Pakistan: US policy after Musharraf, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Pakistan: US policy after Musharraf

By Teresita Schaffer

General Pervez Musharraf's resignation after nearly nine years at Pakistan's helm should take the brakes off the transition to an elected Government. This is good news for a country whose political institutions have nearly suffocated under years of military-dominated Governments. It is not the end of Pakistan's political crisis, but it gives the United States an opportunity to recalibrate US-Pakistan relations without the complication of the personal connection with Gen Musharraf.

The US Administration was slow to realise that Gen Musharraf was no longer capable of being the face of US-Pakistan relations. It continued to see him as a 'factor for stability' even after he had been decisively rejected in the elections and had lost control of the machinery of Pakistan's Government. But in the weeks prior to his exit, the Bush Administration made clear its intention to let Gen Musharraf's future play out according to Pakistan's political dynamics. So, more importantly, did the Pakistani Army.

Now Pakistan needs to come to grips with its urgent problems, and the US needs to help it do so. This will require determination and sophistication in dealing with an elected Government and a population that blames the US for many of its problems. It will also require some attention to the long-term reforms that the country has needed for decades.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--us-policy-after-musharraf/islam-and-the-west/d/693

Pakistan fears major 9/11-type strike soon, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Pakistan fears major 9/11-type strike soon

By Shafqat Ali

Rawalpindi, July 14: Early June, about 300 fighters from jihadist groups came together for a secret gathering here, in the same city that serves as headquarters to the Pakistani Army. The groups were launched long ago with the Army’s clandestine support to fight against India in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. But at the meeting, they agreed to resolve their differences and commit more fighters to another front instead: Afghanistan.

"The message was that the jihad in Kashmir is still continuing but it is not the most important right now. Afghanistan is the fighting ground, against the Americans there," said Toor Gul, a leader of the militant group Hezb-ul Mujahedeen. He said the groups included the Al Qaeda-linked Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, banned by Pakistan and branded terrorists by the US. The US military says militant attacks in eastern Afghanistan have increased 40 per cent in 2008 over 2007. And for two straight months, the death toll of foreign troops in Afghanistan has exceeded that of Iraq. On Sunday, nine US soldiers were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, the deadliest single attack for the US since June 2005.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan-fears-major-9/11-type-strike-soon/war-on-terror/d/226

Peace in Middle East: Spanish vision, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Peace in Middle East: Spanish vision

By Miguel Angel

Today, it is the regional actors themselves who are setting their commitments and the pace of their actions. The United States continues to be an indispensable reference, but it is no longer the only one. All of the parties have understood that each of them should assume its own quota of responsibility. The EU is now, thanks to the Treaty of Lisbon, in a very different situation from that of the divided organization which took its seat in Madrid’s Oriente Palace in the autumn of 1991, Then, there was not even an authorized Palestinian delegation, and of course. Iran was neither in the room, nor — more importantly — was it on the minds of the organizers.

http://newageislam.com/peace-in-middle-east--spanish-vision/islam-and-the-west/d/155