Filed under: Afghanistan, airstrikes, George Bush, military strike, Musharraf, NATO, Pakistan, War On Terror | Tags: Dr Hormon Olmen, Rawalpindi, Waziristan, Yousaf Raza Gilani
U.S. missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan
Reuters
July 28, 2008
A suspected U.S. missile strike on a Pakistani madrasa killed six people, including foreigners, on Monday in tribal lands regarded as an al Qaeda and Taliban hotbed, intelligence officials said.
The target of the pre-dawn attack was a house close to a madrasa used by militants near Azam Warsak village, about 20 km (12 miles) west of Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.
The attack, one of many in recent months, was launched hours before Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was due to meet President George W. Bush in Washington for talks that will focus on the conduct of the war against terrorism.
The United States, alarmed by rising casualties among Western forces in Afghanistan, wants Pakistan to do more to contain the al Qaeda and Taliban threat in its territory.
A Pakistani military spokesman confirmed an incident had occurred in Waziristan, but said he was unaware of details, though intelligence officials in Wana gave a clearer picture.
One official told Reuters the madrasa, or religious school, was a militant base and the owner of the targeted house, a tribesman named Malik Sallat Khan, had ties with the militants.
Pakistan has right to retaliate if NATO attacked: President
Pakistan Link
July 28, 2008
President Pervez Musharraf Saturday said he is concerned over the Nato forces attack in Pakistani tribal areas and warned a U-S think-tank that no such attacks will be tolerated in future, and Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate.
Talking to a senior advisor of the US think-tank Dr Hormon Olmen in Rawalpindi, President Musharaf asserted that the Afghan-based Nato forces are not being attacked from the Pakistani soil nor is any cross-border activity taking place from here.
According to sources, the President reiterated that a stable Afghanistan in the interest of Pakistan and said baseless allegations against Pakistan could affect the war on terror.
Dr. Olmen told the President that the Pak-Afghan border security is a joint responsibility of both the countries and a cooperation between them is the need of the hour.
Filed under: Afghanistan, airstrikes, al-qaeda, bin laden, Coup, False Flag, George Bush, Iran, Iraq, military base, military bases, military strike, Musharraf, nation building, occupation, Pakistan, Pentagon, Robert Gates, Shock and Awe, Taliban, Tehran, Troops, War On Terror, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Waziristan
Pentagon planning ‘boots on ground’ in Waziristan
Pakistan Daily Times
June 2, 2008
WASHINGTON: “So alarmed is the Pentagon, that Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ plans to send US ground forces into the FATA are being rapidly advanced,” writes journalist Eric Margolis in his syndicated column read worldwide.
“Apparently, Washington’s criticism of Islamabad’s recent peace deals in the tribal territories has sharply intensified. American conservatives are claiming Pakistan has ‘sold out’ to Al Qaeda and Taliban, and is sheltering Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts.”
US fears: Margolis writes about Washington’s desperate efforts to keep President Pervez Musharraf afloat because it fears that a fully civilianised government in Islamabad would be more responsive to anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and wash its hands of the war on terror at a time when more, not less, Pakistani support is needed to help US troops in Afghanistan confront the Taliban summer offensive.
“Musharraf’s slow-motion fall from power has also wrong-footed Washington because it was counting on using US bases there in the event of an attack on Iran,” reveals Margolis. “The US capitol is again buzzing with rumours of an impending air campaign against at least 3,000 targets in Iran that will be launched sometime before November elections to boost the fortunes of the embattled Republicans. Israel’s American supporters are waging an all-out campaign for war against Iran. This week, they began running TV commercials claiming Iran was attacking the United States.”
Margolis argues that as Pakistan’s economy takes a battering over soaring oil prices and political instability, and faces a punishing recession, if not an outright financial crisis, it will become increasingly dependent on US aid. “That is Washington’s last hope. Pakistan will have the Hobson’s choice of either continuing to support the US-led war in Afghanistan, and incur growing armed resistance in Pashtun tribal areas, or be left in the cold and without US financial aid when its failing economy finally hits the wall.”
He explains that the Pentagon is angry and frustrated over the failing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and dismayed with Pakistan for being ‘non-responsive’ to US demands. “Washington is so used to getting its way that it cannot abide the natives being insubordinate. The mood in Washington is increasingly warlike and grim as the beleaguered Bush administration enters its final days.”
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