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| Afghanistan |
| Pak clerics squeal like pigs over raids |
| 2002-04-27 |
| "The Pakistani forces with the help of American soldiers on Friday stormed a religious school at Darpa Khel to search for al-Qaida men," said Maulvi Abdul Hafeez, a prominent cleric in Mir Ali, about 200 miles southwest of Peshawar. "We condemn this Pakistan-U.S. operation." That's because you're on the other side. We can tell that. The building was empty and no arrests were made, Hafeez said. The school was set up by prominent Taliban leader Jalauddin Haqqani years ago during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, he added. Oh, the Pak intel guys got word to you in time, did they? At MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Commander Frank Merriman, a spokesman at the Central Command headquarters of Gen. Tommy Franks, said "We really can't confirm ongoing operations." He would not comment further. That's military talk for "Butt out. Don't jiggle my elbow while I'm workin'." Hafeez said the tribal elders and religious leaders were appealing to the Pakistan government to refrain from conducting more operations, as al-Qaida men or Taliban are not hiding there. Only chickens. Nobody there but them chickens. "In order to prevent these kind of raids in future, we have started consulting other tribal elders and clerics. We will not let American forces operate in our areas," Hafeez told The Associated Press by phone Saturday. Only al-Qaeda. And Taliban. And Lashkar-e-Taiba. And Jaish-e-Mohammad. You got turbans, you can come in. Otherwise, stay the hell out of our Islamic paradise. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |