Not many (2-4 if I remember reading another article correctly) are being sent just to train future customers how to work with the F-35 networks with the 4th gen jets they have.
Now if 2 squadrons of F-22s and F-35s showed up I would be a little more worried about what was going on.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has said the criticism by the former Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, 12th President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in an attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... goes too far and will not serve the interests of Afghanistan.
Khalilzad who has also served as US Ambassador to Iraq and UN, said the criticism will also not advance peace in the country.
Karzai declared a hard stance against the United States on Saturday as he was speaking during a gathering in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... He strongly condemned the use of GBU-43 bomb also referred to as the Mother of All Bombs in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
The former President vowed to step up efforts in a bid to oust the US military from the country following the massive Arclight airstrike in Achin Nangarhar against ISIS murderous Moslems involving the non-nuclear GBU-43 bomb.
He slammed the government for allowing the US forces to carry out the strike and insisted that the move would be a national treason if the government had approved the use of the massive bomb.
The remarks by Karzai followed despite the Afghan government said it was in the loop when the Arclight airstrike was carried out.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
Interesting. D'you suppose this is true, dear Reader? That seems rather a lot of Pakistanis.
[ONEINDIA] At least 500 Pak nationals have been killed in the US bombing that took place at Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province in Afghanistan. The area that was targetted was controlled by 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.... and protected by the Pakistain army, sources say.
The operation that was jointly coordinated by the 201 Selab Corps of the Afghanistan army targeted the caves and tunnels that were used as hiding places by the IS.
It is now clear that the Pakistain army was backing these IS operatives in Afghanistan, official sources also confirmed.
Indian agencies who are coordinating withe counterparts in Afghanistan have learnt that there are no civilians living in the area. There were a large number of stooges of the Inter-Services intelligence who have been protecting the IS operatives in this area. The US action comes at a time when there was a huge build-up of IS forces in Afghanistan.
Indian agencies say that the Pakistain army and the ISI were nurturing these operatives. The entire area that was bombed was under the control of the ISI officials backing the IS, sources also said. The impact of the bomb was so huge that it blew up at least 500 Paks and an equal number of IS operatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies
#1
This article is written by Vicky Nanjappa. I went to all of his most recent articles and during the past few days his reports indicated 36, then around 90, and now this one that says close to a thousand.
In his report that claimed 36 killed, he indicated that the US intelligence bombed the location because IS was setting up a major module at that location. In his report that revised the number to 90 he named some of the casualties, the means in which family members were notified, and names of their family members.
He seems very confident in his sources and does seem to follow up for confirmation. Other stories he has done in that region also seem non-sensational and matter of fact.
Therefore my assessment Fred of this article is the MOAB may have taken out a thousand death eaters at that base.
[Libya Herald] Misrata Municipal Council says it will take legal action against those trying to overthrow it. It follows fresh action by protestors who today again bricked up the main entrance to the council offices. They first did so on Thursday, but council supporters then removed the blockage.
In a statement today describing the opponents as "criminals", the municipal council said that while everyone had the right to peaceful protest, attacking the council offices and preventing its staff from entering and working would not be tolerated.
The protestors, organised by the city’s Military Council and its Council of Elders and Wise Men, yesterday also announced they were shutting down the local headquarters of the Justice and Construction Party (J&C), the political wing of the Moslem Brüderbund. They said they wanted it and all other political parties banned.
The divide is ideological. The protestors believe that only "revolutionaries" have the right to hold political office and run the country. As such, they oppose both Khalifa Hafter and the Libyan National Army in the east of the country and the Presidency Council (PC) in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , supporting instead the Benghazi Defence Brigades and the would-be prime minister in Tripoli, Khalifa Ghwell. They object to the municipal council and the J&C because both support the PC.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] UK politicians are calling on the government to strip Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's wife of her British citizenship, for supporting her husband's regime during the country's ongoing war.
The Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs front man, MP Tom Brake, on Sunday accused Assad of using her international profile to defend "a barbarous regime".
"(Foreign Secretary) Boris Johnson has urged other countries to do more about Syria, but the British government could say to Asma Assad -- either stop using your position to defend barbaric acts, or be stripped of your citizenship," Brake said.
His remarks follow Johnson branding the Syrian president an "arch-terrorist", in a Sunday Telegraph newspaper article calling on Syria ally Russia to end its support for Bashir al-Assad.
Brake's comments echoed those of MP Nadhim Zahawi, from the ruling Conservative Party.
"The time has come where we go after (Bashar) Assad in every which way, including people like Mrs Assad, who is very much part of the propaganda machine that is committing war crimes," he was quoted in the Sunday Times newspaper as saying.
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04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[IsraelTimes] Constitutional changes include replacing parliamentary system with presidential one, granting sweeping executive powers to president; opponents to challenge vote.
Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... declared victory in Sunday’s referendum that will grant sweeping powers to the presidency, hailing the result as a "historic decision."
Speaking to news hounds in Istanbul, Erdogan said unofficial results showed the "yes" side had won by a margin of 1.3 million votes.
The president struck a conciliatory tone, thanking all voters regardless of how they cast their ballots and describing the referendum as a "historic decision."
"April 16 is the victory of all who said yes or no, of the whole 80 million, of the whole of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of 780,000-square kilometers," Erdogan said.
Returns carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency showed that with nearly 99 percent of the vote counted, the "yes" vote had about 51.3 percent compared to 48.7 percent for the "no" vote.
Returns carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency showed that with nearly 99 percent of the vote counted, the "yes" vote had about 51.3 percent compared to 48.7 percent for the "no" vote.
Turkey’s main opposition party vowed to challenge the results reported by Anadolu agency, saying they were skewed.
Erdogan has long sought to broaden his powers, but a previous attempt failed after the governing party that he co-founded fell short of enough votes to pass the reforms without holding a referendum.
Opponents argued the plan concentrate too much power in the hands of a man they allege has shown increasingly autocratic tendencies.
The outcome is expected to have a huge effect on Turkey’s long-term political future and its international relations. Although the result, if officially confirmed, would fall short of the sweeping victory Erdogan had sought, but nevertheless cements his hold on the country’s governance.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, whose position will be eliminated under the presidential system of government called for in the referendum, also welcomed the results and extended a hand to the opposition.
"We are all equal citizens of the Republic of Turkey," he said. "Both the ones who said ’no’ and the ones who said ’yes’ are one and are equally valuable."
"There are no losers of this referendum. Turkey won, the beloved people won," Yildirim said, adding that "a new page has opened in our democratic history with this vote. Be sure that we will use this result for our people’s welfare and peace in the best way."
Erdogan supporters gathered outside the AK Party headquarters in Istanbul to celebrate, sending fireworks into the night sky.
But the main opposition People’s Democratic Party, or CHP, cast doubt on the results. CHP vice chairman Erdal Aksunger said they would challenge 37 percent of the ballot boxes.
"Our data indicates a manipulation in the range of 3 to 4 percent," the party said on its Twitter account.
The country’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, which also opposed the constitutional changes, said it plans to object to two-thirds of the ballots.
An unprecedented decision by Turkey’s Supreme Election board to accept as valid ballot papers that don’t have the official stamp also drew the ire of the CHP, with the party’s deputy chairman, Bulent Tezcan, saying the decision had left the referendum "with a serious legitimacy problem."
The board made the announcement after many voters complained about being given ballot papers without the official stamp, saying ballots would be considered invalid only if proven to have been fraudulently cast.
Sunday’s vote approved 18 constitutional changes that will replace Turkey’s parliamentary system of government with a presidential one, abolishing the office of the prime minister and granting sweeping executive powers to the president. The changes will come into effect with the next general election, scheduled for 2019.
The reforms allow the president to appoint ministers, senior government officials and half the members of Turkey’s highest judicial body, as well as to issue decrees and declare states of emergency. They set a limit of two five-year terms for presidents and also allow the president to remain at the helm of a political party.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Guess they are coming out of the clost, by saying they have a dictator.
Posted by: chris ||
04/17/2017 12:29 Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] PARACHINAR: The powerful non-nuclear bomb dubbed mother of all bombs (MOAB) which was dropped by the US on an area in Afghanistan on Thursday also left impact on this side of the border, damaging buildings in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , locals said.
Wide cracks appeared in several houses, a mosque and an Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... at Malana village in the foothills of Speen Ghar also known as White Mountain.
The snow-covered White Mountain serves as a natural barrier between the Afghan province of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and the Kurram tribal region in Pakistain.
US officials claimed that MOAB targeted a base of the murderous MoslemIslamic 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 in Achin district which lies in the foothills of the White Mountain on the other side of the border.
According to latest reports, MOAB left at least 90 people dead and destroyed the IS infrastructure. Initially, the corpse count was put at 36.
Residents at Malana village told Dawn they felt a tremor that shook their houses. "We felt light shocks, but did not realise it was because of a bomb," said Muhammad Hassan, a resident of Malana.
He said that wide cracks had appeared in several houses and mosques in the area. It also caused slight damage to houses in the Zeran area. The US forces had carried out intense bombing in the Tora Bora area of the same Achin district after 9/11 attacks to dismantle what it claimed was a cave complex of Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
O God, shake the ground under them, instill panic into their hearts, and freeze the blood in their veins. O God, destroy them, for they are within your power.
Ouch. But looking at the last century or so of Muslim history, it's hard not to draw that conclusion. Even the oil roller coaster in retrospect seems designed to get the Gulf Arabs to seriously overextend themselves -- and all the rest to depend on their pious generosity -- while not preparing properly for the inevitable.
[DAWN] Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Saleh Bin Mohammad Bin Ibrahim, in an interview with Geo News, said when it comes to accusing someone of blasphemy, there are two types of people, "those who are illiterate and those who misuse Islam for personal gains", adding there is no reprieve in religion for the latter.
Ibrahim's comments came when a debate surrounding the Blasphemy law has resurfaced following the lynching of a university student in Mardan by an angry mob, comprising mainly of other fellow students, based on blasphemy allegations.
The Imam of Makkah's Grand Mosque, in the interview aired on Sunday, said the people who are illiterate and cast false blasphemy accusations on someone should be educated and given the relevant knowledge.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... he added that those "whose hearts are plagued with disease misuse Islam intentionally".
Ibrahim further said, "Allah (SWT) has said that He will not reveal His signs to those who act as an authority on earth," adding that such people "will never choose to follow the right path even if directed towards it".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Mardan Police on Sunday tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! seven more suspects in connection with the lynching of Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student who was attacked by a vigilante mob after being accused of blasphemy earlier this week, police officials said.
The number of suspects arrested in connection with the tragic incident has increased to 22, police added.
Three amongst the seven suspects arrested were identified with the help of CCTV cameras, police officials said.
After being arrested, the suspects were presented before an Anti-Terrorism Court, police said. They were handed over to the police on physical remand for one day.
Earlier today, Inspector General Police (IGP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Salahuddin Khan Mehsud presided over a meeting regarding the incident at the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Office in Mardan, a blurb issued by the police said.
DIGP Mardan Mohammad Alam Shinwari told the meeting that investigation into the incident was progressing at a fast pace, the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] A senior member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) has denounced the pro-Israeli policy adopted by the administration of US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , saying the White House is now inhabited by Israeli settlers.
Hanan Ashrawi, a PLO executive committee member, said on Saturday that Israel’s far-right stance dominates the US government.
"We used to say there were settlers in the Israeli coalition borne of the far right that detests Paleostinians, Arabs and Moslems. But today we say there are settlers inside the White House," she said.
Trump’s administration "has adopted the extreme Israeli position to the right of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and which supports the settlements," she added.
The remarks came amid reports that a delegation of Paleostinian Authority officials will visit Washington later this month, in preparation for a meeting between Trump and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... "The main goal here is to reach understandings that would make the president’s visit a success and that it will come out with positive results that would serve the Paleostinian cause," Paleostinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said earlier this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: PLO
#1
Those are the anti-semitic Israeli settlers, right?
I can't keep the smears straight. They all run together and look like a dirty diaper on a spoiled crying baby.......oh wait.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Gazoo Strip's only functioning power plant was out of action Sunday after running out of fuel, the head of the territory's electricity provider told AFP.
Samir Metir said that all the plant's fuel, purchased with funding from Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , had been used up.
He said it was not clear when the Paleostinian territory would receive more, owing to a "dispute" between the electricity authority in Gazoo and Paleostinian authorities in the West Bank.
The Islamist Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", movement seized power in Gazoo in 2007 from the Ramallah-based Fatah organization of Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... A mooted power-sharing agreement in the Strip has failed to materialize, and Gazoo residents have been subjected to a decade-long Israeli blockade severely limiting supplies.
Fuel supply for the Strip's two million inhabitants has been a long-running source of dispute, with most homes in Gazoo receiving two eight-hour periods of electricity a day even when the plant is operating normally.
Israel last week warned of the upcoming fuel crisis, warning Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", that it must pay for the diesel fuel it consumes, which is supplied by Israeli energy company Dor.
In mid-September, Israel and the Paleostinian Authority signed an agreement to resolve the Paleostinians’ outstanding debt of almost NIS 2 billion ($530 million) to the Israel Electric Corporation.
The agreement was signed by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Yoav Mordechai, Paleostinian Authority Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheik, Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Israel’s Ministry of Finance Director-General Shai Babad.
The IEC began to scale back the electricity flow to West Bank Paleostinian cities in late May and early April due to the debt. Power supplies to Jericho and Bethlehem were limited, causing some blackouts, and the company threatened to do the same in other West Bank areas.
The agreement with the IEC from September did not affect the situation in the Gazoo Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Time to beg for money again
Posted by: chris ||
04/17/2017 6:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
..cause constructing underground tunnels is expensive.
The US's Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb does not cost $314 million, or $16 million, but $170,000 a unit, the US Air Force told Business Insider on Friday.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] As the aviation community and international media fixate on recent Boeing and Airbus orders by Iranian airlines, Tehran continues to quietly purchase secondhand aircraft and parts through smaller companies, actively circumventing terrorism-related sanctions against certain airlines and individuals. By combining military and civil aviation components, Iran seeks to bolster its regional airlift capability, but any companies associated with such activity -- even indirectly -- are putting themselves in the crosshairs of U.S. sanctions policy.
The 'Syrian Express' Air Bridge
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force has long used pseudo-civilian resources to help Iran's allies in Syria. In addition to close support from Mahan Air (see next section), the IRGC has set up its own cover airlines and service companies to provide logistical assistance and boost revenue.
The main airline operated by the IRGC and its Pars Aviation Company is Pouya Air. Its predecessors, Pars Air and Yas Air, were designated as terrorist entities in 2012 by the United States, which accused them of transporting weapons to the Syrian regime.
Today, Pouya Air operates six Russian-made transport planes on loan from the IRGC Aerospace Force. The IRGC also recently purchased two Brazilian-made Embraer ERJ-145ER regional jets (registration numbers EP-RAA and EP-RAD), which have a range of about 3,000 kilometers and can carry up to fifty passengers. The first of these jets was registered to South Africa by Hossein Hafez Amini, an Istanbul-based Iranian businessman, and delivered to Pouya Air on March 31. Both jets were subsequently seen at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport still wearing South African registration and "Rey Airlines" livery. The IRGC has close links to the latter airline, apparently a murky front company with a fake website created no more than two years ago. Available records show that Rey was incorporated in South Africa, but its website shows an Istanbul address.
In addition to the revenue generated by passenger flights, the IRGC can also save money by using its aircraft to transport personnel and their families. More important, having its own cargo and passenger fleet allows it to transport operatives or clandestine cargo with minimum observation by civil aviation authorities.
Another IRGC-controlled company recently coming to light is Qeshm Fars Air, which took delivery of two Boeing 747-200F vintage cargo planes from Afghanistan's Kam Air using an Armenian intermediary. It is not clear if Afghan officials knew where the planes would end up. The first of these planes, EP-FAA, was immediately pressed into daily flights between Tehran and Damascus (route numbers QFZ9950 and QFZ9951). The second plane is undergoing maintenance at the Farsco maintenance repair and overhaul center in Tehran. For now, the newly acquired Boeings are said to be operated by Mahan Air.
The air bridge between Iran and Syria has been particularly busy of late, with planes from several civilian and military operators making the trip: Mahan Air (Airbus A300 and A310), Iran Air (Airbus A300 and A320), Iran's national Air Force/Saha Air (Boeing 747F and C-130), the IRGC/Qeshm Fars Air/Pouya Air (Boeing 747 and Il-76), Syrian Air (Il-76), and Cham Wings (A320). The latter company -- a private Syrian airline with scheduled flights between Tehran and Damascus -- was targeted by U.S. sanctions in 2016. Most of the "Syrian Express" flights conducted by these operators are scheduled for nighttime in order to hinder satellite monitoring. Besides the busy Tehran-Damascus route, three airlines (Mahan, Iran Air, and Syrian Air) also visit Abadan Airport intermittently. There, Iraqi Shiite militia forces are bused in from Najaf and Basra to be flown to Damascus.
In all, Iranian and Syrian airlines have hauled about 21,000 passengers between Tehran/Abadan and Damascus in the past two months alone, along with over 5,000 tons of supplies. Very few pilgrims travel to Syria these days, so most of these passengers were military or paramilitary personnel. Almost all of the flights in question are fully chartered by the IRGC and usually unavailable to the general public.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2017 00:00 ||
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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.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has said the criticism by the former 
[ONEINDIA] At least 500 Pak nationals have been killed in the US bombing that took place at 
... ONE MILLION PAKISTANIS! 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Kurram Agency
