AFGHANISTAN has graduated its first military officers in more than a decade from an elite academy modeled on West Point in the United States, in a major step in building a post-Taliban army.
President Hamid Karzai today presented the 84 new second lieutenants with the university-level certificates, lauding them as the "new hope" in a country battered by 30 years of war and dependent on foreign troops for its security. "This is an extremely important step towards a peaceful and self-reliant Afghanistan," he told the soldiers, who completed four years of study that included contributions from West Point and its British equivalent, Sandhurst.
After the collapse of the communist regime in the early 1990s, the Afghan army - built under the Soviet occupation - had 400 military aircraft and nearly 4000 tanks and armoured carriers, Mr Karzai said. There were also at least 200,000 soldiers, although Mr Karzai did not give a number.
But the civil war that followed shredded the armed forces and they remained in tatters under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime that harboured al-Qaeda.
A US-led invasion in 2001 removed the Taliban, after which several nations joined to help build new Afghan forces, sending their troops to the country to fight an extremist insurgency until the Afghans could take over.
The top international military commander in Afghanistan, US General David McKiernan, told the young graduates that they could count on international help in the battle against the Taliban-led insurgency. "You will not be alone in this fight," Gen McKiernan said.
Besides having the most international troops in Afghanistan, the United States leads the drive to train and equip the fledgling Afghan forces, sending over thousands of guns and armoured vehicles and some aircraft. Mr Karzai said he had asked the United States and other partners for more equipment.
"We will provide what support we can (but) this is your country," Gen McKiernan said. "You must seize the opportunity to lead your men. You... train harder and better and take the fight to a hidden and often coward enemy," he said.
The Afghan National Army numbers roughly 80,000 men, with plans for its expansion to 134,000 by 2012, a priority in efforts to beat the Taliban insurgency that last year was at its most intense yet.
#1
For future reference, in a place utterly devastated like Afghanistan, with rock bottom wages, from the very start we should have been doing an enormous job program, slashing unemployment in much of the country, while rebuilding infrastructure.
It gets prospective fighters off the streets, doesn't cost a hell of a lot, and helps to restore order quickly. In the long run, it is a lot cheaper than killing them.
#2
This is the first step. These officers will understand logistics, engineering, will have exposure to more of the accumulated experience of military leadership through the ages. But most of all they will gain an appreciation of their nation more than their tribe.
It will take years for them to work their way up and gain the reigns of leadership but it is a start.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday condemned a US military raid in eastern Afghanistan that he said killed 16 civilians, while hundreds of local villagers took to streets to denounce the US military and central government.
In a statement issued by his office, Karzai condemned the US military raid in Mehtar Lam district of eastern Laghman province on Friday which, he said, resulted in death of 16 civilians including two women and three children. 'Bombing Afghan villages, except for killing civilians, does not yield any other progress in the fight against terrorism,' the president said in the statement. Karzai asked for an immediate end to civilian killings and deemed the 'uncoordinated attacks' as 'factors that weaken the Afghan government and strengthen terrorists.'
Afghan provincial lawmakers and local villagers earlier had said that the ground and air operation killed 21 civilians including women and children and wounded several others. The provincial governor had said that the operation was not coordinated with Afghan authorities.
The US military denied that civilians were killed and said in a statement on Saturday that their operation resulted only in the deaths of 15 militants including a female fighter who was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade during the military assault. The US statement said that the militants attacked their forces when they approached the targeted compounds and following the operation the troops discovered several weapons and ammunition.
Hundreds of local villagers marched on the streets in Mehtar Lam despite heavy rains on Sunday and chanted slogans against the US military and Karzai's government. The protesters warned there would be moves to join the Taliban insurgents and fight against the foreign forces if such killings continue.
Sunday's statement said that the Afghan government has sent a draft agreement to Washington - also sent to NATO headquarters - demanding the international forces to comply with its rules of conduct in order to reduce the civilian casualties.
The move to distance himself from his Western allies is seen by many political analysts as a sign that Karzai, who is facing reelection later this year, is trying to have more control over international troops in the country in order to show to Afghan public that he is not a US puppet.
#2
"We" are now ruled by the Obameister, so Karzai is probably dipping his toes in the water to see what the temperature is. If Obama flinches, Karzai will turn on him in a heartbeat, and might start cozying up with whoever looks to have some backbone, including Russia.
You can never screw around in Afghanistan, or show weakness, or the whole bloody place will turn on you.
#4
well here lately karzai has alot too say about what we do. his forces can't do shit but hold their guns over their heads and shoot or run. how bout we pull out and don't give karzai a plane lift out of there.
#7
Here we go again. Someone mentions Dostum. Karzai worked to disempower him. Karzai has also condemned Dostum's role in Gitmo processing, which began after the warlord shipped thousands of terrorists in containers. It is true that Dostum sold Chechen captives to the Russians. He isn't a saint, but I trust him more than the current phony.
Posted by: Bill Shaith5362 ||
01/25/2009 14:41 Comments ||
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#8
he ain't Pashto, either
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/25/2009 15:19 Comments ||
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#9
Thousands in containers, huh? Musta caused Gitmo to double 'em up in the cells, I suppose.
Seriously, you might want to get your story straight on the reported Dostum massacre of Taliban in containers. a) they weren't anywhere near Gitmo nor headed there and b) the Red Cross documented the condition of those prisoners when they arrived at Sheberghan. Surely the British Columbia university library network from which you post is adequate for a little basic research.
#11
Compare wid WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > RUSSIAN MESSAGE TO OBAMA: IS RUSSIA WILLING TO HELP USA IN AGHANISTAN IN RETURN FOR 1/2 OF TALIBAN-HELD AFGHAN TERRITORY??? + US-ASIA WAR:RUSSIA SENDS SECRET/SUBTLE DARK WARNING TO OBAMA???
Former Saudi intelligence chief and ex-envoy to the US says close Saudi-US ties are at risk due to Washington's staunch support for Israel. Prince Turki al-Faisal in a Friday interview with the London-based Financial Times newspaper said that former US President George W. Bush left a 'sickening legacy' in the Middle East.
Using unusually tough words for a Saudi official, Turki referred to the Israeli onslaught as butchery backed by what he called Washington's unforgivable arrogant attitude.
The long-time Saudi intelligence chief and son of the late King Faisal said that the new US administration should dramatically change its foreign policy to gain confidence in the Arab world. "Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk."
Figures he can roll Bambi with some tough talk ...
Turki said he had strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process in his decades as a public servant, but after Israel's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip, "pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory."
During Israel's deadly onslaught on Gaza that claimed more than 1300 lives, many in the Muslim world strongly criticized Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan for their silence and accused them of being Israel's stooges.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
House of saud, get your madrassas out of my country immediately.
#3
Turki has strong ties to al-Qaeda and has been highly critical of GWB's GWOT. Teaches at Georgetown after a series of Saudi diplomatic positions including as ambassador to the US briefly.
#6
G-Town's John Esposito needs to return the 25 Million to the Saudi Apartheid Islamic Republic that was given to create the Dhimmi-Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
#7
Dear former Ambassador Turki al-Faisal: That hanging was filmed by a Canadian media company. Saddam is in a Witness Protection Program and operating a very successful Quick Trip store in the Houston area. Says he still can't stand you or Bandar. Please bite someone elses hand if you will.
#9
Wonder what a 200m diameter nickel-iron meteorite would do, impacting Riyadh as 80kps. I think that might "lance" that boil you were talking about, grom.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/25/2009 18:57 Comments ||
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#10
.391949649.5 kiloton seems a bit too much, OP.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The BBC is refusing to broadcast a plea from leading British charities for aid to Gaza, saying the ad would compromise the public broadcaster's appearance of impartiality.
The BBC is standing by its decision, director general Mark Thompson wrote in a blog post on the corporation's Web site. "We concluded that we could not broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully constructed, without running the risk of reducing public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its wider coverage of the story," he wrote Saturday. words fail
#4
The Chechens should hire some ex GRU or KGB wetworks boys : ricin works much better as a silencing tool and there are not a bunch of scared witnesses to worry about. Typical sloppy Chechen handiwork.
North Korea's reclusive leader met with a senior Chinese envoy for talks Friday, his first such appearance nearly six months after reportedly suffering a stroke in August.
Kim Jong Il met with Communist Party official Wang Jiarui, toasting the representative of North Korea's main ally and saying that he stands by his government's commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, state-run news media in both countries said.
Wang is believed to be the first high-level foreign official to have face-to-face contact with Kim since the North Korean leader withdrew from the public eye amid speculation about his health.
Analysts said the meeting, coming just days after President Obama took office, might have been a way for Kim to show the new U.S. leader that he is ready for further nuclear negotiations. Kim appeared thinner but otherwise healthy in photos of the meeting in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
"The meeting appears to be aimed at telling Obama that Kim has no problem with his health and is well enough to meet with Obama's envoy," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's private Dongguk University.
Kim told Wang that Pyongyang is "dedicated to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and hoped to peacefully coexist with all sides," China's official New China News Agency said.
While campaigning, Obama said he would be open as president to meeting with Kim.
Kim, who turns 67 next month, disappeared from public view last year, sparking concerns about his health when he missed a key North Korean anniversary in September. South Korean and U.S. officials said Kim had suffered a stroke but was recovering.
North Korea has denied he was ill, releasing photos and video showing an active and healthy Kim touring the country.
But South Korean officials said they could not confirm those trips because the photos and video were undated and no live footage of Kim was broadcast on North Korea's state television.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Would that be the real one, or one of the body doubles?
Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said.
That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Obama has been called a "hypocrite," a "killer" of innocents, an "enemy of Muslims." He was even blamed for the Israeli military assault on Gaza, which began and ended before he took office.
"He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection," an al-Qaeda spokesman declared in a grainy Internet video this month.
The torrent of hateful words is part of what terrorism experts now believe is a deliberate, even desperate, propaganda campaign against a president who appears to have gotten under al-Qaeda's skin. The departure of George W. Bush deprived al-Qaeda of a polarizing American leader who reliably drove recruits and donations to the terrorist group. So Obama scares them because he's not Bush?
With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, experts say: a U.S. president who campaigned to end the Iraq war and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who polls show is well liked throughout the Muslim world.
Whether the pro-Obama sentiment will last remains to be seen. On Friday, the new administration signaled that it intends to continue at least one of Bush's controversial counterterrorism policies: allowing CIA missile strikes on alleged terrorist hideouts in Pakistan's autonomous tribal region.
But for now, the change in Washington appears to have rattled al-Qaeda's leaders, some of whom are scrambling to convince the faithful that Obama and Bush are essentially the same. Talk about cognative dissonance!
"They're highly uncertain about what they're getting in this new adversary," said Paul Pillar, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lectures on national security at Georgetown University. "For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil." So the WaPo has found something Bush was good at.
Al-Qaeda's rhetorical swipes at Obama date to the weeks before the election, when commentators on Web sites associated with the group debated which of the two major presidential candidates would be better for the jihadist movement. While opinions differed, a consensus view supported Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as the man most likely to continue Bush administration policies and, it was hoped, drive the United States more deeply into a prolonged guerrilla war. Clearly, they're not worried about Obama doing that. So what's wrong with him surrendering?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/25/2009 14:53 ||
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#1
And all this time Hussein told me he was the the change they were waiting for. I feel so ... let down.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2009 15:38 Comments ||
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#2
where is all the bitching about al zwahiri being racist for calling obama a house negro?
#5
ION AQ, ISRAELI MILITARY FORUM > GERMANY THREATENED BY AL QAEDA [threats of attack agz major German cities e.g. Cologne, Bremen, Berlin, etc. in retaliation for German troops in Afghanistan]???
France has reportedly put forth a plan for EU member states to accept 60 Guantanamo detainees as the detention center moves toward closure.
The plan, which was sent to European capitals ahead of a Monday summit of EU foreign ministers, is in line with US President Barack Obama's promise to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison, Der Spiegel reported Saturday.
The proposal calls on European governments to take in up to 60 prisoners, who are held in the detention center without charges but could face torture if sent back to their home countries.
The office of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, however, did not immediately comment on the report.
The detention center, most-infamous for disregarding human rights and practicing 'enhanced interrogation methods' - a euphemism for torture used by the Bush administration, - is currently holding about 250 prisoners.
Some European governments have already expressed readiness to take in Gitmo inmates while some fiercely opposed the move. Britain, France and Germany have already hinted that they would accept detainees.
The UK has already accepted nine detainees - five British nationals and four former residents.
Guantanamo has been used by the US military since 2002, after George W. Bush launched his 'war on terror' following the 9/11 terror attack on US soil. It has held more than 750 captives from around the world with only one trial having been conducted. .
The Facility has been described as a "sad chapter in American history," by Obama.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:03 ||
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#1
You will recall, of course, that they refused GWB's multiple requests to do this. Europe was not our friend before Bush was elected and if Obie thinks they're our friends now, due to discussions like this, he's pretty damned naive.
#2
The Israelis need to offer the EU the same deal, plop their Pali prisoners in Paris. Then take prisoner about 3 million Palis.
And just what "human rights" were violated at Gitmo? The right against tasteless pop music? On the other hand most of these prisoners were from the Al Qaeda brigade that enforced Taliban rule and were responsible for horrendous attrocities. One I remember reading from pre 911 news magazine was them massacring Hazaras because they looked Asian. One of the bodies had had the skin peeled off it's face by these Arabs. Buts that's just good old Arab fun to these anti American Euro bastards. Too bad they they will get to experience it on their home soil in another decade or two. Just get our troops home before they get caught in the crossfire.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2009 13:41 Comments ||
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#3
Gitmo was a handy club to beat the Bush Administration with. Now, with the Big O planning to close it, they do not have that club anymore. But the devil, as always, is in the details. Who is willing to take these outrageous excuses for humanity? Who will feed them, who will give them hugs? Who will protect the public from these psychos? Who will rehabilitate them and make them useful citizens? [ha]
Railing on us is cheap and fun. Making tough decisions is a drag when you have to. Welcome to reality, EU. Have a nice time with the Gitmo Guyz.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2009 17:44 Comments ||
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President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fate of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials -- barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees -- discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them.
Instead, they found that information on individual prisoners is "scattered throughout the executive branch," a senior administration official said. The executive order Obama signed Thursday orders the prison closed within one year, and a Cabinet-level panel named to review each case separately will have to spend its initial weeks and perhaps months scouring the corners of the federal government in search of relevant material.
So one can't just snap one's fingers and close the place. Who knew?
Several former Bush administration officials agreed that the files are incomplete and that no single government entity was charged with pulling together all the facts and the range of options for each prisoner. They said the CIA and other intelligence agencies were reluctant to share information, and the Bush administration's focus on detention and interrogation made preparation of viable prosecutions a far lower priority.
But other former officials took issue with the criticism and suggested that the new team has begun to appreciate the complexity and dangers of the issue and is looking for excuses. After promising quick solutions, one former senior official said, the Obama administration is now "backpedaling and trying to buy time" by blaming its predecessor. Unless political appointees decide to overrule the recommendations of the career bureaucrats handling the issue under both administrations, he predicted, the new review will reach the same conclusions as the last: that most of the detainees can be neither released nor easily tried in this country.
"All but about 60 who have been approved for release," assuming countries can be found to accept them, "are either high-level al-Qaeda people responsible for 9/11 or bombings, or were high-level Taliban or al-Qaeda facilitators or money people," the former official said. He acknowledged that he relied on Pentagon assurances that the files were comprehensive and in order rather than reading them himself.
Obama officials said that they want to make their own judgments. "The consensus among almost everyone is that the current system is not in our national interest and not sustainable," another senior official said. But "it's clear that we can't clear up this issue overnight" partly because the files "are not comprehensive."
That's just an excuse. Whether the files are all in one place or not, the basic issues are known and have been known since George Bush ordered the detainees to Guantanamo in the first place:
1) What do you do with foreign nationals who are illegal combatants captured in the field?
2) If you let them live, how do you house and feed them? And where?
3) Can you detain them indefinitely? If so, where? If not, why not?
4) If you don't want to detain them indefinitely, how do you decide who to keep and who to release?
5) What if a detainee's country of origin doesn't want him?
6) What if a detainee's country of origin does want him for the purpose of torture?
The Bush administration worked diligently trying to solve these problems. They went to the appropriate Congressional oversight committees frequently over the last seven years and when committee members complained about one problem or another, the Bush team responded. And we had not one but two comprehensive Congressional bills passed, both with bipartisan support, only to see both overturned by a Supreme Court that couldn't itself provide any meaningful guidance.
Whether one is Republican or Democrat, it is nonsense to claim that the Bush administration was somehow irresponsible in addressing the issues. The Obama people know this because they're not stupid. So everything in this article is eyewash.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It seems President Obama doesn't really want to close the Guantanamo facility, he just wants to be seen to be in the process of closing it. But then, the original examinations were to determine which of the prisoners could safely be released, and quite a few had been over the years.
#3
The sources seem credible, yet I find it difficult to believe that there is that much "disarray" in the files of at least the principal bad guys. Or those whose cases have been brought/or close to the military commission stage. And the combatant status reviews were based on what, just some chit-chat between the govt. and a military judge? No materials were assembled for those?
Puzzling.
While I always racked it up to dealing with the outrageous and constitution-shredding malfeasance of the SCOTUS in the their ridiculous bait-and-switch antics, the intolerable delays in getting the commissions ball rolling down there might have had other elements, perhaps?
#4
One basic rule of handling very sensitive information with references to sources and human intell on the ground is to compartmentalize it.
Break it into pieces and keep the pieces in separate places. The only repository of everything is in the case manager's head.
Seems that some of the info on these little darlings at Gitmo is extremely sensitive with lots of direct attribution to sources.
I think Obama will be very wise to find a way to stall the closing of Gitmo for a long time. Especially given the rate at which the "innocent" return to their neferious ways in AQ.
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/25/2009 13:55 Comments ||
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#5
My thought too, James. There's way too much about sensitive sources and methods behind the capture of some of these who've been kept despite the other releases.
#7
Ima sure that the Big O is finding out that rhetoric is cheap, but solutions are expensive. His executive order in working to close Gitmo is a bone to be thrown to his fellow leftist travelers, and the EU, and others.
Now, faced with the reality of some real hardcases who are intent upon our destruction, he will have to make the tough decisions to get us all through this minefield safely.
So he has a choice to do something incredibly stupid, which can seriously cost us in lives in the future, or he can quietly try to do the right thing and deal with these people, to minimize the threat that they present.
Watch the hands and not the mouth. It should be interesting, in a clinical sense.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2009 17:50 Comments ||
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#8
Looks like Barack is off to a great start, on track to keep his word and restore some international credibility for the US
Wake me up when the "international community" - most of whom are dictators, poseurs, and pissants - tries to institute some credibility with US. (Note I didn't way "restore" credibility - they've never had any. The only thing most of them are good at is whining while we do the heavy lifting.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2009 19:19 Comments ||
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The leading newspaper of Sri Lanka, Daily Mirror, in its editorial has criticised the role the Indian intelligence agency (RAW) is playing in the regional countries to destabilise them. The editorial has specially referred to Pakistan.
It said: "Among its (RAW's) most ambitious operations that are currently underway, is the move to separate Balochistan province from Pakistan by supporting (the) Balochistan Liberation Army."
The newspaper wrote: "It certainly is a monumental task for the informed Sri Lankan or for that matter anyone in the neighbourhood of India to keep a straight face when talking about the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in India."
It said that formed in 1968, the predatory operations carried out by this external intelligence agency of India in the neighbouring countries were perhaps the best example as to how the country bullied its neighbours.
Commenting on the RAW's role in Sri Lanka, it said: "The RAW in Sri Lanka has a pretty colourful record. Having raised, nursed and fortified the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it later went through phases where it adopted 'rock the baby, pinch the baby' approach towards the LTTE."
While many thought the assassination of former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi would have hardened the approach of the RAW towards the LTTE, it really did not happen that way, it wrote.
"While New Delhi was shattered by the death of Nehru's grandson, the less emotional RAW moved on with rest of operation," it said.
The newspaper wrote: "In 2007, ripples were created in the spy agency when one of its Colombo-based officers, Ravi Nair of 1975 batch, was found allegedly carrying on an affair with a woman working for another country's spy agency.
"The 'crime' was considered only second to what was committed by the RAW Joint Secretary, Rabinder Singh, in 2004 when he escaped with copies of several highly-confidential documents and is believed to have passed them on to the CIA. This was after Singh's superiors confronted him with evidence that he had spent time with a Delhi-based female US embassy officer at a resort down (the) New Delhi-Jaipur highway."
The newspaper said the incident really rocked the RAW and forced it to go for several reforms, which included tougher counter-check measures on its officers.
Following the embarrassment caused by Ravi Nair in Colombo, the RAW recalled the officer and made it a point to post a lady officer to Colombo, probably thinking that was the best way to discourage other countries, it wrote.
Reports that the RAW was out to create mischief in the backdrop of the recent military victories by the Sri Lankan troops surfaced days after media reports that Pottu Amman, who was pulled up by Prabhakaran over the recent debacles, had slipped off to India, the daily wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:03 ||
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#2
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > CIA PLANS TO SPLIT INDIA BY 2015. US CIA "grand design" patterned after USSR Breakup, and reportedly was revealed by an INDIA ARMY OFFICER during investigative hearings for the 9/28 MALEGEON TERROR BLASTS - EX-RAW AGENCY INDIAN PERSONNEL HEAVILY IMPLICATED OR INVOLVED [ CIA/US-India collusion]???
ALso on PDF, US GRAND DESIGNS ON PAKISTAN. CENTRAL ASIA + SOUTH/SOUTH-EAST ASIA destabiliz + breakups in order to PROMOTE, EMPOWER LOCAL DEMOCRACY + DIVERSIFY REGIONAL MARKETS, including to DELIVER GOODS-COMMODITIES CHEAPLY + SAFELY AS PER US = US-ALLIED INTERESTS [PARALLEL ECON + GEOPOL AGENDUMS]???
* NEWLY SWORN-IN US PRESIDENT OBAMA ORDERED AIR STRIKES ON PAKISTAN - 17 [Local-alleged]NON-MILITANT CIVILIANS DIE/KILLED???
* TOPIX > US INVOLVED IN THE STRATEGIC DISMEMBERMENT OF ASIA!?
* WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE [WSWS] > OBAMA'S NEW FOREIGN POLICY TEAM ESCALATES THE BLOODLETTING IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said that Pakistan had always been committed to extending political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their struggle for the right to self-determination.
He was talking to Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, who called on him here on Saturday and discussed the economic development projects and the latest political situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was the first meeting of AJK Prime Minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob with President Asif Ali Zardari after being elected the prime minister of the AJK.
The president inquired about the status of various development projects in the AJK, particularly those relating to the rehabilitation of the Mangla Dam victims and the development of New Mirpur City.
The president said that he would like to have regular progress report about various projects in the AJK.
He directed that the issues relating to the settlement of people affected by the raising of the Mangla Dam be sorted out on priority basis and efforts in this direction be stepped up.
Zardari said that he would advise the federal government to assign the chairman Wapda to ensure speedy rehabilitation of the victims.
The president also asked the adviser finance to remove the difficulties in the release of development funds to the AJK and expedite the same, particularly with respect to the development of the New Mirpur City and four other townships.
The prime minister of the AJK thanked the president for his keen interest in the development of Azad Kashmir.
Praising the Kashmir policy of Pakistan, he said that it would help move forward the process of Kashmir related dialogue between India and Pakistan.
Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and the Northern Areas Qamar Zaman Kaira was also present in the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:03 ||
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President Asif Ali Zardari has said the war on terror cannot be won without the cooperation of tribesmen. The President was addressing a national seminar on main-streaming of FATA here Saturday, which besides the representatives of tribal areas was attended by Governor NWFP Owais Ahmad Ghani, Federal Ministers, and MNAs and Senators from FATA. Emphasizing the importance of dialogue in resolving the problem of militancy in tribal areas, the President said the government would promote internal and external dialogue through tribal representatives. He said the government will send abroad representative delegations of tribal people - under the auspices of Benazir Democracy Institute of Shaheed Bhutto Foundation - for interaction with the world community. President Zardari said such interaction of tribesmen with the world community would help the tribal people to sensitize the world about the nature of their problems and the need for their resolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:03 ||
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#1
"President Asif Ali Zardari has said the war on terror cannot be won without the cooperation of tribesmen."
Sure it can. You just don't want to blow the whole sorry lot of them to smithereens do what it takes.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2009 0:16 Comments ||
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#2
WORLD MIL FORUM > INDIAN MEDIA SPECULATION: SEVEN OF SEVEN INDIAN KCP MEMBERS - LEADER RICHARD SINGH RECEIVED POLITICAL, MILITANT TRAINING IN CHINA. INDIA BELIEVES CHINA'S PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY IS INVOLVED IN THE TRAINING OF MILITANTS, SEPARATISTS ON ITS TERRITORY.
#3
Sorry, my bad, the above should read ARREST OF SEVEN KCP MEMBERS...
Also, WMF ARTICLE = indics that these KCP Members are aprt of or directly linked to KCP-led armed separatist movement in INDIA'S MANIPUR/MANPUR REGION.
Pakistan has expressed great concern over US drone attacks on Friday in Waziristan area causing civilian casualties. A statement from the foreign office said that these concerns have been conveyed to the US side. "Pakistan has consistently lodged strong protest with the US Government against drone attacks, which constitute infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty," said the statement. With the advent of the new US administration it is Pakistan's sincere hope that the United States will review its policy and adopt a more holistic and integrated approach towards dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism. "We maintain that these attacks are counter-productive and should be discontinued. Pakistan urges the USA and NATO to adopt a holistic and more effective approach to countering extremism and terrorism," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Wouldn't a holistic approach suggest that all of Pakistan be prepared to be a movie set for a post nuclear war movie?
The Iraqi government will not force an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group out of Iraq, a government spokesman said on Saturday.
Spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said the People's Mujahedeen "is not wanted," in Iraq and must "find a third country to move to."
On Friday, Iraq's National Security adviser, Mouwaffak Al Rubaie, said the government's decision to close the group's Camp Ashraf is "irreversible."
Iraq assumed responsibility for the camp from the US on January 1 under a new security agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure Turkey would take them....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2009 1:58 Comments ||
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#2
You know, Barbara, that may not be such a bad idea. I'm sure moving them into PKK territory would do wonders at ending that group's attacks on Turkey. Either that, or they'd change their direction of attack, and cross the border into Iran to cause mischief. Sounds like a win-win to me...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/25/2009 19:33 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Good Job US military, these guys are acting like they live in a free country with actual elections and freedom of speech and assembly, WAY TO GO, it looks like its working admirably!!!!
Posted by: You Go Gen. Patreus ||
01/25/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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#2
If the military gets enough experience in turning tribes into nations, maybe they'll be able to do it here.
#3
Actually, they already did once - see the period of 1787 through 1885. Some nasty periods like the Civil War and the Indian Wars were used to weld dissimilar groups like the Irish, Italians, and Germans into one general category of American.
A SENIOR Hamas official said the Palestinian Islamist movement will continue to arm its militants in the war-battered Gaza Strip as well as on the West Bank.
"We never failed to get arms into Gaza even during the (Israeli) war and under the bombardment," the Hamas representative in Beirut, Ossama Hamdan, told a rally in the Lebanese capital overnight. "We have the right to hold weapons. We will continue to get arms into Gaza and the West Bank ... Nobody should think that we will surrender to any measures," he said.
Which means that the tunnel system has to be closed, that the Egyptians and Israelis have to cooperate, and that the Rafah crossing has to be monitored. Nothing else will do.
"Warplanes, aircraft carriers and satellite technology will not be able to monitor the entry of weapons through Gaza's tunnels," Mr Hamdan said. "Things might get difficult, but we will do whatever it takes to continue our resistance against Israel."
He said bravely from Beirut. Eat another goat in honor of your brave dead in Gaza, Your Enormity.
Israel has signed an agreement with the United States to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons. Under the agreement, the United States will reportedly provide "logistical and technical assistance and... train and equip regional security forces in counter-smuggling tactics".
Cairo has repeatedly denied that arms have been smuggled into Gaza through a network of tunnels linking Egypt to the impoverished Palestinian enclave, saying the arms were being delivered by sea, an account disputed by Israel.
Well then, why not close both down and see what happens?
A Palestinian source was quoted on Sunday as saying that senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar was injured during the final days of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. A Kuwaiti daily quoted the source as saying that Zahar was evacuated by ambulance to an Egyptian hospital for medical treatment. well we haven't heard from WartNose for some time now
Pray for sepsis ...
The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.
During the three-week-long operation in Gaza, the IDF tried to locate senior Hamas officials, including Zahar, and assassinate them. Three of Zahar's bodyguards were killed by an IAF strike near his house in Gaza City.
Maybe a splinter wound in the gut? Boy howdy that would be painful ...
The UN's top official called the war in Gaza a "mark of collective political failure" on Saturday during a Holocaust memorial service in New York. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had regained his voice after losing it during his whirlwind diplomatic tour of the Middle East last week, blamed Palestinians, Israelis and the international community equally for the outbreak of violence. Equating Hamas Terror attacks to IDF attempts to stop terror is pretty awful moral equivalence but actually moral equivalence is above average for the UN
"I said to all I met, on both sides, 'This must stop,'" Ban told congregants at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
Ban appeared as the guest speaker at the Modern Orthodox congregation's annual Holocaust remembrance commemoration. Diplomats from Israel, Germany, Austria and other nations joined him in the ornate sanctuary.
Ban responded in his remarks that he had twice rebuked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying that Israel should be "wiped off the map." and put him on the double secret probation list too I suppose
He did not explicitly name Hamas, but acknowledged that a million Israelis have been living in "a daily state of terror" from rocket fire, including a child and his parents he met in Sderot, but condemned the "appalling devastation" in Gaza.
Ban's appearance, his first formal speech at a synagogue, came as Jewish groups in the US decried the planned participation of Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a Nicaraguan diplomat who currently holds the one-year presidency of the UN General Assembly, in a UN Holocaust remembrance ceremony scheduled for Tuesday.
D'Escoto, who in November compared Israel to apartheid South Africa at a UN session devoted to the plight of the Palestinian people, attracted criticism from Jewish groups and Israeli diplomats after publicly hugging Ahmadinejad at the UN in September.
#7
"What...we have heah...is a fayyuh to communicate!"
Great movie. Strother Martin.
Also loved Woody Allen's parody of that scene in "Take the Money and Run". The warden asks "Any questions, boys?" and Allen asks if it's "OK for a boy and girl to engage in heavy petting, I mean if both parties are mature, etc..."
President Barack Obama plans to dispatch his new Middle East envoy to Palestine next week to meet acting PA chief Mahmoud Abbas.
The new US envoy to the Middle East, former senator George Mitchell, will meet with acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday in Ramallah, a senior Palestinian official said Saturday.
"Mitchell and Abbas will discuss how to re-launch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," said the source.
Washington Post reported that Western, Arab and Israeli diplomats said he also plans to meet leaders in Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, but direct contacts with Hamas have been ruled out.
A Western diplomat said Mitchell was likely to go to Saudi Arabia but Syria was not now on his schedule.
US officials in the region declined to confirm Mitchell's visit.
When appointing Mitchell on Thursday, President Barack Obama said he would be sending Mitchell 'to the region as soon as possible'.
The 75-year-old Mitchell helped negotiate the 1998 Good Friday agreement that helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:01 ||
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#2
The son of an Irish father and a Lebanese mother, Mitchell, 75, ....
Along with New England birth, baseball expertise, and carefully selected Mooslim breeding are essential. Don't forget to overhaul his oxygen concentrator and lose the cigars please.
#3
I'd bet a lot more of the Lebanese in this country are Christians than Muslims. Do you have specific knowledge that his mother was a practicing Muslim who brought little Georgie up to pray 5 times a day? Otherwise, he has always seemed like a fully assimilated American to me, even if he does hold wacky donk ideas like 2/5's of the country including plenty of those descended from passengers on the Mayflower.
#4
Indeed, NS. Lots of Christian Lebanese in the US, some for generations.
A favorite of mine when I was a kid was Danny Thomas, born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yaqoob in Lebanon. Dates me, I know. LOL In addition to being a successful actor, he founded the St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis where a whole lot of kids got treated for cancer for free. He was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Paul VI and Reagan awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal honouring him for his work with St Jude's Hospital.
Despite being a very devout Roman Catholic Thomas was also a high degree Mason/Shriner IIRC and was a leading force in Shriner philanthopy, especially WRT medical treatment for kids. Interesting guy.
#10
NS, Thing, please revisit your homework - Besoeker is entirely correct. Mitchell is no friend of Israel and if he isn't a dissimulating Muslim he almost certainly wishes he was. Happily he was never granted more power under Clinton.
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2009/01/remembering-george-mitchell.html
#11
Between Messrs. Mitchell and Holbrooke, I would say your President has already gotten a good start on his economic stimulus, starting with a make-work programmme for former diplomatic envoys.
#13
Jaique, I don't know how to tell you this, but someone doesn't have to be a "Mooselimb" in order to be very very bad.
A _very_ _Large_ _Number_ of American Jews would vote for Obama again tomorrow if there were a snap election like they have in other countries, knowing full well of this appointment and Mitchell's record.
Syrian President Basher Assad met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal Saturday morning, where he congratulated him for the "victory achieved by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza", the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Saturday.
According to the article, Assad told Meshal, currently in exile in Damascus, that the Palestinian peoples' response to Israel Defense Forces operation "Cast Lead" was evidence of their "commitment to their inalienable rights to their land and homes, and of their deep faith in their ultimate victory over occupation and aggression."
During the three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip, over 1,300 Palestinians are reported to have been killed. Thirteen Israelis were killed, 10 of them soldiers.
The article says that members of the Hamas delegation who met with Assad thanked the Syrian people for their "support of the Palestinian people's steadfastness in Gaza during and after the aggression."
The delegation reportedly told Syrian officials that Syria is the first stop in a tour of countries in the Middle East in order to "express their gratitude to them for standing by the Palestinian people during the aggression."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
100 to 1 exponent that a Paleo will get killed and Assad claims victory...any more evidence needed to conclude that the "not playing with a full deck" coinage had these people in mind and the Peace Process is doomed to failure?
King Abdullah of Jordan fired the head of the country's intelligence service, Mohammed Dahabi, early in January. The dismissal had not been understood; however, analysts and experts following developments in the Hashemite Kingdom, now suggest that the move stemmed from Dahabi's overly close ties with the Damascus-based Hamas leadership.
That would definitely do it ...
Dahabi was replaced by his deputy, General Mohammed Raqqad, who is considered to be a professional intelligence officer without political predispositions.
Hassan Barari, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, published a paper late last week in which he outlines his assessment of the reasons for the dismissal. Barari notes that Dahabi was the spirit behind a thawing of relations with the Hamas leadership. Ties were frozen eight years ago when the Hamas leadership was expelled from Jordan.
Last August, Dahabi met with Mohammed Nazel, one of the leading figures in the Hamas politburo in Amman. The meeting was supposedly an effort to develop a dialogue and understandings between Jordan and Hamas as a counterweight to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Dahabi was concerned that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that does not take into consideration Jordanian interests would turn out to be detrimental to the kingdom's interests. Moreover, Dahabi exhibited a tendency to interfere in politics and was on bad terms with Bassam Awadallah, a palace staff member of Palestinian descent.
Dahabi suspected that Awadallah was promoting a pro-PA policy and sought to balance it via contacts with Hamas. Dahabi was also involved in a campaign in the Jordanian media targeting Awadallah.
Apparently the power plays in Jordan's inner circle led to the king's decision to replace the head of intelligence. Another factor, linked to the timing of the dismissal, was the demonstration that Dahabi allowed to take place, involving Islamist groups protesting against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.
This article starring:
Mohammed Dahabi
Mohammed Nazel
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Back in 1970, Syria sent an armed group across the Jordan border to help the PLO in their attempt to overthrow then King Hussain.
Israeli intel spotted the move and informed Hussain, the PLO were crushed and the Syrians were repulsed [yes probably repulsive also].
This little incident is not forgotten amongst the Jordanian top honchos.
#4
In 1970 the Syrians sent an armored column into Jordan. Israel sent a flight of F4 Phantoms to overfly them. No shooting just overflying. Syria understood the message and its tanks withdrew.
RAMALLAH -The new US envoy to the Middle East, former senator George Mitchell, will meet with ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday in Ramallah, a senior Palestinian official said Saturday. Mitchell and Abbas will discuss how to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, said the source.
US officials in the region declined to confirm Mitchells visit. When appointing Mitchell on Thursday, US President Barack Obama said he would be sending Mitchell to the region as soon as possible...
The 75-year-old Mitchell, who helped negotiate the 1998 Good Friday agreement that helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, is no stranger to the Middle East peace process.
At the beginning of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000 Mitchell was appointed to head a committee bearing his name tasked with finding ways of ending violence between Israelis and Palestinians. In his report submitted in 2001 he called on both sides to take immediate measures to unconditionally end the violence, but his calls went unheeded.
No kidding -- the Paleos didn't heed the calls for non-violence, and the Israelis got tired of being asked to duck and take it? And now this man is our point person in the Middle East. Brilliant, Bambi, simply brilliant ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Western powers believe that Iran's supply of yellow cake uranium, the material required to manufacture nuclear weapons, could run out within months, the Times of London reported on Saturday.
The British newspaper reported that countries including Britain, the United States, France and Germany have all launched intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade major uranium producers from selling to Iran.
According to the report, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office sent out a confidential request to its diplomats in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Brazil, all major uranium producers, requesting that they lobby governments not to sell uranium to Iran.
The enriched uranium required for use in nuclear reactors or weapons is produced in centrifuges that spin uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) at high speeds. The UF6 is derived in a chemical reaction from yellow cake, a concentrate obtained from mined uranium ore.
The international effort to limit Iran's uranium supply reflects a growing concern that 2009 could be a crucial year with regard to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The assessment that Iran is likely to produce its first bomb during 2009 or in early 2010 was has been reaffirmed by Israel's military intelligence and the Mossad.
Sources said that while unlikely to cripple any effort to develop an atomic bomb, limiting Iran's yellow cake supply would help to contain the threat.
A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office declined to confirm the Times report but said, "It's essential to dissuade Iran from progressing towards the technology for a nuclear bomb. This risks sparking off a regional nuclear arms race. In a region which already faces huge security and other challenges, nuclear proliferation would be disastrous for stability."
Iran has always claimed that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, Western governments accuse Tehran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. Iran denies the accusation and says it only wants nuclear power in order to generate electricity.
The World Nuclear Association lists the top 10 uranium mining nations in 2007 as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Niger, Namibia, Uzbekistan, the United States, Ukraine and China. Brazil was 13th.
The Times said the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting and smuggling are rife, was another potential source of supply that troubles Western nations and the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I believe Iran haa uranium deposits of its own .Here is one link.
Maybe Joe Wilson will be dispatched to Niger again.
Russia wants to sell its own reactor ready fuel and have its own people run the reactor(s).
Its true that Iran has sources of Uranium but they may be so low grade as to require five or ten times as much work with the centrifuges (which is a big draw of electricity).
About 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis have recently vanished. Newsweek investigates the connections between the Abubakar Islamic Center and al-Shabab.
#7
Have you seen the temps there lately? I tellz ya, a sub-zero Minnesota winter can do strange things to the mind, like make Somalian travel brochures seem attractive.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday condemned a US military raid in eastern Afghanistan that he said killed 16 civilians, while hundreds of local villagers took to streets to denounce the US military and central government. 
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The BBC is refusing to broadcast a plea from leading British charities for aid to Gaza, saying the ad would compromise the public broadcaster's appearance of impartiality.
North Korea's reclusive leader met with a senior Chinese envoy for talks Friday, his first such appearance nearly six months after reportedly suffering a stroke in August.
King Abdullah of Jordan fired the head of the country's intelligence service, 
About 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis have recently vanished.
