[Al Arabiya Latest] The tribal elders gathered in the desert outside Marjah, the frontline of the U.S.-led battle in southern Afghanistan to provide services and security after years of Taliban control. Around 20 sat in a circle, waiting for Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, U.S. Marine commander in northern Marjah who has -- so far -- kept American troops out of the small village of Sistani to the northwest.
Nearly two months after U.S. Marines led what was billed the biggest offensive against the Taliban in more than eight years of war, troops still come under daily fire from insurgents and bombs are still exploding. Four recent bomb attacks wounded at least nine U.S. or Afghan service personnel and clashes between Marines and insurgents are frequent.
When the Americans reached Sistani, they encountered no Taliban and no fighting, so they agreed to an elders' request not to patrol the village.
But intelligence reports suggest that fighters increasingly use Sistani as a rear base, building IEDs and infiltrating Marjah to attack Marines then slipping back to hide out of reach.
"There are Taliban among you. There are Taliban sitting here. I know it. I encouraged it. And it is good," Christmas tells the group. In the second row, where Christmas thinks the Taliban are sitting, men look away or finger their prayer beads.
Because that behaviour makes them invisible. I'm sure the Marines didn't notice.
"Not all Taliban are bad. Some have been influenced by foreigners, from Iran or Pakistan. But now Taliban should lay down their weapons," he says.
No better friend...
Although providing reconstruction and services to communities is integral to the new U.S. strategy to quell the Afghan conflict and allow American forces to start leaving in mid-2011, efforts remain tentative. "As long as there is peace in Sistani, ANA (Afghan National Army) and Marines will stay outside and life can get better," Christmas says.
He recalls how a U.S. Marine was wounded when a bomb hidden in a goat carcass exploded while being transported by a donkey. "It's up to you to decide what you want," he says -- put simply it's a choice between American guns or American resources.
No worse enemy.
The aid on offer is simple in this desperately poor and deeply conservative rural backwater rising out of the desert: wells, schools and mosques.
Elders say there are no government schools, only 46 mosques in the district of Sistani, some of which operate madrassas offering basic education. Many boys don't go to school because outlying mudbrick homes are too far from the nearest madrassa.
Trial elders say they are worried about vehicles being searched at checkpoints on the outskirts of Sistani. "Sometimes it takes two hours to get through," complains one Afghan with a long black beard. Searches will continue, Christmas says, but he also promised that Afghans will soon have identity cards, which will ease the Marines' work.
Not to mention giving the locals documentary proof that they are, indeed, locals. This enables many things to happen.
"The average search time is 18 minutes. We are getting better," he says.
The tribal elders clamor for schools, school supplies and dozens of wells. "We'll start by providing wells to the bazaar, because it's for community use. Then we'll move to individuals," Christmas says.
The tribesmen say they have six teachers and "one or two" doctors. Sistani is even poorer than Marjah because the desert cannot support the poppy that earns many southern Afghan farmers a basic subsistence.
"We want six small schools," pipes up one Afghan. "Ok. Tell me where and we'll build them," said Christmas. "How many school teachers do you have? We can build schools and pay school teachers." The Americans promise to return again with a map to work out where Afghans want to put wells, schools and mosques. They say residents of Sistani can work on the most urgent construction projects -- hired and paid by the Marines.
An explosion blasts through the desert in the distance. No one reacts.
The shura finishes with a prayer. Everyone, Marines included, bow their heads and hold out their palms, Muslim-style towards the sky. The Afghans then bid farewell and disperse.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main political rival has accused him of undermining the battle against the Taliban.
Abdullah Abdullah -- who dropped out of the presidential runoff race against Karzai -- described the president's recent behavior as erratic. "As a former colleague and doctor, I think this is beyond a normal attitude," Abdullah, a former foreign minister, told reporters in Kabul on Friday.
The remakes come one day after Karzai blamed the UN and US-led community for the controversy over last year's disputed election.
A fair accusation, because it's true.
On Thursday, Karzai blamed foreigners for what he called widespread fraud during the 2009 presidential election in order to tarnish his victory.
I'm sure the fraud was locally manufactured. But the supervisors fail to credit the locals with choosing ballot fraud over bullets to swing the count. This is a major step toward desire for the rule of law.
The Afghan president also accused "some embassies" of trying to bribe the electoral commission members by trying to give them armored vehicles.
That's believable, too. Not all the countries involved in this are as pure as they'd have us think.
While Afghanistan's Independent Electoral Commission declared Karzai the winner of the August 20 vote, the UN-backed watchdog committee threw out nearly one-third of his votes, forcing him into a runoff with Abdullah.
Karzai's outburst on Thursday came just days after a fence-mending trip by US President Barack Obama
So that's what they're calling it nowadays.
to Kabul and exposes Kabul's rift with West. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says Karzai's harsh words about the US and its allied counties are "genuinely troubling."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So-I guess that scolding that Obama gave him didn't stick?
[Al Arabiya Latest] One of Sudan's largest opposition parties said on Friday it would boycott presidential, legislative and gubernatorial polls if government did not meet demands including a four-week postponement within four days.
The opposition Umma Party had said on Thursday it was united with Sudan's other main political parties to withdraw their presidential candidates from the race. This was intended to discredit incumbent Omar Hassan al-Bashir's bid to secure a new term in oil-producing Sudan.
The new decision followed a six-hour meeting of the party's political bureau. Sources said the rank and file, who had spent money and time campaigning wanted to continue with the polls, despite accusations of widespread fraud.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
[Al Arabiya Latest] Al-Azhar will confront any attempt to spread Shiite doctrine in any Islamic country or for dissemination of Shiite cells among Sunni youth communities, similar to Iran that does the same when it comes to any attempt of spreading Sunni doctrine there, Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Dr Ahmed al-Tayeb told Al Arabiya on Friday.
The newly-appointed cleric said that al-Azhar will continue to play its role of depending on the dialogue to avoid religious tensions and sensitivities.
The Grand Imam made these comments in his first TV appearance on a non-Egyptian channel through the Wajeh al-Sahafa (Face the Press) show, presented by prominent journalist Dawoud al-Shirian, aired by Al Arabiya on Friday.
Egypt's top cleric stressed that he will be very vigilant and will foil any political agenda adopted by any Shiite student studying in Egypt, as he doesn't want the issue to turn into a "trap" for young Sunni Muslims to attract them to the Shiite doctrine, which could later turn into a Shiite nucleus then a center that could be followed by fighting that has nothing to do with Islam and its beliefs at all.
Sheikh Tayyeb said that intellectual mingling is very important, within the scientific limits only, adding that he will always welcome the Shiite students who wish to study at al-Azhar, simply because this would be a good opportunity for them to learn more about Sunni Islam.
The interview with the Grant Sheikh of al-Azhar, who was appointed by the Egyptian presidenton March 19, took place via satellite, with the participation of prominent Saudi writer Badriya al-Bishr and the Egyptian journalist and managing editor of the Saudi al-Watan daily Sherif Qandil and Deputy Chief Editor of al-Watan daily Jasser al-Jasser.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The founders of the Satanic Al Azhar University
where the Nizarites who where Shiite Mahdists.
The most famous was Hassan al Sabah,
or the old man of the Alamut mountain and his
Hassan-sins or assassins, the first muslim
terrorists.
Ahmajinedad bragged of being a Mahdi-ist
The Takfir wal Hegira(the 9-11 crew)
call themselve Mahdi-ists(messianists)
Al Qaeda is just one of the shells these
hell spawns are concealing themselves...
A Yemeni appeal court upheld on Saturday a death sentence passed against a Yemeni man convicted of trying to work for Israeli intelligence services. A Reuters witness said the court also upheld jail sentences of five and three years handed down for the same offence to two other Yemenis in March 2009.
The three had been convicted of emailing the Israeli prime minister's office and offering to work for the intelligence service of the Jewish state, which Yemen and many other Arab states regard as an enemy for occupying Arab land. The three men had denied the charges, which they said were fabricated by an officer with whom they had a dispute.
The three, arrested in 2008, had been also convicted of demanding money from the embassies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They had been also accused of claiming, in the name of a group calling itself Islamic Jihad, an attack on the U.S. embassy that killed 19 people in September 2008.
[Bangla Daily Star] The main opposition BNP yesterday apprehended that the ruling party would eliminate its political opponents under cover of trial of crimes against humanity. Not quite as finally as the war criminals eliminated their opponents, of course...
It also criticised the government for "stepping aside from the trial of war criminals" breaking its commitment, reports UNB. The party said the government should hold the trial of crimes against humanity under the existing laws of the land--Bangladesh Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). There is no need for constituting special court or tribunal or any investigation team for this, it said. "Lord knows we don't need any investigation!"
However, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed denied the claims of BNP, terming it totally baseless. "The trial we are going to hold is not being called war crime tribunal," he told the BBC yesterday. "We are doing it under International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, which covers crimes under the act and were committed by collaborators of a force during the Liberation War," he said. "War crimes are something else entirely, even though they smell the same, look the same, walk the same, and make the same quacking noises."
But the law minister told the BBC, "The tribunal was formed comprising neutral judges and prosecutors. The lawyers we have appointed and the chief prosecutor are not involved with any political party. The chief prosecutor is in no way a member of the ruling party." "On the other hand, most if not all the defendants and potential defendants are members or allies of your parties. But that's just coincidence."
Denying Delwar's claim that the trial can be conducted under the existing penal code, Shafique said the collaborators conducted crimes against humanity helping the occupying force. Those who kidnapped and killed people, looted property, drove away people from the country, tortured and violated women cannot be brought to justice under the existing law. Bangla doesn't have any laws covering those things? Most countries do. UNB reports: BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain made the BNP's stand clear over the issue while addressing a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office. The press briefing was arranged to inform the media about the outcome of Thursday night's meeting of the BNP standing committee, which alleged that the government stepped away from the trial of war criminals.
Delwar said the government so long has been speaking of the trial of war criminals, which was also mentioned in the ruling party's election manifesto but now they have stepped aside from that stand, breaking their own commitment. "Now the government is telling about the trial of crimes against humanity," Delwar said, adding that the crimes which are being mentioned are killing, plunder, arson, rape and kidnap.
He said BNP has no objection for the trial of anyone who actually committed such crimes but there is no need of the formation of special court or investigation team as well as bring any amendment to existing laws. These will not be acceptable in the eyes of law.
The Supreme Court has recently given opinion regarding this on the BDR headquarters mayhem, Delwar added. Referring to the government's propaganda and various activities as well as the statements of the prime minister and the ministers for last one year over the trial of war criminals, he said people want to know whether the government actually wants to try the war criminals or wants to divert the attention of the people who are aggrieved due to price hike of essentials, crises of electricity, gas and water, and worsening law and order situation.
The BNP secretary general said people have become confused and doubtful about the government's real intention. He further said that the people also want to know whether the government actually wants to try crimes against humanity or wants to eliminate its political opponents under the cover of the process of trial of anti-humanity crimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bangla doesn't have any laws covering those things? Most countries do.
Dumb question: This happened while the territory was still known as East Pakistan?
[Bangla Daily Star] Islami Chhatra Shibir leader Shamsul Alam Golap in a confessional statement before a Rajshahi court yesterday said they resorted to February 9 violence with the help of Jamaat-e Islami to capture Rajshahi University halls.
Golap, Rajshahi University (RU) Shibir president, also said that it was an organisational decision, said sources in the police.
At the first court of Metropolitan Magistrate Amirul Islam he said that Jamaat leaders offered help to show off their strength on the campus.
Golap, arrested by Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka, was taken on a seven-day remand by Rajshahi police on March 26 in connection with the police assault case. Police took him to the court at noon. The court gave Golap two hours to think whether he would give the statement. He then gave it until 7:00pm.
After the confession, police sought another 10-day remand for him in connection with the Chhatra League activist Faruk Hossain murder case. The court, however, granted three days' remand.
Sources said, Golap confessed to having led one of the five Jamaat-Shibir groups that launched attacks on different halls on RU campus on February 9. He said the attack was planned at a meeting at Binodpur Islamia College hours before the incident.
Rajshahi city Jamaat ameer Ataur Rahman, general secretary Abul Kalam Azad, city Jamaat assistant secretary and RU syndicate member Siddik Hossain, ward councillor and Jamaat leader Gias Uddin were present at the meeting, he said.
Golap said they wanted to capture the halls to retain their stronghold, but the murder was an accident.
Jamaat and Shibir leaders feared that their influence would wane in the university and in the city as well if they lose their grip on the dorms, he said. He, however, claimed that he was not present on the scene of murder but he took part in the clashes with the police.
Jamaat leaders Katakhali Municipality unit Jamaat ameer Majedur Rahman and nayeb-e ameer Afaz Uddin Sarker had their hands in the violence, he added.
As entry into the campus was difficult for Shibir men because of police presence, they fooled policemen by chanting Joy Bangla and Joy Bangabandhu slogans.
Meanwhile, Jamaat leader Gias Uddin and Shibir leader Ekram Hossain in their judicial confessions also said that Jamaat abetted Shibir in the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
[Kyodo: Korea] A special train possibly carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has entered China, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday. The train arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong around 3:50 a.m. Saturday, the South Korean news agency said, quoting government sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
WMF > INDA THINK TANK: CHINA'S ACCESSION TO SEA OF JAPAN [Sino-DPRK Freeports, SEZs] DOES NOT THREATEN US INTERESTS.
The highest ranking official ever to defect from North Korea on Wednesday warned against placing any expectations in the Kim Jong-il regime. "It's wrong to try and do anything directly with Kim Jong-il." Said Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the Workers' Party, in a lecture he gave at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.
Commenting on attention focused on Kim's imminent China visit, Hwang said, "There is no need to pay detailed attention to Kim Jong-il's moves. Although changes may come, what is needed for us is the end of dictatorship and the introduction of the market economy in the North."
Hwang also warned against giving aid to North Korea if it returns to six-party nuclear talks.
Hwang is visiting the U.S. for the second time to meet with American officials and lawmakers. After defecting to South Korea in 1997, he last appeared in the U.S. in 2003. Former deputy secretary of State Richard Armitage presided over the lecture, which was attended by former and current U.S. administration and intelligence officials. Asia experts Victor Cha and Michael Green were also present.
So long as China maintains an alliance with North Korea, Hwang said, "it's an illusion to expect it to play the role of an intermediary. China is North Korea's lifeline. If China ever broke with North Korea, it would be the death knell for the regime, so North Korea-China ties have to be broken." He said China has no territorial ambitions in North Korea but it worries about a shift to liberal democracy in the North and ensuing wind of reform and opening blowing among 800,000 Korean-Chinese along the Apnok (or Yalu) and Duman (or Tumen) Rivers.
"We don't need to resort to force against North Korea," Hwang said but called for ideological, economic and diplomatic strategies. "The core of ideological warfare against Pyongyang is the protection of human rights, and the U.S. and South Korea should raise the human rights issue in the North," he said. "The masters of the North are the 23 million North Koreans."
One way of surprising the North would be a free trade agreement between South Korea and China, Hwang added.
Asked about possible North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, Hwang replied, "That's possible. But responsibility cannot be pursued based on possibility alone... I can't say anything because at the moment I have neither relevant information nor evidence."
Hwang said a sudden regime collapse in North Korea is unlikely. "No emergency will take place in North Korea so long as China continues to support it," he said. "At the moment, North Korea has no forces powerful enough to oppose Kim Jong-il, and no internal split of the system can be expected."
Since before his defection, Hwang said he was aware that the Japanese abducted to the North were working as interpreters. He is reportedly scheduled to visit Japan on Sunday to meet with families of the abducted.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm sure the Human Scum guy is loosening up his fingers at this very moment...
Amid rampant speculation that the Navy corvette Cheonan sank due to a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine or semi-submersible, there are reports that South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies detected a submarine disappearing and reappearing at a North Korean submarine base on the west coast not far from the site of the wreck around Friday, the day the ship sank.
A South Korean government source said on Tuesday, "Scrutiny of pictures taken by U.S. spy satellites reveals one submarine in North Korea's Sagot naval base some 50 km away from Baeknyeong Island disappeared for a few days before Friday last week and returned to base later."
The source said North Korean submarines or semi-submersibles "occasionally disappear from the base and come back, so it's difficult at the moment to relate this to the sinking of the Cheonan. We are currently establishing the exact circumstances."
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Monday told the National Assembly's Defense Committee that North Korean semi-submersibles can fire two torpedoes.
The Sagot base is home to North Korea's core west coast naval forces including some 20 submarines and semi-submersibles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
France's plan to sell 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) worth of military equipment for Pakistan's JF-17 combat aircraft has been held up, a source at President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said on Friday.
Newspaper Le Monde had reported earlier that France decided to suspend the sale of electronics and missiles -- the first section of a 6 billion euro contract -- under pressure from India and uncertainty over Pakistan's finances.
"It's a deal that's not ready from the Pakistani side," the source said, without giving further details. "For now, the state of the dossier doesn't allow us to carry on with it."
A consortium made up of French company ATE, arms group Thales (TCFP.PA) and missile manufacturer MBDA was supposed to produce the equipment, Le Monde said. Thales declined to comment.
France was also worried over insufficient protection of its technology, with Pakistan pushing to assemble the equipment on its soil, the paper said.
In February, MBDA said it planned to upgrade India's Mirage 2000 fighters and was looking to expand in India. Le Monde said talks over that upgrade also played a role in the decision
#1
The JF-17 relies on a Russian built engine (the original Chinese design sucked). I suspect the Indians will ensure that the Russian engines aren't delivered either.
Looks like the Pakistanis are stuck with 100% Chinese technology.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/03/2010 8:13 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In February, MBDA said it planned to upgrade India's Mirage 2000 fighters and was looking to expand in India. Le Monde said talks over that upgrade also played a role in the decision
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, was arrested in Philadelphia on Friday after arriving from Ireland.
Last month, authorities in Ireland detained Paulin-Ramirez, originally from Colorado, and six others while investigating an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist whose drawing had offended many Muslims.
Her stepfather. Mr. Mott, said that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents showed up at his door and questioned him, and took his stepdaughter's computer. She had added a keyboard with Arabic keys, he said.
"Jamie took off just like JihadJane took off on her boyfriend," Mr. Mott said. "We have been trying since September of last year to get her back here and get that baby back here."
A few months before she disappeared, her stepfather says he confronted her: "What are you going to do, strap a bomb on and blow up something?" he asked her. He recalled that she responded: "If necessary, yes."
"She never liked who she was," her mother said. "She was always looking for something."
"I thought this was just a phase she was going through, that she was trying to find herself," said Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's older brother, Michael Holcomb, 36, who lives in Houston. "Now I'm angry. And disappointed. She had a good job and she gave it all up. It's beyond me."
He said he was "actually relieved" she had been arrested because it may help them get her son back. "My only concern is getting her son back. Other than that, I don't care what happens to her."
A growing number of Muslim and Arab Americans are finding it difficult to return to the United States after traveling abroad, advocacy groups say. Following an attempted Christmas day bombing on a Detroit-bound airplane, Muslim and ethnic Arab citizens of the US are bearing the brunt of the stringent wave of security measures installed at US airports.
In one case, a US citizen was told without any explanation that he could "not fly with any airlines to the USA" when he presented his US passport at the airport in Bogota, Colombia for a flight to Miami last month.
The California-born Raymond Earl Knaeble IV told The Washington Post that he was eventually sent to the US Embassy where an FBI agent questioned him about his recent conversion to Islam and a trip to Yemen where he had studied Arabic for three months.
"He said, 'I can't give you back your passport,' " Knaeble explained, adding that he has yet to be provided with explanation despite the passing of almost three weeks.
Khalilah Sabra, director of the immigrant justice program at the Falls Church-based Muslim American Society, said the extensive questioning and delays of Arabs and Muslims has seen a 50 percent increase since Christmas, with about 16 cases being reported each month.
"Getting out [of the US] is okay. No one says anything, but when they try to come back they are not allowed in, or they are being questioned," she said.
Security guidelines at US airports were further tightened after a failed attempt to allegedly blow up a US airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day. The end result of this is said to be rather "chilling" for travelers -- mostly Muslims and Arabs-- who are being singled out for airport questioning and screening.
"People do whatever they can now not to cross borders if they're Muslim because they feel there's some potential for humiliation," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I would like to feel some sympathy for those that are innocent of any terrorists acts or any supporting of those that wish ill on the US and caught up in situations like this, but the silence from the Muslim community in response to the violence since 9/11, is,IMHO, deafening.
Or to quote The Duke," Life's tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid."
#3
If you are a US citizen who recently converted to Islam, and were planning to study Arabic in Yemen, you should realize that you are a now person of interest. And that is as is should be. You may be totally innocent, but, as when you travel and expect to suddenly start charging your card heavily in a strange place, you are well advised to check with the appropriate people (Department of State, Mastercard) ahead of time to avoid embarrasment.
Posted by: chris ||
04/03/2010 2:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Thank god, airlines are (finally) profiling. Here's hoping they're intelligent about it, and use the Israeli approach of employing trained screeners to ask a few questions of each passenger at Security and detect nervousness, lies, stories that make no sense etc.
#10
Can you imagine the outcry had this been done when George W. Bush was still in office? Oh well, at least the hypocrites are finally doing the right thing.
#11
All of the things that the Donks have been doing that are hypocritical, is really great! Since there hasn't been a squeak out of the usual suspects,once we kick their butt to the curb we can ramp it up.
Any noise on their part and we can say: "What's that? I caaaaan't heeeeeear yoooooou!"
Heh, heh, heh. We should have a free hand to do what is really needed, if we can rid ourselves of these Commie freaks.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
04/03/2010 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#12
This is one hundred percent muslim
propaganda...NOT HAPPENING!!!
Hussein Soetoro Obama has given every indication that he is a friend of the jihadis if not
a jihadi himself.
What they are preparing to do is bar all conservatives to even get on an airplane.
That's part of the marxists' MO, after all.
They'll be called "Extremists", just
like Al Qaeda...now watch for a bomb
blowing up somewhere and be blamed on some imaginary "Militia"
[Dawn] India blames Pakistan-based militants for an attack on its citizens in Kabul in February, a government source said on Thursday.
The well-placed source, who asked not to be named, said the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was responsible for the attack that killed seven Indians in a gun-and-bomb assault in Kabul on Feb 26.
"The LeT is responsible. We have no doubt about that," the Indian government source told reporters, referring to a group that New Delhi believed was funded and supported by the Pakistani army and intelligence services.
India also blames LeT for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 that left 166 people dead and strained ties with Pakistan.
The LeT and the Pakistan's government deny involvement.
In a call to AFP last month, a LeT spokesman denied carrying out the February Kabul attack and said that the group had no network in Afghanistan.
The Indian government source alleged on Thursday that the LeT was operating out of Kunar province, northeast of Kabul.
Despite repeated attacks on Indians in Afghanistan, New Delhi remains "engaged and committed in Afghanistan," the source, who was authorised to brief reporters on government policy, said.
"We will be there in Afghanistan as long as the Afghans want us there," he said.
New Delhi, which has repeatedly urged the global community to "stay the course" in Afghanistan, is worried about Pakistan and the Taliban assuming key roles once foreign troops begin their pullout.
"Obviously we are concerned about any cut-and-run," the source said, referring to plans by the US-led forces in Afghanistan to start their draw-down from July 2011.
"The Taliban are emboldened by the international community seeking an early exit," he said.
"We are also definitely concerned that efforts are on to outsource peace and stability to a country that is responsible for causing this mess in Afghanistan," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
BHARAT RAKSHAK > ILLEGAL MADRASSAS [approxi 9000 of 'em] ARE BREEDING GROUNDS FOR TERROR [Radicalism].
* WMF > PLA EXPERT CHIN ZHOU: CHINA'S NAVAL, MILITARY, AND NATIONLA MODERNIZATIONS WILL NOT BE USED FOR PURPOSES OF CHIN HEGEMONY.
versus
SAME > "NAVY INSIDER" MEDIA: US NAVY TO BUILD MULTI-PURPOSE, CARRIER-BASED UAVS FOR ASYMMETRIC WARFARE.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Following a meeting on Wednesday between Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq [SIIC] party leader Ammar al-Hakim and Iraqi Prime Minister and State of Law coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki, al-Hakim reported that the talks to form a coalition between the State of Law coalition and the National Iraqi Alliance, of which the SIIC is a member, have ended in failure.
Al-Hakim stressed that he supports the formation of a "national partnership" government that includes the Iraqiya List that is led by Iyad Allawi that won the largest number of parliamentary seats in the recent Iraqi elections.
Al-Hakim also denounced the description given by a number of senior members from al-Maliki's State of Law coalition of Allawi's Iraqiya bloc as a Baathist coalition.
In addition to this, the Sadrist trend expects millions of Iraqis to take part in a referendum organized by the movement to choose the candidate to head the next government from a list of five Iraqi politicians over the next two days. The Iraqi leaders being deliberated on in the Sadrist referendum are; Iraqiya bloc leaders Iyad Allawi, State of Law coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki, National Iraqi Alliance candidate Ibrahim al-Jaafari, SIIC candidate Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and State of Law candidate Jaafar al-Sadr, who is the son of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and cousin of Sadrist trend leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stood in long lines on Friday to vote their choice for prime minister of Iraq in a two-day referendum that carried no government sanction or legal weight.
The unusual plebiscite organized by Sadr's political movement, which won about 40 seats in a March 7 parliamentary election and stands to play a kingmaker role in the next government, was intended to determine the public favorite for prime minister after squabbling among election winners.
The ballot carried five names including current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his top election rival, former prime minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya coalition edged Maliki's State of Law bloc 91 seats to 89 in the election.
Neither won enough for a majority in the 325-seat parliament and the tight race foretold weeks or months of potentially divisive negotiations to form a new government.
"According to political developments, a mistake might occur in choosing the next prime minister, and for that I think it is in the (national) interest to assign it directly to the people," Sadr, who is living and studying in Shiite neighbor Iran, said in a statement read to his followers before Friday prayers.
Sadr's political movement announced the vote just two days ago and although all Iraqis were invited, it was unclear how widely the ballots were available beyond Sadrist strongholds. Encircled by Iraqi soldiers in Sadr City, the Baghdad slum where Sadr's support is probably strongest, worshipers lined up at a chaotic tent at the movement's office. They scrambled to cast votes before the call to prayer, dictating their choices to party poll workers who wrote the votes on ballots.
The forms carried the names of five candidates; Maliki, Allawi, vice president Adul Abdul-Mehdi, former prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Jaafar Mohammed al-Sadr, a Sadr relative, plus a write-in space for a candidate of the voter's choice.
The voting was scheduled to last through Saturday.
Sadrists ran as part of the Iraqi National Alliance, a Shiite coalition that placed third with 70 seats. An alliance of two powerful Kurdish parties finished fourth with 43 seats.
INA officials had said they were negotiating an alliance with Maliki's State of Law bloc. A combination of the two would have 159 seats, nearly enough to form a majority in parliament.
But the Sadrists object to a second term for Maliki, who sent government troops against Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
MISSAN / Aswat al-Iraq: Political blocs should form a partnership' Iraqi government, Sayyid Ammar al-Hakeem, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), said on Friday from Amara city.
Political blocs should join roundtable meetings to serve Iraq not to talk about posts,' Hakeem said in a speech addressed to his supporters in the city.
Although the SIIC is part of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), the bloc that ranked third in Iraq's recent parliamentary election with 71 seats, Sayyid Hakeem noted that no entity lost the election.
The INA is the winner because it brings other blocs together to form the government,' he added.
Missan province has 10 representatives in the new Iraqi parliament. Six of them are from the INA. Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The Israeli deputy prime minister has warned that Tel Aviv would soon launch another large-scale military operation against the Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
Silvan Shalom made the remarks on Friday after Israel carried out a series of airstrikes, injuring three Palestinian children, aged two, four and 11. The deputy premier said that the new offensive will be launched in the near future.
He added that the military attack is a response to rocket fire from Gaza. A single rocket landed near the Israeli town of Ashkelon on Thursday, causing some damage but no casualties. Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack.
Israel responded by carrying out six waves of air raids overnight.
Tel Aviv holds Hamas responsible for the ineffective and occasional attacks with home-made rockets that carry little or no explosive warhead.
The rocket attacks by Palestinian groups came after the worst Palestinian-Israeli clashes over the reopening of the Hurva synagogue in East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The Israeli move also led to demonstrations in several Muslim nations.
Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khalid Mashaal, in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said his resistance movement is "not interested in escalating the tension."
He also promised that his organization would take "appropriate measures to prevent the rocket fire from Gaza."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
wipe themout this time
Posted by: chris ||
04/03/2010 2:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The entire Population and then drop a pin.
Just crowd them into a space so small, like the beach, that they have to stand on each other or ...swim.
Thai police have enrolled Santisuk to ape them on patrol in the Yala province, which is divided by Muslim insurgency. Locals resent being stopped at checkpoints. But when the uniformed pig-tailed macaque - his name means peaceful - is around, they ask for pictures with him.
Cpl Phromdao Yutthapol, who patrols with the monkey said: "Other officers deal with annoyed drivers. With Santisuk the checkpoint is a happy place."
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's top nuclear negotiator on Friday warned the West to stop "threatening" Tehran over its atomic program and said China agreed with the Islamic republic that sanctions were no longer useful.
"Many issues came up in talks on which China accepted Iran's position," the Iranian envoy, Saeed Jalili, told reporters after talks with Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and State Councillor Dai Bingguo.
"We jointly emphasized during our talks that these sanctions tools have lost their effectiveness," Jalili said, though he said reporters "must ask China their position".
According to U.S. official reports on Friday, President Barack Obama urged his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to work together on pressing Iran over its nuclear activities, but Hu did not openly commit to new sanctions on Tehran.
Obama and Hu discussed the growing international push to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in an hour-long telephone call that followed China's agreement on Wednesday to enter into serious negotiations over possible new U.N.-backed sanctions against Tehran.
Obama also said Friday in an interview with CBS television's "Early Show," that increasing Iran's isolation would have an effect on its economy.
"I have said before that we don't take any options off the table, and we're going to continue to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond," he said.
Western powers say Tehran wants the means to make nuclear weapons, but China, which buys large amounts of oil from Iran, has for months fended off calls to back sanctions.
Together with China's announcement on Thursday that President Hu will attend a nuclear security summit in Washington this month, the in-depth talk between the two leaders also augured lower tensions between Washington and Beijing after a rash of disputes.
"President Obama underscored the importance of working together to ensure that Iran lives up to its international obligations," the White House said in a statement after the telephone call, which took place later on Thursday Washington time, which is Friday morning in Beijing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
When Saddam went into Kuwait he actually thought he would just waltz in and the United States would let him prance.
The Mullahs think that they can have an Atomic and we will let them have it. We are too helpless and scared of them to do anything but whine like a Frenchman?
Alright, Abdrool, tell you what's gonna happen. I am going to drop this bar of soap and you are gonna bend over and pick it up.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The tribal elders gathered in the desert outside Marjah, the frontline of the U.S.-led battle in southern Afghanistan to provide services and security after years of Taliban control. Around 20 sat in a circle, waiting for Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, U.S. Marine commander in northern Marjah who has -- so far -- kept American troops out of the small village of Sistani to the northwest.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main political rival has accused him of undermining the battle against the Taliban. 
[Bangla Daily Star] The main opposition BNP yesterday apprehended that the ruling party would eliminate its political opponents under cover of trial of crimes against humanity.
The highest ranking official ever to defect from North Korea on Wednesday warned against placing any expectations in the Kim Jong-il regime. "It's wrong to try and do anything directly with Kim Jong-il." Said Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the Workers' Party, in a lecture he gave at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stood in long lines on Friday to vote their choice for prime minister of Iraq in a two-day referendum that carried no government sanction or legal weight.
Thai police have enrolled Santisuk to ape them on patrol in the Yala province, which is divided by Muslim insurgency. Locals resent being stopped at checkpoints. But when the uniformed pig-tailed macaque - his name means peaceful - is around, they ask for pictures with him. 
