G20: Deal? Or no deal?

Gordon Brown's hopes of forging a united response to the global recession at today's G20 summit were thrown into jeopardy when France and Germany demanded much tougher rules for the financial system to prevent a repeat of the crisis.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, also rebuffed a plea by Barack Obama for them to stimulate their economies further to help kick-start a worldwide recovery.

The surprise Franco-German offensive, launched at a joint press conference in London last night, left Mr Brown, as the summit chairman, battling to broker a deal ahead of the critical meeting at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands. Over a working dinner of the G20 leaders at Downing Street last night, the Prime Minister was trying to persuade emerging economies, particularly China, to swallow some of France and Germany's demands on financial regulation.

Senators grill Petraeus on new Afghanistan strategy

Senators grilled Pentagon officials Wednesday about the new US strategy for countering Islamist extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, pressing them on whether President Obama was committing enough troops to the fight and how America would measure progress in the region.

While lawmakers indicated general support for the new plan, unveiled March 27, some see the administration’s postponement of key decisions about troop levels as evidence that the strategy is still a work in progress.

They asked Gen. David Petraeus and others about the need to identify a target size for the Afghan army and police, and tried to probe why the president did not deploy to Afghanistan the full number of forces requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama is boosting the US force in Afghanistan by about 21,000, on top of the 7,000 additional troops former President Bush had ordered to the country. But General McKiernan’s request for another 10,000 troops won’t be decided on until later this year, General Petraeus and other defense officials acknowledged this week.
“If the troops were needed, would they be sent?” asked Sen. Mel Martinez (R) of Florida.

The answer: Time-lines presented to Obama allow him to make a decision later this year that could put additional forces in Afghanistan in 2010. Unspoken but implied: A force of 10,000 simply may not be available now because of commitments in Iraq. Petraeus emphasized that the Afghanistan mission requires more than just military forces, anyway.

“While additional military forces clearly are necessary in Afghanistan, they will not by themselves be sufficient to achieve our objectives,” said Petraeus. “It is important that the civilian requirements for Afghanistan and Pakistan be fully met as well.”

A bigger Afghan force sought

Besides the added US forces, Obama’s new strategy relies on a “surge” of civilian expertise and a more defined focus on defeating extremism in the region. It also calls for a larger Afghan army – widely seen as a crucial ingredient to success in Afghanistan – but does not prescribe a specific size for the army or police.

The Afghan army is expected to grow from 90,000 to 134,000 by the end of 2011. The police force is close to reaching its 82,000 target, but many officers need retraining and, perhaps, replacement. The size of both forces should total about 400,000 in the next several years, some experts and lawmakers say.

“We know that [a larger force] was a vital element to our success in Iraq, and to dribble out these decisions, I think, can create the impression of incrementalism,” Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona told Petraeus and other administration officials at Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator McCain makes a good point but should temper his criticism, says Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“The word ‘incremental’ is a bit too harsh, but [McCain’s] overall points, especially about the Afghan forces, are still generally correct,” he says. “Then again, so is the general thrust of Obama’s policies – even if the goals aren’t yet ambitious enough.”

Obama’s strategy may be vague about the target size of the Afghan army as American officials negotiate for more resources from allies this week in Europe, some analysts say.

A fast troop buildup

A contingent of about 70,000 US and NATO forces is already on the ground in Afghanistan. With fresh US forces now arriving and 21,000 more soon to come, logistical challenges loom large. The US and its allies will need to build up bases and airstrips to support them.

Indeed, the US runs the risk of sending too large a force too fast, says Seth Jones, a political scientist at the RAND Corp. Besides, he says, the size of the Afghan military or the buildup of American forces is not necessarily the most important issue right now. Instead, the US must think about what incentives it will use to co-opt militants and turn them against the Taliban.

“That is a much bigger issue,” he says. The president’s Afghanistan-Pakistan plan “is not specific on how to do that…. There is a very broad statement, but it is pretty vague on how to do it and when.”

Strategy aside, concern exists in and outside the military that the US and its allies still don’t have an objective way of measuring success. Top military officials testified recently that the information in Afghanistan is far too “anecdotal” to be used effectively.

Lawmakers Wednesday echoed the concern.

“How will we assess whether the new strategy is working? How will we know if we’re winning?” asked Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine.

The Defense Department is working on it, answered Michele Flournoy, the Pentagon’s top policy official.

“I can promise you we will in a very short amount of time be able to come back and talk to you in detail about metrics,” she said.

Danger in Dir

The situation in Dir remains tense, three days after a clash between militants and police resulted in five deaths. The police had been attempting to rescue a bank officer kidnapped by the militants. The district police officer and a former nazim were among those killed. There is, as yet, no clue as to the safety of the bank official; we do not know if he is dead or alive.

There are some especially dangerous dimensions to this situation. Reports from Lower Dir, a district that lies adjacent to Swat, say there has been a distinct increase in militant activity in the area since the peace deal was reached in Swat. The implication is that militants from Swat may have now drifted into Dir, seeking new territory to conquer in their quest to take control of all they can. The fact that the leader of the TNSM, Sufi Mohammad, belongs to Dir adds to the risks. He has been present in the area for some days but insists this is merely a recreational visit. It is though not difficult to imagine a situation in which militants at their meetings contemplate repeating the tale of their conquest in Swat in other tracts of NWFP. After all they have emerged victorious in Swat, forcing the authorities to bow down to them. It can only be expected that they will, buoyed by this triumph, be eager to repeat the experiment elsewhere.

People in Dir have, in the past, made a valiant effort to push militants out of their villages and towns. The attacks on schools for girls in Dir, apparently carried out by militants from Swat, have been greeted with anger by communities who had struggled hard to bring education to their remote district. The situation unfolding now has given rise to similar sentiments. A strike to protest the kidnapping of the bank official has been held across upper and lower Dir. But the latest sequence of events goes only to show how dark the shadows of militancy that hang over Dir really are. It seems quite clear that the forces that rampaged through Swat, creating terror and fear as they enforced their arcane version of Islam, are now eager to do the same in Dir. It is time the provincial government roused itself from its slumber, gave up its pretence that all is well in Swat and began a real effort to tackle the militants who have in Dir once more proved just how deadly they can be.

Militants occupy another emerald mine in Swat Valley

BISHAM: More than 70 armed militants stormed the second famous emerald mine in Gojarao Killay Amnavi area here Wednesday and started mining.

Sources said the armed militants made trenches and bunkers around the second largest emerald mine in Shangla district. The militants declared that those who wanted to work with them against 50 per cent share were welcome and they could start work in the mine. They added that the money generated from the sale of emerald would be distributed on equal basis.

The people of the area confirmed the forcible occupation of the mine, which was earlier leased out by the government to an American firm, Luxury International, for Rs40 million per annum. When contacted, the director of mines licensing said the mine was leased out to the American firm that left the area when violence intensified in the valley.

The official said as the American firm could not meet the terms, hence date of April 18 was fixed to re-auction the mine and the pre-qualification tenders had already been floated.Meanwhile, after capturing the mine by force the militants employed the local people and work to mine emerald started.

Earlier, the militants forcibly occupied a famous mine at Fizza Gat on the outskirts of Mingora, the district headquarters of Swat. However, people of the area said the authorities’ silence over the occupation had emboldened the militants to occupy a mine in Shangla.

The area of Gojaro Killay was very close to the famous resort of Malam Jabba where the mine was located. The militants earlier also destroyed the Malam Jabba health resort and the place used to be a stronghold of the militants during the military operation.

The owner of the mine said nobody was even allowed to go near the boundary when the reserves were in the control of the Mines Department but now more than 1,000 labourers had started work in the mines.

Police officials stationed at the Shangla Top also confirmed occupation of the mine by the militants. However, despite repeated attempts the district coordination officer and district police officer were not available for comments.

CM lays foundation stone of Abdul Wali Khan Varsity

MARDAN: Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti has said that the provincial government had signed a peace deal with Swat-based Taliban in consultation with federal government and central leadership of the party by keeping the interest of people of the province in view. This he said while addressing a ceremony held in connection with inauguration of classes of Khan Abdul Wali Khan University. The classes will start in 11 different disciplines from May 4.
Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak, Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Minister for Special Education Asad Qazi, MPA Ghani Dad Khan, MNA Khanzada Khan, district Nazim Himayatullah Mayar and other officials of the district government were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that Pakhtuns were deliberately pushed towards darkness and illiteracy under a well-conceived conspiracy.
He further said that Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had set up more than 100 schools in order to educate Pakhtuns, adding that present government was also committed to ensure provision of modern education facilities to its people at their doorstep.
Commenting about prevailing situation, he said that they would take decisions for the security of their homeland and for the establishment of peace, adding that further bloodshed and destruction were un-bearable.
The chief minister said that the establishment of university in the district was not only dreamed by the people but was also his desire which was fulfilled.
The chief minister thanked District Nazim Himayat Ullah Mayar, Dr Ihsan Ali, Sahib Zada Shakib for their efforts in materialising the establishment of Abdul Wali Khan University in the district.
He appealed the political parties to bury their political differences and work collectively for the development of the province which is the need of the hour.
On the occasion a shield was presented to the chief guest on behalf of the university and district government. While chief minister in turn presented shields to Vice Chancellor Abdul Wali Khan University Dr Ihsan Ali, Sahib Zada Ahmad Shakib,Ijaz Khan Yousuf Zai,Ameer Abd-ur-Rahman and others for their valuable services. Later on the chief minister laid down the foundation stone of administration bloc of the university.

Life in Dara Adam Khel returns to normalcy

KOHAT: Life on Kohat Road in Dara Adam Khel has returned to normalcy however, security forces have continued patrolling in the restive areas here on Wednesday.The villages Dara Bazar, Shenay Qilay and others have witnessed life returning towards normalcy after long series of skirmishes meanwhile security forces have been put on high alert to tackle any untoward incident.Local people have breathed sigh of relief over the normalcy of life and slash in clashes among tribesmen here in tribal areas, local people told Geo news.

Afghan and Pakistan leaders pledge cooperation

ANKARA - Pakistan and Afghanistan pledged closer cooperation in the fight against al Qaeda and Taliban militants during a summit hosted by NATO member Turkey on Wednesday.

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop militants crossing the border to carry out attacks, but ties have improved under Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, whose country is facing a growing Islamist insurgency. The Obama administration wants more regional support in Afghanistan.

Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, after a day of high-level talks in Ankara also attended by senior military commanders and intelligence chiefs from the two countries, agreed to boost military and political ties to tackle violence.

A statement issued after the meeting said foreign ministers and military and intelligence chiefs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey will meet once a year to expand cooperation.

"We can collectively work together for stability and security in the region," Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told a university audience later Wednesday.

"Our political leadership, our ministers and our army chiefs met and evaluated today our security situation. I don't think this nature of meetings have taken place anywhere at any time."

Muslim Turkey, which will host U.S. President Barack Obama next week, has long-standing ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan and hosted two high level meetings between them before Wednesday's talks.

A close ally of the United States, Turkey hopes it can play a key role in Obama's plan to bring Afghanistan and Pakistan to work together in tackling insurgents. A Turkish diplomat told Reuters Wednesday's meeting was a good way of "ironing out any wrinkles in the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Obama has unveiled a new strategy which will combine extra troops, funds for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a renewed focus on targeting al Qaeda militants on the Afghan/Pakistan border.

More than 70,000 U.S. and NATO troops are in Afghanistan battling a growing insurgency by the Taliban movement, which is also spreading its influence in Pakistan through the porous mountain border between the two countries.

World officials met in The Hague Tuesday for a U.N.-backed conference on Afghanistan at which Washington appealed for international support to defeat militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In a reminder of the violence plaguing Afghanistan, which has reached its bloodiest level since the Taliban's removal in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, a group of suicide bombers raided a provincial council building in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar Wednesday and killed 11 people.

Obama tries to rally world to cope with downturn

LONDON -- President Barack Obama sought Wednesday to rally the world's top and emerging powers to help cope with a global economic downturn, saying, "We can only meet this challenge together."

The president also disputed criticism that the United States was feuding with other nations about the need to pump more money into economic stimulus policies, saying any differences are "vastly overstated."

"I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems," Obama said before the G-20 economic crisis summit.

Obama prodded nations to spur growth and work together on regulatory reform, and not fall into the kind of protectionism and other mistakes that helped fuel the Great Depression.

"That is a mistake that we cannot afford to repeat," Obama said alongside British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Asked about whether the U.S. was to blame for causing the economic slide, Obama said he preferred to look ahead, not back. He said he had no worries about the stability of the U.S. economic system.

"I think that there is a vibrancy to our economic model, a durability to our political model, and a set of ideals that has sustained even through the most difficult times," Obama said.

Brown, too, sought to play up consensus. "As President Obama has said, never before has the world come together in this way to deal with an economic crisis," Brown said.

He added, "We are within a few hours, I think, of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform."

Obama sought to put a human face on the suffering economy, often turning his exchange with reporters back to those who have lost their jobs and their homes. Pressed about whether consumers should be saving or spending during the crisis, Obama said that was a decision for families.

But he added that people should consider spending now to invest in their future.

"Basing decisions around fear is not the right way to go," Obama said. "We are going to get through this difficult time."

Obama is meeting separately later with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Officials in both countries have called for a new global currency to end the dollar's dominance.

Dramatic in itself, the suggestion is also a sign of broader questions about whether U.S. status in the world could be threatened by the rise of a competing power bloc. Still, it's not likely that the new currency idea will gain immediate traction.

Both meetings are being held at the U.S. ambassador's residence, with the news media only allowed into the room before the talks take place and without the ability to ask questions.

The G-20 meetings open with a working dinner Wednesday night and continue throughout Thursday.

Before then, Obama is squeezing in talks with Brown's main rival _ David Cameron, the leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party. In the afternoon, Obama heads to Buckingham Palace for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II.

With U.S.-Russia relations having deteriorated in recent years to lowest point since the early 1980s, the Obama administration has announced its desire to "press the reset button." The Kremlin has made clear it believes it is up to Washington to open the effort with concessions.

Obama has indicated less enthusiasm than predecessor George W. Bush for a proposed new U.S. missile defense system based in Eastern Europe, an idea that has enraged Russia. Another key area of discussion is the possible replacement of the dying 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limited the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. START expires Dec. 5. Obama and Medvedev are expected to announce talks on a new pact.

They would be the first major arms control negotiations since 1997. But a thicket of disputes makes meeting the deadline unlikely.

Obama's talks with Hu are sure to address Beijing's concerns about the safety of its position as Washington's biggest foreign creditor, with about $1 trillion in U.S. government debt. For the U.S., there are fears that any Chinese flight away from those investments would erode the U.S. ability to spend more on recession-fighting.

For China, unusually forthright of late in challenging the U.S.-led global order, its goal is a greater say in how international finance is regulated and managed.

Beijing and Washington also have sparred over military matters.

Suspected US drone hits alleged Taliban training centre in Pakistan, 12 dead

The strike was the first drone attack in the Orakzai ethnic Pashtun tribal region, which is near the Afghan border, southwest of the city of Peshawar.
The raid came a day after the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, said his group had carried out an assault on a police training centre in the eastern city of Lahore in retaliation for US drone attacks.Mehsud also gave warning that his men would attack the White House in retaliation for the "drone attacks".
Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States, vowed to "amaze everyone in the world" with an attack on Washington.
Residents of Khadizai village said a missile hit a Taliban headquarters and 12 suspected militants were killed.
A Pakistani Taliban official said the missile had hit a "camp for guests".
"Some foreigners are believed to be among those killed," the official added.
Pakistani officials use the word "foreigner" in reference to suspected al-Qaeda fighters, but the precise identities of the dead was not confirmed.
The United States, frustrated by an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan getting support from the Pakistani side of the border, has recently increased the frequency of drone attacks.
Since last year, more than 30 US strikes have killed about 300 people, including mid-level al-Qaeda members, according to reports from Pakistani officials, residents and militants. Wednesday's strike was the first reported attack from a pilotless US aircraft since President Barack Obama last week unveiled a sweeping new strategy designed to defeat Islamist militants holed up in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
"Some foreigners are believed to be among those killed," the official added.
Pakistani officials use the word "foreigner" in reference to suspected al-Qaeda fighters, but the precise identities of the dead was not confirmed.
More than 35 such strikes have killed over 340 people since August 2008, shortly before President Asif Ali Zardari, a key Washington ally, was elected, fanning hostility against the weak Pakistani government and the United States.

Pakistan is 'centre of terrorism'

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Pakistan as the "epicentre of world terrorism".In an interview with the British Financial Times newspaper, he said that Islamabad had failed to take effective action against militants.
He said that Pakistan was either "unable" or "unwilling" to control the militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).Delhi accuses the Let of staging November's attacks in Mumbai when more than 170 people were killed."That the attacks on Mumbai were planned and acted upon in Pakistani territory is now admitted by everybody, including the intelligence agencies of developed countries," Mr Singh said."That is living proof that despite many promises made by Pakistan since 2004 to my predecessor and to me that Pakistan will not be used to undertake acts of terror against India, in practice no effective action has been taken."The prime minister said that there are elements in the armed forces of Pakistan, some segments of its intelligence agency (the ISI) involved in "perpetrating acts of terror" especially the attack in July on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed 41 people."The world has a responsibility that Pakistan lives up to the promise that it will not allow its territory to be used to promote acts of terror directed against India," he said.

Precaution, pre-emption: Islamabad undergoes security overhaul

* Security arrangements and crime situation in capital city review
* All police stations to have CCTV cameras, four police stations to have surveillance cameras on emergency basis
* Private vehicles’ entry to police stations banned
ISLAMABAD: Following the Monday’s terrorist strike at Manawan Police Training Center, Lahore, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration on Tuesday directed installation of CCTV cameras at all police stations and other police installations in the city.This was decided in a meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Asadullah Faiz and attended by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tahir Alam Khan, Additional Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG) Rana Akbar Hayat, Superintendent of Police (SP), West, Nasir Aftab, magistrates and sub-divisional police officers (SDPO).A senior official of ICT administration said that the meeting reviewed the security arrangements and crime situation in the capital city. The deputy commissioner directed the police bosses to further strengthen the security of police stations and make it sure that CCTV cameras were installed there.Faiz told the meeting that four CCTV cameras would be provided to the police on emergency basis and the remaining would be arranged in the next few days.The SSP briefed the meeting on the security measures taken at all police stations. The measures include setting up of jersey barriers, ditches, sentry posts and concertina wires. SP, West, Nasir Aftab told the meeting that the sentries would keep pouch ammunition during duty hours. He said people’s entry to all police stations had been directed through reporting room and no private vehicle would be allowed entry to the police stations’ premises.
Aftab further told the meeting that all station house officers (SHOs) had also been directed to prepare a list of seized vehicles parked on the premises of their respective police stations for their shifting to a centralized point at Tarlai Markaz.The meeting also decided to further beef up the security of shrines including the Barri Imam and Golra Sharif shrines. A detailed security plan in this regard would be chalked out by the respective sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) and SDPOs.
The deputy commissioner stressed that all police stations conduct combing and surveillance operation in their respective jurisdictions, particularly in Chak Shehzad, Tarnol and areas along Islamabad Expressway. He directed the SDPOs concerned to ensure proper cordoning of unpaved tracks in F-11 and G-11.The magistrates and SDPOs were further directed to establish peace committees comprising notables of the area and activate the watch and ward system. It was decided to issue identification cards to the committee members and sensitize them to the issues of the area.The deputy commissioner further directed the SDMs to collect copies of FIRs from police stations on a regular basis and prepare a detailed report on comparative crime trend (CCT) in their respective jurisdictions.Assistant Commissioner (AC), Saddar, Maryam Khan was deputed focal person for overall supervision of crime control in the city.
It was learnt that a detailed list of court absconders would be prepared by each police station and each list would be divided into A, B and C categories. In this regard, area magistrates would coordinate with SHOs. The issue of ‘superdari’ of vehicles was also discussed and the DC directed that no ‘superdari’ be given in tampered cases.Maal Khana also came under discussion and it was decided to auction the seized weapons. The deputy commissioner also directed that the city, particularly Golra, Shahzad Town and Noorpur Shahan, be cleared of encroachments and media, civil society and notables of the area be requested to join hands with the ICT in this regard.

US cannot buy Pakistan's support: senator

WASHINGTON — A senior US senator on Tuesday expressed doubts about plans for US economic aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad needed to prove it was determined to fight against extremists on its soil.
"If I thought we could buy stability, I would buy it," Democratic Senator Carl Levin told reporters.
But, he said, "I don?t think we can buy Pakistan?s support."
The Pakistani government must view the struggle against Islamists operating on its border with Afghanistan as in its own interest, and not only in the interest of Kabul or Washington, the Michigan senator said.
"What I need to see is the policy of the Pakistan government as being clear as to what they believe is in their interests," Levin said, adding: "I haven't seen that yet."
The skeptical tone from President Barack Obama's fellow Democrat, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, came only days after Obama presented a new strategy for the Afghan war that includes 1.5 billion annually in aid for Pakistan over five years.
Accusing Islamabad of appeasing Islamist militants, Levin said, "I have seen too much effort on their part to buy peace with people who I don?t think you can buy peace with."
Levin said it would be risky to rely too heavily on Pakistan to defeat insurgents in Afghanistan.
"If we depend on Pakistan to slow down the flow of insurgents into Afghanistan, we are relying on a very thin reed. So Afghanistan must defend its own border, and not rely on Pakistan for border control," he said.
His comments came a day after insurgents stormed a police academy near Lahore, leaving eight police recruits dead in the latest sign of rising militant violence in Pakistan.
Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for the deadly assault, saying it was in retaliation for US drone strikes on fellow militants.
With insurgents in Afghanistan led and backed by hardline militants in tribal areas over the border in Pakistan, the United States has warned Islamabad that in return for economic and military aid it must crack down on Islamist groups.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said on Tuesday aid to Pakistan needed to be linked to concrete action but expressed confidence that the country's military grasped the nature of the threat within its borders.
"The idea of a relationship between support and outcome certainly is one that I support," Mullen told a meeting of defense ministers from Central and South Asia outside of Washington.
He said the Pakistani military leadership, including chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani, understood that the militants posed a threat to Pakistan itself.
"I have great confidence in General Kayani and in the Pakistani military," said Mullen, who holds frequent talks with his Pakistani counterpart.
Despite the deployment of more than 100,000 troops, Pakistan has been unable to stop a wave of attacks by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants that have killed 1,700 since July 2007.

Lahore attacks heighten fears for fate of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, March 31- Two high profile guerrilla attacks in Lahore in the space of a month have heightened fears of Islamist militancy engulfing Pakistan, despite U.S. promises of support for the year-old civilian government.

The assault by gunmen on a police academy in Lahore on Monday and another on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the city four weeks earlier brought home the depth of insecurity in Pakistan, while television channels carried the images worldwide.

"The government and the military are facing a crisis of credibility," said Ahmed Rashid, author of "Descent into Chaos", a book chronicling Pakistan's slide into the grip of militant religious extremists.

"There is no strategic plan or vision over how to deal with extremism and terrorism."

Nuclear-armed, and a hiding place for al Qaeda, Pakistan has become a foreign policy nightmare for the United States and other allies in the West.

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled last Friday results of a strategy review for Pakistan and Afghanistan that made the annihilation of al Qaeda the principle objective.

A centrepiece of Obama's approach to Pakistan was the promise of billions of dollars in aid to help build state institutions, and improve the social and economic welfare to give people faith in President Asif Ali Zardari's civilian government.

The Pakistanis need all the help they can get.

"This incident definitely raises very serious questions about the capacity of our intelligence agencies and security apparatus to deal with these groups," Lahore-based security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said after the attack on the police academy.

Al QAEDA'S FRIENDS

Pakistan's leaders know al Qaeda is encouraging a Taliban insurgency in Pakistani tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, and seeking to destabilise the Muslim nation of 170 million people.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally based in the South Waziristan tribal region, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the assault on the police school, which killed eight cadets. [nISL457124]

Suspicion fell on a Punjabi-based group called Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for the earlier attack on the Sri Lankans, but the file is still open.

Several other Pakistani militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for that attack on the Indian city of Mumbai last November, have fallen under al Qaeda's spell.

"Pakistan is the last bastion of hope for you all against terrorists and extremists. Don't undermine us," a senior Pakistani official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his role, warned Western allies.

"Don't help us with tranches, come in a big way."

Money will help tackle the roots of militancy, but a generation may have to pass before it pays off.

Yet Pakistan is already under siege from militants and Obama revealed little of how the United States would help the country conquer its demons.

Instead, U.S. military commanders have made public accusations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has maintained ties with groups close to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

"There has been a surge in allegations. Some of things they say undermine us," the senior Pakistani official told Reuters.

"It won't help by blaming or marginalising the ISI. It might make things worse."

Pakistan denies ISI duplicity. Officials privately say having contact with militants goes with the territory for field agents. "There has to be a degree of ingress by all intelligence agencies in (militant) organisations, be they good or bad," said the Pakistani official, noting past disengagement from such groups had reduced the ability to monitor their activities.

U.S. PLAIN SPEAKING, PAKISTANI CONCERNS

Obama clearly wants to confront suspected Pakistani double-dealing openly rather than privately as the Bush Administration did.

But he can't risk alienating an ally whose support is crucial to the West's success in Afghanistan and against al Qaeda.

Ahmed Rashid welcomed the plain speaking coming out of Washington, while counselling against going too far. "This is not a time to be talking about threats, sanctions or anything like that," Rashid said.

"I think it's advisable that the Americans engage with the military and political leadership in the country in a transparent way, and make that message that they're delivering very clear."

Openness in dealing with the United States is a luxury many Pakistani officials believe they can ill-afford given the degree of anti-American sentiment in the country.

They also complain their U.S. ally has taken too little heed of Pakistani security concerns in Afghanistan and India, and fear of potential encirclement by two hostile neighbours.

The Pakistani official, however, believed there had been a fresh appreciation of Pakistan's compulsions, and understanding that U.S. assurances about India's intentions were insufficient.

"I think there is a realisation in the United States and other Western powers that they have to consider Pakistan's security concerns," he said.

Pakistan knows the gravity of the internal threat but its army would be uncomfortable taking troops away from the eastern border with India, until India changes its posture and there are stronger signs disputes over Kashmir and water resources will be resolved

Taliban Leader's Washington Threat Is Credible, Analysts Say

The United States has put a $5 million bounty on his head, and he says militants under his control are planning a terrorist attack in Washington that "will amaze everyone in the world."And he isn't Usama bin Laden.
Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Taliban in Pakistan, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that his group was responsible for Monday's attack on a police academy in his country that killed seven police officers and injured more than 90 others.He also said, chillingly:
"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world."
In an interview with local Dewa Radio, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told FOXNews.com that the bureau is not aware of a specific or imminent threat to the United States. He added, without elaborating, that Mehsud has made similar threats to the U.S..
But terrorism experts call Mehsud a "rising young star" who is linked both to the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the bombing last September that killed 54 people in the Marriott hotel in Islamabad -- and they say his threat to carry out an attack in Washington should not be discounted.
"It should be taken seriously because [Mehsud] has ordered the deaths of many Pakistanis and Afghans and has a close alliance with Al Qaeda," said James Phillips, a terrorism expert and senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.
"It's not too much of a stretch to think he might be involved in an attack on the U.S. if he's able to get his followers inside the United States. He's a militant extremist whose threats cannot be ignored."
Mehsud, 35, is the senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, and is a key Al Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas of South Waziristan in Pakistan, according to the U.S. State Department. A $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction was announced just last week."He has conducted cross-border attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and poses a clear threat to American persons and interests in the region," the State Department wrote in a March 25 release.Phillips said Mehsud is less of a direct threat to the U.S. than bin Laden in an ideological sense, but his influence in Pakistan could allow him to tap into existing networks within Al Qaeda or among Afghan Taliban militants to achieve his goals."The U.S. government and other allied governments cannot afford to ignore this threat because [Mehsud] has acted on targets in the past," Phillips said. "Because he has a relatively secure base of operations in South Waziristan, he has been able to extend his influence throughout the border region and even into Pakistani cities."Steve Emerson, executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, said that of the many terrorists who have issued "blustery threats" in recent years, Meshud is considered a "rising young star" among militants."He's a dangerous guy," Emerson told FOXNews.com. "It just reaffirms the fact that Washington is a major target."He seems to be a pretty bloody, bold guy who is not afraid to have a marker on himself and knows how to exact publicity ... The real issue is what U.S. intelligence knows."Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said Mehsud's attacks have "significantly altered" the political dynamics in Pakistan and provide a major test for President Asif Ali Zardari. But any direct threat Mehsud poses to the United States will be through his link with Al Qaeda, she said.
"If he did have the reach, it would be because of Al Qaeda," she said. "This is more posturing on his behalf."Mehsud, who denies involvement in Bhutto's assassination and the Marriott Hotel bombing, is a diabetic who was reportedly called a "good Taliban" in 2007, when the Pakistani army struck a peace agreement with him that was later aborted.Mehsud has said he's not concerned with the bounty on his head, telling The Associated Press, "I wish to die and embrace martyrdom.""That shows that he is adamantly committed to his extremist goals and is unlikely to be brought to justice by law enforcement actions," Phillips said. 'It will take a war to defeat him in South Waziristan, and I think that shows that the term War on Terrorism remains applicable there."
A State Department spokeswoman, Megan Mattson, declined to comment on Mehsud's threat.

Taliban Chief Vows 'Amazing' Attack on Washington 'Soon'

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world.
Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.

Mehsud has never been directly linked to any attacks outside Pakistan, but attacks blamed on his network of fighters have widened in scope and ambition in recent years. The threat comes days after President Barack Obama warned that Al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan.


Pakistan's former government and the CIA named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to Al Qaeda, and of training suicide bombers.

In his latest comments, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets in an interview with local Dewa Radio, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he had not seen any reports of Mehsud's comments but that he would "take the threat under consideration."

Mehsud also claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed four soldiers Monday in Bannu district and a suicide attack targeting a police station in Islamabad last week that killed one officer.

Such attacks pose a major test for the weak, year-old civilian administration of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that has been gripped with political turmoil in recent weeks.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said it was too early to respond to Mehsud's claim, but the Interior Ministry chief said Monday that authorities had information linking the attack to Mehsud. He said at least one of the attackers arrived in Lahore about 15 days ago from Mehsud's stronghold of South Waziristan near the border with Pakistan and rented a house.

The gunmen who attacked the police academy killed seven police and two civilians, holding security forces at bay for about eight hours before being overpowered by Pakistani commandos. Some of the attackers wore police uniforms, and they took hostages and tossed grenades during the assault.

Earlier Tuesday, a spokesman from a little-known militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for the attack and a similar ambush-style attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team earlier this month in Lahore. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two claims.

Omar Farooq, who said he is the spokesman for Fedayeen al-Islam, said the group would carry out more attacks unless Pakistani troops withdraw from tribal areas near the Afghan border and the U.S. stops its drone strikes. The group previously said it was behind the deadly September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 54 people.

Mehsud declined to comment on Fedayeen al-Islam's claim that it carried out the attack or to say whether the group is linked to his own. The Pakistani Taliban leader also said he was not deterred by the U.S. bounty on his head: "I wish to die and embrace martyrdom."

The AP has spoken to Mehsud several times in the past and recognized his voice, and a request for an interview with Mehsud was submitted through his aide. The militant leader also granted phone interviews to other media organizations.

The Pakistani Taliban has links with Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants who have launched attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from a base in the border region between the two countries.

Pakistan faces tremendous U.S. pressure to eradicate militants from its soil and has launched several military operations in the Afghan border region.

The U.S. has stepped up drone attacks against militants in the area, causing tension with Pakistani officials who protest they are a violation of the country's sovereignty and kill innocent civilians.

Monday's highly coordinated attack highlighted that militants in the country pose a threat far outside the border region. It prompted Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, Pakistan's top civilian security official, to say that militant groups were "destabilizing the country."

After gunmen stormed the academy, masses of security forces surrounded the compound, exchanging fire in televised scenes reminiscent of the militant siege in the Indian city of Mumbai in November and the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team.

Officials Tuesday were still trying to sort out how many attackers were involved, giving varying accounts to the media.

A senior Lahore police investigator, Zulfikar Hameed, told the AP that three of the attackers blew themselves up when commandos retook the police academy and one was shot by security forces. Hameed said it was difficult to say precisely how many militants carried out the attack and some may have escaped.

Tasneem Qureshi, a top official at the Interior Ministry, told an Express News TV that four attackers were in custody and "one, who was wounded, managed to escape."

Punjab police chief, Khawaja Khalid Farooq, said one of the captured militants had provided useful information and that about 50 other people in Lahore were detained overnight for questioning.

Iran Signals Willingness to Join U.S. in Fight Against Afghan Drug Trade

U.S. and Iranian diplomats took baby steps toward thawing tensions between their countries Tuesday, at an international conference on Afghanistan put together by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In a significant move, Iran's deputy foreign minister, while criticizing U.S. plans to send more troops into Afghanistan, said Iran is "fully prepared" to help fight the drug trade in Afghanistan -- a campaign the U.S. wants to escalate.

The U.S. is planning to send of surge of narcotics agents into Afghanistan to help stem the opium trade, which is a goal Iran shares.

Iran's Mehdi Akhundzadeh also met with Richard Holbrooke, Clinton's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the sidelines of the conference, held at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Holbrooke's meeting "did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned and they agreed to stay in touch," Clinton told reporters as the day-long conference was winding down.

The gathering was being closely watched for signs that the U.S. and Iran can work together on a common problem after years of hostility. The two countries cooperated in 2001 and 2002 after U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's Taliban government.

But relations were frozen during the administration of George W. Bush, who referred to Iran as part of the "axis of evil," although Bush's former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell had informal contacts with Iranian foreign ministers.

Washington broke diplomatic ties with Tehran after the U.S. Embassy was overrun and diplomats taken hostage during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought to power a government of Islamic clerics.

At the Afghan meeting, Iran highlighted its history of helping Afghanistan with cash and infrastructure development and by sheltering 3 million Afghan refugees. The two countries share a 600-mile border.

Akhundzadeh signaled his country is open to cooperating with the U.S. on certain fronts.

"Iran is fully prepared to participate in the projects aimed at combating drug trafficking and the plans in line with developing and reconstructing Afghanistan," Akhundzadeh said.

However, Iran was critical of President Obama's plan to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, saying those funds instead should be redirected to building Afghanistan's own forces.

"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country, and it seems than an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective, too," Akhundzadeh said.

Meanwhile, Clinton said she also sent Iran a direct letter concerning three U.S. citizens unable to return from Iran: Robert Levinson, Roxana Saberi and Esha Momeni. Their return would be a humanitarian gesture, the letter said. Normally, U.S.-Iran contacts are conducting through Swiss intermediaries.

A State Department official at The Hague told FOX News the letter was not signed by Clinton and was delivered to "a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The official could not confirm how it was delivered and by whom, but said it was not delivered by Holbrooke.

An excerpt from the letter, obtained by FOX News, states that the return of the three citizens "would certainly constitute a humanitarian gesture by the Islamic Republic of Iran in keeping with the spirit of renewal and generosity that marks the Persian new year."

Ex-FBI agent Levinson vanished after visiting an island off the coast of Iran two years ago.

Saberi is an American Iranian freelance journalist who has been detained in Iran since January, allegedly for outdated visa credentials. Momeni is an Iranian-American graduate student who was staying in Tehran to work on her master's thesis on the Iranian women's movement. She was arrested in October for allegedly passing another vehicle while driving.

The rare diplomatic overture to Iran Tuesday comes two weeks after Obama reached out to the Iranian people and marked the Iranian new year in a Nowruz video message.

And the Holbrooke-Akhundzadeh meeting was foreshadowed by a handshake at the conference between another state department official, Patrick Moon, and the Iran deputy foreign minister.

The U.S. and Iran were among more than 80 countries summoned at the initiative of the United States to focus on Afghanistan. It comes days after Obama unveiled a revamped U.S. policy calling for another 17,000 troops, 4,000 military trainers for Afghan security forces, and hundreds of civilians to assist in Afghanistan's development.

Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Clinton said Afghanistan would welcome Taliban fighters who embrace peace, reject Al Qaeda and pledge to abide by the Afghan constitution.

Clinton said most Taliban fighters have allied with anti-government forces "out of desperation" rather than commitment, in a country that has barely made inroads against poverty and lack of development.

"They should be offered an honorable form of reconciliation and reintegration into a peaceful society, if they are willing to abandon violence, break with Al Qaeda, and support the constitution," Clinton said.

The United States is starting cautiously down a path in Afghanistan that proved helpful in Iraq, where former insurgents joined forces with U.S. troops and a U.S.-backed government.

Clinton did not mention Iran during her address to the conference but has expressed a hope that Iran and the U.S. could find some common ground on Afghanistan, notably on combating narco-terrorism and on border control issues.

"The range of countries and institutions that are represented here shows the universal recognition that what happens in Afghanistan matters to us all," Clinton told the gathering.

Although the conference was devoted to Afghanistan, Clinton said it should also focus attention on the lawless border regions of Pakistan that provide a safe haven for the insurgents.

"Our partnership with democratic Pakistan is crucial. Together, we must give Pakistan the tools it needs to fight these extremists," Clinton said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, however, warned against interfering in his country. A regional approach to Afghanistan must include "respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference," he said.

Akhundzadeh, too, cautioned against losing sight of the conference's objectives of providing security and reconstruction for Afghanistan, and urged countries to "refrain from any kind of deviation from this motto."

The Real Afghan Issue Is Pakistan

In announcing his new Afghanistan and Pakistan policy, President Barack Obama articulated "a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future."

This is a sound conception of both the threat and U.S. interests in the region. Mr. Obama took a giant step beyond the Bush administration's "Afghanistan policy" when he named the issue "AfPak" -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and their shared, Pashtun-populated border. But this is inverted. We suggest renaming the policy "PakAf," to emphasize that, from the perspective of U.S. interests and regional stability, the heart of the problem lies in Pakistan.

The fundamental question about Afghanistan is this: What vital national interest does the U.S. have there? President George W. Bush offered an ever-expanding answer to this question. As he once put it, America's goal is "a free and peaceful Afghanistan," where "reform and democracy" would serve as "the alternatives to fanaticism, resentment and terror."

In sharp contrast, during the presidential campaign Mr. Obama declared that America has one and only one vital national interest in Afghanistan: to ensure that it "cannot be used as a base to launch attacks against the United States." To which we would add the corollary: that developments in Afghanistan not undermine Pakistan's stability and assistance in eliminating al Qaeda.

Consider a hypothetical. Had the terrorist attacks of 9/11 been planned by al Qaeda from its current headquarters in ungoverned areas of Pakistan, is it conceivable that today the U.S. would find itself with 54,000 troops and $180 billion committed to transforming medieval Afghanistan into a stable, modern nation?

For Afghanistan to become a unitary state ruled from Kabul, and to develop into a modern, prosperous, poppy-free and democratic country would be a worthy and desirable outcome. But it is not vital for American interests.

After the U.S. and NATO exit Afghanistan and reduce their presence and financial assistance to levels comparable to current efforts in the Sudan, Somalia or Bangladesh, one should expect Afghanistan to return to conditions similar to those regions. Such conditions are miserable. They are deserving of American and international development and security assistance. But, as in those countries, it is unrealistic to expect anything more than a slow, difficult evolution towards modernity.

The problem in Pakistan is more pressing and direct. There, the U.S. does have larger vital national interests. Top among these is preventing Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear weapons and materials from falling into the hands of terrorists such as Osama bin Laden. This danger is not hypothetical -- the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, A.Q. Khan, is now known to have been the world's first nuclear black marketer, providing nuclear weapons technology and materials to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

Protecting Pakistan's nuclear arsenal requires preventing radical Islamic extremists from taking control of the country.

Furthermore, the U.S. rightly remains committed to preventing the next 9/11 attack by eliminating global terrorist threats such as al Qaeda. This means destroying their operating headquarters and training camps, from which they can plan more deadly 9/11s.

The counterterrorism strategy in Pakistan that has emerged since last summer offers our best hope for regional stability and success in dealing a decisive blow against al Qaeda and what Vice President Joe Biden calls "incorrigible" Taliban adherents. But implementing these operations requires light U.S. footprints backed by drones and other technology that allows missile attacks on identified targets. The problem is that the U.S. government no longer seems to be capable of conducting covert operations without having them reported in the press.

This will only turn Pakistani public opinion against the U.S. Many Pakistanis see covert actions carried out inside their country as America "invading an ally." This makes it difficult for Pakistani officials to support U.S. operations while sustaining widespread popular support.

As Mr. Biden has warned: "It is hard to imagine a greater nightmare for America than the world's second-largest Muslim nation becoming a failed state in fundamentalists' hands, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons and a population larger than Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea combined."

Avoiding this nightmare will require concentration on the essence of the challenge: Pakistan. On the peripheries, specifically Afghanistan, Mr. Obama should borrow a line from Andrew Jackson from the battle of New Orleans and order his administration to "elevate them guns a little lower."

Terrorists risk Pakistan's future

Article from: The Australian
KARACHI: The assault yesterday on a police school and a wave of spectacular attacks underline Pakistan's weakness and the danger posed by Islamist militants to the future of the nuclear-armed nation.The commando-style assault on the training ground transformed a normally peaceful commuter belt near Pakistan's cultural capital of Lahore into a war zone, leaving as many as 35 people dead in pitched battles with the security forces.Analysts said the attack was a defiant message to US President Barack Obama, who has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against al-Qa'ida, tripling US aid in a strategy that is aimed at reversing the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.Such is the scale of violence in the Muslim nation that Mr Obama called al-Qa'ida and its allies "a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within", and he urged Islamabad to demonstrate its commitment to eradicating the extremists.Mutahir Shaikh, an international relations expert at the University of Karachi, said the wave of attacks were a response to the US stand."The terrorists want to tell Obama and his Western allies they cannot be contained as Obama desired, and are still as powerful and strong as they have been for years now," Professor Shaikh said. "The attack proves the weakness of the state institutions and shows that a mere half-a-dozen professionally trained terrorists can take anyone hostage and occupy any establishment they like."Urban terrorism is now in vogue in our major cities."
Yesterday's attack mimicked the March 3 assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, where assailants on foot carrying backpacks of high-energy food and hand weapons killed eight Pakistanis and wounded seven members of the cricket squad.
Extremists opposed to the Pakistan Government's decision to side with the US in the war on terror have carried out a spate of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1700 people in less than two years."This is further evidence of the growing threat of terrorism to Pakistan's state and society," security analyst Hasan Askari said after yesterday's assault."These groups want to paralyse the system of state in order to have greater freedom to pursue their ideological and political agenda inside and outside Pakistan," he said."An isolated Pakistan will be easily overwhelmed by terrorists, which the world should not allow them to do."Much of the unrest has been concentrated in the northwest, where the Pakistani army has been fighting the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. On Friday, a suicide bomber ripped through a packed mosque near the Afghan border, killing nearly 50 people.But the second attack in the Lahore area this month will fan fears that the net of violence is spreading."Such attacks again prove that all the outside world's security fears about Pakistan's lack of governance are true," said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an academic at Karachi's Urdu University."These repeated attacks show total failure on the part of the Government's law-enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. Pakistan's future is at massive risk."Pakistan shelters a number of extremist groups, spanning banned Islamist organisations fighting for independence from Indian rule in Kashmir in the east, to the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in the west.Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik hinted that home-grown militant groups were behind yesterday's raid."Who is supporting them? Who is giving them weapons? Everyone knows these banned organisations, namely Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad," Mr Malik told the private-sector Geo television channel.Top officials in the US, Pakistan's key ally, have openly accused elements in the country's powerful intelligence agency of abetting al-Qa'ida.
"What we need to do is try to help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

Petraeus: Military Reserves 'Right of Last Resort' for Threats Inside Pakistan

The U.S. military will reserve the "right of last resort" to take out threats inside Pakistan, but it would prefer to enable the Pakistani military to do the job itself, Gen. David Petraeus said Monday in an exclusive interview with FOX News.

The commander of U.S. Central Command was interviewed as the Obama administration prepares to step up the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Asked about lingering concerns that Pakistan is not fully on board, Petraeus told FOX News' Bret Baier that the U.S. military is putting "additional focus" on rooting out ties between Pakistan's intelligence service and the Taliban.

One incident of obvious cooperation between the Pakistani intelligence community and extremists has already been uncovered, he said. "There is a case in the past year or so that we think was unambiguous. There appears to have been a warning prior to a Pakistani operation," Petraeus said.

But he said trust between the two countries will be key as President Obama seeks more Pakistani cooperation and calls for billions in aid to the country.

"I think we are building that kind of trust. And that's the way I think is the best description for that. And it's hugely important that that trust be built," Petraeus said, pointing to "gradually increasing intelligence sharing" among Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. forces along the border.

Obama, in unveiling his regional plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday, said the U.S. will "insist that action be taken, one way or another, when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets."

He added on Sunday that "we're going after" such targets, though the U.S. will need to work with Pakistan's government to do so. He did not specifically say U.S. troops could be sent into the country.

Asked about the president's comments, Petraeus signaled that all options would be on the table.

"I think we would never give up, if you will, the right of last resort if we assess something as a threat to us, noting that what we want to do is enable the Pakistanis, help them, assist them to deal with the problem that we now think, and their leaders certainly now think, represents the most important existential threat to their country, not just to the rest of the world," he said.

The Pakistanis have expressed frustration over unmanned U.S. drone strikes to take out terrorist targets inside their border.

But Petraeus said the U.S. is mindful of perceptions in the region.

"It's hugely important that we be seen as good neighbors, as friends, certainly fierce warriors who will go after the enemy and stay after them -- but also as individuals who try to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible and are seen again as supporting the people and trying to help them achieve a better life," Petraeus said, specifically referring to the fight on the Afghan side of the border.

On the Pakistani side, Petraeus acknowledged an effort to put a halt to any collaboration between Taliban members and individuals in Pakistani intelligence.

"There are some relationships that continue. It is not as clear as one would like. There's certainly additional focus on that," Petraeus said. "Obviously, we've had these conversations with our counterparts (in Pakistan)."

Obama has announced that he's sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan and is requesting $1.5 billion a year for the next five years in aid for Pakistan -- he is also planning to call for $2.8 billion just for Pakistan's military.

As to threats elsewhere in the region, Petraeus said Iran is still "some years away" from a nuclear weapon.

"They have low-enriched uranium that is about the amount that would be required perhaps to make a weapon, but there are many, many more steps that are required.

You have to highly enrich it," he said. "But are they a threat? Certainly."

Petraeus also dismissed online speculation that he is considering a run for office (the speculation was fueled by a posting, later revealed to be a joke, that he is planning a 2010 speaking engagement at the University of Iowa).

"I do not (have interest in running for office)," Petraeus said. "Not at all. And I've tried to say that on numerous occasions."

He said he's not heading to Iowa.

TIMELINE-Attacks destabilise strife-torn Pakistan

Militants holed up in a police training centre in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday after storming the complex and killing cadets, with estimates of the dead ranging up to 20.Militant violence has surged in nuclear-armed Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on security forces and government and Western targets. Following is a timeline of major attacks in Pakistan since late 2007:
Oct. 19, 2007 - At least 139 people are killed in a suicide bomb attack on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's motorcade as she is driven through the financial capital of Karachi at the end of eight years of exile. She was unhurt.
Dec. 21 - A suicide bomber kills at least 41 people in a mosque in Charsadda district, in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), during the Muslim Eid festival prayers.
Dec. 27 - Bhutto is killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in northern garrison town of Rawalpindi. At least 16 others are killed.
Feb. 29, 2008 - A suicide attack on a police funeral kills 40 people in the turbulent northwestern district of Swat, 160 km (100 miles) from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
March 2 - At least 40 people are killed as suicide bomber attacks gathering of tribal elders in Darra Adam Khel, a northwestern tribal region.
March 11 - Two suicide car bombers kill 24, most of them in an attack on a government security office in the country's second largest city, Lahore, near the Pakistan-India border.
March 15 - A bomb attack at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad, a favourite hangout for foreigners, kills a Turkish woman and wounds several others, including four FBI agents.
Aug. 19 - Suspected suicide bomber kills 23 in compound of hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, southwest of Islamabad, as Shi'ite Muslims protest a leader's killing.
Aug. 21 - Two suicide bombers blow themselves up outside the main defence industry complex in Wah, 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Nearly 50 people are killed and about 70 wounded.
Sept. 20 - Suicide truck bomb attack blamed on Islamist militants kills 55 people, destroys Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
Dec. 5 - A car bomb kills at least 20 people and wounds scores in Peshawar, capital of NWFP.
Dec. 28 - At least 30 people are killed in a suicide car bomb blast at a polling station near Buner, in the NWFP, during a by-election for a provincial assembly.

Feb. 5, 2009 - At least 24 people are killed in a suspected suicide bombing near Shi'ite mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan, central Pakistan.

Feb. 20 - Suicide bomber kills 27 people and wounds 65 in an attack on a funeral procession for a Shi'ite Muslim killed a day earlier in Dera Ismail Khan.

March 3 - Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team outside a Lahore stadium, killing seven people, including six policemen, and wounding six of the cricketers and a British coach.

March 7 - Eight Pakistani police and soldiers are killed in a booby-trapped car bomb attack on a police van on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar.

March 16 - A bomb explodes near a bus stop in Rawalpindi, killing seven people.

March 27 - A suicide bomber kills 37 people when he blows himself up in a crowded Pakistani mosque near the Afghan border. Among the dead are 14 policemen and paramilitary soldiers.

March 30 - Militants armed with guns and grenades storm a police training centre in Lahore.

Lahore terrorist strike

The lethal terrorist strike on the Lahore police training school manifests chillingly the damning unpreparedness of the state to face up to a vicious monstrosity threatening its very existence. Not just that the strike came within days of a deadly attack on Sri Lankan cricketers not far off from this police academy in the city, whose perpetrators escaped scot-free and remain still at large. It was yet another security establishment to bear a daring terrorist assault. Over the time, terrorists have been systematically attacking security targets, supposed to be highly protected. They have struck military cantonments, training centres and various other establishments. Spared they have not even state intelligence apparatus’ key facilities. The ISI has been so attacked. Even the GHQ in Rawalpindi bore their wickedness in close vicinity. In Lahore itself, a naval college and the FIA complex were attacked. Doesn’t this reflect a method to their madness? Isn’t the intent more than evident that they want to degrade the state security apparatus in the people’s eye, erode their trust in it, demoralise the apparatus itself, and emasculate the state from inside so destructively as to survive? Then, why is the state top hierarchy acting so lackadaisically, showing itself to be out of its depth, just vacillating between certainty and uncertainty without conviction? Internal security czar Rehman Malik is routinely given to ascribing instantly every terrorist assault to Baitullah Mehsud’s brigands, without ever substantiating his charge. And since the Mumbai strike, his usual suspect is Lashkar-e-Taiba. At times, he alludes to a “foreign hand”. But with certainty he speaks not even long after a terrorist act. But even if he is right on his assertion of local militants’ involvement, the question he never answers is as to who is training, arming and bankrolling these thugs, without which they cannot attack and kill a lamb, what to talk of taking on a security establishment? Nor do those intellectual lights, gracing nightly media’s talk shows. They think big, they talk big, and such a “petty thing” registers not on their high minds. What agitates them troublingly is what they euphemistically call our military establishment’s “strategic depth” in Afghanistan and its “extraterritorial interest” in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. Their argumentation’s upshot is that this establishment is harbouring its proxies in its obscure havens for its ventures in Afghanistan and Kashmir; and it is these touted proxies of theirs they point their finger at for every terrorist act in the country. But is it really plausible that the military establishment trains, arms and bankrolls these proxies and unleashes on its own people to kill and maim them? This bunk has gone too long; it must now cease. Too much is at stake. This country’s very existence is at great risk, presently enmeshed as it is precariously in the throes of an international conspiracy. The fountainhead of this diabolical conspiracy lays in Afghanistan where it is being spearheaded by America’s CIA in league with India’s RAW, Israel’s Mossad and Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance-dominated intelligence agency, Central Directorate of Security. And Islamabad’s top hierarchy too must come out of its sweet delusion about Obama administration’s benign hand on its back. The mere carrot of $7.5 billion in aid that this administration has dangled before it has transported this hierarchy in a binge of song and dance. But it has just to listen to President Barack Obama’s imperial tone about Pakistan in his latest American television channel, talking of us as if we are no self-respecting people but another Puerto Rico, an American protectorate. In the American lexicon, this hierarchy must know, there is no free lunch. And for this aid, we have to barter away our independence, living in subjugation of America’s will and diktats, giving our army and the ISI to the subordination of Pentagon and the CIA. And if with an orchestrated vociferous vilification campaign they have discredited the Pakistan army and the ISI to be their credible partners in Afghanistan, worse is to come. While they have already embraced India warmly as their real partner in Afghanistan and helped it massively to embed there menacingly to us, they are now toying with the Indian army’s induction there as well. Their top soldier Admiral Mike Mullen has publicly stated India has a military role in Afghanistan. The Indian army chief too has spoken of it. So the Islamabad establishment must come out of its delusions, see what the country is up against, and think out how to cope with surging terrorism having its roots across our borders, and act to counter it bravely.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ed&nid=286&ad=31-03-200
Dated: Tuesday,March 31, 2009, Rabi-us-Sani 03, 1430 A.H.

Wave of attacks in Pakistan imperils state’s future

KARACHI: Monday's assault on a police school and a wave of spectacular attacks underlines Pakistan's weakness and the danger posed by militants to the future of the nuclear-armed nation, analysts said.The commando-style assault on the training ground transformed a normally peaceful commuter belt near Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore into a war zone, leaving at least 20 people dead in pitched battles with security forces.Analysts said the attack was a firm message to US President Barack Obama, who has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against al-Qaeda, tripling US aid in a strategy aimed at reversing the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.Such is the scale of violence in the Muslim nation that Obama called al-Qaeda and its allies 'a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within' and urged Islamabad to demonstrate its commitment to eradicating extremists.'Terrorists want to tell Obama and his western allies that they cannot be contained as Obama desired and are still as powerful and strong as they have been for years now,' said Mutahir Shaikh, an international relations expert.'The attack also proves the weakness of state institutions and shows that a mere half a dozen professionally trained terrorists can take anyone hostage and occupy any establishment they like,' he added.Monday's attack mimicked the March 3 assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, where assailants on foot carrying back packs of high-energy food and hand weapons killed eight Pakistanis and wounded seven members of the squad.'Urban terrorism is now in vogue in our major cities,' said Shaikh, a professor at the University of Karachi.Extremists opposed to the Pakistan government's decision to side with the United States in its 'war on terror' have carried out a spate of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1,700 people in less than two years.'This is further evidence of the growing threat of terrorism to Pakistan's state and society,' security analyst Hasan Askari told AFP after Monday's assault.'These groups want to paralyse the system of state in order to have greater freedom to pursue their ideological and political agenda inside and outside Pakistan,' he said.'An isolated Pakistan will be easily overwhelmed by terrorists, which the world should not allow them to do.'Much of the unrest has been concentrated in the northwest, where the army has been fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda. On Friday, a suicide bomber ripped through a packed mosque near the Afghan border, killing around 50 people.But the second attack in the Lahore area this month will fan fears that the net of violence is spreading.'Such attacks again prove that all the outside world's security fears about Pakistan's lack of governance are true,' said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an academic at Karachi's Urdu University.'These repeated attacks show total failure on the part of the government's law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. Pakistan's future is at massive risk,' he said.Pakistan shelters a litany of extremist groups, spanning banned outfits fighting for independence from Indian rule in Kashmir in the east, to Taliban and al-Qaeda in the west.Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik hinted that home-grown militant groups were behind Monday's raid.'Who is supporting them? Who is giving them weapons? Everyone knows these banned organisations, namely Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-i-Mohammad,' he told a private television channel.Top officials in Pakistan's key US ally have openly accused elements in the country's powerful intelligence agency of abetting al-Qaeda.'What we need to do is try and help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan,' US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

Mission accomplished; forces overpower Manawan attackers

Security forces on Monday overpowered attackers who besieged a police academy and declared victory as scores of policemen took up position on the rooftop of the centre.Ambulances raced in and out of the compound at top-speed ferrying casualties to hospital. The road outside the academy, just outside the city of Lahore, was clogged with ambulances, onlookers and army vehicles.The army cordoned off the entire area and prevented reporters from going inside the compound, as a military helicopter flew overhead at low altitude.At least three bearded men in vests put their hands in the air and surrendered to the small group of armed security forces and commandos on the rooftop of the main academy building just outside the city of Lahore.The forces shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater), flashed V for victory signs and pumped bullets into the air, a traditional sign of celebration, nearly eight hours after attackers stormed the compound.A crowd of several hundred people gathered near the training centre at the conclusion of the operation shouting "long live the Pakistan army".A five-minute walk away, a horse lay motionless on the road, apparently dead, an AFP reporter said.Police officer Babar Baluch told AFP that he had been inside the training camp during the operation."I saw eight to 10 bodies," he said but there was no top-level confirmation of the overall death toll.Two isolated gunshots rang out in the vicinity of the centre in the first 30 minutes after the security forces declared victory, said an AFP reporter.

Pakistan blames Taliban-allied militants in Lahore attack

Elite army and paramilitary troops battle for eight hours with gunmen who overran a police academy outside Lahore. About 20 people are dead, including at least four of the assailants.
Pakistani authorities Monday blamed Taliban-linked militants for a daylong assault on a police academy outside the eastern city of Lahore that left about 20 people dead, including at least four of the assailants.In a chillingly methodical strike, heavily armed gunmen stormed the training center as recruits gathered for morning drills. The assailants held off elite army and paramilitary troops for nearly eight hours before finally being overpowered. At least three of the attackers blew themselves up as troops overran their last stronghold, an upper floor in the compound's main building. Afterward, black-clad Pakistani commandos chanted "God is great!" and fired off rounds of celebratory gunfire.The audacious attack was yet another sign of the intensifying turmoil in Pakistan, considered a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic militants even though the year-old civilian government has been struggling to stay in control. President Obama declared last week that quelling the insurgency in Pakistan was key to success in the war in neighboring Afghanistan. He tied the continuation of U.S. aid to progress in confronting the militants. The assault on the police compound, which began about 8 a.m., was swift and sudden. Pakistani news reports cited witnesses as saying that the gunmen, some in civilian dress and some in what appeared to be police uniforms, hit the lightly guarded compound from several directions at once, hurling grenades and gunning down police cadets on the compound's parade ground. After initial confusion, hundreds of army and paramilitary troops, including elite Rangers, were rushed to the scene. The Dawn news television channel reported that a helicopter was hit by assailants' gunfire as it flew in troops, but managed to land safely.Shortly before 4 p.m., acting Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that authorities had regained control of the compound. He told reporters later that the attackers were linked to Baitullah Mahsud, commander of Pakistan's Taliban movement.About 90 people were reported hurt, with many of the wounded trapped inside for hours as the battle raged around them. Some police trainees said they leaped from windows to escape, or scaled the compound's high walls to get away.At one point, the assailants appeared to repel an armored personnel carrier that tried to enter the compound. The provincial governor, Salman Taseer, described the chaotic events as a "total siege."It was the second major attack within a month in Lahore, the cosmopolitan capital of Punjab province and once considered a relatively peaceful corner of the country. On March 3, six police guards and a bus driver were killed when gunmen attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team.Monday's attack was also reminiscent of the November onslaught in Mumbai, when teams of gunmen hit luxury hotels and other sites around India's commercial capital in a series of coordinated strikes, leaving nearly 170 people dead.In Lahore, the police trainees who were in the compound as the attack unfolded described an operation almost military in its precision."They kept on spraying bullets at us without stopping, and I saw many of my colleagues getting hit, crying out and falling to the ground," said a 23-year-old recruit, Mohammed Atif, who suffered minor injuries.Throughout the day, Pakistanis were transfixed by live television coverage of the assault, which included images of dead police recruits lying inside the compound. Footage also showed a captured assailant prone on the ground, being kicked by police before they hauled him to his feet and led him away.Analysts said the attackers may have been seeking to demoralize the government by humiliating the security forces. Many recruits could be seen sobbing as they emerged from the compound. Some quit the force on the spot."It's very likely this group had perfect knowledge of the targets and knew the operational environment well," said Rohan Gunaratna, director of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. "They had familiarity with law enforcement operations and their targets, and studied them very carefully over a period of time."