No 'change' for Pakistan as O-bomb-ah orders more missile strikes

[Geolibertarian]

[Optimus]

2 suspected US missile attacks kill 45 in Pakistan
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD99AB50G0
By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD – 35 minutes ago

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected U.S. drones launched two missile attacks on Taliban targets in the South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday, killing at least 45 militants in the latest in a barrage of strikes close to the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.

The army said the top Taliban commander in another area of the northwest, the scenic Swat Valley, was wounded in a Pakistani airstrike. It gave no more details.

South Waziristan lies close to the Afghan border and is the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Pakistan's military is also bombing and firing mortars at insurgent targets in the region, saying it is chipping away at Mehsud's resistance before launching a ground offensive there to eliminate him. Mehsud is blamed for many of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in nuclear-armed Pakistan in recent years.

The first strike took place before dawn. A suspected U.S. drone fired six missiles at a mountaintop training camp in the Karwan Manza area of South Waziristan, killing 10 militants, the intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The nationalities and the identities of the slain men were not immediately known.

Hours later, 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the east, missiles believed fired from a U.S. drone hit four vehicles carrying Taliban militants, killing at least 35, including a key Taliban commander, one intelligence official said. He did not disclose the commander's identity.

Other intelligence officials put the death toll as high as 50.

Independent verification of the casualties and the target was not possible because the region is remote, dangerous and largely inaccessible to journalists. U.S. officials do not publicly comment on the strikes.

The latest strike brings to six the number of suspected American missile attacks in South Waziristan in just over two weeks, an uptick that suggests Washington is also trying to kill or weaken Mehsud and his followers in the run-up to the Pakistani campaign.

Despite the apparent convergence of interests, Pakistan's army insists it is not coordinating with the U.S. It says the American missile attacks are hurting its attempts to kill or capture Mehsud because they alienate local tribesman they are trying to enlist in their campaign against him.

The United States is believed to have launched more than 40 missile strikes against targets in the border area since last August that have killed several hundred people, according to a count by The Associated Press based on figures given by intelligence officials.

The Pakistani government routinely protests the strikes as violation of the country's sovereignty and has publicly asked the United States to give them the technology to launch their own attacks. But many analysts suspect the government — which has received billions of dollars a year from the United States in aid since 2001 — secretly cooperates with them.

Pakistan launched the Swat Valley offensive more than two months ago after militants led by Maulana Fazlullah violated the terms of a peace deal. It claims to have nearly cleared the valley of militants, killing more than 1,500.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Wednesday that according to "credible information" Fazlullah was wounded in a recent airstrike. Fazlullah's capture or killing would be a major symbolic victory for the army and give a psychological boost to local residents fearful that the Taliban could re-emerge in Swat.

Abbas gave no more information about the circumstances involving Fazlullah's wounding. A militant spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

[Satyagraha]

Despite the apparent convergence of interests, Pakistan's army insists it is not coordinating with the U.S. It says the American missile attacks are hurting its attempts to kill or capture Mehsud because they alienate local tribesman they are trying to enlist in their campaign against him.

The United States is believed to have launched more than 40 missile strikes against targets in the border area since last August that have killed several hundred people, according to a count by The Associated Press based on figures given by intelligence officials.

The Pakistani government routinely protests the strikes as violation of the country's sovereignty and has publicly asked the United States to give them the technology to launch their own attacks. But many analysts suspect the government — which has received billions of dollars a year from the United States in aid since 2001 — secretly cooperates with them.

Not cooperating with the US? How does that fit with this... Zardari's henchman Awan looking for 'resources'...

Pakistan seeks US help to set up anti-militant force
By Anwar Iqbal

Wednesday, 08 Jul, 2009 | 05:13 AM PST | 

WASHINGTON: The visiting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan urged the United States on Tuesday to provide weapons and other resources for a 400,000-strong force Pakistan plans to establish to deal with the militants.

Addressing a news conference in Washington, Awan said Pakistan planned to raise a force of 100,000 in each of the four provinces to combat the militants.

The proposed force, although recruited from retired military personnel, will be merged with the regular police force.

Awan, who met US officials and lawmakers in Washington during his two-day stay, said the proposed force would be particularly effective in the areas cleared from the militants, such as Swat.

'It will provide security and safety to the people and will protect the displaced people when they return home.'

Awan said Pakistan needed helicopters, drones and night-vision goggles for combating the militants.

The minister said Pakistan had also informed the US administration that the aid meant for Pakistan should be distributed through government agencies and not NGOs.

The government, he said, was not against accountability and auditing but it also did not want to be ignored.

'We do not understand this trust deficit,' said the minister while responding to a question.

'Previous assistance was given to the previous government and the new government should not be held responsible for what they did. We have a clean record.'

Awan said that those displaced during the military operations in Swat and Buner had already started returning home.

'These are no Afghan refugees. They will not linger on in the camps for years. They will be rehabilitated in months,' he said.

The minister said that each family that returned home was given Rs5,000 for returning, Rs25,000 after they reached home while they would also receive Rs300,000 each to reconstruct their homes and begin afresh.

Earlier, speaking at Washington’s Middle East Institute, Awan said that the international community paid a harsh price for abandoning Afghanistan and it should not do the same to Pakistan. 'We need sustained support,' he added.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/06-pakistan-seeks-us-help-to-set-up-anti-militant-force-rs-11
Copyright © 2009 - Dawn Media Group

[Satyagraha]

U.S. Drone Kills Dozens Near Taliban Hideout in Pakistan 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070800651.html?hpid=topnews

By Joshua Partlow and Haq Nawaz Khan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 8, 2009; 2:38 PM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 8 -- For the second consecutive day, unmanned U.S. spy planes pounded suspected Taliban targets in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 44 people, according to a Pakistani official.

The deadliest of the two separate strikes targeted a convoy of five vehicles driving toward the Makeen area, believed to be the headquarters of Baitullah Mehsud, a top Taliban commander. At least 35 people were killed in the attack in Pakistan's mountainous area along the border with Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, another suspected American drone fired four missiles on a Taliban hideout in Karwan Manza, in the same region, killing nine people and wounding more than a dozen, the official said, though the toll in both attacks was difficult to verify.

Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas on Wednesday also confirmed that Maulana Fazlullah, a top Taliban commander in the Swat Valley, has been injured in an earlier bombing, but he did not give more details about the circumstances.

Fazlullah was the leader of a Taliban push to establish Islamic law in the Swat Valley, which was once a tranquil tourist destination. His fighters' violent tactics, despite a peace deal with the government, spurred the Pakistani government into a major military operation that has been ongoing for the past two months. Abbas said that the operation in Swat was nearing completion, after killing more than 1,500 suspected fighters.

"We are chasing them," Abbas told reporters. "I want to assure you all and the people of Swat that there is absolutely zero possibility of this leadership returning to the valley. It is not possible."

The injury of Fazlullah is significant because the army has been criticized by Swat Valley residents and Pakistan commentators for not eliminating the upper echelons of the Taliban; he would be the highest-ranking commander to be wounded in the operation. Abbas said there were also reports that Shah Duran, Fazlullah's deputy, has been killed, but he did not confirm them.

The drone attacks in South Waziristan were at least the fourth suspected American bombing of Mehsud's territory in a week and a further sign that the United States has stepped up its targeting of the man considered to be perhaps the strongest Taliban leader in Pakistan. The Pakistani military has said it will send troops into South Waziristan to destroy Mehsud's network.

The U.S. government does not comment as a rule on whether they are involved in drone attacks in Pakistan. But U.S. security officials monitoring events in Pakistan said there were no early indications that top Taliban leaders were killed in the bombings.

Mohammad Noor, a resident who lives near where the bombs hit, said by telephone that in the initial strike missiles hit a mud house believed to be used as a training center for Taliban fighters. The Taliban were keeping locals and officials away from the site of the bombing, Noor said. "The whole area is cordoned off," he said.


While Pakistani officials privately support these American attacks, Pakistani politicians across the spectrum criticize the unpopular bombardments.

"Let the government of Pakistan and the military handle the situation, because the people are reacting and they are not happy," Saleem Saifullah Khan, a senator from the party of former president Pervez Musharraf, said in an interview. "After all, it's bombing; whether it's militants or not, they're bombing Pakistan. As a sovereign country we're not too happy about it. It's counterproductive."

Also on Wednesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the city of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier province, killing one other person and wounding three, police said.

The bomber launched his attack on Nasir Bagh Road, near a market and residential area where many police live. One witness, shopkeeper Salimullah Khan, said the bomber was dragging a vendor cart that disguised the explosives. The provincial assembly speaker, Karamatullah Chagharmatti, passed the area near the time of the bombing but escaped unharmed, he told local television reporters.

Staff writer Joby Warrick in Washington contributed to this report.

[Satyagraha]

Islamabad urged to concede its ‘tacit approval’ of drones
Dawn Correspondent
Friday, 10 Jul, 2009 | 11:22 AM PST
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-islamabad-urged-to-concede-its-tacit-approval-of-drone-attacks-zj-02

WASHINGTON: The drone attacks are creating new tensions between Pakistan and the United States as US lawmakers urge Islamabad to accept the responsibility for approving the strikes.

Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a recent congressional hearing that the attacks would not have taken place if it were not for the tacit approval of Pakistan’s leadership.

A transcript released on Thursday quoted several US lawmakers as telling the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee that the US administration should urge Pakistan to accept the responsibility for their share in the attacks.

The United States relies heavily on unmanned aircraft to target militants but such strikes also cause an excessively high number of civilian casualties. Official Pakistani sources say that since 2006, the drones have killed only 14 militants and over 700 civilians.

But Senator Levin told the panel that the official Pakistani reaction had hamstrung Washington. ‘For them to look the other way or to give us the green light privately and then to attack us publicly leaves us, it seems to me, at a very severe disadvantage and loss with the Pakistani people,’ he said.

US Deputy Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Paul Jones told the panel that the US administration was developing a new strategy to reduce tensions stoked by drone strikes.

When Senator Daniel Akaka asked Jones to comment on the drone controversy, Jones said he could not discuss the issue in a public hearing.

But, he added, ‘a very important part of our strategy is strategic communications.’ He went on to say that in the PR sphere, ‘we’re making some progress.’

The United States plans to ‘increase quite significantly’ aid to Pakistan to help the government with its own communications strategy, Jones said. That includes distributing radios to Pakistanis in the tribal areas and helping the government of Pakistan with public service announcements.

Such programmes ‘will help people understand what the goals are of the Pakistani government and the international community, and how they are helping the country of Pakistan,’ he said.