Time line focus: Paki

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5 days, that is the 22nd, I believe. So Taliban say they will attack on the 22nd of July 08.

"We will attack the provincial government and the ANP leaders after five days if they do not quit," said Maulvi Omar, spokesman for Mehsud, based in the tribal area of Waziristan. "The provincial government is ... not sincere in the talks."

The ANP, which has pacifist roots, has pursued dialogue with Taliban groups in Swat and elsewhere. However, its talk of peace has come up against the hard reality of militants who are willing to give up very little and demand Islamisation and the retreat of the Pakistan army from their territory as the price for ending hostilities.

"This is open war," said Hassan Abbas, a research fellow at Harvard University. "This [ultimatum] will help the provincial government to see things more clearly. They can take direct action against Baitullah Mehsud because there is a direct threat."

Mehsud was reacting to Pakistan army actions. In Hangu, the army stepped in last week after Taliban surrounded a police station and killed 16 paramilitary troops. In Swat, the army was deployed last year to tackle militants who had taken over the valley, previously a tourist destination. Around the provincial capital of Peshawar, the army is flushing out Islamist militants -not allied to the Taliban - who were encroaching on the city.

"We want peace," said Hajji Adeel, vice president of the ANP, but added: "If they use force, we will also use force in reaction."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/19/pakistan.afghanistan

http://snipurl.com/31btf

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Paki Stock Market crash: 7 days running. Feeling the PAIN.

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Warden Notices

Warden Notice 11/2008

July 17, 2008

This Warden Message is to alert American citizens that the Consular Section at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar will limit services to the public to emergency cases only from July 25 to October 15, 2008. Americans who require routine services such as applying for passports may contact Embassy Islamabad during this period for assistance at (92-51) 208-0000.

http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/wn-08071701.html

http://snipurl.com/309yi

UPDATE:

“The consular officer at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar who normally handles American citizen services will depart Pakistan on a normal rotation in the near future, and there will be a gap of several weeks before that officer’s successor arrives. For that reason, consular services in Peshawar will be limited for the stated period. All other operations and staffing at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar continue on a normal basis.”

Kay Webb Mayfield
Counselor for Public Affairs
U.S. Embassy Islamabad

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It is not unreasonable to expect a pre-emptive strike against the Taliban before the 22nd.
( I'm not sure when the taliban issued their 5 day ultimatum?)

Gerald

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"fifteen-six" (15-6)

Reference 9 US Troops killed.

In answer to my Q. where was over watch, Army has launched a 15-6.

Defense officials say commanders called for the formal investigation known in the military as a "fifteen-six" (15-6), to get answers to a series of critical questions: Just how did so many insurgent get so close to the outpost without being detected? Was security and surveillance surrounding the outpost inadequate or did those involved in security fall down on the job?.....

"There is no question that the absence of pressure on the Pakistani side of the border is creating an opportunity for more people to cross the border and to launch attacks." When asked if the U.S. military would launch unilateral strikes against the insurgent camps inside Pakistan, Gates would not rule it out.
Meanwhile, defense officials say Pentagon efforts to send more American troops and equipment to Afghanistan to counter the growing enemy threat there have kicked into "high gear."

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/17/1205357.aspx

http://snipurl.com/30iu0

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Urdu, telecast:

Image via WikipediaOriginally published by Geo TV, Karachi, in Urdu 1600 15 Jul 08.

Karachi Geo News television in Urdu at 1600 gmt on 15 July relays live regularly scheduled "Today with Kamran Khan" programme. Noted Pakistani journalist Kamran Khan reviews, discusses and analyzes major day-to-day developments with government ministers and officials, opposition leaders, and prominent analysts in Geo TV's flagship programme. Words within double slant lines are in English.

Segment I

Kamran Khan says: unabated violence continues in Iraq even after five years of American occupation and the latest suicide bombing today killed 31 prospective Iraqi police recruits. Khan adds: the suicide attack comes in wake of repeated claims by the American president and the establishment that the situation in Iraq has vastly improved this year. Continuing, Khan says: according to latest figures 4,119 Americans have been killed in Iraq so far and although official figures say 100,000 Iraqi civilians have also been killed so far, unofficial figures speak of 600,000 Iraqis war- related casualties. Khan adds: 70 percent of Iraqi population has no drinking water and Iraq, which is the third largest oil producing country, faces power load shedding on regular basis and schools and hospitals are not functioning normally there. Continuing, Khan says: as America prepares for the presidential elections, Barack Obama, "first black American presidential candidate" and who according to polls is likely to win the elections, has pledged to the American people that he would end American occupation of Iraq and withdraw American troops from there by 2009.

Kamran Khan establishes video link in Lahore with Shamshad Ahmed Khan, prominent analyst and Pakistan's former foreign secretary, and asks him whether the American military, establishment and other American institutions would allow Obama to fulfill his commitment to withdraw all American troops from Iraq by 2009. Shamshad Ahmed Khan says: "there has been a //strong// perception right from the beginning in America about the Iraq war that it was a big mistake and America should withdraw from there as soon as possible." Shamshad Ahmed Khan adds: Americans also gave a clear verdict during the mid-term elections that US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq and Obama has now given a commitment that American troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by 2009. Continuing, Shamshad Ahmed Khan says: Pakistan's tribal areas have become focus of American attention because of "failures" in Iraq where no target has been achieved and resistance continues unabated. When Kamran Khan asks whether! it will be possible for any American President to withdraw troops from Iraq by 2009 and accept "defeat," Shamshad Ahmed Khan says the total withdrawal will not be possible, but effort would be made to "defuse" the situation in some way or other, which is a "big commitment" of the Democrat Party.

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Segment III

Kamran Khan says: in the background of reports that America is telling the Pakistan government that it is not satisfied with the situation in tribal areas, American and allied forces in "large numbers" have started arriving near the border across Pakistan's North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Khan adds: deployment of American and allied troops equipped with helicopters, heavy machineguns and artillery is hinting that, perhaps, a "major military operation" is about to be launched at the Afghan border next to North Waziristan and South Wazirstan. Continuing, Khan says the Pakistan government has repeatedly expressed its concern at any such planned incursion. Khan says: President Pervez Musharraf recently explained Pakistan's position in these words:

[Begin Musharraf recording, in English] The man in the street in Pakistan does not want any foreign intrusion into Pakistan. It is an issue of sovereignty of our country. And, United States or anyone who says that must understand the sensitivity of the man in the street. So, I don't think this is possible at all that any foreign forces will be allowed into Pakistan. It is militarily unwise and politically I don't think it is acceptable to the people of Pakistan. [end recording]

Kamran Khan says Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan People's Party Co- chairman, in an interview in Dubai yesterday asked America that it should refrain from deploying troops near the Pakistan border as it will be a big mistake. Khan adds: Pakistani tribal leaders have also stated that they would "strongly" confront any attack on Pakistan's tribal areas and "tens of thousands" of tribesmen will take up arms against America.

Kamran Khan establishes video link in Peshawar with Sami Yusufzai, senior journalist and Newsweek correspondent in Pakistan, and asks him to confirm reports that American and allied troops are massing near the Pakistan border. Yusufzai says he talked to "sources" in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika and Khowst provinces adjoining Pakistan's North Waziristan and South Waziristan and they denied reported troop movement. Yusufzai says: the fact is that such an atmosphere has been built up due to recent [threatening] statements from the Afghan side that even a "minor movement" of troops generate fear in people's mind [about incursions into tribal areas]. Continuing, Yusufzai says: however, reports from Kunar province where a "large number" of American troops were killed on 13 July say that America believes that "Pakistani //volunteers//" and militants involved in the attacks on allied troops flee to Pakistan's Bajaur Agency and Mohmand Agency and that is why the American and allied troops have increased their movement and set up new check posts at that part of the border. Yusufzai does not believe that "America is in a //position// to make incursions into Pakistan's tribal areas and send its troops there." Yusufzai says: America is fully aware that Jihadi forces in Pakistan are highly anti-American and they could strike back deep inside Afghanistan against American and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] troops. When Khan asked Yusufzai to comment on the latest warnings from the NATO commander to Pakistan and Mike Mullen's unscheduled visit to Pakistan, Yusufzai says: America may carry out [aerial and missile] attacks on a "//high value target//" or militant camps, but it will be "impossible for Americans to intrude into Pakistan." Yusufzai says: America is merely trying to put "//pressure//" on Pakistan to take "additional tough measures" in the tribal areas. Yusufzai, however, adds that American [missile attacks] were earlier targeting Al-Qa'ida elements in Pakistan's tribal areas, but now America will, perhaps, also target "local Pakistani mili tants and their camps."
SOURCE:
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2397384&title=Pakistan_TV_Show.html

http://snipurl.com/2znm8

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Israeli military preps for Iran's nuke plant STRIKE

Image via WikipediaUS military officials say that a major Israeli military exercise conducted two weeks ago appeared to be a rehearsal for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to a New York Times report.

The Times writes that the exercise took place during the first week of June, and was so large as to be nearly guaranteed to be detected by US and other foreign observers, including Iran itself.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.

The exercise also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, American officials said.

A Pentagon official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the issue, told the Times that the high profile of the exercise was not an accident. Rather, it was one of Israel's two intended goals for undergoing the rehearsal.

One Israeli goal, the Pentagon official said, was to practice flight tactics, aerial refueling and all other details of a possible strike against Iran's nuclear installations and its long-range conventional missiles.

A second, the official said, was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium continued to falter.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0621/p99s01-duts.html

http://snipurl.com/2lsto

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Marine picnic for the Taliban.

Image via Wikipedia

Marines stay in Afghan town after Taliban influx

By JASON STRAZIUSO – 9 hours ago

GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines who once planned to be in this southern Afghan town for just a few days are extending their mission by several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.

The change in plans shows that despite a record number of international troops in the country, forces are still spread thin and U.S. commanders must make tough choices about where to deploy them.

Manpower problems are acute in Helmand, the largest and probably the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, where the U.S. 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived late last month to open a route to move troops to its southern reaches near the border with Pakistan.

Britain has about 7,500 soldiers in the province, but does not have enough troops to move south of Garmser, a district still largely held by the Taliban and bursting with opium poppy fields.

The 2,400-strong Marine unit met stiff resistance as they moved in. Between 100 and 400 Taliban fighters moved into the Garmser area as the poppy harvest got under way, apparently to defend their interests in the lucrative drug trade.

Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. said the Marines would be in Garmser for several more weeks. It means the Marines might not take part in an operation that was planned in another southern province this month.

"The number of fighters that stood and fought is kind of surprising to me, but obviously they're fighting for something," Clinton said, alluding to poppies. "They're flowing in, guys are going south and picking up arms. We have an opportunity to really clear them out, cripple them, so I think we're exploiting the success we're finding."

Helmand is the hub of opium production in Afghanistan, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the global supply of this raw material of heroin. The Taliban are believed to derive tens of millions of dollars from the trade.

Still, the Marines have been careful not to alienate residents by destroying the poppy fields that poor farmers rely on for income. Commanders say their goal is to rid the region of Taliban fighters so the Afghan government can move in and tackle the drug problem.

GENIUS, G

The prospects of that happening appear remote. Although thousands of acres of poppy fields are eradicated annually in Afghanistan, it is only a small fraction of the total area sown. Year after year, production has soared and security has deteriorated.

In recognition of the growing threat posed by Taliban militants, there are now almost 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. has 33,000, the most since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 ousted the Taliban for giving haven to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

U.S. forces have mostly operated in the east of the country, rather than the south, where NATO has struggled to find nations willing to fight the increasingly bloody insurgency.

U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said he needs three more brigades — two for combat and one to train Afghan soldiers, roughly 7,500 to 10,000 additional soldiers.

When the Marines eventually leave Garmser, any gains the 24th has made could be quickly erased unless other forces from NATO or the Afghan government move in.

"We can't be a permanent 24/7 presence. We don't have enough men to stay here," said Staff Sgt. Darrell Penyak, 29, of Grove City, Ohio. "We would need the ANA (Afghan army) to move in, and right now the way we're fighting, there's no way the ANA can come in. They couldn't handle it."

Afghanistan's army and police forces are steadily growing, but are still not big — or skilled — enough to protect much of the country. Spokesmen for both forces said they were not aware of plans to send forces to Garmser.

Col. Nick Borton, commander of British forces in the southern part of Helmand, recently visited U.S. positions in Garmser, where he told the Americans he'd be happy if they stayed on.

"If they're here for only a short time, we can't build very much off that," he said. "Their presence for a few days doesn't really help us."

A representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. government aid arm, told Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson that "people lose faith if you pull out."

The next day, at a meeting of Marines and Afghan elders, the bearded, turban-wearing men told Marine Capt. Charles O'Neill that the two sides could "join together" to fight the Taliban. "When you protect us, we will be able to protect you," the leader of the elders said.

Despite uncertainties over how secure Garmser, O'Neill liked what he heard.

"We have something here we can really exploit, if we can get some Afghan national police here," he said. "The Marines can definitely do the job, but we're not a permanent presence. With their own people providing their own security they can really get something done."

SOURCE:

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Arranged air cover 24/7 and Arty, and settled in for a 6 week picnic, Here talbi, here talibi.

G

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Leave Taliban alone, Afghan president

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Leave Taliban alone, Afghan president tells West

Karzai says US and British troops are undermining his authority and stopping insurgents from laying down their arms

• Jason Burke
• The Observer,
• Sunday April 27 2008

About this article

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This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday April 27 2008 on p35 of the World news section. It was last updated at 00:00 on April 27 2008.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called on British and American troops to stop arresting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, saying that their operations undermined his government's authority and were counter-productive.

Well Gee I just don't know what to say? I just didn't expect him to defect to the Taliban.

The stinging attack, made in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, is the latest in a series of rows between Western governments with troops in Afghanistan and the elected leader of the country. Western diplomats expressed surprise at the Afghan leader's criticism and the Foreign Office played down the row yesterday.

'We fully support the Afghan government and continue to work with it, President Karzai and the international community in the interests of the Afghan people and the long-term peace and stability of Afghanistan,' said a spokesman.

Karzai is facing re-election next year and may be hoping to bolster flagging support with a populist stance.

Is he playing for the Taliban vote? Is that a viable electorate?

However, in recent months relations have deteriorated seriously, with Western officials openly doubting the ability of the Afghan president, who was heavily backed by the US and the UK in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban regime, to manage rampant corruption and combat drug trafficking in the war-wracked southwest Asian state.

Karzai said he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban members and their supporters, saying that fear of arrest and their past mistreatment were discouraging them from coming forward to lay down their arms.

Yes arrest offends their little beheading sensibilities.

'It has to happen,' he said. 'We have to make sure that when a Talib comes to Afghanistan ... he is safe from arrest by the coalition.'

'We have to make sure that when a Talib comes to Afghanistan ... he is safe from arrest by the coalition.' isn't that what they are doing in Paki?

So the Taliban will be safe from arrest in Afghan and Paki.

Both Afghan and Paki have taken a wild wolf into the house and hope they can train it before it eats them.

Karzai is the closest thing they have to a wolf trainer, born Pushtun, speaks Pushtun, Dari, Urdu,English and French.

Briefly supported the Taliban in 2000 before they went extreme fundamentalism then he turned against them.

His father, Abdul Ahad Karzai was killed by the Taliban in Quetta.

I want to give him the benefit of doubt but would like to know the Goal.

Does he know where this road leads. G

Efforts at winning over Taliban fighters or sympathisers are mired in confusion: Nato allies in Afghanistan are divided over the exact nature of the amnesty or 'reconciliation programme' for insurgents. British policy, despite official insistence that 'there are no negotiations with the Taliban', is to weaken the radical Islamic movement by splitting off foot soldiers tempted by money or misled by tribal chiefs, religious leaders and ideologues from a 'hardcore' of leaders.

'We fully support efforts to bring disaffected Afghans into society's mainstream, providing they renounce violence and accept Afghanistan's constitution,' said the Foreign Office spokesman. 'We have always said there is no military solution in Afghanistan - a fully comprehensive approach is needed ... and that will involve reconciliation of those Taliban prepared to integrate into the new Afghanistan.'

However, Washington is more sceptical of such efforts, and has been fiercely critical of some British tactics aimed at winning over key Taliban commanders in the past, as has Karzai himself.

Karzai also attacked the number of civilian deaths inflicted by the coalition. Although levels of 'collateral damage' inflicted by Nato operations have dropped substantially, deaths still continue. Two women and two children were killed recently in an air raid by Nato troops on a suspected Taliban position after a firefight. Up to 9,000 civilians have died since 2001.

'I want an end to civilian casualties,' the Afghan president said in the interview. 'And as much as one may argue it's difficult, I don't accept that argument.'

Relations between Karzai and London were strained last month by the Afghan premier's rejection of Lord Paddy Ashdown, the favoured candidate to take up a post as 'aid tsar' in Kabul with a brief to coordinate the international aid flowing into the country. Karzai blocked the appointment amid negative local press coverage, a historic popular distrust of the British and advisers' fears of a potential crackdown on corruption.

With casualties and costs mounting and little obvious progress, Western governments are looking increasingly for an exit from Afghanistan, where 94 British servicemen have been killed since 2001. 'Nato now wants a way out which is not failure,' said Mike Williams, of London's Royal United Services Institute. 'They need to redefine the situation which will allow them to leave without failing.'

A key problem for policymakers is 'battle fatigue' among Western populations. 'We are going to get bored of the war long before the Taliban are,' said one Nato official

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Karzai will loose the election, the average Afghan knows the Taliban for what it is, Karzai just removed himself from office, who is next in line?

What in hell is Karzai thinking?
The Taliban will come in and just lay down their arms if they feel no threat/power?
I don't understand his Taliban Paradigm.
Taliban will cut Karzai throat first chance they get.
DAY after I posted about Taliban willing to cut his throat,
Taliban attacked him.
Video: Karzai Escapes Unharmed After Taliban Attack


USA could accept the Taliban in Afghan and Paki if they
killed off al Qaeda, otherwise with a nuclear issue in the offing
USA will have no alternative that to go back to war in Paki and Afghan
to take out al Qaeda.

al Qaeda cannot have a safe haven any where in the world to launch attacks against the rest of the world.

The shape of this paradigm is a no brainer, the diplomats must see this.
Safe haven is a non starter.

al Qaeda's silence on these TALIBAN negotiations is DEAFENING.

USA force will continue to be applied against al Qaeda and the Taliban
unless the Taliban gives up al Qaeda.
Biny doesn't trust the Taliban, when he was in trouble in Tora Bora he split his forces, separating the Taliban off from himself.

al Qaeda's developing new Survival Paradigm.

al Qaeda continues to experience heavy losses and fears USA Military and are allowing the negotiations with their tacit silence/approval.
al Qaeda is concerned with survival, huge losses in Iraq and Afghan and
Paki, loss of key cadre.

Intel is on their tails, they know who is tracking them and their time is limited. Its a matter of time before their hide aways are visited by a rain of hellfire rockets.

al Qaeda is looking for a way out, breathing space, some R&R.
Top al Qaeda cadre have been in a very Black covert security operation for six years, and its getting heavy and they are short money, men and suicide bombers, and webmasters. And Biny is in terminal stages of his disease.

Olde Zee's load is too heavy and showed signs of desperation in his last
town hall meeting, with weak arguments that run counter to the Koran
and logic and reason. al Qaeda's killing of Moslems women children blowing up mosques and market places has roused Allah's anger.
Watch what happens.


Gerald
Anthropologist

Update: Is the Taliban evolving a new paradigm?

Negotiate PEACE with Afghan and Paki so the Taliban and al Qaeda have a safe base of operations, in these states to conduct terrorism?

WE quit suicide bombings in your countrys and WE don't get arrested, and get immunity for past acts. And a free hand to operate outside your borders.

G

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