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Operation Rah-e-Nijat (South Waziristan)

^the army is not withdrawing from swa. however the civilians demand for security is justified. this is where once again the civilian govt. in-action to provide rehablitation is being highlighted.

its too busy congratulating itself for the 18th amendment and nfc awards whereas it needs to 'concentrate' on re-constructing the lives of the civilian populations of swat, bajaur, swa, orakzai etc.
 
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""^the army is not withdrawing from swa. however the civilians demand for security is justified. this is where once again the civilian govt. in-action to provide rehablitation is being highlighted.""

South Waziristan operation was conducted under the tutelage and auspices of CENTCOM. The US Government must pay for the development of this unfortunate devastated area. Our enthusiastic Military leadership and Politicians must deal with the Americans to cough up some serious cash. Foreign sponsored operations must not be performed at Desi wages.
 
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Two soldiers martyred in North Waziristan clash
Wednesday, 28 Apr, 2010

PESHAWAR: Two security personnel were killed and at least 13 injured in the latest clash in North Waziristan on Wednesday.

The casualties took place when militants attacked the ISA check post in North Waziristan. Four militants, which included three Uzbeks and a German, were also killed in the clash.

This is the second attack on Pakistan army personnel in North Waziristan in the past seven days. On Friday, seven soldiers, including an officer were killed and at least 16 injured as militants ambushed an army convoy in North Waziristan

According to local sources, many of the Taliban groups had fled from South Waziristan and moved to North Waziristan. Many of these groups include Chechen and Arab fighters as well.

The situation in North Waziristan is a complicated one with some factions supporting the government and providing safe passage to the Pakistan army.

Meanwhile the operation in the Orakzai Agency is also continuing, with security forces claiming to have killed five militants in the latest phase of the assault.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Two soldiers killed in North Waziristan clash
 
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‘4,000 men to be recruited in levies force’

TANK: South Waziristan Political Agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah has said that 4,000 additional men will be recruited to the levies force to effectively enforce the writ of the government in the agency. Speaking at a press conference at his office, Shah said the recruitment would start from May 3 and would continue until May 7, adding that the recruitment would help decrease unemployment in the area. The political agent said application forms could be obtained from the offices of the assistance political agent Ladah and assistant political agent Sarokai. He said recruitment for Suleman Khel and Dothanikhel tribes would be held at the Wana Scouts Camp, while men of the Mehsud and Burki tribes would be made at Manzi Constabulary Fort.Shah added that the displaced people of South Waziristan would start returning home from next month. irfan burki
 
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S Waziristan as I saw it

Monday, May 03, 2010

Ayaz Wazir

Believing that the government was now making genuine efforts to improve things in Waziristan, I was always hard put to believe visitors returning from Waziristan who told me horrifying tales of the problems they faced travelling on the Wana-Gomal-Tank road. But seeing is believing, and I experienced the same difficulties myself when I travelled on that road last week, the other road linking Wana with Tank via Jandola being closed to traffic since the launch of the military operation in October last year.

It is not the rough ride that makes one sick but the manner of the all-too-frequent checking conducted by the security agencies. At a check point where one enters South Waziristan from the settled area of Tank, all travellers are asked to disembark and present their identity cards, standing in a queue under the blazing sun without shelter. Meanwhile, the driver of the vehicle slowly walks forward to the check post, hands raised in the air in a gesture of surrender, to get written permission for the onward journey. All items inside the vehicle are checked, counted and then recorded on the permission slip. This slip is required to be handed in at the last check post, where the passengers and their luggage, and any animals with them, are rechecked to ensure that nothing in the list is missing. In case any item is indeed missing, vehicle and passengers are sent back to the first check post. There the driver gets a proper thrashing and the passengers are made to stand, often for hours, before the procedure is repeated and they are allowed to proceed onwards on the basis of a fresh slip.

In a recent incident a boy put his life in danger to retrieve the family dog that had bolted on the road. The driver was slowly negotiating a difficult bend when the dog jumped out of the truck. The youngster immediately jumped out to bring the dog back. A bystander advised him to forget the dog and return to the truck because trying to catch the dog in the rough terrain could be hazardous. Ignoring the advice, the boy kept chasing the dog because he knew that if the animal was discovered missing at the last check post the family would be maltreated and humiliated, and then ordered to return to the first check post for fresh permission.

On my return from Wana, I travelled on the road from Wana to Tank via Jandola which passes through the Mehsud area. What I saw was stuff nightmares are made of. Houses, shops, madressahs and even official buildings on the roadside stood in ruins or demolished. All along the road from Madijan to Jandola, villages on both sides had the appearance of a war zone and testified to the fact that they had borne the brunt of the military operation. There was no sign of any human or animal life, except for a few cows wandering about in the deserted villages.

At Jandola it was a different scene. The market of the Bettani tribe had been completely razed to the ground and the debris dumped in the nearby riverbed. There is no market or shopping area for the tribesmen to buy food or essential items. They have to go all the way to Tank to get items of daily consumption.

I was told the internally displaced people were under tremendous pressure from the authorities to return to their homes in Waziristan. The officials are not interested in the reason for the IDPs’ reluctance to return to their hearths and homes: they worry about their safety if they returned. Has the government taken steps to ensure the complete security of the returnees? Have arrangements been made for reconstruction and rehabilitation of their homes and their villages? Has travel on the roads in the Mehsud area been permitted? If it hasn’t, how will the IDPs arrange for their food and items of daily use? These are some of the basic prerequisites that need to be met by the government before it forces the IDPs to return.

All civilian form of government has been missing from the area for the past eight years. Matters have been left in the hands of the army and a Grade-18 officer, the political agent. Since the army is not trained for taking political decisions, it is incapable of taking them. As for the political agent, he is not even able to travel in his area of posting except under the protection of an army helicopter. The government needs to face reality and wake up to the extremely grim situation. It needs to show presence at a senior level if it is serious about getting to the depth of this complicated problem and resolving it.

The president should himself have visited the area and taken bold decisions, but he preferred to address a tribal jirga in the air-conditioned hall of the Governor’s House in Peshawar. In his address to the tribesmen he chose not to touch upon the real problems faced by people in that area. He did not even pay lip service to the promises that he had made earlier about introducing political and economic reforms in FATA. Surely, travelling to Waziristan is less time-consuming than travelling to China, Dubai or London. If he felt Waziristan did not merit his personal attention he could at least have directed his governor to visit the area. Interaction with the inhabitants, at the highest level, is the need of the hour to bridge the deep trust deficit which exists between the people and the government.

Unless urgent and effective action is taken to this end, I fear all military actions taken so far will prove to be in vain, and we may well hear news of a resurgence of militancy. The military may win all the battles. but the government will certainly lose the war if it does not pay urgent attention to the problem.

The writer, a former ambassador, hails from FATA. Email: waziruk@hotmail.com
 
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^^^I ve been harping abt this situation for many months now and the ground reality is vividly clear - the army is winning the battles for this corrupt and in-ept government, and in return 'total in-action' in the re-construction and re-hablitation of the people of this area.

this stupid govt is busy 'congratulating' it self on the NFC award, the 18th amendment - all this will be worth less than the cost of paper on which it has been written unless the 'problems' of the people of FATA are not handled under emergency conditions - i am not even starting abt the problems of the people in the rest of the country!!!
 
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Editorial: North Waziristan: the new terrorist epicentre?

The investigations into Faisal Shahzad’s attempted car bombing in New York have shifted focus to his links in Pakistan. While little evidence has so far emerged of his link to one or the other terrorist group, his own admission according to US officials says he received bomb-making training in North Waziristan during a five-month stay in the country. One should be grateful that the training did not prove adequate, otherwise the bomb that failed to go off would have had devastating consequences for innocent citizens in New York.

Faisal’s family, relatives and friends are being sought. His parents and some relatives have gone ‘underground’, while some arrests are reported across the country. The Pakistani investigation team, spanning both military and civilian intelligence agencies, says a case can only be registered against Shahzad once some link is established with a terrorist group on Pakistani soil. One cannot but agree with the scepticism of the DG ISPR that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP’s) claim of responsibility needs to be taken with a pinch of salt since there is no evidence they have the kind of outreach to mount an operation on US soil. Nevertheless, the involvement of the TTP or even more significantly al Qaeda in imparting the rudimentary training Shahzad received cannot be ruled out. Shahzad continues to insist he acted alone, but given the confession of a link with North Waziristan and phone records showing calls to Pakistan just before the botched bombing contradict that claim. All this could lead to the speculation that a new strategy is being resorted to by the terrorist network to use ‘lone wolf’ operators abroad to hit the US. That would fit in with the nature of asymmetrical warfare, in which hitting ‘soft’ targets is the logical progression when the terrorists are under pressure, as they are from the Pakistani military’s offensives in FATA and Swat and the US drone strikes. Whether this heralds, in conjunction with the earlier attempt by a Nigerian national to blow up a US plane, a new form of global jihad using lone operators (more difficult to detect, particularly if they are citizens of the countries they reside in, like the US in this instance) to hit soft targets such as busy streets, shopping malls, etc, remains to be seen. Naturally, as we have learnt already to our cost in Pakistan, it is very difficult to prevent such attacks.

While the investigations in the US, Pakistan and elsewhere grind on, this perhaps is the moment to reflect on the role of North Waziristan in the new configuration of terror. Reports have consistently pointed out that militants who escaped the military’s offensives in Swat, South Waziristan and other parts of FATA have found refuge in North Waziristan with the Jalaluddin Haqqani network. The military in the past has seemed reluctant to expand its operations into North Waziristan, partly because Haqqani is still seen as a pro-Pakistan asset in a post-US Afghanistan, partly because the military was reluctant to open a new front while it was still engaged in ‘mopping up’ operations in Swat and FATA. If the story about Faisal Shahzad receiving training in North Waziristan is true, and there are other reports of North Waziristan not only providing a safe haven for militants displaced by the military’s offensives, but also militants from far and wide, including what are now dubbed the ‘Punjabi Taliban’, it may be inescapable for the military to focus on how to take out this new epicentre of terrorism. This is not only necessary for the success of the military’s efforts elsewhere in FATA and Swat, it is now critical generally to ensure the militants are unable to regroup and cause headaches to Pakistan and the world through attacks such as the New York one. Failing to take action against the terrorists holed up in North Waziristan will doubtless bring renewed pressure from the US, and if cooperation is not forthcoming, the millions of dollars of US military and civilian aid may be threatened. The government and the military need to revisit the ‘hands off’ policy on North Waziristan and grasp the nettle firmly.

http://thedailytimes.com.pk
 
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Determining the Enemy: Examining a Potential Operational Link between Times Square Attack and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

By Charlie Szrom

May 5, 2010

Introduction

An operational link between the Times Square attack and the TTP has been murky following the May 1 bomb attempt. New evidence has emerged and clarified the relationship. The manner in which the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) videos were posted, the criminal complaint against Shahzad, and the relationships between militant groups in Waziristan increase the likelihood that the TTP has an operational connection to the Times Square attack.

It is often difficult to determine exact responsibility for specific terror attacks, not least because militant Islamist groups maintain relationships, interactions, and overlapping interests in ways that make it difficult to dissect and focus on individual groups. Policymakers should avoid focusing solely on counter-terrorism efforts to target individual organizations at the exclusion of examining networks of groups that may encompass a broader and more complex threat environment. All violent militant Islamist groups within the broader violent Islamist network led by al Qaeda threaten American interests, regardless of their specific ties to attacks on Americans or American soil. Any policy response to the Times Square attack must keep this conception of enemy forces in mind.



Posting of TTP-Linked Videos

Questions surrounding the possible involvement of Pakistan’s TTP emerged immediately after the attack. On May 2, a video attributed to the TTP’s Qari Hussain Mehsud claimed credit for the attack. The following day, however, TTP spokesman Azam Tariq, said, “As far as I know, none of our people have posted the [Hussain video].”[1] (Tariq did acknowledge the legitimacy of a Hakimullah Mehsud video that contained threats against American cities; such TTP statements reveal important lessons, discussed here, regardless of operational linkage.)

How the TTP made the claim for the attack reveals a premeditated and coordinated effort to take credit, despite Tariq’s denial. According to a Newsweek report and investigation conducted by Rita Katz of the SITE Intelligence Group, an unknown person created a YouTube channel called “Taliban News” on the Friday before the attack; the Qari Hussain video was uploaded to that channel immediately after the first news conference on Saturday night discussing the bomb. The video and channel were taken down later on Sunday, only to be replaced later in the day by a new YouTube channel that featured the Hussain video along with the Hakimullah Mehsud video and a third video, attributed to Hakimullah Mehsud, that repeated the TTP threat to strike American cities. The individual posting the videos also posted them to several militant Islamist websites; according to Katz, the person had a history of posting Taliban videos.[2]

The poster’s history and the rapid posting and sequencing of the TTP videos immediately following the attack indicate that the videos had some link to the TTP, regardless of Azam Tariq’s comments.



Criminal Complaint against Shahzad and Relationships among Militant Groups in Waziristan

Tuesday’s revelation of the criminal complaint against bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad provided additional evidence of a potential TTP operational connection. The complaint states Shahzad received bomb-making training in Waziristan, a tribal area close to Afghanistan that is home to a myriad of militant groups.[3]

Terrorists and insurgent groups have long found a safe haven in Waziristan, which consists of two agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) area of Pakistan: North and South Waziristan. Rashid Rauf, a key al Qaeda operative believed to have played a role in the 2006 plot to bring down airliners over the Atlantic, lived in Waziristan; a drone strike may have killed him there in November 2008.[4] Najibullah Zazi, who plotted to target the New York City subway in September 2009, also received training in Waziristan, reportedly meeting with Rauf and Saleh al Somali, a key al Qaeda facilitator of the movement of personnel between countries.[5] On March 17, CIA Director Leon Panetta listed North Waziristan as one of the areas where Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri may be hiding.[6]

In North Waziristan, Shahzad could have connected with an individual al Qaeda operator such as Rauf or a representative from a number of other terror groups. Pakistani extremist groups such as Jaish-e Muhammad (JeM), Lashkar-e Jhangvi, and Lashkar-e Taiba are all believed to maintain presences in North Waziristan.[7] The Afghan Taliban-linked Haqqani network, which routinely undertakes terrorist operations against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, is also based in North Waziristan.

Indeed, Shahzad may have connected directly with JeM: on Tuesday, Pakistani security forces on Tuesday arrested Mohammad Rehan, reportedly the Peshawar chief for JeM and an acquaintance of Shahzad.[8] Rehan allegedly traveled with Shahzad to Peshawar on a trip Shahzad took to Pakistan prior to the attack. The arrest of Rehan does not preclude TTP involvement in the Times Square attack, however, as JeM has been known to work jointly with the TTP on operations, especially during the wave of attacks in Islamabad and Punjab in October 2009.[9] Rehan may have served as an intermediary and introduced Shahzad to TTP-linked individuals, who in turn may have brought Shahzad to Waziristan, as mentioned in the criminal complaint.

Reports sourced to Pakistani intelligence officials have introduced an alternative narrative to Shahzad’s Waziristan training: unnamed sources have claimed Shahzad received training in a camp near Kohat, roughly 50 miles northeast of Waziristan. It is unclear if this report is accurate, and Shahzad could have fabricated the Waziristan claim. If Shahzad did train near Kohat, the report claims that the camp also trained militants linked to militant commanders Tariq Afridi and Hafiz Gul Bahadur.[10] Afridi has ties to both JeM and the TTP and was believed responsible for a wave of terror attacks in Peshawar last fall.[11] Bahadur, based in North Waziristan, has links with the TTP (indeed, he served as deputy head of the TTP in December 2007)[12] but sat on the sidelines of the Pakistani military incursion into South Waziristan due to a ceasefire he negotiated with the government. Again, if accurate, this report does not preclude TTP involvement due to cooperation between the TTP and elements of the Bahadur and Afridi’s organizations.

It is unlikely that these groups are tied to the attack because none of them have claimed credit for the attack while the TTP has, either through the Qari Hussain video or by releasing and verifying the Hakimullah Mehsud videos making threats against U.S. cities. Attack claims provide groups with cachet that can win recruits, fundraising dollars, and general favor within the violent militant Islamist network. It is unlikely that a group that conducted an attack would not take credit for it or allow a competitor group to do so, even when the attack failed to create casualties, as in the case of the Times Square bombing attempt. The mere placement of a bomb on the American homeland – or over it, as in the case of Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – signifies success for a terror group, distinguishing it from the terror groups or extremists that have been unable to reach America or advance beyond the plotting stage in attempts to attack targets within the U.S.



Lack of Sophistication in Times Square Bomb

The lack of sophistication in the construction of the Times Square bomb has led some to argue that Shahzad did not receive significant training from the TTP, and thus that TTP may have not been linked to the attack. However, as Steve Coll suggests here, if the TTP did meet with Shahzad, it may have decided to limit Shahzad’s exposure to significant training to reduce its risk. If the TTP provided significant training to a newcomer like Shahzad, it would have risked exposing its trainers’ identities and locations to Pakistani or American intelligence.[13] Militants have lost significant numbers of individuals to drone strikes and thus may have become more cautious to avoid intelligence exposures. Reports have indicated that drone strikes have forced militants to avoid large groups and train in small, mobile groups.[14] An outsider could easily compromise the identities of such group members after weeks in close quarters.

The TTP may also have been unable to provide facilities that were previously available to it in South Waziristan. In October 2009, the Pakistani military conducted an unprecedented operation into South Waziristan, clearing the TTP stronghold in a successful campaign. Qari Hussain Mehsud, to whom the video claiming credit for the Times Square attack is attributed, hails from Kotkai in South Waziristan and reportedly ran suicide bombing schools in the area. [15] He may have been unable to quickly replicate such infrastructure in North Waziristan – indeed, significant TTP-linked bombings have not occurred in recent months in North Waziristan (bombings in Orakzai or other areas of the FATA and NWFP likely rely upon local bomber training networks). Even if Hussain has been able to replicate such training infrastructure and chose to give Shahzad full access to it, the materials available to him in Pakistan – where one can buy guns and arms at one of the world’s largest arms markets in Darra Adam Khel – would be much more difficult to acquire in, or transfer to, the U.S.



Conclusion

How the TTP videos were posted, the Waziristan link cited in the complaint against Shahzad, and the ties between militant groups in Waziristan provide probable support for an operational link between the TTP and the Times Square attack. If accurate, this would be the first TTP-sponsored attack in the U.S. and reveal that the TTP has decided to move, at least partially, beyond the “near enemy” of the Pakistani government and directly target the “far enemy” of the United Sates. As noted above, however, policymakers should consider the difficulty of determining the true sponsor of a terrorist attack in an environment, such as Pakistan, where violent militant Islamist groups often shift identities and blend into one another. Any policy response must take this into account, recognizing that such groups, no matter the target of their direct operations, threaten U.S. interests by providing assistance to fellow travelers and participating in the broader violent Islamist network led by al Qaeda.
 
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Lots of Ifs and Buts and an awkward number of May Bes...
 
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Does TTP have the reach?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Rahimullah Yusufzai

Pakistan has again been thrust into the limelight, particularly the Pakistani Taliban and Waziristan, following the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American accused of the failed New York car-bombing. The fallout of the Afghan conflict, coupled with Pakistan's internal problems, has destabilised our country and the region and will continue to do so for an unforeseeable period.

The Faisal Shahzad case has taken twists and turns. He was first declared a "lone wolf" operating alone, but US attorney general Eric Holder is now claiming possession of evidence showing that Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempted bombing of New York's busy Times Square on May 1. He said Shahzad was working at the behest of the Pakistani Taliban, who helped facilitate the attempted car-bombing and probably also financed it.

This is the official US line based on the interrogation of Shahzad, who is cooperating with the investigators, apparently in the hope of getting a lighter sentence. A more transparent picture could emerge if the accused was tried in a civilian court, but a trial may not take place, as the US attorney general hinted, if Shahzad pleads guilty. Life in prison is a likely fate now for the young man who spent the first 18 years of his life in relative comfort in Pakistan, as the son of Air Vice Marshal Baharul Haq.

Few were willing initially to give credit to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the attempted New York bombing. In fact, US government officials, both civilian and military, had been categorical in dismissing the TTP claim that it had a hand in the failed bombing, or that it had sent its men to strike targets in American cities. The situation, however, has changed, though this change is primarily based on Shahzad's confessions in US custody.

The TPP had originally claimed credit on May 2 for Shahzad's bombing attempt, before retracting it on May 6. It was Qari Hussain, referred to by militants as "Ustad-e-Fidayeen" (Teacher of Fidayeen, or suicide bombers), who was first reported to have recorded an audiotape to claim responsibility for the attempted attack. His claim was corroborated in an indirect manner by a videotape of his cousin and TTP head Hakimullah Mahsud, until then presumed dead by Pakistani and US intelligence agencies in the Jan 14 CIA drone strike in South Waziristan. In the tape, Hakimullah doesn't mention the New York bombing bid or Shahzad himself, but in a general statement threatens strikes in the US to avenge its drone attacks in Pakistan.

It isn't a revelation that the TTP, Al-Qaeda and other militant groups want to harm the US and its allies. They have declared "jihad" against the US, Israel and their allies in the same way in which the latter are committed to destroy Al-Qaeda and likeminded militants in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. It is a fight to the death between powerful states and Muslim non-state elements. No doubt, it is an unequal battle, but Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the rest have found ingenious ways involving acts of terrorism to unnerve their enemy and damage its economy.

The TTP hasn't demonstrated its capacity until now to strike in the US or any other country beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan. If Al-Qaeda, despite being an older more resourceful global and organisation, has been unable to attack the US after 9/11, one cannot expect the TTP to successfully undertake such a mission in a far more secure America. Under the late Baitullah Mahsud, and then his successor Hakimullah, it has been able to strike anywhere in Pakistan and launch complex and often spectacular attacks against secure targets such as the General Headquarters of the army in Rawalpindi and ISI, FIA and police installations in Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan. By joining hands with the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban also managed to strike difficult targets in Afghanistan. If it wants, the TTP could assist an allied jihadi group such as Jaish-e-Mohammad to strike in Indian Kashmir, or in India itself. There is no evidence, though, that it has done so yet. However, undertaking terrorist attacks in faraway America or Europe has been beyond the TTP's capability.

Unlike the Afghan Taliban, who have largely restricted their activities to Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban have at times proved to be reckless and boastful. One remembers Baitullah Mahsud claiming responsibility for an incident in the US in early 2009 in which an American of Vietnamese origin fired at and killed many innocent people. Also, the now detained TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar was prone to claiming responsibility for terrorist strike anywhere and anytime, including past ones in the US and Spain. Those claims were untrue and damaging for the TTP's credibility. In fact, the false claims were one reason that the recent statements of Qari Hussain and Hakimullah regarding their attempts to launch attacks in the US weren't taken seriously.

However, the TTP would not refuse to avail an opportunity if someone like Shahzad were to come along and offer his services to attack targets in the US. It cannot possibly infiltrate its men into the US, provide finances or execute a terrorist attack from afar. But Hakimullah, Qari Hussain or one of the several TTP chapters would be glad to provide inspiration, impart bomb-making training or record a farewell "fidayee" message if someone living in the West volunteered to do the job on their behalf. In particular, converts to Islam in Western countries are prized by groups like Al-Qaeda, as the converts could easily live and travel there without arousing much suspicion. The second prized category are Muslims living in Western societies, as many of them turn to religion and are generally better aware, and critical, of some of the unjust policies of the US and its Nato allies towards Islamic countries.

The case of the Jordanian suicide bomber Dr Humam al-Khalil al-Balawi well illustrates the readiness of the TTP to own anyone willing to work for a joint cause. He wasn't recruited by the TTP in Jordan, but presented himself to Hakimullah and Qari Hussain in South Waziristan and offered to blow up the CIA station in Afghanistan's Khost province after having gained the trust of his Jordanian and American handlers.

In his farewell video recorded in the company of Hakimullah, the Jordanian bomber says he was going to avenge Baitullah's death in a US drone strike by attacking the CIA's Khost station that oversaw the drones programme and gathered intelligence on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In the video, Hakimullah says that avenging Baitullah's death had already been on his mind and then Allah sent the Jordanian Muslim brother to him to offer his services to take revenge from the American CIA agents.

Qari Hussain was the first to claim responsibility for the suicide attack in Khost that killed seven CIA and one Jordanian agent, along with some Afghan spies. Few believed him, as was the case when he first disclosed the TTP's hand in the attempted New York bombing, but in the end Qari Hussain was proved right. Although, on two subsequent occasions, the official TTP spokesman, Azam Tariq, denied the organisation's involvement and insisted that the Pakistani Taliban didn't know Shahzad, Qari Hussain hasn't spoken up again. However, one would like to think that if Shahzad had come into contact with Qari Hussain, he would have inspired him to become a suicide-bomber and provided him much better training in bomb-making.

The sloppy manner in which Shahzad tried to assemble the car-bomb and left evidence that led to his arrest makes one believe that he hadn't received proper training. As media reports based on his interrogation suggest, he was fired by revenge due to the deaths of innocent people in US drone attacks in Pakistan. The path he chose to avenge those deaths was wrong. He also lacked the skills to accomplish his mission. The consequences of his misadventure will be harsh not only for him but also his family and his native country.



The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar. Email: rahim yusufzai@yahoo.com
 
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Pakistan must be given credit for anti-terror efforts: Petraeus

WASHINGTON: US Central Command commander General David Petraeus, praised Pakistan’s military campaign against the Taliban, saying the ally must be given credit for its anti-terror efforts.

The Pakistani military proved its resolve when it went after the Taliban effectively last year in its northwest territories, Petraeus said at the Joint War fighting Conference in Virginia Beach.

Petraeus, whose area of responsibility covers Middle Eastern regions, Pakistan and Afghanistan, added that he was in western Pakistan last week and the Pakistani military was doing a good job of clearing the area of terrorists.

“It is important to give Pakistan credit for what it has done,” he said.

Pakistan has been striving to defeat the common enemy, he added.

“There is a common enemy out there, and we all have to cooperate in defeating it,” he stated in reference to counter terrorism efforts along the restive Afghan border region. app
 
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pakistan “Army to hit N.Waziristan militants in own time”

Monday, 10 May, 2010

Pakistan has come under fresh US pressure to send troops into North Waziristan after a failed bombing in New York claimed by TTP.

AMMAN: Pakistani forces, under US pressure to enter the militant bastion of North Waziristan, will do so but in their own time and when adequate resources are available, a Pakistani general said on Monday.

Lieutenant General Sardar Mahmood Ali Khan, Deputy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that such a big task in the mountainous northwest was not “firefighting” and had to be done in sequence with other battles.

Pakistan has come under fresh US pressure to send troops into North Waziristan after a failed bombing in New York claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan of special operations force commanders, Khan said the army was still busy consolidating its operations following an earlier push into South Waziristan and needed to adhere to a schedule for what he called a long campaign.

Asked if troops would eventually go into North Waziristan, home to a complex web of militant groups, to attack fighters there, he replied: “Of course, all these areas which are affected are on our agenda, yes.”

“LONG DRAWN WAR”

“It is a long-drawn battle, a long-drawn war, and we are continuing and there is a definite plan, there is a definite strategy which is being followed. It is just not firefighting, because there's a whole lot of areas affected by this (militancy).”

“Given the limitation of resources and troops involvement and not to leave one portion undone and going to another (too soon), it is sequential. In every area we have already got forces which are busy consolidating.”

Some Western officials have questioned the determination of Pakistan to tackle militants while the long-time US ally addresses other problems, from a sluggish economy to power cuts that have made the government unpopular.

Khan said North Waziristan's geography made it an exceptionally difficult region in which to wage war and suggested any move into the region could not be done lightly.

He referred to a presentation on mountain warfare given at the conference by a special forces colleague, Major General Farrukh Bashir, commander of the Pakistani military's Special Services Group.

Bashir enumerated many obstacles to mountain fighting, including difficulties in helicopter use, in achieving surprise, the need for large numbers of troops acclimatised for high altitude, and very restricted manoeuvrability.

Bashir told the audience: “Pakistan has the capacity and resolve to defeat militancy. We only expect the international community to understand the nature of the conflict. Some conflicts are very difficult to bring to an end quickly.”

Asked if he would accept more US special forces to Pakistan, Khan declined to reply directly, noting there had been a limited number of these forces doing training in Pakistan for some time and they continued to play that role.

Another participant in the conference, organised by the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, was Major General Charles Cleveland, Commander of Special Operations for US Central Command, which includes Afghanistan.

He told Reuters he had “no idea” whether more special forces would be going to Pakistan and added that it was not his decision to make.—Reuters
 
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Pakistan Security Brief - May 14, 2010

New arrests in Pakistan and US provide more evidence of TTP link in NY bomb attempt; TTP spokesman Azam Tariq warns that America will “burn”; NATO operation on Pakistan-Afghanistan border may have crossed into North Waziristan; militant commander arrested in Kurram; search operation conducted, fighter jets bomb militant positions in Khyber; six injured in Peshawar prison riot; investigative report examines role of poverty in Taliban’s garnering of support and recruitment in Swat; Pakistani court acquits nine terror suspects; intelligence officials say captured military vehicles likely to be used in future terror attack in Punjab; ICRC limits operations in Balochistan after receiving threats; more militants are using Karachi as a safe haven; two killed in targeted killing in Karachi.


NY bomb investigation

More arrests have been made in connection with the May 1 attempted car bombing in New York City’s Times Square. On Thursday, authorities in Pakistan arrested a man with suspected ties to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who later claimed to have been an accomplice of Shahzad. US intelligence officials said that the suspect’s story had been corroborated, providing an “independent stream” of evidence linking the TTP to the foiled terror plot. In addition, the FBI said that on Thursday it arrested two suspects in a Boston suburb and a third suspect in Portland, Maine who are believed to have provided funding to Shahzad. Officials said that raids were also conducted in suburbs of New York and Philadelphia but did not result in any arrests.[1]


TTP statements

A new video has emerged of TTP spokesman Azam Tariq issuing renewed threats against both the US and Pakistan. Tariq called for the overthrow of the Pakistani government, calling it “anti-Islam” and “anti-people”, adding that Taliban militants were winning in the fight against security forces’ operations in the tribal areas. Additionally, Tariq also threatened the US and its “imperialist allies” and declared that “America will burn”, ambiguously referring to attacks on US soil.[2]


FATA

A NATO military operation along the Afghan border with North Waziristan on Thursday may have crossed over into Pakistan as security forces were pursuing Taliban militants, according to local media sources. Additionally, two NATO fighter jets reportedly entered Pakistani airspace to bomb militant hideouts in the Shawal Valley of North Waziristan. Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas called these reports “incorrect” and denied that the skirmish spilled over into Pakistani territory. However, other military officials admitted that it was still unclear whether the operation was directed against militants on the Afghan side of the border or whether militants on the Pakistani side were being targeted.[3]

On Thursday, a top Taliban commander was arrested after security forces pulled over his vehicle in Kurram Agency. The arrested commander, identified as Muhammad Ali, belonged to the group of Maulvi Noor Jamal, alias Maulvi Toofan, and is believed to have been responsible for several attacks on security forces in Kurram.[4]

Frontier Constabulary forces conducted a search operation in the Sepah area of Khyber Agency’s Bara sub-district, arresting 51 suspects and recovering a large arms and ammunition cache. Also in Khyber, Pakistani Air Force fighter jets bombed several militant hideouts in Tirah Valley, reportedly killing nine militants and wounding ten others.[5]


Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Three police officers were among the six people injured on Thursday morning when prisoners in the overcrowded Peshawar Central Prison took a guard hostage and began pelting other prison officials with stones and bricks. The primary cause of the incident was reportedly a dispute over prisoners’ permission to use cell phones, which was becoming an increasingly common practice among detainees. Police later broke up the clash with batons and tear gas.[6]

A new investigative report examines how problems of poverty and development in Swat combined with the Pakistani government’s failure to respond to these issues were key factors which allowed the Taliban to garner local support and new recruits. The report also looks at the potential of the Taliban to use these same issues to mobilize support in Punjab province.[7]
 
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North Waziristan offensive decision up to Pakistan: NATO

* Official says NATO satisfied, welcomes steps taken against terrorist networks
* Simmons says NATO mulling agreement with Pakistan on sharing secret information


By Saeed Minhas

ISLAMABAD: It is up to Pakistan to decide when to move against the Taliban in North Waziristan, a key NATO official said on Thursday.

“It is for Pakistan to set its strategy and the timings,” Robert Simmons, the NATO deputy assistant secretary general, told reporters in Islamabad.

He said North Waziristan is the biggest area of concern for NATO, especially at a time when coalition forces are engaged in a fresh offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan, but NATO appreciates and is satisfied with the “relatively good cooperation” by Pakistan in the war on terrorism. “Overall we are satisfied and welcome the steps that Pakistan has taken against terrorist networks,” Simmons said.

North Waziristan is proving out to be one of the latest in the “do-more list” of the US administration these days. A Pakistan Army official, while referring to over-stretching and exhaustion of its troops, had made it clear to the demanding US visitors that a hasty push into the agency would prove counter-productive.

Pakistan and the US vowed on Wednesday to step up efforts to prevent terror plots, as US officials briefed Islamabad on inquiries into the failed New York bomb plot blamed on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. “We very much supported and praised the effort of Pakistan in dealing with terrorists in its own country. I welcome the steps which have been taken to deal it with in Swat and South Waziristan,” he added. He said NATO is looking to broaden its ties with Pakistan at the highest political level as well as expanding a training programme for Pakistani officers, civilians, police and counterterrorism officials, besides entering into bilateral agreements in copyright protection, arms control and proliferation.

Sharing information: NATO was mulling an agreement with Pakistan on sharing secret information, the official said.

“We also discussed the possibility of an agreement on the protection of classified information. It permits us to exchange classified information with the Pakistanis,” he said. Briefing reporters, Simmons praised both the civil government and military leadership for not only re-entering into dialogue with its archrival India, but also showed the ability to diversify its force deployment as per its national and regional requirements.

Relationship: Informing about his meetings with the top civil and military bureaucracy and a visit to counterterrorism centres, the official said NATO is very optimistic about “evolving relationship with Pakistan” and is awaiting the nomination of a military attaché in its headquarters in Brussels. Simmons said NATO does not want to be a global alliance but the challenges that have been mentioned before can arise anywhere in the world so it (NATO) must now respond to threats that are global in nature.

---------- Post added at 11:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 AM ----------

mods/admns - time to start a NWA sticky!!!
 
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