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, would not identify the sources. But he said "they are trying to...

China has agreed to sell Pakistan it's domestically designed J-10 fighter. China and Pakistan have also jointly developed the JF-17, and Pakistan is buying up to 300 of these. The J-10 is, on paper, superior to the JF-17. Pakistan would like to buy up to a hundred J-10s, but that will depend on whether the cash will be available. The first 36 J-10s bought will cost close to $39 million each (with spare parts and maintenance support.) China only publicly announced the J-10s status in January, 2007. What was not mentioned in the press releases was that only one J-10...

Despite the rash of information connecting Fort Hood Jihadist Nidal Malik Hasan to terrorist entities, our POTUS and the mainstream media still refuse to call the shooting and act of Islamist Terror. Their version of the story is, he was upset at the pressures of being an Army Psychiatrist and the prospect of being sent overseas to fight against other Muslims. He faced horrible discrimination from other soldiers, Major Hasan asked the Army to let him out of his service as a conscientious objector. When the Army said no, he snapped, went crazy and started killing. Of Course the record...

Pakistan and China have been cooperating for a number of years on the JF-17/ FC-1 Thunder, a low-medium performance, low-cost aircraft that has attracted interest and orders from a number of 3rd World air forces. In November 2009, a long-rumored deal was announced for China’s Jian-10/ FC-20 4+ generation fighter, whose overall performance compares well with the F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft that Pakistan has ordered from the United States. The J-10 has been reported as a derivative of the 1980s Israeli Lavi project, and reportedly incorporates an Israeli fly-by-wire control base that was transferred in the project’s early years. The...

Authorities have been examining whether Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan wired money to Pakistan in recent months, an action that one senior lawmaker said would raise serious questions about Hasan's possible connections to militant Islamic groups. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said sources "outside of the [intelligence] community" learned about Hasan's possible connections to the Asian country, which faces a massive Islamist insurgency and is widely believed to be Osama bin Laden's hiding place. Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, would not identify the sources. But he said "they are trying to follow up on it...

The ISI has influence over every terrorist group and uses this to its “advantage”, Pervez Musharraf has said in a rare admission that corroborates India’s suspicions of Pakistani hand in attacks. The former President debunked Pakistan’s oft-repeated position that its ISI had no role in terror activities across the border and claimed that the intelligence agency was effective because of such influence — which he chose to describe by using the word “ingress”. “Always, in every group, there is an ingress of the ISI. And that is the efficiency, the effectiveness of the ISI. You must have ingress, so that...

Intel team returns home after US snub CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA, TNN 11 November 2009, 01:16am IST WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: In a show of miscommunication if not outright discord between Washington and New Delhi, an Indian intelligence team returned home on Tuesday after being denied access to question two Pakistani expatriates accused of plotting terrorist attacks in India. The Indian team had rushed to the US after the FBI last month apprehended Dave Headley alias Daood Gilani and Rana Tawassur in hopes of questioning them about their links to Pakistani terrorist organizations outlined in the FBI affidavit, and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks....

Report: Pakistani president suspected of graft in submarine sale South Asia News Nov 10, 2009, 10:56 GMT Paris - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to the Pakistani Navy, the daily Liberation reported Tuesday. In addition, investigators believe that the non-payment of the full amount of the agreed kickbacks may have led to the deaths of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in the city of Karachi. In the report, Liberation says it acquired documents that allegedly show that Zardari received...

China set to take on Obama by selling advanced jets to Pakistan Saibal Dasgupta, TNN 11 November 2009, BEIJING: China has sent out an interesting signal ahead of US president Barack Obama's scheduled visit to Beijing by offering a set of advanced fighter jets to Pakistan. It has agreed to sell $1.4 billion worth of jets to Islamabad days ahead of the planned visit of the US president Barack Obama to Shanghai and Beijing on November 15-18. The move is expected to jolt the US administration as it works on notes and talking points for Obama's meetings with Chinese leaders....

China has agreed to sell Pakistan at least 36 advanced fighter jets in a deal worth as much as $1.4bn, according to Pakistani and western officials. Beijing will supply two squadrons of the J-10 fighter jet in a preliminary agreement that could lead to more sales, said a Pakistani official. The official said Pakistan might buy “larger numbers” of the multi-role aircraft in the future, but dismissed reports that Islamabad had signed a deal to purchase as many as 150 of the fighter jets. Defence experts described the agreement with China as a landmark event in Pakistan’s defence relationship with...

Intel team returns home after US snub CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA, TNN 11 November 2009, 01:00am IST WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: In a show of miscommunication if not outright discord between Washington and New Delhi, an Indian intelligence team returned home on Tuesday after being denied access to question two Pakistani expatriates accused of plotting terrorist attacks in India. The Indian team had rushed to the US after the FBI last month apprehended Dave Headley alias Daood Gilani and Rana Tawassur in hopes of questioning them about their links to Pakistani terrorist organizations outlined in the FBI affidavit, and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. But...

"U.S. cites al-Qaida DVDs in pressing for suspect's detainment Chicago man allegedly plotted to attack Danish newspaper, target in India" SNIPPET: "A federal judge could decide on Nov. 19 whether to release Rana, owner of a Chicago Immigration business and a Grundy County meat processing plant, on bond pending trial." SNIPPET: "Last week prosecutors alleged that Rana and Headley, also of Chicago, had discussed targeting the National Defense College in India, a military school. Rana also allegedly told an associate of the Pakistani terror organization Lashkar-e-Taiba how to use loopholes in U.S. Immigration procedures to get others into the country...

A number of experts think the U.S. should abandon its “top down” strategy of building an Afghan national army and should switch to arming and paying local tribes to fight the Taliban. Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, appearing Thursday at a Capitol Hill conference sponsored by RAND, said he closely examined former Soviet counterinsurgencies in Poland and the Ukraine. In both cases, the Soviets successfully levered small, locally recruited militia forces to successfully battle numerically superior anti-regime insurgents. He warned of the perils of trying to police xenophobic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Pahstuns with an Afghan national army. A better...

policymakers continue to debate U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, we asked Rick Nelson, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to weigh in on the possibility of reconciling Taliban fighters, efforts to track down Al Qaeda and the potential risks that an escalation of the war in Afghanistan might pose to neighboring Pakistan. Nelson is a former Navy helicopter pilot with operational and intelligence experience in counterterrorism including assignments at the National Counterterrorism Center and National Security Council. Earlier this year, he returned from Afghanistan where he directed a Joint Task Force. Below is an email Q and...

Pakistan on Sunday angrily rejected a media report that raised fears of a militant takeover of the Taliban-hit nation's nuclear weapons and suggested that the US had a hand in protecting the arsenal. In the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that US officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for the nuclear arsenal in extreme circumstances. It also raised the possibility that the threat to the security of the nuclear programme might come not from Taliban rebels battling the government, but from a "mutiny" by fundamentalist elements within the powerful military....

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders — and tattoos — exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts. As surging militant violence grabs headlines around the world, Pakistan's top designers and models are taking part in the country's first-ever fashion week. While the mix of couture and ready-to-wear fashions would not have been out of place in Milan or New York, many designers made reference to the turmoil, reflecting the contradictions and tensions coursing through...

ISLAMABAD - Abdullah Abdullah, who this week withdrew from the presidential election runoff in Afghanistan, thereby handing victory to the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, did so under pressure from the United States, Asia Times Online has learned. In exchange for the pullout of the non-Pashtun Abdullah, Pakistan's military has agreed to actively mediate between Washington and the Taliban over a reconciliation plan that will allow the US to exit from Afghanistan, as it is doing in Iraq, with a semblance of success. A senior Pakistani diplomat involved in backchannel negotiations on Pakistan, Afghanistan and US relations told Asia Times Online on...

Thanks to a special emailer for pointing to this article: “He” Josy Joseph / DNASunday, November 8, 2009 2:38 IST SNIPPET: “New Delhi: The two terror suspects arrested in the US for plotting to strike targets in Denmark and India spent significant time in Mumbai before the 26/11 attacks, authoritative sources have told DNA. While one of them operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until the latter part of 2008, the other suspect spent 10 days in the city just days before the terror strike last November.” SNIPPET: “According to available information, David Coleman Headley, the...

Fashionistas defied militant threats to celebrate couture culture in a Taliban-troubled conservative nation plagued with Islamic extremism as the Pakistani fashion fraternity gathered in the country's largest city for Karachi Fashion Week (KFW) that started on Wednesday. Intricate and colourful fabrics lit up the catwalk as bold models shrugged off all security fears as well as local social norms. The fashion week has attracted 35 top Pakistani designers including Deepak Perwani and Maheen Khan, who recently attended Milan Fashion Week. But staging the fashion week in Karachi was not trouble-free. It was postponed by almost a month due to the...

In the protracted Washington debate over the war in Afghanistan, the most concise analysis so far has come from America’s top soldier: “If we don’t get a level of legitimacy and governance (there), then all the troops in the world aren’t going to make any difference.”Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was speaking two days after Hamid Karzai was declared the winner, by default, in August elections so massively rigged that a U.N.-backed electoral complaints committee threw out about a million Karzai votes. That forced a run-off from which his challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles on Thursday into North Waziristan, a major al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary in northwest Pakistan, killing two people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say. Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar. The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear's den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah. News of the attack emerged when their...

Here is an interesting tidbit of information from the charge sheet against David Coleman Headley, the US jihadi indicted for plotting attacks in Denmark. Headley traveled to North Waziristan and afterward offered his view on the number of al Qaeda and other foreign jihadis in the tribal agencies' largest towns (in response to a think tank survey that said a significant number of people in the northwest approved of the Predator attacks against al Qaeda):

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The Oct. 9 Congressional Research Office report "Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security and U.S. Policy" says that from 2003-08 the United States spent nearly $10 billion training and equipping the current Afghan National Army force of roughly 90,000 soldiers. That is approximately $110,000 per soldier. In his Aug. 30 report U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal states that the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are not sufficiently effective to take ownership of Afghanistan's security. One of his four main pillars to accomplish the mission and defeat the insurgency is to increase the size of the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Man Admits Using Alias for Immigration Status COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated today that Sohail Feroz Ali Dossani, a/k/a Sohail Muhammad Jamal, age 29, a Pakistani national located in Florence, pled guilty to filing false statements to gain entry and citizenship, a violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1306(c). United States Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Rogers, III, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office. Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established...

As Pakistani troops advance through South Waziristan, they are coming across quickly abandoned facilities apparently long used by Islamic terror organizations. South Waziristan, and its pro-Taliban Mehsud tribe, has long been a place where government officials only went with permission of the locals. And the locals apparently believed their own propaganda that government troops would not get far if they tried to invade the area. Army artillery and helicopter gunships, aided by air force fighter-bombers, proved more than a match for the tribal warriors, who soon fled to the safer hills. The Islamic terrorists fled with them, often failing to...