Monday, January 20, 2014
Pakistan: Negotiation mantra fails to impress TTP
Pakistan: Waking up to FATA
Mona Naseer
For urban Pakistan, FATA is its Achilles heel because it is the hub of all terrorism. According to them, drones fuel terrorism and so drones must stopWhen we talk about FATA, the emotions stirred in urban Pakistanis are only related to drone attacks causing civilian casualties, fuelling terrorism and violating our sovereignty. We have recently seen a popular political party raising the issue of drones, conducting protests and ultimately closing the NATO supply line going through the Peshawar-Torkham border. Urban Pakistan, living under the 1973 constitution, which provides them fundamental rights like the right to fair trial, right to freedom of speech, right to access of information, liberty, dignity, equal protection under law, privacy of the home, so on and so forth, has finally recognised that the people of FATA are vulnerable and that they are ready to own the people of this region. Of course, my delusion did not remain for long. The most important question that has failed to capture the minds and discourse of our literate Pakistanis is: why is the region kept under deliberate political and social isolation? Why is the outrage over the drone debate not linked to FATA reforms and immediate streamlining into Pakistani society? For urban Pakistan, FATA is its Achilles heel because it is the hub of all terrorism. According to them, drones fuel terrorism and so drones must stop. Beyond that debate, FATA is just not exciting enough. I apologise for trying to question the moral indignation of urban Pakistan over the drone debate. It is, however, not important for the urban dharna (sit in) participating crowd that FATA, which comprises of seven Agencies along with Frontier Region areas, remains Pakistan’s poorest region, with a population that, according to unofficial estimates, has reached over seven million. Nearly 66 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The region continues to be directly governed by Pakistan’s federal government through a special set of laws called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), a body of laws based on six chapters, 64 sections, three schedules. Article 247 of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan grants special status to FATA, whereby no act of parliament or the jurisdiction of the supreme judiciary is extendible to the region. The FCR guarantees no dignity of life and personal freedom to the people in the region. The literacy rate in FATA is only 17.42 percent, compared to the national average of 40 percent. Among women, it is three percent, compared to the national average of 32 percent. The per capita income is roughly $ 250, half the national average of $ 500, with a growth rate of 2.19 percent only. With hardly three percent land holdings, FATA’s 50 percent population is dependent on trade activities with Afghan brethren on the other side of the Durand Line. FATA’s forbidding terrain further isolates tribal communities from markets, healthcare, education services and many positive, external influences. The above statistics place FATA in the fourth world of the south. The tribal nature of the people and the geography of the region are being deliberately used to keep the region militarised. Defending the honour of the Pakistani state, the tribals were encouraged to fight jihad in Kashmir in 1948, since the fortress of Islam that is Pakistan was in danger. The people of FATA — trigger-happy cavemen — were ideal for providing human fodder from 1948 onwards to the current war on terror. The biggest war theatre in FATA was enacted by our military establishment to fight Islamic jihad in Afghanistan with petro dollars against the ‘infidels’ of the USSR. In 1979, FATA assumed special importance for our state when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. A massive jihad operation, from human fodder recruitment to drug factories, started operating in the region conveniently. During the Afghan war, more than 15,000 Arabs, Uzbek and Chechens were repatriated to and settled in FATA to fight a holy war against the Soviets. Also, nearly 1,000 or so unregistered madrassas (seminaries) were established primarily in FATA, many of which preached jihad against infidels. The continuation of the FCR by the Pakistani state made their various adventures possible in the region from 1948’s militarisation to the ultimate disintegration of the Soviet Union to the current war on terror. There are roughly 21 leftover jihadi groups from 1979 and 39 sectarian groups operating in FATA. These jihadis have now turned into the Taliban with different interests to manipulate and control the local population. However, 13 peace agreements were signed between the Taliban and the government between the periods 2007 to 2009 without involving the local population at large. In all these peace agreements signed with the militant Taliban, people sitting in Islamabad were taken on board but most of them lack understanding of local problems while dealing with these former jihadists now turned militants. To counter the former jihadists, a military operation was initiated by the state. Pakistan’s military has launched 12 major operations since 2002 against the Taliban. These military operations have completely militarised/destroyed the social and economic life of the people of FATA. Presently, military operations in the tribal belt have led to the displacement of more than three million people. The largest displacement is from South Waziristan where around 428,000 people have been displaced. In the summer of 2013, the Pakistani military launched an operation in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, which resulted in a huge exodus of more than 80,000 people. The military operations and Taliban takeover have played havoc with an already most impoverished area of the region. Agriculture, forests, water resources and lakes have been ruined. More than 32 percent of the educational institutions in the tribal areas of Pakistan have been destroyed in the militancy. Along with the bombing of schools by the Taliban, the healthcare sector has had a major setback by the targeting of polio workers in the region. FATA has 41 hospitals for its seven million strong population. The whole debate on this war on terror has been dominated by a very parochial, false and superficial discourse. The All Parties Conference held by the Nawaz Sharif government, which had participants from all major political parties in Pakistan, was a further disappointment. The conference called the tribal people their own people but called for no immediate and drastic reforms in the region, not even by those who championed the anti-drone policy. Urban Pakistan’s imagination is only caught up with one thing: how drones fuel insurgency and kill innocent people. Let us assume these leftover jihadists did not exist in the tribal region before the drones, or are not responsible for the killing of more than 1,500 tribal elders, murder and rape of the local people. Or maybe that the 1979 radicalisation of the area never happened. And we can deny that there are no Arabs, Chechen and Uzbek militants enjoying Pakistan’s tattered sovereignty. Or maybe I keep on forgetting they are sitting in Alaqa ghair (territory which is outside the domain of civil Pakistan). That debate can be bought by someone who is trying not to see the whole picture. Maybe if the press and media were allowed into the region we would get half of the ugly picture. However, no press and media are allowed and, under FCR’s draconian laws, no tribal can participate in national or international debate. We see no outrage over poverty and inhumane laws operating in FATA, let alone the deliberate militarisation under the pretext of Americanised jihad. If Pakistan is trying to own FATA through drones protests only, I regret to inform them that there is more to FATA than just drones. Protesting against drones can be good for one’s moral soul because they do cause civilian deaths along with those of high profile terrorists but this will not make the people of FATA Pakistanis.
Pindi blast strongly condemned: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for declaring Taliban as enemy
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Patron in Chief, Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned killing of 10 innocent people in the Taliban suicide bombing in Rawalpindi bazaar adding that nation’s patience was running out. “Instead of inventing fictional pro-war lobby, everybody should just admit TTP is an enemy and driven by blood lust has no interest in talks or peace,” he stated. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said it was surprising that some of the Taliban apologists were blaming the foreign countries of using Taliban against Pakistan but they are still adamant to hold talks with such deadly enemies. PPP Patron in Chief further said every drop of blood being sacrificed by the general public and the nation’s brave armed forces is creating unity and consensus that beasts can never be lured through roses and they need to be responded to in the same language. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sympathized with the bereaved families adding he personally shares their grief as he himself lost his mother in nation’s war for survival. He demanded best medical treatment to all those injured.http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Pakistan: A matter of aid and priorities
Pakistan: Learning levels in rural areas tumbling
Pakistan: Death toll in Rawalpindi suicide blast rises to 13, TTP claims responsibility
http://dunyanews.tv/
"The attack was carried by one of our suicide bombers" TTP spokesperson told AFP.At least thirteen people including six security personnel have been killed in a suicide blast in a market close to Pakistan's military headquarters on Monday. 17 people including three school children were also wounded in the blast which tore through RA bazaar in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, at around 7.45 am (0245 GMT). Sajid Zafar Dall, the top government official in Rawalpindi, confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. "The attack occurred when children were going to school. Our initial assessment is that the bomber was possibly on a bicycle and he then approached the target on foot." It came a day after the Pakistani Taliban killed 25 soldiers and wounded 30 others in a suicide bombing in the northwestern town of Bannu. The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement has been waging a bloody campaign since 2007, carrying out countless bomb and gun attacks, often on military targets. The military headquarters came under attack in 2009, when militants laid siege to the complex for 24 hours. A total of 19 people died including eight militants. Major naval and air force bases have also been targeted in recent years. A senior Pakistani general was killed in a blast last September along with two other soldiers in an attack claimed by the Taliban. TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed the attack as payback for a deadly military raid on Lal Masjid in Rawalpindi in 2007. "It was carried by one of our suicide bombers to take revenge for the Red Mosque massacre," he told AFP. "We will continue our struggle against the secular system."
Pakistan's Education: A damning survey
Afghan Officials Blame Pakistan for Kabul Restaurant Attack
by Jason Ditz
The attack involved three people, a suicide bomber and two gunmen, and killed 21 people, mostly foreigners, and including several top officials, including the head of the IMF in the country. The Taliban claimed credit for the attack. The NSC is saying they don’t believe the “sophisticated and complex” attack was something the Taliban could’ve done by their own, and suggested an overseas spy agency, likely Pakistan’s ISI, were behind it. It’s not unusual for the Afghan government to blame Pakistan’s spy agencies for major attacks, though in this case a three-person hit team doesn’t seem like such an elaborate operation that it required a lot of pre-planning.Officials with the Afghan National Security Council are accusing Pakistan’s spy agency of being secretly behind last week’s deadly attack on a Kabul restaurant, in the embassy district.
New attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan deepen concerns of many
Pakistan: Deadly blast hits Pakistan city of Rawalpindi
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Putin: Terror strikes should not affect the Sochi Olympics
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Russian and foreign media that he did not want terrorist acts like the two recent explosions in Volgograd in December 2013 to affect the Olympic Games in Sochi. “I would not want these acts of terrorism -crimes of the kind aimed at undermining international cooperation in the political as well as, so to say, humanitarian area, including sports, to affect the upcoming events. For if we allow ourselves to show weakness, to show our fear, it means we will help the terrorists achieve their goals. I think that international community, working in all areas - humanitarian, political and economic - must join forces in the fight against the inhumanity of terrorist attacks and killing entirely innocent people. Our task as organizers is to ensure the security of athletes and guests at this major sport event, and will do our best,” the Russian president said when he was asked how the two recent terrorist acts in Volgograd could affect the security at the Games. Putin added that security would be ensured by some 40,000 law enforcement and special services officers. “Of course, we will draw on the experience acquired during similar events held in other regions or the world and in other countries. It means that we will protect our air and sea space as well as the mountain cluster, “Putin explained. “I hope things will be organized in such a way that they do not catch the eye and, as I have already said, will not, so to say, depress the participants in the Olympic Games,” Putin explained, adding the law enforcers will do their best to make the aforesaid measures effective. One of the journalists shared her memories of the London Olympic Games where Patriot missile launchers had been deployed on the roofs of houses and military ships were anchored in the bay. “I hope you will not see anything but we will do our best,” the president went on to say. “As for London, we remember that one of the G8 summits there saw a number of terrorist attacks, including in the tube. I remember the painful reaction of the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the attacks and I remember how we all provided him moral, and if necessary special support,” Putin said. The president thanked the law enforcers of many foreign countries for active cooperation with Russian security forces and law enforcement in the run-up to the Sochi Olympic Games.
Video: Ukrainian riot police in flames
As violent anti-government protests continue into the night in Kiev, riot police catch fire.
Suicide blast in Rawalpindi kills 6, injures 15
The Express Tribune News
A suicide bomb blast near RA Bazaar in Rawalpindi killed six people including three army personnel and injured 15 others, Express News reported on Monday. The target of the blast was a joint check post of the police and the Pakistan Army. The blast took place near the General Headquarters of the Pakistan military and the RA police station. It occurred in front of the National Logistics Cell building. Security forces have cordoned off the area. The injured were taken to Combined Military Hospital for medical attention. Further investigation is underway.
Global Terrorism and Saudi Arabia: Bandar’s Terror Network
Al-Manar
By Prof. James PetrasSaudi Arabia has all the vices and none of the virtues of an oil rich state like Venezuela. The country is governed by a family dictatorship which tolerates no opposition and severely punishes human rights advocates and political dissidents. Hundreds of billions in oil revenues are controlled by the royal despotism and fuel speculative investments the world over. The ruling elite relies on the purchase of Western arms and US military bases for protection. The wealth of productive nations is siphoned to enrich the conspicuous consumption of the Saudi ruling family. The ruling elite finances the most fanatical, retrograde, misogynist version of Islam, “Wahhabi” a sect of Sunni Islam. Faced with internal dissent from repressed subjects and religious minorities, the Saudi dictatorship perceives threats and dangers from all sides, overseas, secular, nationalists and Shiite ruling governments; internally, moderate Sunni nationalists, democrats and feminists; within the royalist cliques, traditionalists and modernizers. In response it has turned toward financing, training and arming an international network of Islamic terrorists who are directed toward attacking, invading and destroying regimes opposed to the Saudi clerical-dictatorial regime. The mastermind of the Saudi terror network is Bandar bin Sultan, who has longstanding and deep ties to high level US political, military and intelligence officials. Bandar was trained and indoctrinated at Maxwell Air Force Base and Johns Hopkins University and served as Saudi Ambassador to the US for over two decades (1983 – 2005). Between 2005 – 2011 he was Secretary of the National Security Council and in 2012 he was appointed as Director General of the Saudi Intelligence Agency. Early on Bandar became deeply immersed in clandestine terror operations working in liaison with the CIA. Among his numerous dirty operations with the CIA during the 1980s, Bandar channeled $32 million dollars to the Nicaragua Contra’s engaged in a terror campaign to overthrow the revolutionary Sandinista government in Nicaragua. During his tenure as ambassador he was actively engaged in protecting Saudi royalty with ties to the 9/11/01 bombing of the Triple Towers and the Pentagon. Suspicion that Bandar and his allies in the Royal family had prior knowledge of the bombings by Saudi terrorists (11 of the 19), is suggested by the sudden flight of Saudi Royalty following the terrorist act. US intelligence documents regarding the Saudi-Bandar connection are under Congressional review. With a wealth of experience and training in running clandestine terrorist operations, derived from his two decades of collaboration with the US intelligence agencies, Bandar was in a position to organize his own global terror network in defense of the isolated retrograde and vulnerable Saudi despotic monarchy. Bandar’s Terror Network Bandar bin Sultan has transformed Saudi Arabia from an inward-looking, tribal based regime totally dependent on US military power for its survival, to a major regional center of a vast terror network, an active financial backer of rightwing military dictatorships (Egypt) and client regimes (Yemen) and military interventor in the (Persian) Gulf region (Bahrain). Bandar has financed and armed a vast array of clandestine terror operations, utilizing Islamic affiliates of Al-Qaeda, the Saudi controlled Wahhabi sect as well as numerous other Sunni armed groups. Bandar is a pragmatic terrorist operator, repressing Al-Qaeda adversaries in Saudi Arabia and financing Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere. While Bandar was a long-term asset of the US intelligence services, he has, more recently, taken an independent course where the regional interests of the despotic state diverge from those of the US. In the same vein, while Saudi Arabia has a longstanding enmity toward Israel, Bandar has developed a “covert understanding” and working relation with the Netanyahu regime, around their common enmity toward Iran and more specifically in opposition to the interim agreement between the Obama-Rouhani regime. Bandar has intervened directly or via proxies in reshaping political alignments, destabilizing adversaries and bolstering and expanding the political reach of the Saudi dictatorship from North Africa to South Asia, from the Russian Caucuses to the Horn of Africa, sometimes in concert with Western imperialism, other times projecting Saudi hegemonic aspirations. North Africa: Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Egypt Bandar has poured billions of dollars to bolster the rightwing pro-Islamic regimes in Tunisia and Morocco, ensuring that the mass pro-democracy movements would be repressed, marginalized and demobilized. Islamic extremists receiving Saudi financial support are encouraged to back the “moderate” Islamists in government by assassinating secular democratic leaders and socialist trade union leaders in opposition. Bandar’s policies largely coincide with those of the US and France in Tunisia and Morocco; but not in Libya and Egypt. Saudi financial backing for Islamist terrorists and Al-Qaeda affiliates against Libyan President Gadhafi were in-line with the NATO air war. However divergences emerged in the aftermath, the NATO backed client regime made up of neo-liberal ex-pat’s faced off against Saudi backed Al-Qaeda and Islamist terror gangs and assorted tribal gunmen and marauders. Bandar funded Islamic extremists in Libya were bankrolled to extend their military operations to Syria, where the Saudi regime was organizing a vast military operation to overthrow the Assad regime. The internecine conflict between NATO and Saudi armed groups in Libya, spilled over and led to the Islamist murder of the US Ambassador and CIA operatives in Benghazi. Having overthrown Gadhafi, Bandar virtually abandoned interest in the ensuing blood bath and chaos provoked by his armed assets. They in turn, became self-financing – robbing banks, pilfering oil and emptying local treasuries – relatively “independent” of Bandar’s control. In Egypt, Bandar developed, in coordination with Israel (but for different reasons), a strategy of undermining the relatively independent, democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi. Bandar and the Saudi dictatorship financially backed the military coup and dictatorship of General Sisi. The US strategy of a power-sharing agreement between the Moslem Brotherhood and the military regime, combining popular electoral legitimacy and the pro-Israel-pro NATO military was sabotaged. With a $15 billion aid package and promises of more to come, Bandar provided the Egyptian military a financial lifeline and economic immunity from any international financial reprisals. None were taken of any consequences. The military crushed the Brotherhood, jailed and threatened to execute its elected leaders. It outlawed sectors of the liberal-left opposition which it had used as cannon fodder to justify its seizure of power. In backing the military coup, Bandar eliminated a rival, democratically elected Islamic regime which stood in contrast to the Saudi despotism. He secured a like-minded dictatorial regime in a key Arab country, even though the military rulers are more secular, pro-Western, pro-Israel and less anti-Assad than the Brotherhood regime. Bandar’s success in greasing the wheels for the Egyptian coup secured a political ally but faces an uncertain future. The revival of a new anti-dictatorial mass movement would also target the Saudi connection. Moreover Bandar undercut and weakened (Persian) Gulf State unity, Qatar had financed the Morsi regime and was out $5 billion dollars it had extended to the previous regime. Bandar’s terror network is most evident in his long-term large scale financing, arming, training and transport of tens of thousands of Islamic terrorist “volunteers” from the US, Europe, the Middle East, the Caucuses, North Africa and elsewhere. Al-Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia became “martyrs of Islam” in Syria. Dozens of Islamic armed gangs in Syria competed for Saudi arms and funds. Training bases with US and European instructors and Saudi financing were established in Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey. Bandar financed the major rebel Islamic terrorist armed group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, for cross border operations. "With Hezbollah supporting Assad," Bandar directed money and arms to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Lebanon to bomb South Beirut, the Iranian embassy and Tripoli. Bandar directed $3 billion to the Lebanese military with the idea of fomenting a new civil war between it and Hezbollah. In co-ordination with France and the US, but with far greater funding and greater latitude to recruit Islamic terrorists, Bandar assumed the leading role and became the principle director of a three front military and diplomatic offensive against Syria, Hezbollah and Iran. For Bandar, an Islamic takeover in Syria would lead to an Islamic Syrian invasion in support of Al-Qaeda in Lebanon to defeat Hezbollah in hopes of isolating Iran. Tehran would then become the target of a Saudi-Israeli-US offensive. Bandar’s strategy is more fantasy than reality. Bandar Diverges from Washington, the Offensive in Iraq and Iran Saudi Arabia has been an extremely useful but sometimes out of control client of Washington. This is especially the case since Bandar has taken over as Intelligence chief, a long-time asset of the CIA he has also, at times, taken the liberty to extract favors for his services, especially when those favors enhance his upward advance within the Saudi power structure. Hence, for example, his ability to secure AWACs despite AIPAC opposition earned him merit points. As did Bandar’s ability to secure the departure of several hundred Saudi royalty with ties to the 9/11 bombers, despite a high level national security lockdown in the aftermath of the bombing. While there were episodic transgressions in the past, Bandar moved on to more serious divergences from US policy. He went ahead, building his own terror network, directed toward maximizing Saudi hegemony – even where it conflicted with US proxies, clients and clandestine operatives. "While the US is committed to backing the rightwing Maliki regime in Iraq," Bandar is providing political, military and financial backing to the Sunni terrorist “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”. When the US negotiated the “interim agreement” with Iran Bandar voiced his opposition and “bought” support. Saudi signed off on a billion dollar arms agreement during French President Hollande’s visit, in exchange for greater sanctions on Iran. Bandar also expressed support for Israel’s use of the Zionist power configuration to influence the Congress, to sabotage US negotiations with Iran. Bandar has moved beyond his original submission to US intelligence handlers. His close ties with past and present US and EU presidents and political influentials have encouraged him to engage in “Big Power adventures”. He met with Russian President Putin to convince him to drop his support for Syria, offering a carrot or a stick, a multi-billion dollar arms sale for compliance and a threat to unleash Chechnyian terrorists to undermine the Sochi Olympics. He has turned Erdogan from a NATO ally supporting moderate armed opponents to Bashar Assad, into embracing the Saudi backed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a terrorist Al-Qaeda affiliate. Bandar has “overlooked” Erdogan’s “opportunist” efforts to sign off oil deals with Iran and Iraq, his continuing military arrangements with NATO and his past backing of the defunct Morsi regime in Egypt, in order to secure Erdogan’s support for the easy transit of large numbers of Saudi trained terrorists to Syria and probably Lebanon. Bandar has strengthened ties with the armed Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, arming and financing their armed resistance against the US, as well as offering the US a site for a negotiated departure. Bandar is probably supporting and arming Uighur Muslim terrorists in western China, and Chechens and Caucasian Islamic terrorists in Russia, even as the Saudis expand their oil agreements with China and cooperate with Russia’s Gazprom. The only region where the Saudis have exercised direct military intervention is in the (Persian) Gulf min-state of Bahrain, where Saudi troops crushed the pro-democracy movement challenging the local despot. Bandar: Global Terror on Dubious Domestic Foundations Bandar has embarked on an extraordinary transformation of Saudi foreign policy and enhanced its global influence. All to the worst. Like Israel, when a reactionary ruler comes to power and overturns the democratic order, Saudi arrives on the scene with bags of dollars to buttress the regime. Whenever an Islamic terror network emerges to subvert a nationalist, secular or Shiite regime, it can count on Saudi funds and arms. What some Western scribes euphemistically describe as “tenuous effort to liberalize and modernize” the retrograde Saudi regime, is really a military upgrade of its overseas terrorist activity. Bandar uses modern techniques of terror to impose the Saudi model of reactionary rule on neighboring and distant regimes with Muslim populations. The problem is that Bandar’s “adventurous” large scale overseas operations conflict with some of the ruling Royal family’s “introspective” style of rulership. They want to be left alone to accrue hundreds of billions collecting petrol rents, to invest in high-end properties around the world, and to quietly patronize high end call girls in Washington, London and Beirut –while posing as pious guardians of Medina, Mecca and the Holy sites. So far Bandar has not been challenged, because he has been careful to pay his respects to the ruling monarch and his inner circle. He has bought and brought Western and Eastern prime ministers, presidents and other respectable notable to Riyadh to sign deals and pay compliments to the delight of the reigning despot. Yet his solicitous behavior to overseas Al-Qaeda operations, his encouraging Saudi extremists to go overseas and engage in terrorist wars, disturbs monarchical circles. They worry that Saudis trained, armed and knowledgeable terrorists – dubbed as “holy warriors” – may return from Syria, Russia and Iraq and bomb the King's palaces. Moreover, oversea regimes targeted by Bandar’s terror network may retaliate, Russia or Iran, Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Iraqis may just sponsor their own instruments of retaliation. Despite the hundreds of billions spent on arms purchases, the Saudi regime is very vulnerable on all levels. Apart from tribal legions, the billionaire elite have little popular support and even less legitimacy. It depends on overseas migrant labor, foreign “experts” and US military forces. The Saudi elite is also despised by the most religious of the Wahhabi clergy for allowing “infidels” on sacred terrain. While Bandar extends Saudi power abroad, the domestic foundations of rule are narrowing. While he defies US policymakers in Syria, Iran and Afghanistan, the regime depends on the US Air Force and Seventh Fleet to protect it from a growing array of adversarial regimes. Bandar, with his inflated ego, may believe that he is a “Saladin” building a new Islamic empire, but in reality, by waving one finger his patron monarch can lead to his rapid dismissal. One too many provocative civilian bombings by his Islamic terrorist beneficiaries can lead to an international crises leading to Saudi Arabia becoming the target of world opprobrium. In reality, Bandar bin Sultan is the protégé and successor of Bin Laden; he has deepened and systematized global terrorism. Bandar’s terror network has murdered far more innocent victims than Bin Laden. That, of course, is to be expected; after all he has billions of dollars from the Saudi treasury, training from the CIA and the handshake of Netanyahu!
Bahrain’s Lethal Teargas War
Pro-democracy activists are banding together in an online campaign to stop the shipment of tear gas canisters to Bahrain, where government forces have transformed the gas into a mortal weapon.Sayed Hashim Saeed was 15 years, nine months and six days old the day he died. Two years on, his father remembers every detail. It was New Year’s Eve 2011, and the family was visiting Sayed Hashim’s grandparents in a suburb of Bahrain’s Hamad City. At 5pm, the high-school freshman slipped out of the house and joined a nearby pro-democracy protest. “There was a sit-in in the street. They just sat in front of the houses, it was peaceful,” said his father, Sayed Saeed. “Then the security forces came in with vans. Of course, Sayed Hashim ran away. So they chased him.” Armed officers in dark uniforms and white helmets pursued him down the narrow alleys. When they got a clear shot, they fired a teargas canister directly at his upper body. It hit him in the neck and knocked him to the floor. As he lay there, they fired another round, which caught in his clothes and caused a huge burn across his chest. “The other guys tried to save him, but the police fired more rounds, so the gas became thick around him. The gas had overcome him. He couldn’t get up,” said his father. By the time he made it to hospital, Sayed Hashim was dead. He was one of at least 39 Bahrainis killed by teargas canisters since the start of an Arab Spring-inspired uprising in the tiny Gulf kingdom, an island with the population of San Diego. Bahrain has seen daily street protests and brutal police violence since February 2011, when security forces used force to break up a peaceful sit-in at the Pearl Roundabout in capital Manama. Human-rights groups say the regime has arrested and tortured dozens of opposition activists. But in the streets, the security forces’ weapon of choice is teargas. Lots of it. “Teargas in Bahrain is used as a weapon for killing, not for breaking up demos,” said Sayed Yousif Al Muhafda, head of documentation at the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. “It’s always used as a weapon—it’s fired from close up and towards the upper part of the body.” Teargas canisters are meant to be fired in an arc, landing amid crowds of protestors and giving off an instant fog of foul-smelling, eye-watering smoke to force people to clear out. But human-rights groups accuse the Bahraini security forces of “weaponizing” both the gas and the canisters, to lethal effect. Physicians for Human Rights reported in 2012 that the government’s use of tear gas as a weapon had maimed, blinded and killed protestors. Muhafda said he had documented 30 cases where people—mostly elderly or disabled—had died of suffocation after canisters were fired or thrown into their homes. Several pregnant women have lost babies as a result. One police tactic has been to fire dozens of canisters in quick succession into the mostly Shia villages where the protests are strongest, a crude exercise in collective punishment by the Sunni regime. Dozens of Youtube videos bear witness to this, and it’s particularly common around the time of big events such as this weekend’s Bahrain International Air Show—or the country’s showcase annual event, the Formula 1 racing. “Formula 1 actually causes human-rights violations,” said Maryam Al Khawaja, acting President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. “Right before the event, the government goes on a crackdown in the surrounding villages to make sure there are no protests. If they feel there’s a probability that will happen, they’ll do the same with the air show.” The Obama administration has banned the sale of U.S.-made tear gas canisters to Bahrain, but not all countries have done the same. Last October, campaign group Bahrain Watch discovered that the Bahrain government had ordered a massive batch of tear gas rounds from South Korean company. The tender was for 1.6 million canisters—more than one round for every Bahraini citizen. They launched a huge online campaign dubbed #Stoptheshipment. After supporters sent 400,000 emails to South Korean officials, Seoul banned the delivery, citing “political instability” in Bahrain. But activists now fear that Bahrain will import the canisters via a third country to evade export controls. All the signs are that the authorities are upping the ante. “They used to use gas that was weak—it would only make your eyes water. Now they’re using poisonous gas,” said Sayed Saeed, who said he attends protests almost daily. “Now, you just stand for a few moments, and if you don’t leave, or close your mouth to the gas, you’ll fall on the ground because it’s so strong.” This week’s meeting between the Bahraini Crown Prince and the head of the main opposition party, Al Wefaq, raised hopes of a deal to end the deadlock in the country. But with violations continuing every day, it seems unlikely Bahrainis will be able to openly express their opinions any time soon. “Teargas is a subset of the problem,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “We’re talking about a government that denies people the ability to exercise the right to peacefully demonstrate.”
U.N. Invites Iran to Peace Conference on Syria, Surprising U.S. Officials
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, said on Sunday that he had invited Iran to an international peace conference to end the war in Syria. The announcement drew immediate objections from American officials, who suggested that Iran had not met all the conditions for attending and that the invitation might need to be withdrawn. At the heart of the dispute is whether Iran has publicly accepted the terms of the talks, which begin Wednesday in Montreux, Switzerland: to establish “by mutual consent” a transitional body to govern Syria. Mr. Ban said he had been privately assured that Iran understood those ground rules and had pledged to play “a positive and constructive role.” The State Department appeared to have been caught off guard by Mr. Ban’s hastily organized news conference Sunday evening. It pointed out that Iran had actively aided the government of President Bashar al-Assad and failed to accept the terms agreed upon in Geneva in 2012, which are known as the Geneva communiqué. “If Iran does not fully and publicly accept the Geneva communiqué, the invitation must be rescinded,” said Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman. Iran had made no such public statement at the time of Mr. Ban’s news conference. “The United States views the U.N. secretary general’s invitation to Iran to attend the upcoming Geneva conference as conditioned on Iran’s explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué, including the establishment of a transitional governing body by mutual consent with full executive authorities,” Ms. Psaki said in a statement. “We also remain deeply concerned about Iran’s contributions to the Assad regime’s brutal campaign against its own people, which has contributed to the growth of extremism and instability in the region.” Mr. Ban took pains to note that Iran had accepted the terms of the talks. That would be a major turnaround, since Iran has long insisted that it will participate in talks only if there are no preconditions. Still, Iran’s acceptance of the terms would not necessarily mean it accepted the principle that Mr. Assad must leave office. Iranian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Some 30 countries, including Saudi Arabia, a bitter rival of Iran, have been invited to what may be a largely ceremonial opening day of the peace talks. Two days later, Syria’s government and opposition delegations will move to Geneva to continue the deliberations, mediated by a United Nations special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi. Diplomats and Middle East analysts say that if there are any breakthroughs, they will take place in Geneva. The negotiations are not expected to yield major results, except perhaps to open up certain parts of Syria to the delivery of humanitarian aid, which has been long denied. Iran’s participation has been the subject of intense diplomatic wrangling for several weeks. Mr. Ban and Mr. Brahimi have insisted that Iran, with its considerable influence over the Assad government, should be part of the negotiations. So has the Syrian government’s other major ally, Russia. The United States has long been wary of Iran’s intentions. Tehran has been one of the Assad government’s staunchest political and military supporters, sending arms to Damascus and encouraging Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, to join the fight on the side of Mr. Assad. As recently as last Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry complained that Iran was, effectively, a belligerent in the conflict. “Iran is currently a major actor with respect to adverse consequences in Syria,” Mr. Kerry said. “No other nation has its people on the ground fighting in the way that they are.” Mr. Kerry repeated the longstanding American position that Iran should not be invited unless it formally accepts the goal of establishing a post-Assad transitional government. Andrew J. Tabler, an expert on Syria at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Iran’s presence “seems to widen the circle of regional involvement.” But Mr. Tabler also noted that Iran and the United States could be expected to hold diametrically opposed views as to whether Mr. Assad must give up power. “Given that Iranian forces and their Shia militias are deployed on the ground backing up Assad, it means another Assad backer will be present at this meeting,” he said. Syria’s political opposition said in a Twitter message that it would not attend unless Mr. Ban withdrew Iran’s invitation. “The Syrian coalition announces that they will withdraw their attendance in Geneva 2 unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran’s invitation,” the Twitter message said, quoting Louay Safi, a coalition spokesman. The ultimatum came just a day after the coalition, facing a boycott from a third of its members, had voted to send a delegation to the peace talks. The opposition has been under intense international pressure, including from the United States government, to participate. Mr. Ban reported on Sunday that Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had said his country supported the ground rules. “He has assured me that, like all the other countries invited to the opening day discussions in Montreux, Iran understands that the basis of the talks is the full implementation of the 30 June, 2012, Geneva communiqué,” Mr. Ban said. “Foreign Minister Zarif and I agreed that the goal of the negotiations is to establish by mutual consent a transitional governing body with full executive powers,” he added. “It was on that basis that Foreign Minister Zarif pledged that Iran would play a positive and constructive role in Montreux.”By SOMINI SENGUPTA and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Bilawal Bhutto condemns Bannu attack
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Patron in Chief, Pakistan Peoples Party has strongly condemned the coward attack on nation’s brave soldiers of FC in Bannu resulting in martyrdom of 20 sons fighting to save their motherland from scourge of beastly terrorism. “Our soldiers are being killed…Our patriotic politicians are being mowed down…almost every institution and segment of our society is being attacked barring the scared and apologetic ostriches,” he stated. “From mosques to schools, hospitals to churches, media houses to military cantonments, prisons to Tableeghi Markaz, these beasts are attacking everything that protects and upholds the flag of Islam and Pakistan,” he said stressing entire nation needs to rise up against these deadly criminals, anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan elements and finish them off before they annihilate all of us. PPP Patron in Chief said those who have refused to recognise TTP as the enemy and perpetuated the myth of ‘peace talks’ have blood on their hands. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed sympathies with the bereaved families of soldiers and prayed eternal life for the martyred soldiers.http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Pakistan: Explosion kills 22 in Bannu; TTP claims attack
A bombing, targeting a security forces convoy, killed 22 people and injured 38 others near Razmak gate in Cantt area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bannu district on Sunday. The Pakistani Taliban claimed the attack.
An ISPR spokesman said that in the attack, 20 security personnel were killed and 30 were injured.
Speaking to CNN, Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that the militant organisation was responsible for the attack and said that their attacks on security forces would continue.
On the other hand, intelligence sources say that a convoy, comprising military and civilian vehicles, was ready to move towards Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region from a ground near Razmak Gate in Cantt area of Bannu when the explosion occurred in one of the coaches.
The sources added that the explosives were planted in one of the vehicles hired from a private party.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemning the incident has sought a report from the Inspector General of Frontier Corps with the details related to the hiring of the private vehicles for transportation.
Emergency and security forces reached the attack site and shifted the victims to a nearby hospital. Those killed in the attack included civilians and security forces personnel. Security and rescue sources said 18 personnel and four civilians were among the dead.
Moreover, security forces cordoned off the area as a probe into the incident went underway.
Within hours of the attack, the TTP spokesman said that the Taliban were ready for meaningful dialogue, however, the government should show its sincerity.
The northwestern town of Bannu, which stands at the gateway to the semi-autonomous Waziristan tribal region, is 150 kilometres southwest of Peshawar, the capital of KP.
The town has witnessed a number of attacks and was the scene of a massive jail break in April 2012 during which 384 prisoners escaped from its central prison.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
No possible justification' for Kabul restaurant attack: US
The White House on Saturday strongly condemned a Taliban suicide attack on a Kabul restaurant that killed 21 people.
"There is no possible justification for this attack, which has killed innocent civilians, including Americans, working every day to help the Afghan people achieve a better future," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
Two Americans were among 13 foreigners who were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest in the Taverna du Liban, clearing the way for two other militants who stormed into the restaurant and fired on survivors.
Also killed were eight Afghans, Kabul's police chief said.
The dead included employees of the United Nations, the American University, the International Monetary Fund and other organizations.
It was the deadliest attack on foreign civilians since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
A Taliban spokesman said the attack was to avenge a US airstrike in Parwan province on Tuesday night that President Hamid Karzai said killed seven children and one woman.
"The United States commends the quick and skillful response of the Afghan security services in the aftermath of the attack.
"We call again on the Taliban to put down their arms and begin peace talks, which is the surest way to end the conflict in a peaceful manner," the White House statement said.
Pakistani: Rights group demands PM's intervention for British/Pakistani Muslim Ahmadi national arrested on blasphemy charges
The Prime Minister must intervene for the release of a British/Pakistan national who was arrested on charges of Blasphemy
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a British doctor is languishing in a Pakistani prison accused of "posing as a Muslim" after being videoed reading aloud from the Quran.
The 72-year-old medical practitioner was arrested on charges of blasphemy (believed to be fake), for reciting Quran Sharif, the holy book of Islam.
Dr. Masood Ahmad belongs to the Ahmadi community which has been declared non Islamic.
The police, without holding a proper investigation, quickly arrested him and sent him to prison.
The British media have a great deal of space to his arrest and demanded that the British government contact the Pakistan government for his release.
The government of Pakistan is hesitant to release his due to fear of reprisals from religious fundamentalist groups.
Balochistan: Parents appeal for their children’s safe and early release, one abducted from Chitkaan
http://balochwarna.com/
The parents of two Baloch students, abducted from Buleda area of Kech Balochistan on 15 January, have appealed for their children’s safe release on Friday.
According to details Pakistan FC has abducted students Baloch Khan, 18, son of Naseer Khan and Faisal, 20, son of Rafiq Baloch from Solo area in Buleda on Wednesday.
The family has confirmed the abduction of boys and said that they had gone to Turbat for some domestic work but the Pakistan FC has abducted them.
The families of children have appealed to Human Rights organisations to take notice of abduction of their loved ones.
They said: “Our children’s life is in danger because when Pakistani FC abducts children, then their mutilated bodies are found.”
The parents said that their children have not committed any wrong doing.
Their only crime is that they are Baloch.
They appeal the United Nations and other international humanitarian organisations to play their role for the safe release of their children.
Meanwhile, another man named Abdul Qadeer son of Hammal resident of Gichk has been abducted from Chitkaan Bazar.
His whereabouts were unknown until the filing of this report.
Pakistan: Obscurantism of the Elites
The Punjabi elite in Islamabad have continued to exhibit chronic ineptitude in addressing the question of thousands of Baloch enforced disappearances. Their inability to formulate or enact any credible procedures for dealing with appalling human rights violations whilst having little difficulty in arranging for Chinese investment opportunities in Gwadar have brought their motives into disrepute.
In similar vein the Pakistani media’s long time deafening silence over numerous cases of atrocities and a complete lack of coverage of the peaceful Voice for Baloch Missing Persons March currently being undertaken by the victims’ families reveals yet another morally reprehensible stance. These actions betray a deep rooted and all pervasive policy of intentional marginalization and oppression which lays at the very heart of the Pakistani establishment.
In 1935 Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to Persia as Iran in recognition of the supposed common Aryan inheritance that dated back millennia. In reality this misnomer merely hid the enforced Persian hegemony over Baloch, Kurdish, Azeri, Arab and Turkmen lands and which has left these regions as conclaves of illiteracy and underdevelopment as well as fertile terrain for Talibanisation.
The Persian domination of Iran which has been centered upon the twin pillars of Persian and Shiite supremacy has been brutal in its dealings with minorities. The disproportionally high number of Baloch executions in Iran as reported by Amnesty indicates that the death penalty is the foremost means of quelling unrest in minority areas, with the regime even resorting to moving Baloch prisoners for execution to other provinces so as to manipulate any statistical evidence reported by International Human Rights Organizations. These rights abuses have seldom been raised by the International community in its dealings with Tehran over its nuclear enrichment program.
The prohibition of Balochi language and history instruction and the Persian colonization of large swathes of Baloch land leaving the Baloch a minority in often ghetto like conditions with little access to proper sanitation and clean drinking water have left the majority of Baloch impoverished and subject to mass migration to the Gulf states. In addition a bar on top civil service posts and even the changing of Balochi place names to Persian ones all bear the hallmark traits of deliberate ethnocentric policies aimed at the long term eradication of the Baloch identity.
The Punjabi elite in Islamabad resorted to a similar form of connivance in their supposed call for Islamic unity in order to hide the usurpation of Baloch, Pashtun and Sindhi land with the creation of Pakistan or ‘The land of the Pure’. The stark reality is in fact a disjointed entity crippled by a relentless spate of high profile political assassinations, endemic corruption and deep seated nepotism since its very inception. This together with an incessant wave of suicide bombings in recent years has made life a living nightmare for millions.
The Punjabi and Persian elites have become adept at maintaining an obscurantist stance as concerns the Baloch question. It is becoming increasingly evident with the passage of time that the future survival of the Baloch as a nation urgently necessitates the establishment of an Independent Republic as the surest guarantor of self-preservation.
ATC summons 10 witness of Benazir’s murder
A special anti-terrorist court on Saturday issued summons to 10 witnesses in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, a private news channel reported.
Headed by special ATC judge Pervaiz Rasool Joya, the court also issued a notice to the prosecution over the bail application filed by the under-arrest accused conspirators and accomplices in Benazir’s murder, Mohammad Rafaqat, Hasnain Gul and Aitzaz Shah.
The hearing was held in the premises of Adiyala jail.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh after addressing an election campaign rally.
Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf was the president at the time. In August last year, Musharraf was indicted on three counts over Benazir’s murder.
Former City Police Officer (CPO) of Rawalpindi Saud Aziz, former SP Khurram Shahzad, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rasheed have also been accused in the case.
Matter of concern: WHO sees Peshawar as polio reservoir
Pakistan: Damning verdict against PML-N govt
Nawaz government has the right to appeal against Islamabad High Court's (IHC) verdict which declared that the former NADRA chief, Tariq Malik, was dismissed with malicious intent. The government may also find some argument to back up dismissal of the said officer but it cannot retract its false claim that Tariq Malik never ssssinformed the authorities of the threats he and his family were receiving.
It is a damning verdict of the IHC against the PML-N government and gives credence to the accusations by Tariq Malik that he was harassed to stop him from reporting the findings of NADRA regarding thumbprints of the voters. Malik also said he was warned of losing his job if he ignored the illegal instructions he had received. He had given details of the threats to the Senate Committee on interior. The committee had recommended enhancing security for Tariq Malik. The former NADRA Chairman had also given the government the names of the owners of the numbers of the phones through which the threats were communicated. The Ministry for Interior had also written letters to Director General ISI and Director General IB. Yet in presence of such documents as the minutes of the Senate Committee and the Interior Ministry's own letters, there is a shameless denial of any knowledge of the threats to the officer who headed an organisation whose independence from the executive branch was essential for justice, democracy and national security.
It makes no difference that the said officer has since resigned; the PML-N government has been caught in a lie indicating that the party has not learned much from the past and is victimising officers who stand up and refuse to obey illegal orders. Since the start of its present tenure, the PML-N government has dismissed many heads of government organisations and the courts have in quite a few instances granted stays against the orders or have declared the dismissals as unjustified.
The claim of Nawaz Sharif to set up an honest bureaucracy seems to be a farce. The dishonesty of the government has been revealed and it is clear that the goal is not to terminate dishonest and inefficient officers but, rather, to replace them with 'yes, sir' men.
The fact is that all previous governments can be accused of unfair terminations and unmerited appointments and the way is open too for future governments to harass law abiding officers. The only method to avoid such injustice as happened in the case of Tariq Malik is to set up a council of individuals reputed for their honesty and sagacity which should examine and approve orders for the dismissals and appointments of heads of organisations such as Nadra before these can be implemented.
Pakistani Media under attack: Journalists to stage protests across country
The Express TribuneThe journalists’ community denounced the killing of Express News staffers and called for countrywide protests against the deadly attack. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) said in a statement that journalists stood united throughout the country and would not be ‘bogged down by such cowardly acts’. PFUJ President Rana Azeem announced that protest demonstrations would be staged across the country on Saturday (today). The Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) would stage a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club at 4pm on the instructions of PFUJ. KUJ President GM Jamali said the union would also fully participate in a sit-in outside the Parliament House in Islamabad on January 18 and January 20. The sit-in has been announced by the PFUJ against the failure of the government to arrest the culprits involved in the killing of journalists and cameramen. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Executive Council of the KUJ on Friday, after the third attack on Express Media Group. Journalist bodies and political and religious parties also condemned the attack and said that the provincial government has failed to provide security in the province.
Has Turkey Become Pakistan on the Med?
Is Turkey a state sponsor of terrorism? Admittedly, that is a provocative question. Long ago, the White House and State Department corrupted the list of state sponsors of terrorism by allowing subjective diplomatic considerations rather than objective facts to determine who was on the list. The George W. Bush administration, for example, knocked North Korea off the list not because it had ceased supporting terrorism—according to the Congressional Research Service, it was in neck-deep with both the Tamil Tigers and Hezbollah—but rather because Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wanted to entice North Korea to a deal which might benefit Bush’s legacy. Likewise, both Bush and Obama have kept Pakistan off the state sponsor of terrorism list despite that country’s support for the Taliban and protection of senior terrorists up to and including Osama bin Laden. Recent events in Turkey certainly put Turkey in the same category as Pakistan. Indeed, increasingly, it seems that Turkey has become Pakistan on the Med. Early on Tuesday morning, anti-terrorism police raided six different locations around Turkey in order to disrupt al-Qaeda operations, including depots of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) at Kilis, near the Syrian border. The raids led to the detention of approximately 25 people, some of whom have faced trial for al-Qaeda support, and others who have been active recruiting volunteers to fight with al-Qaeda and the Nusra Front inside Syria. A normal government would celebrate the eradication of al-Qaeda support cells on its territory. Not so, Turkey: By the afternoon, the Turkish government had relieved the officers who had carried out the raids, putting them on mandatory leave. Likewise, when police stopped two buses in Gaziantep apparently headed toward Syria and found ammunition and anti-aircraft weaponry, the result was not prosecution of those on the buses but retaliation against the police officers who had carried out the raid. There have been reports in the Western press about how police stopped a truck apparently carrying weapons destined for the Nusra Front and other radical factions in Syria. The back story is interesting: after a local prosecutor ordered a search, the governor of Adana ordered police to stop their search and explained that the prime minister wanted the police search warrant canceled and the shipment to go through to Syria. When the Turkish government is knowingly allowing its territory to be used to support al-Qaeda-linked factions in Syria and when, indeed, it seems to be directly supplying such factions with arms, money, and material, then it has become a sponsor of terrorism as directly as Iran is with regard to Hezbollah, and Pakistan should be considered with regard to the Taliban. As a side note, several years ago I testified in the first full House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing dedicated to Turkey’s changing foreign policy. During the course of the hearing, Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia democratic and co-chair of the Congressional Turkey Caucus, took umbrage toward all the witnesses, and made it clear that he did not see criticism of Turkey’s foreign-policy direction to be legitimate. He was wrong, but he was not alone. How unfortunate it is that rather than use its influence to keep Turkey from going so far off the rails, the men and women of the Congressional Turkey Caucus used their position to obfuscate and defend Turkey, even at the expense of American national security. It is tragic that they could have prevented real damage but, for the sake of some cocktails at the Turkish ambassador’s residence and some junkets to Istanbul, they chose not to do so. It should never be too late, however, for those who truly care about Turkey to demand real accountability for its actions, before it moves further down the path of Pakistan and terror sponsorship.BY Michael Rubin
In Afghan Attack, Death Toll Hits 21, Mostly Foreigners
At least 21 people — most of them foreigners — died when the Taliban struck a restaurant popular with Westerners in downtown Kabul, the police said Saturday, as officials described what appeared to be a well-coordinated assault, with a suicide bomber clearing a path for two gunmen who rushed in and fired on diners. The attack appeared to be one of the deadliest against Western civilians in Kabul since 2001, with Afghan and Western officials saying as many as 13 of the dead were expatriates. Afghan authorities said those killed included citizens of Canada, Russia and Lebanon. Though Afghan and Western authorities were still trying to determine the identities of all those killed, the office of Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, said in a statement issued late Friday that “four United Nations personnel, along with a number of those from other international organizations, are now confirmed dead.” The International Monetary Fund said its representative in Afghanistan, Wabel Abdallah, was also among those killed. Mr. Abdallah, 60, had served in Afghanistan since 2008, and had managed to maintain a good working relationship with Afghan officials through a series of scandals that left many western officials at odds with their Afghan counterparts.The choice of a lightly guarded restaurant was a departure for the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The insurgents have more often sought to strike fortified government buildings and high-profile symbols of the Western presence in Afghanistan, like the American Embassy and a building believed to house the C.I.A. station in Kabul. Those attacks have succeeded in generating headlines but have inflicted relatively few casualties in the past few years. A Taliban bombing this month at the entrance to Camp Eggers, a large base for the American-led military coalition in the center of Kabul, did not inflict any casualties, for instance. The base is less than a mile from the restaurant, Taverna du Liban. The restaurant, which serves Lebanese food and has a clientele made up largely of expatriates, had almost none of the security enjoyed by official installations, like concrete blast walls or checkpoints blocking off the street it is on. The initial blast appeared to have been powerful. It was heard miles away and shook windows in the immediate neighborhood, which is home to numerous embassies and shops that serve Western aid workers, journalists and other foreign civilians who live in the city. The Taliban claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties and said they had killed a high-ranking German official. The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, reached by phone, would say only that it was “dealing with the incident and is working hard to clarify the facts.” Hashmatullah Stanikzai, a spokesman for the Kabul police, said on Saturday morning that the death toll in the attack stood at 21, including the 13 foreigners. The Afghans killed were believed to included the restaurant’s owner and the men who guarded its front door. Most, if not all, of the foreigners killed or wounded were likely to have been civilians; coalition service members are rarely allowed to go to restaurants or socialize outside their bases. The American Embassy said all United States diplomats, development workers and other officials based in Kabul were accounted for. It had no information on whether other American citizens might be among the dead. Police officers swarmed through the neighborhood, Wazir Akbar Khan, after the blast, blocking off streets. They were soon joined by smaller groups of coalition soldiers, along with Afghan Army troops and operatives from the National Directorate of Security, the country’s main intelligence agency. A tight cordon kept most people from going near the restaurant. Late into the night, relatives of the Afghans who worked there waited nervously behind the police lines in near-freezing temperatures for word of those they had been unable to reach. A tearful teenage boy, who gave his name only as Muhammad, said his older brother was a guard at the restaurant. A few police officers tried to comfort him, but he could not stop crying and repeating, “My brother, my brother.” The Twitter account of a woman named Mona Hamade said her father owned the restaurant and was inside at the time of the attack. She could not reach him and was asking for help in finding him. According to Afghan and Western officials, the attackers appear to have approached the restaurant on foot. The suicide bomb killed three Afghans guarding the entrance to the restaurant and blew through a thin steel door that is usually bolted from the inside and opened only after patrons are patted down. The gunmen then rushed in and began shooting diners until police officers arrived a few minutes later and killed the assailants, said a Kabul police official, who asked not to be identified because the authorities were still trying to determine precisely what had happened. “A majority of those killed were foreigners,” the official said. “They were all shot dead after the suicide bombing.” Though the Taliban have mounted numerous attacks in Kabul, they have rarely sought to directly target the thousands of Western civilians who live in the city unattached to any embassy. In January 2011, a suicide attack on a supermarket popular with foreigners killed 14 people, including five foreigners and an Afghan family. The supermarket was only blocks from the scene of Friday’s attack. In September 2012, a suicide bomber struck a minibus that was carrying flight crew members under contract with the United States government, killing 14 people, including 10 foreigners. Hezb-i-Islami, a separate insurgent group, took responsibility for the attack. But for the most part, the thousands of Western civilians who live in Kabul have felt very little of the threat posed by the insurgents. Outside of embassies and other official missions, few expatriates have altered what is a fairly vulnerable existence, even as security in other parts of Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. Many expatriates still live in houses guarded only by the high walls that usually surround Afghan homes. They frequent a handful of well-established restaurants, many of which serve alcohol, and loud parties at private homes are still weekly occurrences.
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