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Max Forte's List: Pakistan

    • 6 May 2011
    • At least eight people have been killed in a US drone strike in the troubled Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, officials have said.

       

      It is the first such attack since US commandos killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in a fortified compound in the north-western town of Abbottabad.

       

      The raid on Monday heightened tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

       

      Rallies are expected in some Pakistani cities against what has been seen as US infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty.

       

      Correspondents say that many are also critical of the Pakistani government for allowing the raid to take place. Pakistani officials insist they were not told about it in advance.

       

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    • US drone attack kills 15 in Pakistan tribal area
    • By RASOOL DAWAR, Associated Press

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    • Al-Qaida confirms Osama bin Laden's death
    • By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Maggie Michael, Associated Press    –  34 mins ago
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      CAIRO – Al-Qaida on Friday confirmed the killing of Osama bin Laden and warned of retaliation, saying Americans' "happiness will turn to sadness."

       

      The confirmation came in an Internet statement posted on militant websites, signed by "the general leadership" of al-Qaida. The announcement opens the way for the group to name a successor to bin Laden. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri is now the most prominent figure in the group and is a very likely contender to take his place.

       

      The statement, dated May 3, was the first by the terror network since bin Laden was killed Monday by U.S. commandos in a raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but it was posted on websites where the group traditionally puts out its messages.

       

      "We stress that the blood of the holy warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims and will no go in vain," the statement said. "We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries."

       

      "Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness," it said, "their blood will be mingled with their tears."

       

      In the statement, al-Qaida also called on the people of Pakistan — "where Sheik Osama was killed" — to rise up in revolt against its leaders. It also said that an audio message bin Laden recorded a week before his death would be issued soon.

    • Bin Laden's wife spent 6 years in Pakistani house
    • By MUNIR AHMED, Associated Press

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    • Pakistan: Bin Laden raid sparks resignation calls
    • By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Asif Shahzad, Associated Press    –  2 hrs 44 mins ago
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      ISLAMABAD – Prominent Pakistani lawmakers called for President Asif Ali Zardari and other senior government officials to resign Saturday after the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and embarrassed the nation.

       

      The demands followed a week in which countless questions swirled about how much the Pakistani government knew about bin Laden's hiding place and why the military was powerless to prevent U.S. commandos from helicoptering into the country to kill the al-Qaida chief.

       

      Pakistani officials have said they were totally in the dark, a hard thing for many Pakistanis to believe since bin Laden was holed up in Abbottabad, an army town only two and a half hours' drive from the capital, Islamabad.

       

      Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is now a lawmaker for the ruling Pakistan People's Party, fixed the blame squarely on Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani — likely motivated in part by past conflict with the two men.

       

      "This is a great violation of our sovereignty, but it is for the president and prime minister to resign and no one else," Qureshi told reporters in the central Pakistani city of Lahore.

       

      Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the main opposition leader in parliament, said the country's powerful army and intelligence chiefs should also step down. They are believed to control the real levers of power in Pakistan.

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    • Bin Laden raid sparks rare criticism in Pakistan
    • By SEBASTIAN ABBOT and ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Sebastian Abbot And Asif Shahzad, Associated Press    –  22 mins ago
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      ISLAMABAD – Outraged Pakistanis stepped up calls Saturday for top government officials to resign following the daring American helicopter raid that killed Osama bin Laden and embarrassed the nation.

       

      Some of the sharpest language was directed at the army and intelligence chiefs, a rare challenge to arguably the two most powerful men in the country, who are more accustomed to being feared than publicly criticized.

       

      The Pakistani army has said it had no idea bin Laden was hiding for up to six years in Abbottabad, an army town only two and a half hours' drive from the capital, Islamabad. That claim has met with skepticism from U.S. officials, who have repeatedly criticized Pakistan for failing to crack down on Islamist militants.

       

      But with anti-American sentiment already high in the South Asian nation, many Pakistani citizens were more incensed by the fact that the country's military was powerless to stop the American raid.

       

      Some lawmakers and analysts expressed hope that civilian leaders can seize on this anger to chip away at the military's power, but others doubt that even an embarrassment of this scale will shake the status quo.

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    • NATO helicopter attacks Pakistani army post
    • By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press

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    • Taliban car bomb blasts US convoy in Pakistan
    • By RIAZ KHAN and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Riaz Khan And Nahal Toosi, Associated Press    –  Fri May 20

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    • Officials: US missiles kill 16 in Pakistan
    • By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Ishtiaq Mahsud, Associated Press    –  12 mins ago
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      DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – The United States fired missiles at three suspected militant targets in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing 16 people and keeping the pressure on insurgents days after a strike was believed to have killed a top al-Qaida commander, intelligence officials said.

       

      The identities of the dead in the unusually intense volley of drone-fired strikes in the tribal region of South Waziristan were not known, but several Arabs were said to be among the victims of one of them, according to the officials, who did not give their names in line with agency policy.

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    • US to hold back $800 mln in aid to Pakistan: report

    • WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will hold back about $800 million in aid to the Pakistani military because Washington is unhappy with Pakistan's expulsion of U.S. military trainers and its campaign against militants, the New York Times reported Saturday.

       

      Relations between the two governments have been strained with the United States wanting Pakistan to intensify its counterterrorism efforts. The relationship also has been tense due to the surprise U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2, U.S. drone attacks that have killed civilians and a raft of other issues.

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    • 2nd US drone strike kills 18 in Pakistan
    • Tue Jul 12, 2011

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    • Pakistan blasts US comments about spy agency

    • ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's army chief dismissed U.S. allegations that his spy agency had helped Afghan militants attack the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, saying Friday the charges were baseless and part of a public "blame game" detrimental to peace in Afghanistan.

      Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani's terse statement suggested Islamabad had no immediate intention of acting on renewed American demands that it attack the Haqqani militant faction in their main base in northwest Pakistan. It also ramped up a dispute between the two nominally allied nations that has exposed their increasingly deteriorating relationship.

      Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday accused the army's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of supporting Haqqani insurgents in planning and executing a 22-hour assault on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan last week and a truck bomb that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier.

      Kayani said in a statement that the allegations were "very unfortunate and not based on facts."

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    • Anti-US Pakistani cricketer rallies 100,000 people

    • ISLAMABAD (AP) — Cricket legend and opposition politician Imran Khan railed against the government and its alliance with the U.S. before more than 100,000 flag-waving supporters Sunday, establishing himself as a force in Pakistani politics.

      Khan, 58, entered politics 15 years ago when he founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or the Movement for Justice Party, but up to now he has struggled to translate his fame into votes. The rally in the eastern city of Lahore indicated his message may have found new resonance at a time when Pakistanis are fed up with the country's chronic insecurity and economic malaise.

      "I have come here to register my hatred against this corrupt system," said 29-year-old Nadeem Iqbal, who attended the rally.

      A poll conducted by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center in June found Khan, the captain of Pakistan's 1992 world champion cricket team, to be the most popular political figure in the country.

      Khan's rising popularity could be a concern for the U.S., given his harsh criticism of the Pakistani government's cooperation with Washington in the fight against Islamist militants.

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    • U.S. drone strikes must stop, says American lawyer

    • ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Prominent international human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith was impressed by the 16-year-old boy who wanted to draw attention to civilian deaths caused by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan.

       

      Tariq Aziz had volunteered to take pictures of people killed by the remotely piloted aircraft to help Stafford Smith highlight what he calls illegal killings.

       

      Three days later, on October 31, he and his 12-year-old cousin were themselves killed by a drone missile strike in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, Stafford Smith said.

       

      For the veteran lawyer, the deaths highlighted major flaws in the CIA-run drone campaign, which U.S. officials say is invaluable in the war on militants.

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    • Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills up to 28

    • YAKKAGHUND, Pakistan (Reuters) - NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis.

       

      Pakistan retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in almost half of the alliance's non-lethal materiel.

       

      The attack is the worst single incident of its kind since Pakistan uneasily allied itself with Washington in the days immediately following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.

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    • NATO attack allegedly kills 24 Pakistani troops

    • A NATO spokesman said it was likely that coalition airstrikes caused Pakistani casualties, but an investigation was being conducted to determine the details. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest friendly fire incident by NATO against Pakistani troops since the Afghan war began a decade ago.

      A prolonged closure of Pakistan's two Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies could cause serious problems for the coalition. The U.S., which is the largest member of the NATO force in Afghanistan, ships more than 30 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan. The coalition has alternative routes through Central Asia into northern Afghanistan, but they are costlier and less efficient.

      Pakistan temporarily closed one of its Afghan crossings to NATO supplies last year after U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers. Suspected militants took advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks carrying NATO supplies. The government reopened the border after about 10 days when the U.S. apologized. NATO said at the time the relatively short closure did not significantly affect its ability to keep its troops supplied.

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    • November 29, 2011
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      Pakistan Announces Boycott of Afghanistan Conference

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    • Pakistan says it will boycott a major Afghanistan reconciliation conference next week in Germany to protest NATO's recent airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

      Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's decision to boycott the Afghanistan conference in Bonn, Germany, comes despite an appeal by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to reconsider.

      And because certain Afghan militant groups have ties to Pakistan's security forces, Pakistan's engagement is considered crucial to any future Afghan stability effort.

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    • NATO attack was blatant aggression: Pakistan army

    • ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A senior Pakistani army official has said a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 soldiers was a deliberate, blatant act of aggression, hardening Pakistan's stance on an incident which could hurt efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

       

      In a briefing to editors carried in local newspapers on Wednesday, Major-General Ishfaq Nadeem, director general of military operations, also said NATO forces were alerted they were attacking Pakistani posts, but helicopters kept firing.

       

      "Detailed information of the posts was already with ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), including map references, and it was impossible that they did not know these to be our posts," The News quoted Nadeem as saying in the briefing held at army headquarters on Tuesday.

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    • After NATO strike, Pakistan adjusts rules of engagement

    • ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's commanders in the wild Afghan border region can return fire if attacked without waiting for permission, the army chief said, a change in rules of engagement that could stoke tension after Saturday's NATO strike killed 24 Pakistani troops.

       

      The attack sparked fury in Pakistan and further complicated U.S.-led efforts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad, still seething at a secret U.S. raid in May which killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and stabilise the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.

       

      "I do not want there to be any doubt in the minds of any commander at any level about the rules of engagement," Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani said in a communique on Friday.

       

      "In case of any attack, you have complete liberty to respond forcefully using all available resources. You do not need any permission for this."

       

      A military source explained that this amounted to a change in the rules for Pakistani forces guarding the Western border against militant movements to and from Afghanistan.

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    • US vacating air base in Pakistan used by drones

    • ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States is vacating an air base in Pakistan used by American drones that target Taliban and al-Qaida militants, complying with a key demand made by Islamabad in retaliation for the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, the U.S. ambassador said Monday.

      The move is not expected to significantly curtail drone attacks in Pakistan since Shamsi air base in southwestern Baluchistan province was only used to service drones that had mechanical or weather difficulties.

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