Reflecting on a very busy year so far for the embattled Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) against insurgents, a new TOLOnews security report has found the ANSF maintained their military strength over insurgents during March and April this year, which led to major defeat on a number of instances for insurgents.
"Although the insurgents increased their operations and activities by 77 percent, the Afghan security forces retaliated against attacks effectively - in 200 counter-insurgency attacks," the report says.
The report also covered the overall death toll among the armed opponents and the ANSF.
But according to the report, Afghan forces still do not have the ability to lead large scale operations on several fronts simultaneously.
Based on the report, during March and April, ANSF launched a number of sophisticated operations including Shafaq operation while Taliban also announced their spring offensive, code named Omari.
However, the report speaks of improvement within the ranks of ANSF in their battle against the insurgents, but the Taliban also used all available resources to increase attacks on security forces and gain ground, indicating a substantial rise in Taliban attacks.
"After announcing their spring offensive, Taliban increased their attacks. The group conducted 131 attacks on security forces while the figure was around 50 attacks during the first two months of 2016," the report stated.
"Taliban carried out guerrilla attacks and they tolerated a massive toll during operations and were defeated. If they continue on the same track, they will lose soon," military analyst Mirza Mohammad Yarmand said.
"During March and April, the Taliban tried to change their war tactics and they focused on small operations and widespread attacks. The attacks were totally different from the attacks during this period in 2015," the report further added.
The report found that ANSF was still on the defensive and they have not managed to take the war to the Taliban. While the Shafaq operation is still ongoing, Taliban managed to infiltrate in Baghlan's Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabuddin districts.
"They (Taliban) faced one of the biggest defeats in the past 50 days in Kunduz, they were defeated after attacking Kunduz," Sediq Sediqqi, an interior ministry spokesman said.
"Overall 1,280 security events were recorded in March and April which shows an 18 percent rise compared to first two months of 2016, the report read.
During March and April, the militants launched 181 attacks while the security forces launched 660 retaliatory attacks to foil these attacks.
"We are still undertaking our planned operations which include offensives, we plan and conduct the operation," Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the ministry of defense said on Thursday.
Casualties among the armed opponents also increased by 15 percent during March and April 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
The report finds that 447 Afghan soldiers were killed during March and April while 145 civilians also lost their lives during the violence.
"During March and April the insurgents abducted 94 civilians and 44 military personnel," the report said.
In February, Afghanistan's border regions once again came under cross border attacks from Pakistani army.
The eastern Nangarhar province remained on top of the list of most insecure provinces during March and April.
"Wait'll you get the bill..."
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani says his son was released from Taliban captivity because of the "combined efforts" of U.S. and Afghan forces.
"This combined operation was carried out by the American forces and the Afghanistan forces. My boy was recovered because of their combined efforts. I want to thank them because Ali Haider has been rescued after three years owing to their hard work."
"Look, good news is very beneficial for our morale here in Pakistan. I believe that this is extremely good for our morale. But as far as our counter-terrorism policy is concerned, we have to look into that. Did this happen because of that? I do not know, but we do have to find out."
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani thanked American and Afghan forces on Wednesday for rescuing his son from Taliban captivity.
Ali Haider Gilani was rescued on Monday by a joint force of Afghan and U.S. commandos who raided a house occupied by al-Qaeda militants in Paktika province, just across the border from Pakistan. He was kidnapped three years ago from his home town.
"This combined operation was carried out by the American forces and the Afghanistan forces. My boy was recovered because of their combined efforts. I want to thank them because Ali Haider has been rescued after three years owing to their hard work," Gilani told reporters as he arrived in Lahore from Islamabad.
Gilani was accompanied by Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and son of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Gilani, a stalwart of the PPP, was prime minister from 2008 to 2012.
Bilawal, who is a family friend of the Gilani family, said he and his sisters were elated by the news of Ali Haider's release, but was quick to add that further investigation was needed into Pakistan's counter-terrorism policy.
Ali Haider Gilani was abducted in May 2013, outside an office of the PPP in his home town of Multan, two days before an election. He was flown home on a chartered aircraft sent from Pakistan earlier in the day.
He was showered with rose petals as he got out of a vehicle outside the family home in the city of Lahore.
His rescue occurred partly by chance, as Afghan and U.S special forces raided the suspected al-Qaeda compound.
The force had an "inkling" a hostage was being held there but was not aware it was Gilani, said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the NATO-led force.
He said four al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid. Gilani was with his captors but was identified as a hostage after he did not try to resist.
The rescue offered a rare moment of warmth and respite in long-running tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, which many in Afghanistan blame for fostering and sheltering Taliban leaders on their soil.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. has said he does not want an apology from the British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... for describing Afghanistan as ’fantastically corrupt’.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Ghanis said Afghanistan was "one of the most corrupt countries on earth".
"He was describing the legacy of the past, a legacy in which many actors, many factors combined to produce one of the most corrupt countries on earth," Ghani said.
President Ghani further added "The first part of addressing the problem begins with acknowledgement and we are partners in an effort to overcome this cancer. What distinguishes my government is our clarity about what we’ve inherited, our determination to address it, our willingness to form the right partnerships."
He also added that the west had a duty to help as "the most significant driver of corruption is the narcotic cartel", driving both terrorism, extremism and corruption.
Cameron risked derailing the gathering earlier this week when he was filmed boasting to the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury that he had some ’fantastically corrupt’ countries attending.
He singled out Nigeria and Afghanistan during the unguarded conversation at Buckingham Palace, according to the local newspaper, MailOnline.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, at least the corrupt Afghan officials are not selling out their citizens and importing foreigners to displace the existing population. I don't expect to see a Christian mayor of Kabul in my lifetime.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States gave jeeps, communications technology and small aircraft to Tunisia on Thursday to help protect the border with Libya, where ISIS has gained ground and set up training camps, officials said.
The North African country was also expecting to receive a number of attack aircraft, Defense Minister Farhar Horchani said, though he did not give details on who would supply them.
Tunisia has already built a 200-km (120-mile) barrier along the frontier to guard against snuffies since gunnies trained in Libya targeted tourists in attacks on a beach hotel and a Tunis museum last year.
ISIS also launched a major assault on the border town of Ben Guerdane in March.
US Assistant Secretary for Defense Amanda Dory said at a ceremony in Tunis that the jeeps, Maule light aircraft and a communication system between them would help Tunisian forces improve their monitoring of the border.
Horchani said the US package was worth around $20 million. The US ambassador said it consisted of 48 jeeps and 12 aircraft.
Western governments are giving Tunisia financial and military aid to support its young democracy, which they are holding up as a model for the region since its 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
A small group of Islamist snuffies tied to al Qaeda is fighting in remote mountains near the Algerian border. Other Tunisian snuffies have split to join ISIS in Libya.
On Wednesday, four police were killed when a Death Eater detonated his bomb belt during a raid on a house in Tataouine in the south. That and a raid in Tunis were part of an operation that stopped planned attacks on the capital, authorities said.
More than 4,000 Tunisians are thought to have left to fight for ISIS and other Death Eater groups in Iraq and Syria. Some are returning to join ISIS in Libya, threatening more attacks on Tunisia.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
May as well give them away.
They aren't being used here.
Ethiopian troops under African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who set up new bases in central Somalia’s town of Adaado, have on Thursday withdrawn from the town, residents said.
I think we'll be reading about this town (wherever the heck it is) in the next few days...
The withdrawal of the African Union peacekeepers from Ethiopia were reported after Ethiopian officials, who have been supposed to reach the town, have called off their visit to Adaado town. The arrival of the Ethiopian delegates in the town of Adaado was to open talks between Galmudug State and Somalia’s moderate Islamist group of Ahlu Sunna Waljame’a (ASWJ), officials said.
Ethiopia has mediated both regional State of Galmudug and Somalia-Ethiopian administration after several people were killed in an attack launched by Ethiopia’s Liyu police near Somalia-Ethiopia border.
Somalia’s moderate Islamist group of ASWJ did not comment on the talks reported to be planed by Ethiopia, in a bid to make negotiation by Ahlu Sunna and Galmudug State in Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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"Oh, you should so try the peach. It really brings out your eyes!"
While the Saudi-led coalition Operation Restoring Hope is on in Yemen to defend right, justice and legitimacy, the attacks and tactics used by the Al Qaeda terrorists show how mean those criminals are.
The terrorist organisation, as per photos of some militants eliminated in a cleansing operation against Al Qaeda insurgents in Al Makla area of Yemen, proved to be using criminal tactics in its savage attacks against innocent civilians, according to official and informed sources.
"The image attached herein shows one of their slain leaders who underwent a makeover - complete with feminine clothes and full make-up - to pose as a woman while executing terrorist offensives against civilians."
Such a criminal tactic proves that those terrorists have nothing to do with any religious or humanitarian principles. Their alleged courage and willingness to die in service of religion are baseless, they added.
"The Arab coalition forces, National Yemeni Army and Popular Resistance spare no effort to cleanse all areas of Hadramout from terrorists and sleeper cells to maintain security and ensure stability."
The Arab coalition forces, National Yemeni Army and Popular Resistance are facing big challenges and difficulties in sweeping the Hadramout areas and clearing them from terrorists, the same sources underlined. "They proved to adopting unconventional methods in their attacks like posing as women to mislead the coalition forces who chivalry do not approach women."
Though it is so difficult to hunt criminals and terrorists, the competent Arab coalition forces, National Yemeni Army and Popular Resistance have managed to detect and eradicate those criminals, they affirmed. "Disguising as women is a cowardly act that shows how immoral those militants are."
Indicating, the sources said the techniques and tactics the terrorists use evidence that their purported heroic rhetoric is nothing but empty words intended to lure and mislead young Muslims and influence them.
"So many graphic images of the killed terrorists have not been released for being heart-rending to public. However, they show how mean those terrorist leaders and criminals are and that they have nothing to do with all heavenly religions."
Posted by: badanov ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe they just identify as women? Like Bruce Jenner.
[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] PM announced a strong of new measures on foreign companies buying property in London to stop 'corrupt individuals' hiding illicit funds
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani pointed to the impact of the heroin trade as he attends a summit in London
Prime Minister was filmed earlier this week boasting about the 'fantastically corrupt' countries who are coming
Nigerian president has said he wants 'action' by Britain to hand back stolen assets hidden in London rather than an apology
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Italia's coastguard said it helped rescue 801 migrants colonists from two boats off western Sicily on Thursday, including many Syrians, amid signs that refugees from the Middle East are increasingly shunning the Greek route into Europe.
More than a million migrants colonists, many from Syria, have entered Europe via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Greece in the past year but the number has fallen sharply since March, when Ankara agreed with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to take back refugees landing on the Greek islands.
The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... refugee agency (UNHCR) said the two boats aided on Thursday, which were also carrying some Iraqis, represented the largest such attempted mass migration from Syria and Iraq to Italia for at least a year.
An Italian coastguard statement said 515 people had been plucked from one boat and a further 286 people rescued in another operation involving a Finnish naval vessel.
A coastguard front man said most of those taken to safety in the first operation were Syrian, while he was unable to give the nationalities of those saved from the second boat.
Another coastguard front man had previously said the second operation had rescued around 380 people.
UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said the Syrians and Iraqis had set sail from Egypt rather than Libya, the launchpad for most migrants colonists heading to Italia.
The UNHCR says more migrants colonists looking to reach Europe arrived in Italia in April than in Greece - 9,149 against 3,650 - the first time that had happened since May 2015.
As of May 10, 31,250 migrants colonists had reached Italia by boat this year, a 14 percent decline from the same period last year, according to the Interior Ministry.
The vast majority came from African countries, led by Nigeria, Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... , Somalia and the African Coast.
In addition to the European Union's repatriation deal with Turkey, Balkan nations, Hungary and Austria have tightened border controls in an attempt to deter the migrants colonists entering from Greece. Most who take the Balkan route head to Germany.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Exactly six months after Gay Paree terror rampage, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says ’threat level is still very high’
A good thing they're telling us -- how else would we know?
La Belle France has enjugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! 101 people since the start of the year over "direct links to terrorism," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in an interview to be published Friday, exactly six months after the Gay Paree attacks.
"We are doing everything we can to protect the people of La Belle France, but the threat level is still very high," Cazeneuve told the Ebra media group, which publishes several dailies.
Since 2013, 15 planned attacks have been foiled, he added.
"At the European level, thanks in great measure to La Belle France’s impetus, progress is being made," he said.
"Aside from the closely coordinated police and judicial French-Belgian efforts that helped us carry out the recent arrests, the European Parliament has finally adopted the PNR (Passenger Name Record) system which will enhance our detection capabilities of jihadists’ movements," he said.
The European Parliament voted last month to adopt the US-style measure to force airlines to share passenger data with EU states.
Cazeneuve said that border checks had been carried out on 33 million people at La Belle France’s frontiers in the past six months, and that 17,500 people had been refused entry to the country.
Asked about plans to provide security for major events to be held in La Belle France in the coming months, Cazeneuve said that "exceptional" measures would be put in place, "in order to ensure the highest possible security.
"That’s one of the reasons why we extended the state of emergency until July 26, that is after the end of the football Euro 2016 championship and the (cycling) Tour de La Belle France."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Monday announced plans to create regional de-radicalization centers, in response to last year’s terror attacks that killed a total of 147 people.
One hundred and thirty people were murdered in the November 13 attacks in Gay Paree, after 17 died in January in three days of violence starting with a massacre at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... and including a hostage-taking by an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -inspired gunman at Gay Paree’s Hyper Cacher kosher market.
The government believes nearly 9,300 people in La Belle France have been radicalized and are capable of violent actions.
The anti-terror plan will cost an additional 40 million euros ($45.5 million) by 2018 on top of current funding and aims to ramp up existing efforts to try to help people already in jihadist networks or those likely to join such groups.
A total of 30 Syrian refugee children, aged between 8 and 12, have been sexually assaulted over a period of three months by a cleaning worker in Turkey’s Nizip refugee camp located in the southeastern province of Gaziantep and administered by the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). The disaster agency confirmed the claims, which it was “following closely,” while the suspect faces up to 289 years of jail time.
A cleaning personnel worker identified as E.E. “sexually assaulted” some 30 Syrian boys, the oldest of whom were only 12 years old, in the camp’s washrooms, daily BirGün reported on May 12.
E.E. isn't going to be feeling so good when the Turks are done with him...
The report alleged that the worker lured children into “blind spots” which were not seen by surveillance cameras by offering them money, around 1.5 to 5 Turkish Liras.
The children’s families became aware of E.E.’s persistent attempts to assault the children after a boy, identified as H.İ., talked to his father about the attack. H.İ.’s father filed a complaint with the gendarmerie, bringing the matter to the attention of the authorities, Doğan News Agency said. The families of eight children filed criminal complaints, while the families of the other victims refrained from taking legal action, afraid of threatening their status in Turkey, BirGün claimed.
Military officers inside the camp started investigating surveillance cameras and noticed that the suspect took the children to blind spots, providing evidence for the case.
The 29-year-old suspect was arrested after the complaints in September 2015 and now faces a total of 289 years of imprisonment. The indictment underlined that although no evidence of rape could be discovered during medical examinations, the children’s testimonies were consistent and there were no grounds for slander, as the families and E.E. had no prior enmity with each other.
Meanwhile, the suspect, who initially admitted to sexually assaulting one child, denied his earlier testimony, claiming it was “taken under pressure.”
"OUCH! OOCH! I'LL CONFESS! STOOOOOOPPP!!"
E.E. has been jailed pending trial since Sept. 5, 2015.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sent a strong signal regarding his country’s readiness to take unilateral action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) following a series of attacks by the group on the border province of Kilis.
“While our citizens are being martyred every day by rockets fired from the other side, what will we wait for from the allies,” Erdoğan said at an event called “Domestic and National Will in Turkish Political History.” “If so, we will pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.”
“We are doing all the necessary preparations to clean the other side of the border because of the troubles being experienced in Kilis, but we haven’t yet been able to receive the support that we desire from allies,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan again accused the international coalition battling ISIL in Syria of abandoning his country to fight the jihadists on its own soil in the face of regular attacks on Kilis by ISIL.
Around two dozen people have been killed in the southeastern province of Kilis by rocket fire from ISIL since January, prompting the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to respond with artillery fire.
Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led coalition battling ISIL, also allows U.S. jets to use its air base in southern Turkey for air strikes on the extremists.
“The Kilis issue will serve as a litmus paper which will manifest the anti-DAESH [ISIL] coalition’s sincerity,” he added.
“We do not believe the sincerity of any country that has not seen rockets falling on our town as if they fell on Moscow, London, Brussels, Washington, Paris or Berlin,” he said.
Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported that a 20-strong Turkish military team crossed into Syria over the weekend on a reconnaissance mission to seek out ISIL launchers to target in artillery strikes, but this has not been officially confirmed.
In its May 10 edition, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Turkey’s special military force carried out an unusual weekend operation against ISIL fighters in Syria as part of a deepening campaign against the extremist group. Citing American officials, who spoke anonymously, the U.S. daily said the weekend operation was part of an expanding effort by the TSK to push ISIL away from a vital 60-mile stretch of the Turkey-Syria border that serves as the group’s main lifeline.
The president also said Turkey had the right to not care about those who disregarded Kilis and the Syrian city of Aleppo.
“We also have the right to not care [about] those who disregard Kilis [and] Aleppo. It is not possible for us to agree either with the allies or the non-moral structure in the face of the current discourse and manners of especially European Union organizations and some countries in Turkey’s fight against terrorism,” Erdoğan said, calling their stance hypocritical.
“Those who stirred up the world when DAESH [ISIL] conducted attacks against them left Turkey alone in its fight against the same organization,” Erdoğan said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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"We'll get right on that just as soon as we finish the creme brulee. Would you like a splash?"
CIZRE – The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said that independent investigators, including the United Nations Staff should be allowed unimpeded access to the Kurdish town of Cizre in southeastern Turkey, in order to investigate human rights abuses against Kurdish civilians in the town that has been exposed to a fierce military offensive by the Turkish army over the past few months.
“We would like to express our satisfaction with the call of Zeid Raad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to Turkey on giving independent investigators, including UN staff, unimpeded access to Cizre,” HDP’s Group Deputy Co-Chairman Cağlar Demirel and HDP Group deputy Co-Chairman Idris Baluken said in a statement.
[AlAhram] FBI Director James Comey says fewer Americans are traveling to fight alongside the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. He says the group's influence in the United States appears to be on the decline.
What about other jihadi groups? Or making bombs in the kitchen of your mother and choosing to make jihad in the neighbourhood?
Comey told news hounds at a roundtable discussion Wednesday that the number of Americans who have gone or have tried to join the group has dropped to about one per month. It used to be a half-dozen or more a month.
He said there's "no doubt" that something has happened to diminish the attractiveness of the Islamic State group to Americans.
Comey said the FBI has "north of 1,000" cases in which agents are trying to evaluate a subject's level of radicalization and potential for violence.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/13/2016 00:55 ||
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#1
Oh, good. So we don't have to worry anymore, Director?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/13/2016 7:41 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... conceded on Thursday that relations with the US had been under stress for the past three months because of conditions Washington had attached to the funding of F-16s sale.
The confession was made by the adviser while winding up a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistain.
The adviser said that Pakistain-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents of WikiLeaks, Raymond Davis, Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... operation, Datta Khel and Salala. Since 2013, he said Pakistain’s relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory".
"In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," he said.
Mr Aziz said that the US action might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been categorically rejected by Pakistain.
Haqqani network still top US concern
"We have also rejected frequent demands, especially by the US Congress, for the release of Dr Shakil Afridi. The US officials, Congress, think-tanks and media, in tandem with our adversaries, have also been blaming Pakistain for supporting the Haqqani network without giving any concrete evidence to enable us to take additional action against it or other terrorist organizations," he added.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... Mr Aziz said, the Haqqani Network issue remained the top US concern at the moment. The Indian lobby in the US, he said, had also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, especially after the Pathankot incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
What does ValJar have to say about the Paks?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/13/2016 12:59 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Thursday signed the death warrants of five "hardcore terrorists", said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
An ISPR statement issued said the men were convicted for "perpetrating Safoora bus attack and were also involved in improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Saleh Masjid Karachi, killing of social worker Sabeen Mahmud and attacks on law enforcement agencies."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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QAMISHLO – Major General Gary J. Volesky, commander of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Operation Inherent Resolve, said that radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) is weaker that before, but said the fight will become more difficult once it moves closer to Mosul–ISIS major bastion in northern Iraq.
“As we’ve seen, as the enemy loses more and more terrain, they resort to some of these desperate acts,” the general said about the recent Baghdad attacks that killed more than 150 people. “The security forces in Baghdad have the situation under control, but our condolences go out to those families,” he added.
“As we’ve said, the enemy [ISIS] is getting weaker and weaker. And so, you know, as we look and we assess this with our Iraqi partners, I mean, they’re the ones that are going to do that mission,” the general said about future operations in Mosul.
[IsraelTimes] Rally for first time in the Negev, protesters in Rahat, including Arab Knesset members, swear to defend land and uphold Paleostinian rights
Thousands of Arab Israeli protesters marched in favor of a "right of return" for millions of Paleostinians on Thursday, as Israel celebrated its 68th Independence Day.
Some of Israel's political parties are in favour of trading Arab-Israeli villages to the PA for Jewish West Bank settlements as part of peace negotiations. Instead of offering, they could insist...
Some of the protesters, many of whom consider themselves Paleostinian citizens of Israel, carried Paleostinian flags and others held up signs demanding the right to return for refugees and their descendants at the rally in the Negev desert.
As mainly Jewish Israelis marked Independence Day, the marchers carried the slogan "On the anniversary of your independence, remember our Nakba." The term Nakba is widely used by Paleostinians and in the Arab world to describe the "catastrophe" of modern Israel’s establishment in 1948.
The protest included a swearing-in ceremony where people collectively swore to defend the land, and to uphold the claim by Paleostinians who used to live in what is today Israel, and their descendants, of a right to come back and live in the country.
The protesters, among them members of the Joint (Arab) List Knesset faction, also poured seeds into the ground in a symbolic gesture.
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said in a speech to the crowd: "The Nakba is not a question of the past but of the future. Recognition of the Nakba, of this great crime, and gestures to correct this wrong, are the only way toward true reconciliation between the two peoples [Israelis and Paleostinians]."
Organizers said it was the first time such a demonstration has been held in the Negev.
The Paleostinians refer to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, following the defeat of Arab nations in the War of Independence, as the "Nabka," the Arabic word for "catastrophe." Nakba day will be formerly marked on May 15.
For Paleostinians, the right to return to homes they fled or were forced out of in 1948 is a prerequisite for any peace agreement. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has informally acknowledged that he does not expect Israel to absorb millions of Paleostinians since this would fundamentally alter the 78-22 Jewish-non-Jewish population balance in Israel.
Israeli governments of left and right reject the notion of a "right of return" for Paleostinians, arguing that a mass influx of Paleostinians would spell the end of the Jewish state. Israel has called for Paleostinian refugees to be absorbed into a future Paleostinian state, just as Israel took in hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa.
Israel also rejects the UN designation of second, third and subsequent generations of descendants of Paleostinians who used to live in what is now Israel as "refugees," noting that only Paleostinian descendants of refugees are treated in this way by the UN.
As Israeli air defense forces prepare to become the world leading distributor of Iranian missile parts.
TEHRAN: Iran launched a new long-range missile late last month, a general announced on Monday, trumpeting the accuracy of the latest such weapon to be test-fired in defiance of the West.
“A missile with a 2,000-km range was tested two weeks ago,” said General Ali Abdolahi, adding that it has a negligible margin of error of just eight meters.
“We can guide this ballistic missile. It leaves the Earth’s atmosphere, re-enters it and hits the target without error,” the armed forces deputy chief-of-staff said, quoted by the website of state broadcaster IRINN.
In early March, Iran carried out several short-, medium- and long-range (300 to 2,000 km) precision missile tests across its territory, mostly from underground bases.
The series of tests have come in for criticism from the US, Britain, France and Germany.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iran will ban its citizens from going to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... this year to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage, international news agencies quoted an Iranian official as announcing Thursday, According to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named (AP), the Iranian Minister of Cultural and Islamic Guidance, Ali Jannati, blamed travel to Saudi Arabia for failing to "resolve the issue of security" in the months-long discussions which took place between the two countries.
Jannati said in comments carried by AP: "They [the Saudis] did not accept our proposals concerning the issuing of visas or security and transport of the Iranian pilgrims." .
"You can't fire us -- we quit!!"
Tensions between the two regional powers escalated even more last year when an accident occurred during the annual Hajj season, resulting in the deaths of a number of Iranians who were among the causalities of the accident.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Women claim they were asked to leave because they wore headscarves; owners say the group violated their time-limit policy
And how is the smart money betting?
A Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, cafe founded and owned by a Jewish and Muslim husband and wife plans to counter-sue after being accused of discriminating against Muslim patrons.
Urth Caffe, an artisanal coffee shop and restaurant with six Southern California locations, was accused in a suit filed May 2 of forcing seven women to leave its Laguna Beach site in April because they were visibly Muslim.
Announcing plans for a counter-suit last week, attorneys for owners Shallom and Jilla Berkman, who are Jewish and Muslim, respectively, say the lawsuit is "a fraud and a hoax on the courts and the media," ABC7.com reported.
The cafe has said the women were asked to leave because they violated its policy of giving up a table after 45 minutes during busy periods, while others were waiting in line. The women, six of whom wear Muslim headscarves, assert that the restaurant was not full and that no other customers were asked to leave.
In a Facebook post that went viral, one of the plaintiffs, Sara Farsakh, wrote, "What began as a night out with some friends ended as a painful and embarrassing reminder of what it is like to be visibly Muslim -- even in liberal California."
The Berkmans have engaged a pro bono attorney, David Yerushalmi, a conservative activist known for fighting the influence of religious Islamic law, according to the Jewish Journal.
Calling Yerushalmi "probably the leading anti-Muslim activist this side of Donald Trump," the attorney for the Muslim women has claimed that the Berkmans’ decision to hire him supports allegations that their company engaged in anti-Muslim profiling.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... Shallom Berkman told the Jewish Journal in an email that he and his wife "don’t consider [Yerushalmi] anti-Muslim -- we believe him to be pro-justice."
Yerushalmi told the Journal he plans to demonstrate that the lawsuit is part of a broader effort to put forward a Muslim "victimization narrative."
In a letter posted at the Laguna Beach location, Shallom Berkman wrote on behalf of him and his wife, according to the Journal: "We find this incident both sad and frustrating in that they chose one of the most welcoming and diverse businesses in the area to target with their political agenda. These accusations are absolutely false and we remain confident that when the whole truth is known, we will be completely vindicated."
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.
David Cameron
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sent a strong signal regarding his country’s readiness to take unilateral action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) following a series of attacks by the group on the border province of Kilis.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
