Pakistan

CIA Can Expand Using Drones in Pakistan: Report

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:18:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - The White House has authorized the CIA to expand the use of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan to track down and strike suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda members, the New York Times reported Friday.

The Times, citing unnamed sources, said that authorization to expand CIA drone usage in Pakistan's tribal areas came this week, coinciding with President Barack Obama's announcement Tuesday of sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

Anti-US Feeling Running High as CIA Drones Take a Civilian Toll

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:30:35 -0500

by Declan Walsh in Islamabad

It is one of the ironies of America's war: while close to 100,000 troops will soon be deployed inside Afghanistan, Obama's core enemy – the men who plotted the 9/11 attacks – are located across the border in Pakistan.

In his West Point speech, Obama identified the tribal belt that straddles the two countries as the "epicentre of the violent extremism practised by al-Qaida". There, he said, "new attacks are being plotted as I speak".

The Rotten Fruits of War

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:11:48 -0400

by Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly

Five months ago, shortly after the Pakistani government had begun a military offensive against suspected Taliban fighters in the northernmost area of the country, we arrived in Islamabad, the capital, as part of a small delegation organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). Our initial travel plans had focused on learning more about civilian suffering caused by U.S. drone attacks.

The Number No One's Counting

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:05:11 -0400

by Alan Fisher

The pictures are too gruesome to show. The charred bodies lie under a makeshift shroud. Someone near the camera holds up an identity card - giving one corpse a name, a history, a dignity that's now been stolen.

Refugee Flood Reveals Human Cost of South Waziristan's Invisible War

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:36:44 -0400

by Declan Walsh in Dera Ismail Khan

The war in South Waziristan started early for Ghufran. As Pakistani warplanes pounded the Taliban stronghold of Ladha last week, in preparation for the ground offensive now under way, the 11-year-old boy and his family scrambled to safety across a range of jagged mountains.

A New Battle Begins in Pakistan

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:52:35 -0400

by Syed Saleem Shahzad

ISLAMABAD - Despite serious reservations, Pakistan's military at the weekend began an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.

The deployment of about 30,000 troops in South Waziristan, backed by the air force, shifts the main theater of the South Asian battlefield from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

With Friends Like the US, Pakistan Doesn't Need Enemies

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:34:56 -0400

by Simon Tisdall

As the Obama administration dithers over what to do for the best in Afghanistan, neighbouring Pakistan is paying an increasingly heavy price. Like a spate of previous Taliban attacks in recent days, today's mayhem in Lahore underscored fears that the principal consequence of Washington's Afghan paralysis, albeit unintended, is the further destabilisation of the Pakistani state.

Pakistanis might be forgiven for wondering whether, with friends like these in Washington, who needs enemies?

Spate of Attacks Leaves 27 dead, 30 injured in Lahore

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:02:58 -0400

LAHORE - Teams of gunmen attacked three security sites on Thursday in Lahore, killing a total of 27 people and leaving at least 30 injured.

One of the attacks, on the Elite Police Academy on Bedian Road, lasted into Thursday afternoon before security forces killed the five attackers and freed a family they were holding hostage, police said.

Obama’s Pakistan Policy in Disarray After Opposition to $7.5bn Aid Conditions

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:49:52 -0400

by Jeremy Page and Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

President Obama's Pakistan policy was in disarray yesterday after Islamabad raised objections to the stringent terms attached to his new $7.5 billion aid package.

Pakistan Readies for New Assault on Bin Laden Lair

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:19:22 -0400

by Omar Waraich in Islamabad and Andrew Buncombe

In what is likely to be its sternest challenge yet, Pakistan's military is poised to launch a major offensive in the coming days against militants in the remote mountainous terrain of South Waziristan, long rumoured to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden.