| War on Terror | |
| 13 Aug 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| India worried over Taliban Pak inroads | |
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11 Aug 2008, TNN
NEW DELHI: As Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged NATO and the international community to target terrorist "sanctuaries" inside Pakistan, the Taliban leadership promised over the weekend that they could easily take over Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. It's a development that rang many alarm bells in India, particularly as it views with increasing concern Pakistan's growing tryst with instability.
Whether Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf resigns on Monday or not, India's concerns are more extensive. While political instability rages inside Pakistan, the Taliban and al-Qaida militants are digging in, not only in the FATA areas but also in interiors of Pakistan. According to Indian security sources, almost half of the Taliban strength now comes from foreign fighters like Uzbeks, Chechens and Punjabis from Pakistan's heartland.
And the more difficult fact — that nobody quite knows what to do about — is a large number of Uzbeks and Chechens apparently come through Iranian territory. On Saturday, this was manifested in a statement by the Tehrik-e-Taliban, better known as the Pakistan Taliban under Baitullah Mehsud.
Maulvi Omar was quoted as saying that Altaf Hussain (MQM) should know that the Taliban could take over Karachi whenever they wanted. He said the people of Karachi "should have no fear from the Taliban as we preach solidarity amongst Muslims". Pakistani media reports quoted Omar as saying that the Taliban had much strength in Karachi as well as in other parts of the country. "We are capable of capturing any city of the country at any given time," he emphatically stated.
"We want to strengthen Muslims as well as our movement, so we need cooperation from all the parties, religious or political," said Omar.
"Our battle is not with Muslims but with anti-Muslim and tyrannical forces. The jihad against these elements is not only in Karachi but across the country and it will be carried out until we have a complete hold on the world," he declared.
Meanwhile, Karzai has been taking an approach that is sorely lacking in India — calling attention of the world on the "sanctuaries" of terror inside Pakistan, instead of airstrikes inside Afghanistan, which only serve to kill innocent civilians and turn public opinion against the West.
"If the world acts properly now and pays attention to the nests of terrorists, their training sites...the problem of the region would be solved," Karzai said. The Afghan president said that he did not wish to harm Pakistan but wanted the destruction of financial centres and training bases of terrorists there. According to Karzai's advisors, between the Taliban and Jalaluddin Haqqani's group, there are somewhere around 6,000-8,000 suicide fighters ready to be "martyred". The difficult areas, according to Indian sources, are the Gardez-Khost road inside Afghanistan and the Kunar and Nuristan provinces. "The struggle against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan," Karzai said. "The only result of the use of airstrikes is the killing of civilians. This is not the way to wage the fight against terrorism," he added.
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Karzai urges world to target militants in Pakistan 10 Aug 2008, REUTERS
KABUL: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai urged the world on Sunday to target the Taliban in Pakistan, adding that operations by foreign troops in his country had only led to civilian deaths among Afghans and not success in the war.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are both important US allies but ties between the two neighbours have for decades been dogged by a border dispute. Recently, Kabul openly accused Pakistan of involvement in violence in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaida militants routinely attack foreign and Afghan forces.
"If the world acts properly now and pays attention to the nests of terrorists, their training sites...the problem of the region would be solved," Karzai said at a news conference when asked to comment about what the West, in particular the United States, needed to do to contain the growing Afghan violence.
"The use of air force in the campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan, apart from civilian casualties ... has not had any other fruit to the people of Afghanistan and will not lead in the success against terrorism."
Karzai said since the overthrow of the Taliban, he had repeatedly told Western nations with troops in Afghanistan that the danger against his country and the foreign troops was in Pakistan.
He said the West had only now realised the dangers and agreed with his assessment.
Afghanistan, Karzai said, did not wish to harm its neighbour, but wanted "hundred percent" the destruction of financial centres and training bases of terrorists there.
More than 15,000 people, including over 460 foreign troops from NATO and the US military, have been killed in Afghanistan since 2006 when the ousted Taliban relaunched their insurgency.
Civilians, apart from the Taliban attacks, have also fallen victim to foreign troops operations and some 400 non-combatants have been killed so far this year, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies.
Afghanistan says Pakistan harbours the militants and Karzai last month said directly that Pakistani agents were behind recent spates of violence, including the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7th which killed 58 people.
India has blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency for the attack on its mission -- a charge denied by Pakistan.
Islamabad backed the Taliban in Afghanistan through the 1990s but officially cut support after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers have been killed trying to dislodge al-Qaida and Taliban fighters from enclaves on the Afghan border. The militants have been responsible for many bomb attacks on Pakistani security forces.
Despite that, Pakistan has never been able to dispel suspicion that for various reasons, it is at least turning a blind eye to help going to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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23 villagers held hostage by Taliban By Our Correspondent August 12, 2008 Tuesday, Sha'aban 9, 1429
MINGORA, Aug 11: The Taliban besieged a village in Kishora area of Swat's Charbagh tehsil on Monday and held 23 villagers hostage.
Taliban's spokesman Muslim Khan denied the report about the siege and said that a local jirga handed over six villagers who had allegedly fired on Taliban fighters during an action on Sunday night.
"Taliban took away 23 people and asked the villagers to hand over the real culprits to them."
Later, the 23-member jirga of the village held talks with the Taliban and handed over the six men, including three youths, to them.
Muslim Khan said the men, if found guilty, would be punished in accordance with 'Sharia'.
Local people said the militants had raided the village and captured weapons.
A bridge in Dherai, linking Mingora with Matta, was partially damaged when a bomb planted by the militants exploded on Monday morning. A basic health unit, a mosque and a number of shops were damaged. |
8:44 AM
Sultan Shahin
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