Officers Detained at Dulles, Call off visit

[Usama86]

[B]Admiral Mullen formally regrets with army chief over derogatory incident occured with Pak Army delegation[/B]

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States visited the flood hit areas Thursday in South Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

According to army spokesman both of them attended a briefing with reference to relief activities of armed forces in Multan and they were briefed in details about rescue and relief operations undertaken by army for the flood stricken people.

Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani commended the role played by army officers and jawans to consolidate the ongoing efforts for providing rescue and relief to the floods victims and directed the formations to focus on rehabilitation of flood affected people.

Admiral Mike Mullen expressed grief and sorrow over the devastation caused by floods during his visit to flood ravaged areas. Army chief thanked him for the cooperation and assistance extended by US to Pakistan to face natural calamity.

Army sources told, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Admiral Mike Mullen held a meeting prior to their visit to the flood hit areas. A set of issues including bilateral ties, cooperation between the two countries in war on terror, current situation of Afghanistan and ongoing rescue and relief operations with the cooperation of US in flood ravaged areas featured in the meeting.

Sources told Admiral Mullen had formally regretted to Army chief on the incident met by Pakistan military delegation in US and held out assurance that prevention of recurrence of such incidents in future would be ensured. The talks which were scheduled to be held in Washington now would take place in Islamabad.

ONLINE - International News Network

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

What would happen later is that there will be big contracts coming up to re-build those nations---and interested parties would suck up those mega bucks from those contracts and everybody would get rich.

It all backfired---now didn't it---only if the u s had owned iraq after it conquered it and owned afg after it was conquered---things would have been different.

I knw its off topic

I can buy what you are saying in case of Iraq , i mean apart from Oil Firms alot of other guys made money as pointed out by Daylight Robbery - What Happened to the $23billion?

But what was there in Afghanistan for which the corporates could extract juice for. There was litterally nothing of value there. Even though the War in Afghanistan is backfiring but i do certinly believe that America has the resources to go on and on with this war As this territory will give it and edge over the Dealings in CARs Not to mention the role of Nato Allies , apart from the brits none has contributed to satisfying degree uptill now , may be they would in future.. As US has so much to loose .. i dont think the US is going down without a fight but that would certinly make things more worse for the reagional players specifically Pakistan.

O kainday he na , Jado kutay di moot waqia honi hoi , Apay hi Pahar te char janada he ..

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Anyway---coming back to the discussion---tas agents are made up of most of the rejects---unemployed of the community---self righteous idealists---and they treat you the way they do because they don't want you in this country and they treat everybody else in the same manner---because they are working way beyond their actual paygrade that they could have qualified under normal times.

After all there would have been some one responsible for specifically hiring people having such traits, if so then why is it a deliberate evil , it cant fix the problem or does it ... what good does it do .. ??

 

[MastanKhan]

I knw its off topic

I can buy what you are saying in case of Iraq , i mean apart from Oil Firms alot of other guys made money as pointed out by Daylight Robbery - What Happened to the $23billion?

But what was there in Afghanistan for which the corporates could extract juice for. There was litterally nothing of value there. Even though the War in Afghanistan is backfiring but i do certinly believe that America has the resources to go on and on with this war As this territory will give it and edge over the Dealings in CARs Not to mention the role of Nato Allies , apart from the brits none has contributed to satisfying degree uptill now , may be they would in future.. As US has so much to loose .. i dont think the US is going down without a fight but that would certinly make things more worse for the reagional players specifically Pakistan.

O kainday he na , Jado kutay di moot waqia honi hoi , Apay hi Pahar te char janada he ..

Hi,

Look back---they never came to afg to take it over---they came---wham bam---but their target was iraq all the time---they just needed an excuse to get their millitary out of the u s---that is why you don't see any real commitment on their part to the war in afg and taking out al qaeda in the initial stages.

They were told that the taliban would fold over--afg would welcome them with open arms and afg would become like the 51 st state of the united states---but then they got stuck and our children would read the story in their history books----sad that a lots of afghan children would not---.

 

[Nahraf]

Commentary: Cry for me Pakistan - UPI.com

Analysis
Commentary: Cry for me Pakistan
Published: Sept. 3, 2010 at 7:19 AM
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The United States spent nine years (1980-89) working closely with Pakistan's military against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; followed by 11 years (1990-2001) of punishing Pakistan with all manner of sanctions for its secret nuclear weapons development that it kept denying even existed; followed by nine years (2001-10) making up with Pakistan as "a major non-NATO ally" to enlist its support against al-Qaida and Taliban.

If trust between U.S. and Pakistani military was zero on a 1-to-10 trust-o-meter before 9/11, it painfully and haltingly made it back to 6 or 7 since 9/11. Until last week, that is.

Nine high-ranking Pakistani officers, flying in to attend a yearly meeting at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Fla., found themselves detained at Dulles and then ordered back to Pakistan by Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, to protest the way they were treated.

Bone-tired after the long flight from Pakistan via Dubai and London, one of them, not a fluent English speaker, was overheard to say, "Thank Allah, this is my last flight." Next thing they knew, security guards hustled them off the plane. They missed their connecting flight and weren't allowed to call their embassy in Washington or their hosts at CENTCOM in Tampa.

For 10 years in the 1990s, no Pakistani officers came to the United States to attend staff colleges as they had since independence. Many made it to one-, two- and three-star rank without benefit of any U.S. experience. During that period, Pakistan's formidable Inter-Services Intelligence agency gave birth to Taliban with a view to putting an end to the civil war that followed the Soviet exit from Afghanistan. Sept. 11, 2001, and U.S. President George W. Bush's summons to Afghan President Pervez Musharraf (who had seized power in a military coup in 1999) to join forces against Taliban and al-Qaida, and the Pakistani army was yet again thoroughly confused about friend-or-foe America.

Pakistan is reeling under the most devastating national catastrophe since independence 63 years ago. The monthlong monsoon deluge flooded a densely populated area the size of Florida or England that suddenly became a gigantic lake, destroying one-fifth of the country's irrigation infrastructure, livestock and crops.

A month of floods left countless millions without home, food, water -- and livelihood. Civil administration collapsed under the scale of the disaster.

The army, Pakistan's only solid, disciplined institution, had to move troops battling insurgents and terrorist groups in their Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border to flood-relief missions. Helicopters flew over one tiny patch of dry land, a few feet higher than the brown sea around it, to the next, dropping one parcel of canned and cooked food per cluster of huddled survivors. They are without stove or cooking fuel and need clean water and dry milk; temporary shelter; basic medicines to save them from stomach diseases, fever and flu.

A month after disaster struck, many areas in the south remained flooded as monsoon waters cascaded down from the north to empty in the Arabian Sea. A country of 180 million lay discombobulated, 40 percent of them now below Pakistan's poverty line, one of the world's lowest; inflation hit 10 percent and is predicted to reach 15 to 20 percent. Economic growth, estimated to reach 4.5 percent before the disaster, now will probably flatline at zero.

On the brink of total economic collapse, rumors abounded of millions of desperate peasants with nothing more to lose now being organized by extremists to move against the cities. The army's 11 corps commanders debated the advisability of a fifth coup since independence to restore law and order. And the specter of the world's first failed nuclear state, coupled with the nightmare scenario of younger Islamist officers pushing the three stars aside and taking over in the name of Islam, was no longer idle cocktail chatter.

Massive job losses are expected to impact the entire country. Misery breeds violence; the only beneficiaries are extremist groups that back the Taliban insurgency, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Long-banned terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba, or Army of the Pure, plunged into flood relief determined to show their army detractors that their aid was the most efficient. LeT was long focused on terrorist operations in Indian-held Kashmir. It also maintains a network beyond Pakistan's borders, similar to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

LeT also relaunched its activities in southeastern and eastern Afghanistan provinces (Kunar, Nooristan, Nangarhar, Laghman, Paktika and Khost). These are provinces where the Afghan Taliban never had a strong following. Due to its Wahabist religious ideology, LeT has revived old links with local Wahabi followers that date to the late 1980s when the head of the movement, Hafiz Saeed, was based in Kunar whence he led the insurgency against the Soviet occupation.

Afghan Taliban are mostly Deobandis and have little influence in the Wahhabi-dominated provinces. LeT has filled the vacuum and declared allegiance to Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

In Pakistan, long-banned jihadi organizations have taken advantage of the current chaos to resurface and organize among the growing numbers of destitute refugees. Pakistan's civilian government doesn't appear to grasp the extent of ground lost to extremist organizations. Army officers are in the forefront of relief efforts -- as are extremist organizations.

 

[GUNNER]

US sorry over 'mistreatment' of Pakistan military delegation


ISLAMABAD — The United States has apologised to Pakistan over "mistreatment" of a Pakistani military delegation at a US airport this week, the Pakistani defence ministry said Friday.

US undersecretary of state for defence Michelle Flournoy apologised during a telephone call to Pakistan's top defence ministry official, Syed Athar Ali, the ministry said in a statement.

Flournoy "apologised for the mistreatment meted out to Pakistan's military delegation at the Dulles airport, Washington", the statement said.

Pakistan had ordered the delegation to return from Washington to protest "unwarranted" airport security checks imposed after the delegation was invited to a meeting at the US military Central Command.

"Syed Athar Ali expressed serious concern over the incident and emphasised the need for an institutionalised mechanism where such like incidents are averted," the statement said.

"Ms. Flournoy assured secretary defence that all necessary measures will be institutionalised after mutual consultations to avoid recurrence of any untoward incident in future."

The nine members of the delegation were about to fly to Tampa, Florida from Dulles when they were pulled off the plane and questioned for over two hours.

The United Airlines flight crew had become concerned over a remark by one of the officers, a Pakistani official told AFP on Wednesday.

The Pakistanis showed security authorities their passports and letters of invitation to the conference at Central Command, but by the time they were released they had missed their flight, the official said.

 

[SekrutYakhni]

Open up your eyes, your ears! Let the new things come in!

LISTEN to this!!!

 

[air marshal]

US apologises for military officers’ mistreatment

By Our Staff Reporter

RAWALPINDI, Sept 2: Michele Flournoy, US Undersecretary of State for Defence, called Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Athar Ali, Secretary of Defence, on Thursday and apologised for the mistreatment meted out to Pakistan’s military delegation at the Dulles airport in Washington early this week.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Defence said Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Athar Ali expressed serious concern over the incident and emphasised the need for an institutionalised mechanism in order to avert such incidents.

Ms Flournoy assured the secretary of defence that all necessary measures would be institutionalised after mutual consultations to avoid reccurrence of any untoward incident in future.

The statement said she also expressed deep condolences on the loss of precious lives and devastation caused by unprecedented floods.

Lt-Gen (retd) Athar Ali thanked her and fully acknowledged the support extended by the US military and the government in rescue and relief operations.

Anwar Iqbal adds from Washington: The United States has asked Pakistan to reschedule a defence meeting which was cancelled when the Pakistani delegation returned home after a dispute at the Dulles airport.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told a briefing that the US “Defence Department will be reaching out to Pakistan to see if we can reschedule these talks, perhaps in Pakistan”.

“We think that there was a misunderstanding, miscommunication between the Pakistani contingent and the air crew. It did result in the Pakistani contingent leaving the aeroplane … returning to Pakistan,” he said.

 

[nangyale]

Those in power are saying to those less capable---there are bad forces coming to surround us---elect us---and we will protect you from those bad forces---those people are evil---you have to fear them---they will come and change the way we will---they will steal our source of power and make us like them---they will subjugate us---.

This fear mongering has taken a totally different turn never seen in this country since McCarthyism---and what is this all about---it is to win in the elections---some of the songressmen, senators are selling their souls and senses to the fundamentalists just so that they can stay in their seats---and those who are not---some of them are trying real hard to emulate those who are.

But there are quite a few conscientious americans as well running for the elections as well.

Hi there

I agree with you sir that the situation has changed and today its a different game to what was played before. In the 80's it was religious America helping the religious fighters of Afghanistan against the aethist Soviet Union. So it was an easy alliance for Pakistan to be in. Today alot of U.S mainstream media is portraying an image of Afghan Islamist fighters i-e militant Islam against the American and Western forces. A by-product of all this that the American man-in-the-street equates Islam with anti-americanism and thus subconsicoulsy starts hating all muslims.
It is then inevitable that such incidents as the one discussed are bound to occur again.

 

[air marshal]

 

[r3alist]

MK

I very much agree with you, US is fighting imaginary enemies - not that there are not real one out there, but what US is doing is using this "enemy" to control the government and society in every possible manner -- The media now self censor, critical analysis is now the same as un-patriotic, the courts suspend their better judgment oin favor of whjat the govt asserts as the lurking threat, the entire atmosphere of society is one where what was once liberty is now a unpatriotic outlook -- to my thinking, just sad beyond words.

But no one can awaken a nation that does not wish it for itself.

i like this point very much


by creating a mass state of fear america has actually managed to legitimize a war on a noun, yes thats right - a never ending relentless war that can be brought to any place in the world for any period of time - a war on a noun.....


this noun that bas been declared war on belongs in no fixed country, it belongs to no single race, it wears no uniform - all we know is that its something akin to this concept known as "islam" or "muslim" and that america must provide the proscription to fix it - AT ANY COST

wonderful, this is genius, its the intellectual and philosophical pretext to do anything it wants because this noun that has been declared war on exists everywhere in the world.....

 

[r3alist]

and a few days ago what did tony blair say? - the war against radical islam could go on for decades

just wonderful, a pretext for western nations to involve themselves in muslim affairs for another century

and the grounds for this....?


radical islam - something which has no fixed definition in any way, but none the less is something to be destroyed


and the western proscription to fix this problem - bringing war to muslim nations?

iraq, afghanistan, pakistan and maybe soon iran - none of these countries once had a suicide bombings in them by the way

so a phenomena described as radical islam is only perpetuated by american action - but such is the hubris and puritanical sense of superiority that nobody has the sense to acknowledge this in the US


the fight against radical islam = pretext for war with muslim nations