Extremists won’t be allowed to impose their will: Zardari

President Asif Zardari said on Friday the government may hold talks to improve law and order in NWFP and FATA, but warned that extremist elements would not be allowed to impose their will by force. According to a private TV channel, the president told a meeting on law and order at Governor’s House in Peshawar that the country’s solidarity would be safeguarded. He said the NWFP was facing trained and well-organised militants, adding that law enforcement agencies would be strengthened to control militancy. According to another news channel, the president said no one would be allowed to destabilise the government. He said non-state actors were trying to rewrite the foreign policies of Pakistan and India through the Mumbai attacks, adding that this would not be permitted, APP reported. Earlier, the president was briefed about the overall law and order in NWFP and FATA, Online reported.

Job Losses in U.S. Spreading to Workers With College Degrees

In this recession, not even an education can shield you from losing your job.
The unemployment rate among workers with college degrees rose to 3.8 percent, the highest level since records began in 1992, the Labor Department reported today. The rate for workers with some college or an associate’s degree also climbed to a record, at 6.2 percent.“This particular recession is hitting workers with more levels of schooling harder than past recessions have hit them,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington research group typically aligned with the labor movement. “It’s just a deeper recession, it’s more widespread, its tentacles are reaching everywhere.”According to EPI data, the level of unemployment among people with college educations is the highest since January 1983. With banks merging and manufacturers like Caterpillar Inc. eliminating management positions, the ranks of college-educated unemployed may continue to grow, economists said.“This is a deeper recession and it has really accelerated over the last several months,” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project. “There will be income losses throughout the economy.”Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, dropped 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, following a 3.8 percent fall in the previous three-month period. It was the first time decreases exceeded 3 percent back-to-back since records began in 1947.
Job Losses
The U.S. lost 598,000 jobs in January and the total unemployment rate soared to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992, from 7.2 percent in December, the Labor Department said today.According to today’s report, 45.2 million workers, or 30 percent of the civilian labor force, have at least a bachelor’s degree. That was the biggest share of civilian workers.President Barack Obama today said rising U.S. unemployment shows the urgent need for government action on the economy and any delay of his stimulus plan in Congress would be “inexcusable and irresponsible.” He also announced the formation of a panel of advisers, led by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Swat, Fata on agenda of Zardari’s Peshawar visit today

PESHAWAR: President Asif Zardari will arrive in Peshawar today (Friday) to discuss a host of issues with the ANP-led NWFP government, including the security situation in Swat and FATA. “We will discuss Swat, law and order and FATA with Zardari,” ANP leader Afrasiab Khattak told Daily Times.
President Asif Ali Zardari has said that non state actors responsible for the Mumbai blasts wanted to dictate their own agenda and rewrite the foreign policies of Pakistan and India which would not be permitted. He was addressing a reception attended by provincial ministers, senior government officials, senators, MNAs, political leaders of ANP, PPP here at Frontier House on Friday night. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman and Advisor on Interior Rehman Malik were also present on the occasion.

The President said that fight against terror could be won with the active support of the community and referred to the incidents in Lakki Marwat district where the local population stood against the militants and flushed them out of their area.

President Zardari said that a handful of elements wanted to make the majority hostage and declared the people of the country were brave enough to frustrate their nefarious designs. “We will take our decisions at our own in the national interest”, he said, adding that they will have to surrender as they have no other option with them.

Pakistani forces kill 52 militants

Pakistani government forces killed 52 Islamist militants on Friday to the south of the Khyber region, where a vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan passes.Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on the road into land-locked Afghanistan since last year, exposing the vulnerability of Western supply links just as the United States is planning a surge of troops to tackle the Taliban.Army helicopter gunships attacked the militants near the border between the Khyber and Orakzai regions, said Tariq Hayat, Khyber's top administration official."Fifty-two militants were killed and a huge ammunition depot and eight vehicles were destroyed," Hayat told Reuters."Most of the deaths occurred because the destruction of the ammunition depot triggered a series of explosions," he said.There was no independent verification of the casualty figure that Hayat said came from the helicopter pilots and air surveillance.Security has deteriorated sharply in northwestern Pakistan along the Afghan border including in the Khyber region, since last year.Earlier, a suicide car bomber blew himself up and wounded seven people when police stopped him at a checkpoint on a small bridge on the road through the Khyber Pass.The blast damaged the bridge and a truck waiting to cross it but administration official Fida Bangash said he suspected the bomber was heading to a bigger bridge destroyed in a blast on Tuesday that soldiers are repairing."The bomber was probably heading towards where army engineers are fixing the bridge destroyed on Tuesday," Bangash said.Traffic on the road was suspended for two days after the Tuesday attack on the 30-metre (100-foot) iron bridge, 23 km (15 miles) west of the city of Peshawar.But soldiers have cleared a detour over a dried up river and trucks have resumed taking supplies up to the border.The U.S. Defence Department says the U.S. military sends 75 percent of supplies for the Afghan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel for its troops.
RIOT AFTER BOMB

Escalating violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has raised concern about the stability of a country seen as vital to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and defeat al Qaeda.
The violence has also eroded investor confidence, which in turn has contributed to economic difficulties that forced the country into a $7.6 billion (5 billion pound) International Monetary Fund loan agreement in November.Security has also deteriorated sharply in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, where troops are struggling to stem spreading Taliban influence.But the violence has not been confined to the northwest and militants have set off bombs in all of Pakistan's main cities over the past year.Police said 27 people were killed on Thursday evening in a suspected sectarian attack outside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in the centre of the country.Angry Shi'ite protesters ran riot in the town on Friday, burning a police station, ransacking a Sunni Muslim religious school and blocked roads in the town.Sunni Muslim militants linked to al Qaeda have been blamed for a series of attacks on minority Shi'ite Muslims in recent years. About 80 percent of Pakistanis are Sunni Muslim.

A.Q. Khan, Pakistani nuclear scientist, freed by Pakistan court

Khan admitted in 2004 to providing sensitive nuclear technology to rogue regimes. 'I will always be proud of what I did for Pakistan,' he says after being freed from house arrest.
Islamabad, Pakistan -- A Pakistani court today freed nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan from unofficial house arrest, capping a rehabilitation that began almost from the moment he confessed in 2004 to providing sensitive nuclear technology to rogue regimes around the world.Khan, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, held a jubilant impromptu news conference with his lawyer outside his home on a leafy, tree-lined street in the Pakistani capital. "I have got my freedom," he told reporters shortly after a ruling by the Islamabad High Court.The full text of the ruling was not released, but a short statement confirmed that the court had declared Khan a "free citizen." His lawyer, Ali Zafer, said he had been cleared of all charges, but the court document made no such reference.Pakistani officials suggested some restrictions on Khan's movements might remain in place. Prosecutor Amjad Iqbal Qureshi said the 72-year-old scientist, who suffers from a variety of ailments including prostate cancer, would be subject to unspecified "security measures," and his lawyer said he was willing to accept having guards for personal protection.
The issue is clouded by the fact that the government never formally acknowledged Khan was under house arrest, though guards outside his villa for the past five years have curtailed his comings and goings and screened his guests. Last year, however, Khan was allowed some limited travel privileges, including a trip to the port city of Karachi, and he began granting telephone interviews to Pakistani media.While widely viewed in the West as a disgraced figure responsible for disseminating secret nuclear technology to dangerous regimes in Iran, North Korea and Libya, Khan is regarded by many Pakistanis as a national hero.After confessing on Pakistani TV five years ago to his involvement in the international nuclear black market, Khan was pardoned by then-President Pervez Musharraf and largely confined to his home.Pakistan has consistently refused to make Khan available for questioning by international nuclear regulatory authorities and other investigators, a policy that has been kept in place by the new civilian government.Asked by reporters at his home today about his role in leaking atomic secrets, Khan said: "We don't want to talk about the past."Repercussions of Khan's activities have continued to the present. As recently as last month, more than a dozen companies and individuals were sanctioned by the U.S. State Department over ties with his technology-smuggling network.In interviews he granted during house arrest, Khan has been unrepentant, saying the Musharraf government was aware of his activities and he had been made a scapegoat. Today, he again described himself as a patriot."I don't care about the rest of the world," he said. "I care about my country.... I will always be proud of what I did for Pakistan."

Pashtun Leader Warns Of Security Breakdown In Swat Valley

KABUL –- Pashtun anti-Taliban leader Afzal Khan, who lives in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley, has told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan that the police authority "has collapsed" in the region.Khan said on February 3 that unless military authority is established in the Swat Valley, "we will have a revolution." He said that the violence is so pervasive that "going to the mosque is virtually the same as to going to the trenches." Khan, 82, has survived numerous assassination attempts by the Taliban, and is thought to be at the top of the Taliban's latest hit list. He met recently with the head of the Pakistani military, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who told him that when it comes to stabilizing the region, military force is the "last option." The Swat Valley, where for two years local Taliban have been trying to establish Shari'a law, is at the center of the Pakistan government's efforts to root out extremism. Pakistan is struggling to stem growing Islamist influence and violence in the northwest, but the Afghan government has accused it of failing to do enough to rein in Taliban and Al-Qaeda loyalists. Meanwhile on February 4, Pakistani Taliban in the Swat Valley released 29 paramilitary soldiers and policemen they had captured in a raid on a police station.The militants destroyed a police station in the village of Shamzoi, and captured the 29 men after a siege of more than 24 hours, police said earlier. The released men -- the 23 members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and six policemen -- were reportedly unharmed. A Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, said the Taliban had released the captives after they had promised to quit their jobs and not act to against the militants.The military says dozens of militants had been killed in recent days, but residents said about 40 civilians had also been killed, many in shelling and air attacks by government forces aimed at the militants.

Afghan finance minister resigns to run for presidency

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday accepted the resignation of his finance minister, who announced that he would run in the August presidential election, the president's office said.
Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, finance minister for several years, announced Wednesday that he would stand in the elections, only the second-ever presidential vote in the war-torn country's history.
Ahadi "sent his resignation to the president after he announced his candidacy for the elections," a statement from Karzai's office said.
"The president accepted the resignation of... Anwar Ul-Haq Ahadi, appreciating his services and wished his success," it added.
Ahadi has become the first high-profile candidate to officially throw his hat into the ring for the presidency. Karzai has vowed to run for a second term but is considered weakened by rising unrest and government corruption.
Former Afghan interior minister Ali Ahmadi Jalali and Ahadi's predecessor as finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, are tipped as the main challengers to Karzai, but have yet to officially announced their candidatures.

PESHAWAR:The city before the danger zone

By Ayesha Akram
I could see my husband tensing up as we drove past Attock and into Peshawar city. The early afternoon sunlight glinted off our windscreen and highlighted his knuckles, white from tightly grasping the steering wheel. My husband is a Pathan, born and bred in Peshawar. A number of his relatives still live there, though his immediate family moved away when he was about seven years old. This was the first time I was travelling with him to his native city, and he was noticeably worried.
I hadn’t been to Peshawar for years, and was excited at the prospect of drinking kawa, a strong and traditional Peshawar green tea, eating Afghan tikkas – pieces of fatty meat barbecued with only a salt marinade – and shopping in the Barra markets, where goods smuggled from China and Afghanistan are sold at ridiculously low prices.

My eagerness was tempered, however, by recent news of Peshawar’s increasingly tottering stability. In 2008, the city was the victim of four suicide bomb blasts, which cumulatively killed 99 and wounded another 226. The North-West Frontier Province was struck 29 times by suicide bombers, and 16 others hit targets in the adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Many of these blasts took place in crowded market places and near places of worship, where they took dozens of lives.
Though the Peshawar of today is hardly a tourist spot, not too long ago the city was constantly inundated by visitors from other parts of Pakistan. Even after they moved away, my husband’s family would often make weekend trips here: the women spent days at the crowded marketplaces, and the men entertained themselves by chewing mutton tikkas and trying on Pashtun waistcoats, shawls and traditional headpieces called kullas.
Peshawar was established by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. For much of its history, the city was one of the main trading centres on the Silk Road, a meeting place of cultures from South and Central Asia and the Middle East. Today, though lorries can still be seen weaving their way through the city, getting around Peshawar has become incredibly dangerous. Last December, more than 200 lorries were torched in a single attack.
On our way to the house of a family friend – a retired Army brigadier – we had to cross the Ring Road, an infamously unsafe thoroughfare where a majority of the attacks on Nato lorries have taken place. My husband wanted to race our car across it, but a traffic jam slowed us to a tortoise’s pace. As we edged forward, I caught sight of a couple of Humvees on the side of the road, burnt almost to a crisp.
Safely sipping kawa at our destination, we mentioned crossing the Ring Road. The brigadier almost dropped his tea cup. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Why did you travel on that road? Don’t you know that no one, not even people like me who live in Peshawar, goes there?”

He went on to explain that many more parts of the city were now no-go areas, where not even residents of the city would venture. “Previously, if one of my servants lost a family member or relative I would make it a point to attend the funeral. But now the situation is different,” he said. “I make it clear to them that I can’t leave, and they understand my predicament.”
The brigadier insisted that we leave our car and have his driver take us back to our hotel. On the way, the driver regaled us with tales of Budaper, the part of the city where he was born. Today all of the area’s residents own guns and only travel in groups. “It’s survival of the fittest,” he said, speaking in rapid-fire Pashto. “We have to save our skins, and the only way to do this is to become stronger by becoming armed.”
Two hours later, a friend informed us that a sniper attack had taken place on the Ring road.

Even the city centre felt different. Though crowds still thronged the streets, and vendors still screamed out their wares, there was a change in the way people were walking. The women had pulled their chadors lower down over their faces; in most cases only their eyes were uncovered. Instead of congregating in street corners for random chit chat, the men were mostly hurrying along their ways, avoiding idle gossip. Even the children seemed different – less likely to wander from their mother’s sides.
We happened to be visiting one month after the Imam Bargah, a place of worship for Shiite Muslims located in the middle of a bustling marketplace, was attacked. Its ceiling and walls were destroyed, and eight people were injured. We were walking through the same marketplace when curiosity got the better of me. Grabbing my husband’s arm, I pulled my chador further down my face and hurried into the side street leading toward the Imam Bargah. Rubble was still piling up outside the crumbled building; passers-by had to struggle to climb over mini-mountains of stone and cement.
An aged man was standing quietly in a corner, leaning on a stick with one of his legs bandaged up to his knee. I learnt he was the caretaker of the Iman Bargah and had been injured in the blast.

“I heard the bomb blast,” he said, speaking in a slightly raspy voice. “And then bricks came falling down toward us. A brick hit me on my head and I fainted.”

When he came to, he was lying on a hospital bed. I wondered why he still lived in the area – wasn’t he afraid of another attack? “I am scared but this place is my home and I have to rebuild it,” he said, becoming more animated as he talked on this subject. “I can’t leave my home.”
Ayesha Akram is a senior executive producer at Express News, a TV channel in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Muddled War

Militancy in Pakistan has been spreading inward from the lawless tribal region along the Afghan border. The Pakistani Taliban has seized large swaths of territory (CSMonitor) in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Militants have also increasingly mounted attacks in Peshawar, the provincial capital, as well as on trucks transiting the city to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani says Pakistan remains committed to fighting terrorism (FT) using dialogue, development, and deterrence. Yet experts say after nearly ten months of effort, the government has done little to inspire confidence. CFR Senior Fellow Daniel Markey told CFR.org, "intellectually, both the civilian government and the military are committed to their plan, but in implementation they are falling short."
Pakistani security shortcomings include inadequate training and equipment, as well as a lack of mobility to fight insurgents in difficult terrain. Worries remain about the army's willingness to take on militants, a problem described (PDF) by Hassan Abbas, a fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The government's lack of control over the military and the intelligence service, the ISI, compounds problems. South Asia expert Bruce Riedel told CFR.org that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari "has only notional control over the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence services, which remain fixated on their eternal enemy, India, and which believe that India wants to create a client state in Afghanistan in order to encircle Pakistan." Of all the tasks the United States faces, persuading the Pakistani army to dismantle its militias "is the hardest," writes Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria. Zakaria and many other regional experts say pacifying and stabilizing Pakistan are critical to victory in the war in Afghanistan.
Washington has signaled deep concerns about mushrooming Pakistan-Afghan problems, as some experts warn of the prospect of a failed Pakistani state. The Obama administration appointed Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan with the mandate to coordinate U.S. strategic goals in the region. Holbrooke was due to make his first official trip to the region in early February to help contribute to the broad policy reassessment under way. Some news reports say the Pentagon's latest review (CBS) of the Afghan strategy recommends the United States focus on regional stability and eliminating Taliban and al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan, rather than on achieving lasting democracy in Afghanistan.
However, Democrats in Congress, as well as Vice President Joe Biden, have pushed for greater engagement with Pakistan that focuses on development. The Enhanced Participation with Pakistan Act of 2008, if passed, would triple U.S. nonmilitary aid to Pakistan, granting $7.5 billion over five years in assistance for development projects. In a recent CFR meeting, Markey said Washington should focus on shoring up Pakistan's political structure and its development, with less emphasis on military considerations.
Any diminished U.S. military ties would occur against a backdrop of foundering government efforts to clear areas dominated by militants. Pakistan's strategy is becoming greatly unpopular as military operations using helicopter gunships, heavy weapons, and artillery are displacing thousands (BBC). And so far, they have failed to keep the Taliban out. Military analyst Shuja Nawaz told CFR.org the army does not have the numbers to hold onto contested areas and has to repeat clearing operations.
While Pakistan's inability to rein in militants poses a threat to NATO and U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. actions add to the Pakistani government's woes, say experts. In a recent interview with CNN, Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani called on the United States to stop air strikes in the tribal region. Washington, since early last year, has been using unmanned drone aircraft to take out suspected terrorists. Gilani said the airstrikes were "counter-productive" and helped in uniting the tribal people with the militants. Many in Pakistan also see the United States as a fickle partner intent on short-term gains in the region. As this interactive timeline notes, the two countries share a tumultous relationship marked by periods of estrangement and occasionally harsh sanctions.

Moscow Moves to Counter U.S. Power in Central Asia

MOSCOW -- Russia is reasserting its role in Central Asia with a Kremlin push to eject the U.S. from a vital air base and a Moscow-led pact to form an international military force to rival NATO -- two moves that potentially complicate the new U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Russia announced a financial rescue fund for a group of ex-Soviet allies and won their agreement to form a military rapid reaction force in the region that it said would match North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards. That came a day after Kyrgyzstan announced, at Russian urging, that it planned to evict the U.S. from the base it has used to ferry large numbers of American troops into Afghanistan. Russia said the base may house part of the planned new force instead.

The steps mark Russia's most aggressive push yet to counter a U.S. military presence in the region that it has long resented. They pose a challenge for the administration of President Barack Obama, which sees Afghanistan as its top foreign-policy priority and is preparing to double the size of the American military presence there.

The developments also underscore the difficulties for Mr. Obama as he seeks to build a closer relationship with Moscow. Russia is signaling that it will be a tough defender of its interests, especially in its traditional backyard of the former Soviet Union. Though its huge cash reserves are rapidly draining because of falling oil prices, the greater needs of its poorer neighbors are still giving it an opening.

"Russia would like to reassert itself in the region, and it is using the financial crisis as an opportunity," said Nikolai Zlobin, senior fellow at the World Security Institute, a Washington think tank.

Russian paratroopers are to form the core of the new military force, which is planned to be about 10,000 men. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the force will be ready "to rebuff military aggression," fight terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, and handle natural and technological disasters.

"These are going to be quite formidable units," Mr. Medvedev said. "According to their combat potential, they must be no weaker than similar forces of the North Atlantic alliance."

When Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday that it intended to shut the base to U.S. troops, Moscow announced that it was extending the country $2 billion in loans plus $150 million in financial aid. That's a tidal wave of cash for Kyrgyzstan, whose budget is barely more than $1 billion, and whose populace has been harried by electric shortages, rising food prices and rampant unemployment.

The Kremlin also is discussing aid packages to Armenia and Belarus, other former satellites hit hard by the financial crisis.

The seriousness of the Kyrygz push to close the Manas air base stunned Pentagon officials, who noted Bishkek had made similar threats before. "Frankly, we thought it was a negotiating tactic, and we were ready to call their bluff," said a military official. "But it's becoming clearer that, no kidding, they want us out."

U.S. officials now say they expect the Kyrgyz parliament to formally approve ending the deal this weekend, which would give the U.S. six months to vacate under the countries' agreement.

The loss of the Manas base would be a major blow to the escalating U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. In 2008, 170,000 American personnel passed through Manas on their way in or out of Afghanistan, along with 5,000 tons of equipment.

"We have contingencies, and it's not fatal, but there's no way around the fact that this would be a real blow," said a senior Pentagon official. "It could also leave us more dependent on Russia, which is not a place we'd like to be."

The main U.S. supply route into Afghanistan runs through Pakistan, and militants have mounted a wave of attacks recently designed to prevent goods from entering Afghanistan. This week, militants demolished a key bridge on the route, forcing the U.S. to temporarily halt all shipments through Pakistan.

With Pakistan increasingly tenuous, U.S. officials have had to turn to Russia for help. The U.S. already ships large quantities of fuel through Russia, and senior military officials hope to start sending more supplies.

The Kremlin has long criticized the U.S. for maintaining bases in Central Asia, saying Washington initially promised a temporary move after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

On Wednesday Russia stressed that it supports the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan, but that Washington needs to work more closely with Moscow and Central Asian countries.

Pakistan: Suicide bomb kills 24 near Shiite mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers streaming toward a Shiite Muslim mosque in central Pakistan, killing 24 people and wounding dozens more.The attack in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan on Thursday risks sparking sectarian fury in a country already battling rising militancy along the Afghan border and tension with India over the Mumbai terrorist attacks.The bomb detonated as a crowd approached the mosque for an evening prayer ceremony. Television footage showed bystanders and emergency workers trying frantically to help victims lying in the darkened street.Athar Mubarak, the city police chief, said the bomb contained metal balls and nails. As well as the 24 dead, another 40 people were wounded, he said.
"Evidence collected from the spot indicates that a suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowd," Mubarak said.Hasan Iqbal, the city's top administrator, said he believed that the Shiite gathering was deliberately targeted. He wouldn't say whether Sunni extremists were likely behind it and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
However, relations between this Muslim nation's strong Sunni majority and Shiite minority have already been tested by a series of attacks attributed to sectarian extremists.Much of the violence has been in Pakistan's northwest, where the Taliban and other violent Sunni groups have gained ground.In the deadliest recent incident, a car bomb killed 29 people and wounded scores near a Shiite mosque in the regional capital, Peshawar, in December. On Tuesday, a grenade attack killed at least one person at a Sunni mosque in the town of Dera Ismail Khan.Meanwhile, a suicide attacker detonated an explosive-laden car near a police station in Mingora, the main town in Pakistan's Swat valley, wounding a dozen officers and destroying part of the building, said Dilawar Khan Bangash, the police chief.Bangash said militants also fired three rockets before the attack and one damaged a nearby hotel.
Pakistan is under pressure to clamp down on a string of Islamist extremist groups, including one suspected by archrival India and in Western capitals of being behind the November attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people and nine assailants.

Afghanistan a key priority for UN in 2009

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's surprise visit to Kabul and his meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai repeated the world body's firm support to the war-ravaged country.Ban Ki-Moon described the current year in Afghanistan as challenging by saying, "It is clear that Afghanistan will continue to face many challenges in 2009."However, Ban stressed that "for the United Nations, Afghanistan remains a key priority in 2009."He emphasized on enhancing international efforts in the rebuilding process of Afghanistan and bringing peace and development in this country."We must bring tangible changes in the lives of Afghans," the world body's chief noted.Ban, who earlier exchanged views with President Hamid Karzai on the security situation and upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan, also repeated UN's firm support to Afghanistan by adding, "Again I assure you the full support and cooperation and commitment of the United Nations.""I am here to demonstrate and convey my strong commitment and support for peace, stability and development of Afghan people," he said.The visit of UN chief took place amid increasing security incidents and deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan where the U.S. and its allied nations have called for boosting military strength.

9 militants killed in clash near Peshawar

PESHAWAR,: Nine militants were killed in a clash with police following their attempt to kidnap a nazim on the outskirts of Peshawar on Wednesday morning.Three security personnel and two volunteers of the local peace committee were injured in the two-hour clash with Lashkar-i-Islam militants in Bazidkhel, which is adjacent to tribal areas.Local people said the militants had recently sent messages, asking them to pay a monthly ‘donation’ of Rs5000 each to help them carry out their activities.
Peshawar SSP (Operations), Abdul Ghafoor Afridi, told Dawn that on Wednesday morning a group of 10 militants tried to kidnap Union Council Nazim Fahim-ur-Rehman from his house, but police foiled the attempt. He said the militants surrounded the nazim’s house.“Members of his family told them that he was not at home,” the SSP said. When the attackers saw police personnel who had been posted there to protect the nazim, they opened fire.Security personnel fired back and four of the militants, who were in a car, were killed while the others who were in another car and on a motorcycle tried to escape. Police engaged the fleeing militants in a graveyard near Shadkhel, killing five of them. One of the militants escaped.

Taliban burns 10 trucks on Afghanistan-Pakistan supply route

Peshawar, Pakistan -- A day after blowing up a crucial land bridge, Taliban militants torched 10 supply trucks returning from Afghanistan to Pakistan on Wednesday, underscoring the insurgents' dominance of the main route used to transport supplies to Afghan-based U.S. and NATO troops.

Months of disruptions on the route from the Pakistani port of Karachi through the historic Khyber Pass have forced NATO and American military authorities to look for other transit options. About three-quarters of the supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan -- mainly food and fuel -- are ferried through Pakistan by contractors, usually poorly paid, semiliterate truckers. Many now refuse to drive the route because of the danger.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, said last month during a visit to the region that routes outside Pakistan had been found, but he provided no details and gave no timetable for their use. The supply question has taken on added urgency with the planned deployment of up to 30,000 more U.S. troops in the Afghan theater in the next 18 months.

The complications of moving supplies through Central Asia were also highlighted Tuesday when the government of Kyrgyzstan said it would close a U.S. air base important to the Afghan war effort. U.S. officials said talks were underway to keep the base open.

Kyrgyzstan's announcement could bode ill for American efforts to negotiate passage through countries bordering Afghanistan, such as Uzbekistan, particularly if it was clear that the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization were over a barrel.

In response to dozens of Taliban attacks, the Pakistani military launched an offensive late last year in the Khyber tribal agency, which borders Afghanistan, and subsequently declared the Khyber Pass secure. But, as has happened before when the Pakistani army carried out short-term operations in the tribal areas, militant attacks resumed almost immediately after the troops left.

Initially, the Taliban hijacked vulnerable, slow-moving lines of heavy trucks. After Pakistani authorities beefed up their military presence on the roads, the insurgents took to attacking the truck stops in Peshawar, where hundreds of vehicles are backed up at any given time, waiting to cross the Khyber Pass. More than 100 trucks were burned in an attack last year.

Tuesday's bombing of a 100-foot-long bridge over a dry riverbed about 15 miles west of Peshawar stranded hundreds of truckers.

Pakistani and U.S. officials said the bridge was expected to be repaired soon and that some trucks had been able to cross via a makeshift road.

NATO and U.S. officials in Afghanistan have said the disruption to the supply lines is militarily insignificant so far. Weaponry is transported to Afghanistan by air, although dozens of Humvees have been lost in militant attacks on the supply routes in Pakistan. NATO says it keeps a 60-to-90-day supply of fuel and other goods, but shortages of everyday items, varying from raisins to razor blades, are being felt on bases throughout Afghanistan.

After the bridge attack, militants appeared to be trying to keep Pakistani forces off balance. A Pakistani soldier was wounded Tuesday night when suspected insurgents fired rockets at a base near Landi Kotal, along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

Elsewhere in Pakistan's volatile northwest, Taliban insurgents freed about 30 police officers and paramilitary troops who were captured after their base in the Swat Valley was overrun late Tuesday. The defenders surrendered when they ran out of ammunition.

The freed men said they had agreed to quit their jobs and expressed gratitude to the Taliban for setting them free rather than beheading them, often the fate of captured members of the security forces. A Taliban spokesman said the release was a "humanitarian gesture."

The freed captives also complained that the Pakistani army had failed to come to their rescue during a 24-hour siege of their remote outpost in the Shamozai district, despite pleas for help. Four officers died in the Taliban attack.

Kala Dhaka has only 15 functional girls’ schools

MANSEHRA: The people of Kala Dhaka have demanded of the government to revitalise the educational infrastructure in the area. “Hundreds of boys and girls schools buildings have been converted into cattle pens and those functioning are without teachers,” the tribal elders told a press conference in Oghi Wednesday.

Flanked by a dozen of tribesmen, an elder, Roshan Khan, of Nusrat Khail said the elected representatives did nothing for the development of the area and the people were deprived of all the basic amenities. “Enough is enough and now no one can deprive our children of education,” he added.

The elder said that as many as 59 Government Girls Primary Schools were constructed in the area and only 15 of them were functional and the remaining were converted into cattle pens.The same, he said, was the case with the boys’ education as many as 148 primary, 26 middle and three high schools were constructed in the area. However, only 102 primary and 15 middle schools were functioning, depriving over 80 per cent children of education.

Mubarak: Hamas to blame for spilled Arab blood

Haaretz Correspondent
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak voiced harsh criticism against Hamas on Wednesday, accusing the Islamist Palestinian movement of being responsible for the shedding of Arab blood."How long will Arab blood continue to be spilled, only to hear those who admit to miscalculating the scope and scale of Israel's response?" Mubarak asked in a speech marking Egypt's national day to honor its police force. Mubarak's comment came in reference to remarks reportedly made by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, who admitted at the end of the three-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that he did not anticipate the scope of Israel's operation. Similar sentiments were expressed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Mubarak went on to say that resistance movements must take responsibility over the welfare of their people. "The resistance must take into account victories and losses. It is responsible for the people, who in turn should settle the score [with the resistance] over the gains it has achieved, but also the sacrifices, the pain and the destruction it has caused," he said. The Egyptian president also hinted that Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions are serving the Iranian agenda in the region, especially since the fighting in Gaza ended. "They are trying to take advantage of Israeli aggression to force a new reality on the current Palestinian and Arab situation. A new reality that will alter the equation and reorganize the balance in favor of known regional powers and will serve their agenda," Mubarak said. His comment came in response to Meshal's recent calls for the establishment of an alternative Palestinian body, to rival Fatah in representing the Palestinian people. Mubarak also hinted that he rejects calls to freeze efforts to advance the Saudi peace initiative, which offers Israel normalized relations with the Arab world in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders. "Egypt made peace publicly with Israel, and some of those who criticize us maintain warm relations with Israel behind closed doors, and others dearly desire peace with Israel," Mubarak said.

Afghan agents break up cell
Afghan authorities announced Tuesday that they had broken up a suicide-bombing cell responsible for a string of attacks in the capital...

By Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan authorities announced Tuesday that they had broken up a suicide-bombing cell responsible for a string of attacks in the capital, including a massive explosion last month that killed an American serviceman and wounded five other U.S. soldiers.

In a disclosure likely to stoke tensions with Pakistan, a spokesman for Afghanistan's main intelligence service said the 17 men arrested in Kabul were believed to be affiliated with a Pakistan-based militant group known as the Haqqani network and that the cell's ringleader was a Pakistani national.

The spokesman, Sayed Ansari, hinted that the plotters were also assisted by Pakistan's powerful Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, known as the ISI.

Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of failing to crack down on insurgents who use Pakistan's lawless tribal areas as a staging ground for attacks inside Afghanistan.

The spy agency's long-standing ties to the Haqqani network, led by veteran Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajjudin, were spotlighted last year when U.S. intelligence backed up Afghan authorities' assertion that the ISI had aided the group in its bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul in July. That attack killed nearly 60 people.

Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Afghanistan saw their supply lines squeezed from the north and east Tuesday after militants blew up a bridge in the Khyber Pass in Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan said it would end U.S. use of a key air base following Russia's announcement of new aid for the Central Asian nation.

However, the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said early today that talks will continue on keeping the base in the country despite the Kyrgyz president's announcement.

Securing efficient and safe supply routes into Afghanistan has become a top priority for U.S. officials as the Pentagon prepares to send in up to 30,000 more American forces this year. Some 75 percent of U.S. supplies travel through Pakistan, where militants have stepped up attacks on truck convoys destined for U.S. bases. The top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan shrugged off any supply worries after Tuesday's events, saying traffic was already flowing again in Pakistan after the attack. "They made a bypass," said Col. Greg Julian.

He also dismissed Kyrgyzstan's threat to close access to the Manas air base as nothing but "political positioning." Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, met with officials in Kyrgyzstan last month and "came away with the sense that everything was fine," Julian said.

"We have a standing contract, and they're making millions off our presence there. There are no plans to shut down access to it anytime soon," Julian told The Associated Press.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's statement that U.S. forces would have to stop using Manas air base came after Russia said it was providing the poor Central Asian nation with billion of dollars of aid.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made increasing overtures to Russia in recent weeks. His office released correspondence between the two countries saying Russia is ready to cooperate on defense matters.

Foreigners also fighting in Swat: ISPR

ISPR spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas has said that foreign militants are also present in Swat – where security forces are pursuing a new strategy to rein in the Taliban. Abbas told a private TV channel, “No immediate results can be expected from the military operation in Swat ... it will take time.” He said the locals were reluctant to support the army out of fear of the Taliban. “The Taliban have been targeting people who supported the security forces in the past,” he said. daily times monitor

US supply routes to Afghanistan under strain

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US military on Wednesday faced the prospect of a costly logistical headache trying to move troops and supplies into Afghanistan, after Kyrgyzstan moved to close a major US air base that served as a vital hub.
The closure would place a strain on US supply lines at a time when President Barack Obama is preparing to nearly double the 36,000-strong force in the country and amid increasing attacks on supply routes through Pakistan.
About 15,000 people and 500 tonnes of cargo move in and out of the Manas air base every month supporting the NATO force in Afghanistan as well as the Afghan army, the Defense Department said on Wednesday.
"It's of concern but it's certainly not a disaster," William Nash, a retired Army general, told AFP.
Nash said there were some "potential sites around the area" and that it was likely that the United States would be able to use bases or roads elsewhere in Central Asia.
The Kyrgyzstan base remains the only US outpost in Central Asia after the US military was evicted from Uzbekistan in 2005 following Washington's condemnation of Tashkent over human rights violations.
But the Pentagon on Wednesday played down the impact of losing use of the Kyrgyz base, saying it would not in anyway undermine the military's operations in Afghanistan.
"The United States would certainly be able to continue operations in Afghanistan if we did not have that facility," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
"We are talking about the United States military, the most flexible, adaptable, capable, innovative military in the world," he said.
US officers in charge of transportation were already exploring other routes to supply the 36,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan after repeated attacks on a key road in Pakistan used to ferry supplies through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan.
As much as 80 percent of US military supplies to Afghanistan -- from fuel to heavy equipment -- pass through Pakistan, much of it over a single road that threads through the Khyber Pass linking the two countries.
General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command that oversees the region, and General Duncan McNabb, head of the Transportation Command, have in recent months held talks with Central Asian states to explore possible alternative supply routes to take pressure off the Pakistan link.
A spokesman for Central Command said the military had a range of choices to adjust its supply efforts.
"It is certainly a base that we do depend on and that we want to continue to use, but we never put all our eggs in one basket and we have multiple options to continue to supply the troops," Major John Redfield said.
The Manas base, operated by about 1,000 troops including small French and Spanish contingents, was set up to support coalition forces fighting to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
With no base in Central Asia, US hubs in Kuwait and Qatar might have to absorb much of the flight traffic in troops and cargo -- which would also carry a higher price tag, officials said.
But US officials said it was still possible Kyrgyzstan would pull back and agree to allow the Americans to keep using the Manas base.
"If necessary, we will obviously do contingency planning," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
"But, right now, what we are engaged in are discussions with the Kyrgyz authorities to deal with this question of the base."
Although Russia was seen as pushing Kyrgyzstan to close the base in a bid to reassert its influence in the region, Moscow insisted it was ready to assist Washington in securing transit routes.
Russia in recent days had passed a "positive answer" to Washington on its requests for Moscow's help, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.
Some reports have suggested the assistance could include sending non-lethal supplies across Russian territory by rail.

UN to launch Bhutto probe 'soon'

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he will launch "very shortly" an independent inquiry into the killing of Pakistani ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Ban made the comments came after talks with senior Pakistani officials.

Ms Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack on a rally in 2007. Her death triggered riots across the country.

Islamabad's current government has rejected official Pakistani reports on the killing, and called for a wider inquiry by the UN.

Five people have been arrested in connection with the killing, but no-one has been convicted.

After talks in Islamabad, Mr Ban said: "I intend to establish very shortly an independent commission of inquiry headed by a very distinguished person, whom I'm going to nominate in a very short period of time."

"I have been in consultation with the government of Pakistan on its request for the establishment of a commission of inquiry on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

"This is a crime that shocked and offended the world, and I know this is a matter of great importance to the government and people of Pakistan," Mr Ban said.

The Pakistani government - dominated by Ms Bhutto's PPP party - and US officials have accused tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud of plotting the attack on Ms Bhutto, although he denies the allegation.

In December, a spokesman for Mr Ban said that the UN leader was optimistic that a commission into her killing could be established, but more consultations with Pakistan were needed to examine its "scope and mandate".

Mr Ban's visit to Pakistan is his first since taking office in 2007.

His trip comes amid growing unrest in Pakistan's border areas, with Taleban rebels attacking Nato supply routes into Afghanistan while government forces engage the Taleban in the Swat valley of North West Frontier Province.

'Safe release'

Officials earlier said that in Pakistan Mr Ban was also expected to discuss last year's attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) which left more than 170 people dead.

Also on the agenda was the kidnapping of a UN official in the province of Balochistan on Monday.

Mr Ban has called for the "immediate and safe release" of John Solecki, the head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the city of Quetta, who was snatched at gunpoint after his driver was killed.

Mr Ban began his regional visit earlier in the day in Afghanistan, where he said the country would be a priority for the UN in 2009.

After Pakistan, he will visit India.

Student flees Taliban in 'Pakistan's Switzerland'

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Hina Khan used to take her life in her hands every morning just to get to school.

When she stepped outside her door, the 14-year-old knew that ahead could be suicide bombings, gunfights, kidnappings and beheadings. Death threats were made against her, other students and teachers every day simply because they went to a girls' school in Pakistan targeted by Taliban militants.

"They said don't send your girls to school," Hina told CNN.

She used to live in the Swat Valley, a scenic mountainous region once popular with tourists and dubbed "Pakistan's Switzerland." But those were the days before militants moved in, "striking the fear of God" into residents with violence as they pushed for compliance with stricter moral and religious standards -- so-called Talibanization.

Now she is safer, 100 miles away in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, but her thoughts are often with her friends in Swat, near the border with Afghanistan.

They do not even go to school now, as authorities gave in to militant demands to shut all girls' schools. As many as 200 schools, mostly for girls, have been destroyed since November 2007 when the Taliban began their campaign to take control of the Swat Valley and surrounding areas.

"They have problems there," Hina said of those left behind. Watch how the Taliban's power has changed the valley »

"How can they leave their land, their home? Why come here? Here it's expensive, and they are all poor. They can't come here. And I feel really bad. All my friends are there. There is no one here."

The targeting of girls' schools shows an anti-women bias by the militants, who advocate an extreme following of a version of Islamic law, according to Islamabad-based human rights activist Tahira Abdullah. She adds it's almost as if the Taliban does not want women to exist.

"And if they do exist, they need to be within the four walls of their house compound; they need to be veiled," she said.

Abdullah is blunt in her assessment of the situation. "Right now, [Swat Valley] is under the control of the Taliban," she said.

"They are knocking on the doors of Peshawar, and I have no doubt they will be knocking on the doors of Islamabad [if] the government continues the complacency they are showing right now."

But the accusation of complacency is rejected by Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistan military.

"There is success," Abbas said of operations against anti-government forces in the tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan. "The success rate of the army's operation is pretty good in these areas."

He attacked critics of the military operation for failing to recognize the sacrifices of the armed forces. About 1,300 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in operations against militants since 9/11, he said. And he said the fight was made harder because the army lacked modern equipment such as night-vision goggles and unmanned drones.

But the military's continuing fight to secure the area is alienating those it is supposed to help. Some residents said the government is doing more damage than the Taliban ever did.

"If the government doesn't stop this cruelty, finally we will be forced to come here, and this parliament, we will set it on fire, too," said Israr Ali, standing outside the parliament building in Islamabad recently.

Ali had traveled there with hundreds of others from the tribal regions for a protest organized by an Islamic political party in the federal capital.

He said army operations have turned his home into a war zone and that shelling from army helicopters has destroyed buildings and killed his friends and neighbors. The Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies reported that in 2008 at least 7,997 people were killed in terrorist attacks, clashes between security forces and militants, military operations, incidents of political violence, sectarian strife between tribes and border clashes.

More than 230,000 people have fled their homes as a result of fighting in the tribal areas and the Swat Valley, according to a report last month by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Those people include Hina, who fled with her parents and four younger siblings so that they could continue their education.

Hina said she is still scared of the Taliban. But she also is focused on school and her dream to become a doctor. And when she does that, she has another goal -- to help her country "fix problems."

Gaza desperately short of food after Israel destroys farmland

Gaza's 1.5 million people are facing a food crisis as a result of the destruction of great areas of farmland during the Israeli invasion.According to the World Food Programme, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and Palestinian officials, between 35% and 60% of the agriculture industry has been wrecked by the three-week Israeli attack, which followed two years of economic siege.Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, the World Food Programme's country director, said: "We are hearing that 60% of the land in the north - where the farming was most intensive - may not be exploitable again. It looks to me like a disaster. It is not just farmland, but poultry as well."When we have given a food ration in Gaza, it was never a full ration but to complement the diet. Now it is going to be almost impossible for Gaza to produce the food it needs for the next six to eight months, assuming that the agriculture can be rehabilitated. We will give people a full ration."The FAO estimates that 13,000 families who depend directly on herding, farming and fishing have suffered significant damage. "Before the blockade and the attack," said Ahmad Sourani, director of the Agricultural Development Association of Gaza, which runs programmes with charities such as Britain's Christian Aid, "Gaza produced half of its own food. Now that has declined by 25%. In addition, a quarter of the population depends on agriculture for income. What we have seen in large areas of farmland is the destruction of all means of life."We have seen a creeping process of farmers being forced out of the buffer zone around Gaza's border. Before 2000 we could approach and farm within 50m of the fence. After Israel's evacuation of the settlements in 2005, the Israeli army imposed a buffer of 300m. Although it is elastic, now there are areas, depending on the situation, where farmers cannot reach their farms in safety within an area of over a kilometre. It is indirect confiscation by fear. My fear is that, if it remains, it will become de facto. Bear in mind that 30% of Gaza's most productive land is within that buffer zone."The wholesale destruction of farms, greenhouses, dairy parlours, livestock, chicken coops and orchards has damaged food production, which was already hit by the blockade.
Buildings heavily damaged during Israel's Operation Cast Lead included much of its agricultural infrastructure. The Ministry of Agriculture was targeted, the agriculture faculty at al-Azhar university in Beit Hanoun largely destroyed, and the offices of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees in Zaitoun - which provides cheap food for the poor - ransacked and vandalised by soldiers who left abusive graffiti.Although international and local officials are still gathering figures, they believe that scores, perhaps hundreds, of wells and water sources have been damaged and several hundred greenhouses have been levelled, as well as severe damage inflicted on 60,000-75,000 dunums of Gaza's 175,000 dunums (44,000 acres) of farmable land.As well as the physical damage done by Israeli bulldozers, bombing and shelling, land has been contaminated by munitions, including white phosphorous, burst sewerage pipes, animal carcasses and even asbestos used in roofing. In many places, the damage is extreme. In Jabal al-Rayas, once a thriving farming community, every building has been knocked down, and even the cattle killed and left to lie rotting in the fields.
In al-Atatra, Ahmad Hassan, 65, the overseer of an orchard that once had hundreds of lemon and orange trees, surveyed an area flattened by bulldozers. "This was the well," he said, showing a pile of bulldozed concrete. "We can clear the ground in two weeks. Then what? The well is gone. The pump has been destroyed. And where will the trees come from to replant the land?"Van Nieuwenhuyse said: "Already, the price of meat has tripled since the Israeli operation began. What is more worrying is the situation over vegetables. Protein we can help with, but before this there were already deficiencies in the diet. Now they will have to rely on Israel."It was a view echoed by Hassan Abu Etah, the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza. "It has all been hugely damaged. And it affects all of Gaza, not simply the farmers. We produced some of what we needed. It makes you wonder whether they wanted to change Gaza from production to consumption."In the heavily damaged village of Khuza'a, near Khan Younis, Salam Najar surveyed the no-go zone that extends from the last houses in the village to the border fence where Israeli farmland begins. "Most of the families here have farmed that side. Now no one feels safe to go there. They have destroyed it all."

Hamas: Israel offered to let in 75% of Gaza aid in exchange for Shalit

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
A Hamas official said Tuesday that Israel has offered to allow in 75 percent of the goods it currently bans from entering the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, according to the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency.The remaining 25 percent are goods Israel says could be used to make weapons.Salah al-Bardawil, a leading Hamas member in the Palestinian parliament, told the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency that his movement would be ready for a prisoner exchange with Israel starting Thursday. He added that Hamas would, as part of a cease-fire, agree to stop firing projectiles into Israel, and said Hamas had asked for Egypt's help in convincing other factions to show restraint."We have no objection to a cease-fire in exchange for lifting the siege and opening crossing points," Ma'an quoted Bardawil as saying. "We don't oppose addressing the Shalit case in tandem with cease-fire negotiations, but we asked for explanations about the nature of the material Israel won't let in."Shalit has been in Palestinian captivity since he was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006.Bardawil told Ma'an that talks with Egypt over a cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza Strip were progressing 'positively.' "Hamas addressed the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel positively. However, Hamas asked for explanations of some Israeli proposals, especially the objection to allowing certain materials to the Gaza Strip that Israel claims are used to make weapons," Bardawil said.With regard to Israel's demand that Hamas stop smuggling through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border, he said Hamas' response is that Hamas is not a state and would need the cooperation of states to clamp down on smuggling. However, he said, "Hamas won't agree to stop smuggling weapons into Gaza because that would mean the end of resistance."Meanwhile, a Hamas spokesman said Tuesday that Egypt is considering opening its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow in reconstruction materials blocked by Israel after its 22-day offensive, Hamas said on Tuesday following a round of talks in Cairo.Egypt is trying to broker a longer-term truce in the Gaza Strip under which both Israel and Hamas would hold their fire.Hamas has demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the enclave, but the Jewish state so far has balked at letting in materials like glass, steel and cement needed for reconstruction.Israeli officials assert that these materials could be used by Hamas to build rockets, bunkers and smuggling tunnels. Israel has conditioned fully lifting its blockade on the release of a soldier captured by Gaza militants in a 2006 cross-border raid.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the Islamist group and Egyptian officials were discussing the possibility that Cairo would open the Rafah crossing on Gaza's southern border to allow in reconstruction materials and vehicles, as well as shelters for those made homeless by the Israeli bombardment.Barhoum said another round of talks over the ceasefire would convene later on Tuesday night.In addition to trying to extend the shaky ceasefire, Egypt hoped to broker a reconciliation deal between Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and the secular Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Western-backed government is based in the West Bank.Cairo has proposed a meeting of the factions on Feb. 22. But Barhoum said Hamas was demanding that a committee be set up first to free "political prisoners" held by the rival groups to prepare the ground for reconciliation talks.

Ban Ki-moon due in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is arriving in Pakistan on Wednesday. UN chief will meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani during his stay in the country, according to press release issued here by Foreign Office today.Pakistan attaches great importance to the United Nations and highly values the visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The Secretary General’s visit provides a good opportunity to exchange views on global and regional issues.

Russia rocked by financial crisis protests

A wave of protests swept across Russia yesterday in one of the first signs of mass discontent with the Kremlin's handling of the financial crisis.

More than 2,500 people attended a demonstration in Vladivostok against the government's decision to raise import tariffs on cars.

In Moscow, about 2,000 gathered at protests uniting civil rights activists, communists and pensioners disgruntled at rising food and utility bills. There were smaller demonstrations in other cities. It was the first time such diverse groups had co-ordinated activities to direct their anger at president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin.

In Moscow, one of the leaders of the Other Russia movement, Eduard Limonov, was surrounded by riot police as he arrived at a central square. As he was arrested, Limonov said: "The government is bailing out its friends in banking corporations but doing nothing to help ordinary Russians survive this crisis."

Iran launches satellite; U.S. expresses concern

TEHRAN - Iran said it had launched a domestically made satellite into orbit for the first time on Tuesday, prompting further concern among Western powers and in Israel over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran said the launch of the Omid (Hope) research and telecom satellite was a major step in its space technology timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed shah.

The long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used for launching warheads, although Iran says it has no plans to do so.

"Dear Iranian nation, your children have placed the first indigenous satellite into orbit," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised message, adding the launch was successful.

Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Omid was orbiting earth. The ISNA news agency quoted him as saying: "We have established communications with it and the necessary information has been received."

Sending the Omid into space is a message to the world that Iran is "very powerful and you have to deal with us in the right way," an Iranian political analyst said.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "Efforts to develop missile delivery capability, efforts that continue on an illicit nuclear program, or threats that Iran makes toward Israel and its sponsorship of terror are of acute concern to this administration."

Gibbs repeated the words President Barack Obama has used since taking over last month that Washington will "use all elements of our national power to deal with Iran and to help it be a responsible member of the international community."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would show openness to Iran -- a change from a hard-line isolation policy under former President George W. Bush -- but urged it to respond in kind. "We are reaching out a hand, but the fist has to unclench," Clinton told reporters.

Iran has long said its nuclear program is purely for civilian energy purposes.

WORLD POWERS TO MEET

Senior officials from six world powers -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China -- will meet on Wednesday to discuss the nuclear row with Iran. It is their first meeting since Obama took office.

Speaking after meeting separately with British and French foreign ministers, Clinton said Washington would pursue "tough and direct" diplomacy with Tehran and said if Iran did not comply with international demands "there must be consequences.

Iranian state television showed footage of a rocket blasting off from a launchpad and lighting up the night sky as it streaked into space.

"With God's help and the desire for justice and peace, the official presence of the Islamic Republic was registered in space," Ahmadinejad said.

A U.S. security official in Washington said it was unclear what Iran intended to use the satellite for and the United States was still trying to learn more about it.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters during a visit to Ethiopia the satellite had peaceful aims.

But Andrew Brookes of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London said the news would prompt concern in Israel and elsewhere in the region.

"They will think that this civilian capability will soon be transformed to a military reconnaissance and intelligence gathering capability," he said.

Isaac Ben-Israel, a former head of The Israel Space Agency, told Reuters in Jerusalem: "If they managed to fire a satellite into space it means they can also reach Western Europe."

IRAN UNDER SANCTIONS

Iran is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions because of suspicions about Tehran's nuclear plans.

The Islamic state, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear work has no military goals but is limited to generating electricity to meet domestic needs.

Ahmadinejad has set tough terms for talks with Obama's administration, saying it must change policy not just tactics toward Tehran and apologize for past "crimes" against Iran.

Last August, Iran said it had put a dummy satellite into orbit with a domestically made rocket for the first time. U.S. officials said that launch had ended in failure.

Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at Israeli think tank the Fisher Brothers Institute, said Iran was only the ninth country in the world capable of both producing a satellite and sending it into space from a domestically made launcher.

"We should regard this satellite as the 'Iranian Sputnik'," he told Israel radio, saying Iran was the first to join this club after Israel in 1988. "The main value is ... propaganda."

Western experts say Iran rarely gives enough details for them to determine the extent of its technological advances, and say that Iranian technology largely consists of modifications of equipment supplied by China, North Korea and others.

The television broadcast said the Omid would return to Earth with data after orbiting for one to three months. Iran already had a satellite in orbit but the Sina-1 was launched by a Russian rocket in 2005, said the television.

Study: U.S. should focus on hitting Taliban

CRUSH THESE IGNORANT FANATICS,WHO ARE DESTROYING PUKHTUNS.
WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon report urges President Barack Obama to shift U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, de-emphasizing democracy-building and concentrating more on targeting Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries inside Pakistan with the aid of Pakistani military forces.U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has seen the report prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but it has not yet been presented to the White House, officials said Tuesday.The recommendations are one element of a broad policy reassessment under way along with recommendations to be considered by the White House from the commander of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, and other military leaders.A senior defence official said Tuesday that it will likely take several weeks before the Obama administration rolls out its long-term strategy for Afghanistan.The Joint Chiefs' plan reflects growing worries that the U.S. military was taking on more than it could handle in Afghanistan by pursuing the Bush administration's broad goal of nurturing a thriving democratic government.
Instead, the plan calls for a more narrowly focused effort to root out militant strongholds along the Pakistani border and inside the neighbouring country, according to officials who confirmed the essence of the report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly.
The recommendations are broadly cast and provide limited detail, meant to help develop the overarching strategy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region rather than propose a detailed military action plan.During a news conference Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs noted the ongoing "comprehensive reviews" of Afghan policy, but did not say when they would be made public.The assessments, Gibbs said, are critical for Obama's intent to "evaluate the current direction of our policy and make some corrections as he goes forward."Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman would not comment Tuesday on the details of the Joint Chiefs' report, but acknowledged that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is a critical component for success in Afghanistan.
"When you talk about Afghanistan, you can't help but also recognize the fact that the border region with Pakistan is obviously a contributing factor to the stability and security of Afghanistan, and the work that Pakistan is doing to try to reduce and eliminate those safe havens, and the ability for people to move across that border that are engaged in hostile intentions," Whitman said.Part of the recommended approach is to search for ways to work more intensively and effectively with the Pakistanis to root out extremist elements in the border area, the senior defence official said.The heightened emphasis on Pakistan reflects a realization that the root of the problem lies in the militant havens inside its border - a concern outlined last week to Congress in grim testimony by Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.But the report does not imply more incursions by U.S. combat forces inside Pakistan or accelerating other forms of U.S. military involvement, the senior defence official emphasized. Pakistani officials have repeatedly raised alarms after a surge of U.S. Hellfire missile strikes from drone predators in recent months, and renewed those complaints after a new strike killed 19 people inside Pakistan days after Obama took office."The bottom line is we have to look at what the art of the possible is there," said a U.S. military official who has operated in Afghanistan. The official, who has not seen the Joint Chiefs' report, said the challenge is to craft a strategy that achieves U.S. goals of stabilizing the region and constraining al-Qaida, but also takes into account the powerful tribes that resist a strong central government and the ties among ethnic Pashtuns on either side of the Afghan-Pakistan border.The Joint Chiefs' report advises a greater emphasis on U.S. military training of Pakistani forces for counter-terror work. Those contacts are already occurring on a more limited basis.Pakistan's government is well aware of growing U.S. interest in collaborating to improve its military's muscle against al-Qaida and Taliban elements in the border areas. The topic has been broached repeatedly by senior U.S. officials, including Mullen, on numerous visits to Pakistan.The training efforts also would expand and develop the Afghan army and police force, while at the same time work to improve Afghan governance.The report also stresses that Afghan strategy must be driven by what the Afghans want, and that the U.S. cannot impose its own goals on the Afghanistan government.During discussions about a new Afghanistan strategy, military leaders expressed worries that the U.S. ambitions in Afghanistan - to stabilize the country and begin to build a democracy there - were beyond its ability.And as they tried to balance military demands in both Iraq and Afghanistan, some increasingly questioned why the U.S. continued to maintain a war-fighting force in Iraq, even though the mission there has shifted to a more support role for the Iraqi security forces. Those fighting forces, they argued, were needed more urgently in Afghanistan.Military leaders have been signalling for weeks that the focus of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan would change.Gates told armed services committees in Congress last week that the U.S. should keep its sights on one thing: preventing Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists who would harm the U.S. or its allies. He bluntly added that the military could not root out terrorists while also propping up Afghanistan's fledgling democracy.The report's overall conclusions were first reported Saturday by The Associated Press. Politico reported additional details of the report Tuesday.The U.S. is considering doubling its troop presence in Afghanistan this year to roughly 60,000, in response to growing strength by the Islamic militant Taliban, fed by safe havens they and al-Qaida have developed in an increasingly unstable Pakistan.