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Concerned US asks Pak for immediate resolution of explosive Baloch issue

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep.2 (ANI): Expressing concerns over the Baloch insurgency, the United States has asked the Pakistan Government to settle all outstanding issues with the Baloch people as soon as possible.

According to sources, three US Senators met President Asif Ali Zardari and asked him to resolve the crisis while expressing concerns over the deteriorating law and order situation in the region.

Senators Carl Levin and Jack Reed of the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee and Edward Kaufman of the Foreign Relations Committee stressed on the need for complete peace and stability in Balochistan during their talks with Zardari, The Dawn reports.

The US Congressional delegation led by Senator Carl Levin, which is on a visit to Pakistan currently, told Zardari that the stability of Balochistan was imperative for success in the ‘war on terror’.

Briefing media person after the meeting, Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Zardari urged the senators to try to hasten the reimbursement and supply of critically needed equipment, including helicopter gunships.

Zardari also requested Washington to speed up the process for the early adoption of the Kerry Lugar Bill, and also asked the White House to release all outstanding dues amounting to 1.6 billion dollars in order to help Islamabad counter extremism effectively.

“Payment of outstanding amounts in the support funds is important for the security forces to continue the ongoing military operation against militants,” The Dawn quoted Babar, as saying.

“President Zardari said attaching conditions to aid would be counter-productive and impart a transactional nature to the relationship which must be avoided,” he added.

Zardari also welcomed the Obama Administration’s commitment to help Pakistan address its increasing energy needs. (ANI)

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Pak terms US drone strikes ‘futile’, claims Laden is in Afghanistan

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 12 (ANI) : Claiming that no top Al-Qaeda leader is present inside its territory, Pakistan has termed the continuous US drones attacks in its ‘lawless’ tribal areas along the Afghanistan border as ‘futile’.

The Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, has claimed that neither bin Laden nor any ‘big fish’ of Al-Qaeda were present in Pakistan.

Malik said Laden could not have escaped the Pakistan Army if he happened to be in the country.

“If Osama was in Pakistan, we would know, with all the thousands of troops we have sent into the tribal areas in recent months,” The Times quoted Malik, as saying.

He claimed that bin Laden is hiding in Afghanistan itself.

“According to our information, Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar,” said Malik.

Malik insisted that the drone strikes were a waste of time, as the Al-Qaeda leadership was in eastern Afghanistan.

“They’re getting mid-level people not big fish. And they are counterproductive because they are killing civilians and turning locals against our government. We try to win people’s hearts, then one drone attack drives them away,” he said.

Malik’s statement came a day after a US Senator asked Islamabad to accept its ‘tacit approval’ of the drone hits.

Senator Carl Levin, told a Congressional hearing that the attacks would not have taken place without the ‘tacit approval’ of the Pakistani leadership, so it was wrong on Islamabad’s part to blame the US for the missile hits.

“For them to look the other way or to give us the green light privately and then to attack us publicly leaves us, it seems to me, at a very severe disadvantage and loss with the Pakistani people,” said Levin.

Officials said that despite Pakistan’s double faced attitude on the issue, the US is working to develop a new strategy to reduce stirring tension between both the countries.

Pakistan has been criticizing the Obama administration for the drone strikes against the insursents in the tribal areas, saying that the attacks are proving ‘counterproductive’ in its war on terror, as they had killed far more civilians than militants.

Official Pakistani sources claimed that since 2006, the drones have killed 700 civilians and only 14 militants. (ANI)

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Softening anti-India provisions in new US bill will come at a cost to Pak

April 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.16 (ANI): Experts believe that Pakistan will have to convince the United States of a stern action on terror groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) if Islamabad wants Washington to soften its stand on the conditions it has imposed in the new US bill for the region.

Pakistan has expressed its discontent over the annual US aid of 1.5 billion dollars for the next five years, as it comes with certain conditions which are quite obliviously unacceptable to it.

According to the new US bill, Pakistan is required to change its attitude towards India, considering it as its friend, and not an enemy whether New Delhi reciprocates such gestures or not.

Furthermore, Islamabad will also have to ban all Kashmiri groups struggling to free the valley from India’s control.

This clearly reflects that the US considers that the terror groups based on Pakistani soil have contributed to increasing militancy in the region.

Experts believe that the US Congress could soften the two conditions, but not before putting another condition demanding a firmer commitment from Pakistan to root out the militants from its soil specially those based in FATA.

According to Senator Carl Levin, Islamabad is more concerned about its border with India, ignoring the real problem along the western Afghan border which allows the militants to operate freely in the region, The Dawn reports.

President Obama’s new envoy for Kabul General Karl Eikenberry, who has headed US forces in Afghanistan, noted that militant groups operating in Kashmir have had links with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and have also initiated actions against the allied forces. (ANI)

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US to step up drone strikes in Pakistan: Report

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

NEW YORK: Undeterred by the threats of retaliation from militants, the US intends to step up its drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas and may
extend them deeper inside the country, a media report said today.

On Sunday, a Taliban leader vowed to unleash two suicide attacks a week, similar to Saturday’s Islamabad blast, unless the CIA stopped firing missiles in the region.

Pakistani officials have already expressed concern that the missile strikes fuel more violence in the country.

But the New York Times quoted US officials as saying that the plan to intensify missile strikes underscored President Obama’s goal to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as to strike at other militant groups.

Officials are also proposing to broaden the strikes to Baluchistan, south of the tribal areas, unless Pakistan reduces the incursion of militants there, the report said.

Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, acknowledged last week that “the price is very heavy” when missile strikes mistakenly kill civilians, but he said the strikes were” an extremely effective tool”.

Some experts have said that a crucial change in aerial warfare, in which US forces are often stalking individuals rather than tanks and other large armaments, has raised new legal issues.

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US Senator says Pak has neither will nor capability to act against extremist groups

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.2 (ANI): Democrat Senator Carl Levin has questioned Pakistan’s unwillingness to act against extremists based on its soil and secure its border along Afghanistan.

“I remain skeptical that Pakistan has either the will or the capability to secure their border,” The Dawn quoted Levin, as saying.

Addressing a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on Obama’s revamped policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Senator Levin said it was in Pakistan’s own interest to tackle the insurgent threat sincerely.

Levin said he is not against President Obama’s decision to offer Pakistan a hefty package, but would only support the economic and military aid after being convinced that Islamabad is acting against the internal terror network sincerely. evin had earlier said that stability in the region was next to impossible unless Pakistan acts sincerely against terror camps based on its soil.

“Pakistan has not displayed the political will to go after extremists, and instead is more inclined to try and buy peace with people I don’t think you can buy peace with,” Levin said.

“I have no reluctance in purchasing stability if it’s effective. But I don’t think it’s effective unless the recipient of the support sees where the threat is to them. I think otherwise it can backfire,” he added.

US CENTOM chief General David Petraeus, who was also present in the meeting, however, differed with Senator Levin’s skepticism about additional US aid to Pakistan.

General Petraeus said US assistance would help Pakistan fight the insurgents.

He said that the rising insurgency in the region not only threatened Afghanistan and Pakistan but it is dangerously threatening for India too.

General Petraeus also expressed fears that extremism in the region has raised the chances of terrorist attacks in the United States too. (ANI)

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Pakistan must prove willingness to act against extremism prior to aid: US Senator

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.1 (ANI): While the Obama Administration is mulling plans to dispatch at least 1.5 billion dollars in aid to Pakistan, Democrat Senator Carl Levin has said that Pakistan must be made accountable for all the help it receives, and that it should prove its willingness to curb the increasing extremism inside its territory.

Talking to reporters here, Levin said stability could not be bought in the region unless Pakistan acts sincerely against terror camps based on its soil.

“Pakistan has not displayed the political will to go after extremists, and instead is more inclined to try and buy peace with people I don’t think you can buy peace with,” The Dawn quoted Levin, as saying.

Levin said he is not against President Obama’s decision to offer Pakistan a hefty package, but would only support the economic and military support after being convinced that Islamabad’s acting against the internal terror network was for its own interest.

He also charged NATO nations for failing to provide the funding and troops needed to wage the ‘War on Terror’ in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, Levin termed the performance of allied forces in the on-going war as ‘nothing short of pitiful.’(ANI)

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US senator says fates of India, Pak, Afghanistan linked

March 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar. 21 (ANI): The Chairman of the US Armed Service Committee, Senator Carl Levin, has said the fates of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are interlinked, while indicating that the improvement in Indo-Pak relations is the key to stability in South Asia.

The leading Democrat lawmaker also said India and Pakistan faced a common threat of terrorism.

“In South Asia, the interests and fates of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are linked. The Mumbai attacks last November, and the aftermath, remind us that tensions still exist between India and Pakistan, and stability between these two countries is vital to stability in the region,” the Daily Times quoted Levin, as saying.

His remarks come in the wake of reports that Washington has asked New Delhi to pull back troops from its border with Pakistan, to ease bilateral tensions.

The US reportedly is trying to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan so that Islamabad can focus on Afghanistan. (ANI)

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Missile strikes against al Qaeda militants in Pak to continue: US

January 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 28 (ANI): Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said the United States will continue to carry out missile strikes against al Qaeda militants hiding in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials have complained publicly about the attacks from unmanned US aircraft in the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, saying that these strikes are a violation of its sovereignty and will increase public resentment towards both Pakistan Government and the United States.

US officials normally decline to comment publicly on reports of the missile strikes, but Gates made an exception when asked about Pakistan’s complaints at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

It was the first time that Gates has testified before Congress as Obama’s Pentagon chief, The Daily Times reported.

“Both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after al Qaeda wherever it is and we will continue to pursue that,” Gates said.

Asked by committee chairman Senator Carl Levin, if that decision had been conveyed to the Pakistani Government, Gates replied: “Yes, sir.”

He described the war in Afghanistan as the US military’s greatest challenge and top priority under President Barack Obama.

“There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge right now is Afghanistan,” he said. “President Obama has made it clear that the Afghanistan theatre should be our top overseas military priority.”

Gates said US and NATO military operations that killed civilians caused ‘enormous harm’ to American interests in Afghanistan, and added a shortage of ground forces led to over-reliance on airstrikes.

“My worry is that the Afghans come to see us as part of the problem rather than part of the solution, and then we are lost,” he warned. “We have got to figure out a better way to do these things.” (ANI)

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