Afghans ready for more responsibility: U.N. envoy

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Afghanistan should be given more responsibility for its own security and administration with progress checked against six-month benchmarks, the United Nations’ top diplomat to the country said.

With around 150,000 NATO-led troops faced off against a Taliban insurgency at its strongest since their overthrow in 2001, Western governments are keen to pull out but fear the Afghans are not yet ready to take more charge.

“It is a chicken and egg situation, but the chicken is saying ‘we are ready to produce an egg’,” Staffan de Mistura, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for Afghanistan, told Reuters in an interview.

Over 60 foreign ministers — including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — gather in the Afghan capital on Tuesday for a conference at which President Hamid Karzai will plead for more control of $13 billion in Afghan aid and development.

The country has received over $40 billion since 2002, but Karzai says the government has handled only around 20 percent of that and much of the graft and waste complained about in the West was lost through direct channels.

“They have a point,” de Mistura said, arguing that if the government institutions were seen to be driving development, ordinary Afghans would support it.

He drew parallels with Iraq, where he served as the U.N. special envoy at the height of violence there.

“The moment they started taking their own future in their hands, we saw an improvement — not perfect by any means, but an improvement.”

NOT READY FOR PEACE

Security remains the biggest factor.

“We all know, everybody knows, everybody recognizes, that there is no military solution to the conflict.”

“However there is, unfortunately, still a perception that the time for dialogue is not ready. The Taliban don’t seem to be indicating yet that they are ready for that dialogue.”

Although Washington did not want to see the Taliban leadership included in peace talks, it would be up to Afghans to decide “who was allowed inside the tent,” he said.

The government has offered amnesty and reintegration to low-level Taliban fighters who agree to abide by the constitution, renounce violence, and quit militant groups.

Asked if this should be expanded to Taliban leaders, he said: “… if anybody on the Afghan side would accept those three conditions, it would be difficult for the community … to say you aren’t allowed inside the tent.

The conference will hear Karzai and his ministers present blueprint of projects and timetables de Mistura believes could deliver results within a year.

Asked what differences he expected in six months, he said:

“First we will see the Afghans taking much more seriously the fact that responsibility has been given to them and therefore they need to make some major effort on the issue of accountability, corruption and delivering concrete assistance to their own people.

“Second, I hope we will be seeing progress on security, and therefore the ideal time for political dialogue, but between now and six months on the security side it will probably look worse before it looks better.

“What we need before the six months is over is … a vision by the Afghan government which will be articulated in a way that will engage and reassure every stakeholder — both internally and outside, and regional stakeholders as well — of what Afghanistan can and should be looking like in two years time,” he said.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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INTERVIEW-Afghans ready for more responsibility – U.N. envoy

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KABUL, July 18 (Reuters) – Afghanistan should be given more responsibility for its own security and administration with progress checked against six-month benchmarks, the United Nations’ top diplomat to the country said.

With around 150,000 NATO-led troops faced off against a Taliban insurgency at its strongest since their overthrow in 2001, Western governments are keen to pull out but fear the Afghans are not yet ready to take more charge.

“It is a chicken and egg situation, but the chicken is saying ‘we are ready to produce an egg’,” Staffan de Mistura, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for Afghanistan, told Reuters in an interview.

Over 60 foreign ministers — including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — gather in the Afghan capital on Tuesday for a conference at which President Hamid Karzai will plead for more control of $13 billion in Afghan aid and development.

The country has received over $40 billion since 2002, but Karzai says the government has handled only around 20 percent of that and much of the graft and waste complained about in the West was lost through direct channels. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For Kabul Conference stories, see [ID:nKABCON]

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or see link.reuters.com/syx62d

Afghan blog: blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

“They have a point,” de Mistura said, arguing that if the government institutions were seen to be driving development, ordinary Afghans would support it.

He drew parallels with Iraq, where he served as the U.N. special envoy at the height of violence there.

“The moment they started taking their own future in their hands, we saw an improvement — not perfect by any means, but an improvement.”

NOT READY FOR PEACE

Security remains the biggest factor.

“We all know, everybody knows, everybody recognises, that there is no military solution to the conflict.”

“However there is, unfortunately, still a perception that the time for dialogue is not ready. The Taliban don’t seem to be indicating yet that they are readly for that dialogue.”

Although Washington did not want to see the Taliban leadership included in peace talks, it would be up to Afghans to decide “who was allowed inside the tent”, he said.

The government has offered amnesty and reintegration to low-level Taliban fighters who agree to abide by the constitution, renounce violence, and quit militant groups.

Asked if this should be expanded to Taliban leaders, he said: “… if anybody on the Afghan side would accept those three conditions, it would be difficult for the community … to say you aren’t allowed inside the tent.

The conference will hear Karzai and his ministers present blueprint of projects and timetables de Mistura believes could deliver results within a year.

Asked what differences he expected in six months, he said:

“First we will see the Afghans taking much more seriously the fact that responsibilty has been given to them and therefore they need to make some major effort on the issue of accountability, corruption and delivering concrete assistance to their own people.

“Second, I hope we will be seeing progress on security, and therefore the ideal time for political dialogue, but between now and six months on the security side it will probably look worse before it looks better.

“What we need before the six months is over is … a vision by the Afghan government which will be articulated in a way that will engage and reassure every stakeholder — both internally and outside, and regional stakeholders as well — of what Afghanistan can and should be looking like in two years time,” he said. (Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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INTERVIEW-Zimbabwe confident donors will open aid taps

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) – International donors could soon approve large-scale aid to Zimbabwe to help it repair broken infrastructure and rebuild its shattered economy, Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe says.

Western governments give humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe but have been reluctant to grant significant development aid until they see more evidence of reforms being implemented by the unity government that took power last year.

But Khupe, vice-president of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was hopeful of a change in stance after talks in London with ministers from Britain’s two-month-old coalition government.

“They want to expand to things like infrastructural development. This is what they are trying to do in Zimbabwe because they have realised that humanitarian support alone will not help us. It is important that we grow our economy,” Khupe told Reuters in an interview on Friday evening.

She said it was an international, not just a British, plan.

“It is everybody, the European Union and everybody else. They are also willing to assist Zimbabwe. The United States as well,” she said after speaking at the ZG Club, a group promoting business links with Zimbabwe.

She said she was “very confident” of a large-scale international financing package for Zimbabwe soon, although she could not put a figure on it.

Khupe said she met Henry Bellingham, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Africa, and junior development minister Stephen O’Brien during her visit to London.

Once seen as one of Africa’s most promising countries, Zimbabwe’s economy collapsed under the rule of President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980.

Relations with Zimbabwe were strained under Britain’s previous Labour government, which accused Mugabe of disastrous policies such as the often violent seizure of white farms to resettle blacks, electoral fraud and rights abuses.

NEW ELECTION

Mugabe was last year forced into a power-sharing government with arch-rival Tsvangirai after a political crisis sparked by a disputed general election in 2008.

Khupe said she was very confident another general election would be held in Zimbabwe by the end of next year and very confident the MDC would win it.

Britain’s new government said this week it was reviewing its aid programmes around the world, including that of Zimbabwe.

In the meantime, it said it would continue to help the poorest Zimbabweans, support the fight against AIDS and promote economic reform. British aid totalled 60 million pounds ($91 million) in the fiscal year ended in April.

Britain’s new International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told Reuters in March, when still in opposition, that once the conditions were right he wanted Britain to lead an international development initiative in Zimbabwe.

Some potential investors in Zimbabwe have been spooked by a law requiring foreign-owned firms, including mines and banks, with assets over $500,000 to sell at least 51 percent of their shares to local black investors within five years.

Khupe said that, under regulations she expected to be finalised soon, the government had changed the rules. Shares would no longer have to be “ceded” to local investors, but sold at market value. Different industrial sectors would discuss what percentage of shares must be sold and how long firms would have to do it, she said.

Khupe said that the Zimbabwean government had agreed that diamonds from its Marange fields would only be sold under the Kimberley process — a certification scheme aimed at preventing the diamond trade from financing violence.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said last month Zimbabwe planned to begin selling diamond stockpiles from Marange immediately, whether or not regulators gave the go-ahead.

“We have resolved that diamonds are only going to be sold under the (Kimberley) process,” Khupe said. “By so doing, we are guaranteed of fetching more money than if we try to sell those diamonds clandestinely or using other ways and means.” (Editing by Jon Hemming)

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INTERVIEW-Ex-Taliban governor sees little hope for Afghan peace

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 6 (Reuters) – A former Taliban governor turned Afghan government official dismissed the peace process as a “joke”, saying Afghanistan cannot seek peace with the insurgents only by trying to woo their rank and file. “Peace cannot come to Afghanistan through the junior Taliban,” the 59-year-old Mullah Abdul Salaam told Reuters in an interview in Kabul.

“This will bear no fruit if the Taliban leaders are not involved and listened to. The whole peace process that the government and the world wants to pursue is a joke … a waste of time and money.”

To many observers, the U.S.-led effort to destroy the Taliban and establish a stable government is already a monumental waste of time and money.

Nearly nine years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda figures are still at large, the Taliban insurgency is raging and there is widespread loathing both for foreign forces and an Afghan government largely seen seen as corrupt or incapable.

Western governments want out and are training Afghan forces to replace them, but perhaps worried they will not be able to cope, President Hamid Karzai is making peace overtures to the Taliban. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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The proposals include offering an amnesty and reintegration to foot soldiers who agree to accept Afghanistan’s constitution, removing the names of certain leaders from a U.N. blacklist, and securing sanctuary in a friendly Muslim nation for others.

But these sort of modest steps simply don’t appeal to the Taliban, Salaam said. The bottomline is they believe they are winning.

The movement’s leadership, based in the Pakistan border city of Quetta, still calls the shots, Salaam said, and has organised war plans, unity and “obedience in hierarchy” — a reference to perceived differences between Afghan and Western officials.

Religious schools in Pakistan were producing suicide bombers in abundance for carrying out low-cost attacks against Afghan and foreign forces, he added, while it was costing the West billions to fund the conflict.

ICONIC TALIBAN

Salaam is among only a handful of ex-Taliban officials to have joined Karzai’s government since the hardline Islamists were ousted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Sitting crossed-legged on a mat and sporting a long beard dyed to match his jet-black turban, Salaam told how he fought the Soviet occupation of the 1980s and later joined the Taliban as Afghanistan descended into civil war and anarchy after they left.

He rose to become governor of southern Uruzgan province — impressed with some aspects of Taliban rule, but also disturbed by others.

Frustrated with the meddling of Pakistan’s intelligence service in Afghan affairs — and also angered by the way Pakistani militants were killing non-Pashtuns during operations in northern Afghanistan — Salaam said he quit the movement.

Then Sept. 11 happened.

U.S. forces invaded, gave the Northern Alliance the muscle and firepower to tackle the Taliban and Salaam surrendered along with 200 of his armed men to the newly stablished pro-U.S. government of Karzai, only to be arrested later and jailed for eight months for “siding with the enemy”.

Most of his men rejoined the Taliban, but once out of jail Salaam kept a low profile until approached by Karzai, who asked him to become district chief of Musa Qala in Helmand, the most restive part of Afghanistan and a key drug-producing province.

PILLARS OF GOVERNMENT

“My intention was to consolidate the pillars of the government after years of war and that was the reason I joined the government,” he said.

Suddenly his services were in demand, and the Taliban approached him to become its shadow governor instead.

“I told them I am no longer a warrior and we should campaign through the ballot rather than bullets,” he says of a meeting that left his old comrades furious and vowing vengeance.

Some even called him apostate.

Over the following years he had death threats and assassination attempts made on his life, and was also kidnapped before being released after intensive tribal negotiations. Dozens of his extended family were targeted too.

Salaam said the government gave him little help in starting development projects in the area, and that British troops based there stymied his efforts and smeared his reputation until he was dismissed a few weeks ago.

“They (people of Musa Qala) said I didn’t even build a stable,” he complained, adding he was now back in the capital to seek redress.

Meanwhile, Salaam now appears on local television discussion panels not as a voice of the Taliban, but someone who has a good insight into how they think.

“Peace will not come to Afghanistan until you speak to the Taliban leaders and show sincerity,” he said. (Editing by David Fox and Sugita Katyal) (sayed.salahuddin@thomsonreuters.com; Kabul newsroom: +93 799 335 285)) (If you have a query or comment about this story, send an e-mail to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)

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Yemen rebels fire on military plane, breaching truce

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yemeni Shi’ite rebels opened fire on a military plane flying above the flashpoint city of Saada, officials said on Friday, in one of the most serious breaches yet of a truce to end a northern war.

The plane, likely carrying military and government officials, was not hit in the shooting, which took place on Thursday, one official said.

“An Antonov military plane came under fire by Houthi elements as it was flying over the city of Saada,” a member of a committee overseeing the truce said, referring to the rebels by the clan name of their leaders.

“The plane usually does routine trips to transport military and administrative leaders to the (Saada) province to carry out their work,” the committee member added, calling the shooting a serious violation of the ceasefire.

The government, struggling to stabilise a fractious country where al Qaeda is trying to strengthen its foothold, agreed a truce in February with the northern rebels to halt fighting that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 250,000 people.

Yemen jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for an attempted attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western governments and Saudi Arabia fear that al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to use the Arabian peninsula state, strategically located next to the world’s biggest oil exporter, as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.

Last month, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose government is also trying to quell southern secessionists, declared the war in the north was over.

While the ceasefire has mostly held, previous truces have not lasted and analysts are sceptical whether this one will either, so long as Shi’ite complaints of discrimination by the state remain unaddressed.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Pandemic remains threat to young, top expert warns

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

GENEVA, April 14 (Reuters) – The H1N1 flu pandemic is as severe as influenza pandemics in 1957 and 1968 and remains a threat, especially to healthy young adults, the chairman of the WHO’s Emergency Committee said on Wednesday.

John Mackenzie, the Australian expert who heads the independent but secretive advisory body, also said that he was not aware of any of its 15 members being approached by drug companies seeking to influence their decision-making.

“This is just as severe as we saw in 1957 and 1968, with one major difference. We are not seeing deaths in the elderly but we are seeing them in a more important group of the population, healthy young adults,” Mackenzie said in a rare presentation.

“It is much more severe than people tend to talk about,” he told a three-day meeting called to review the way the World Health Organisation (WHO) handled the pandemic.

The official death toll so far from H1N1 is 17,700, but WHO says it will take at least a year or two after the pandemic ends to establish the true number.

The 1957 and 1968 pandemics killed around 2 million and 1 million respectively, according to the WHO. Seasonal flu kills up to 500,000 a year, 90 percent of them frail elderly people.

The Emergency Committee played a key role in advising the United Nations agency on progressively moving up its six-phase scale, leading to declaration of a full pandemic last June.

Phase changes have implications for switching from production of seasonal flu vaccine to pandemic vaccine. Moving to phase 6 also triggered advance purchase agreements that some Western countries had with drug companies.

Swine flu has turned out to be less severe than feared, and critics have said the WHO created needless panic and caused Western governments to stockpile vaccines that went unused.

Mackenzie said he expected the committee to convene again in two or three weeks to advise WHO director-general Margaret Chan on whether the world has moved to a post-peak phase. But he indicated that such a decision remained premature.

“STILL IN A PANDEMIC”

“We still have evidence of the pandemic in Asia and in West Africa,” he said. “We also want to see what happens in a second wave in the southern hemisphere. We have no idea what will happen and have some concerns.

“I would say, yes, we are still in a pandemic phase 6 … We cannot lower our guard.”

Mackenzie said the committee had taken unanimous decisions on difficult issues based on what evidence was available.

“I as chairman was not approached at any stage by the pharmaceutical industry. I don’t know of any member being approached and I would very much doubt it,” he said.

“We did not want to see production of seasonal vaccine discontinued if the pandemic was going to disappear.”

No Emergency Committee members apart from Mackenzie are identified publicly — a policy intended to protect them from commercial or political influence.

David Salisbury, head of the WHO’s vaccine advisory body, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said it had become clear only last October that a single dose of vaccine would be sufficient to provide immunity for adults, and not two as generally expected.

He also denied that SAGE’s members had been coerced:

“No attempt was made at any time to influence the advice we gave either in terms of the time we gave it or the content. To my knowledge, the industry has done nothing to us other than provide scientific information.”

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) are among firms that have raced to produce H1N1 vaccines. (Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Kevin Liffey)

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Yemeni rebels kill school guard, straining truce

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SANAA, April 14 (Reuters) – Yemeni Shi’ite rebels shot dead a school guard and lost one of their own men in a gunfight that will strain a truce to end a conflict in the north of the country, a security official said on Wednesday.

Yemen, under international pressure from the West and neighbouring Saudi Arabia to focus on fighting al Qaeda elsewhere in the country, agreed a truce in February to halt fighting in the north that has raged on and off since 2004.

Around 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence.

As part of their campaign, Shi’ite militants, led by members of the Houthi clan, have seized control of schools.

On Tuesday, a gunfight broke out when a guard confronted a handful of rebels at a school in Saada province, an insurgency hotspot. No students were in the school at the time.

“Houthi elements were putting slogans of “death to America” and Israel on the walls of the school,” the security official said. “An exchange of fire led to the death of the school guard and one of the attackers.”

Elsewhere in Saada, rebels shot and wounded a soldier. A rebel official said he had no information on that incident.

Yemen jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for an attempted attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western governments and Saudi Arabia fear that al Qaeda is using Yemen as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.

Last month, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose government is also trying to quell southern secessionists, declared the war in the north was over.

While the ceasefire has mostly held, previous truces have not lasted and analysts are sceptical whether this one will either, so long as Shi’ite complaints of discrimination by the state remain unaddressed.

HOSTAGE TAKER JAILED

In Sanaa, a court sentenced a Yemeni man to 12 years in prison for briefly kidnapping four German tourists in 2009.

The Germans, two men and two women on an archaeological trip, were abducted while being driven through Maarib province with a police escort, officials said. They were freed within hours, after police reinforcements arrived in the area.

Court officials said the kidnappers had sought the return of a plot of land in Sanaa that had been confiscated by the state. Grievances with the government or police is a common motive for kidnapping of foreigners by Yemeni tribes. Most victims are released unharmed.

But a German family of five and a Briton, kidnapped in June 2009 in the northern Saada region, remain missing, held by kidnappers who the government believes have links to al Qaeda.

Three women — two Germans and a South Korean — kidnapped alongside them were later found dead. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction. The northern rebels have denied involvement. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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U.S. seeks to heal rift with Karzai

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Top U.S. officials sought to repair Washington’s troubled relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, calling him a reliable partner and pledging to treat him with greater sensitivity.

Barack Obama

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both described Karzai as a constructive player in trying to stabilize Afghanistan and distanced themselves from people outside the administration who have described his behavior as erratic. Their comments were made in television interviews taped on Friday but aired on Sunday,

“Some of these outlandish claims that are being made and accusations that are being hurled are really unfortunate,” Clinton told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“This is a leader who is under enormous pressure,” she said. “And I wonder sometimes how anybody can cope with the kind of relentless stress that you face after having been in some military activity or war footing for 30 years, which is what the reality is in Afghanistan.”

Gates told ABC’s “This Week” that the U.S. military had a “very positive” relationship with Karzai and called him “the embodiment of sovereignty for Afghanistan.”

“I think we frankly have to be sensitive in our own comments about President Karzai,” Gates said.

Earlier this month, after a series of comments by Karzai that rankled Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs left open the possibility of a cancellation of Karzai’s planned May 12 meeting with President Barack Obama.

In remarks that U.S. officials now downplay as an effort to seek favor with his domestic audience, Karzai blamed foreigners for perpetrating election fraud in Afghanistan and accused Western governments of trying to weaken him.

Media reports also suggested that Karzai’s meeting with Obama last month had been tense, with the Afghan leader perceiving Obama’s comments about corruption as lecturing. The meeting took place during Obama’s first visit as president to Afghanistan.

In a decision that markedly increased his administration’s stakes in the outcome of the U.S. and NATO-led fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, Obama in December ordered the deployment of an extra 30,000 to Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has had an uneasy relationship with Karzai throughout Obama’s 15 months in office.

The White House began the effort to effort mend fences with Karzai last week when Obama sent a letter to the Afghan president thanking him for his hospitality during the visit and reiterating the importance of the partnership between Washington and Kabul.

White House National Security Adviser James Jones, who briefed reporters on the letter on Friday, brushed off Karzai’s earlier comments and said the Afghan leader “did not intend to create any damage to the relationship” with them.

On CBS, Gates said Karzai had been helpful in an operation to regain control of the southern city of Kandahar, Karzai’s hometown.

“He’s already made a couple of these trips to the Kandahar area with General (Stanley) McChrystal and so he is very much participating in setting the stage if you will for this next phase of the campaign,” Gates said. McChrystal is the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

(Additional reporting by Emily Kaiser; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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U.S. seeks to heal rift with Karzai

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Top U.S. officials sought to repair Washington’s troubled relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, calling him a reliable partner and pledging to treat him with greater sensitivity.

Barack Obama

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both described Karzai as a constructive player in trying to stabilize Afghanistan and distanced themselves from people outside the administration who have described his behavior as erratic. Their comments were made in television interviews taped on Friday but aired on Sunday,

“Some of these outlandish claims that are being made and accusations that are being hurled are really unfortunate,” Clinton told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“This is a leader who is under enormous pressure,” she said. “And I wonder sometimes how anybody can cope with the kind of relentless stress that you face after having been in some military activity or war footing for 30 years, which is what the reality is in Afghanistan.”

Gates told ABC’s “This Week” that the U.S. military had a “very positive” relationship with Karzai and called him “the embodiment of sovereignty for Afghanistan.”

“I think we frankly have to be sensitive in our own comments about President Karzai,” Gates said.

Earlier this month, after a series of comments by Karzai that rankled Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs left open the possibility of a cancellation of Karzai’s planned May 12 meeting with President Barack Obama.

In remarks that U.S. officials now downplay as an effort to seek favor with his domestic audience, Karzai blamed foreigners for perpetrating election fraud in Afghanistan and accused Western governments of trying to weaken him.

Media reports also suggested that Karzai’s meeting with Obama last month had been tense, with the Afghan leader perceiving Obama’s comments about corruption as lecturing. The meeting took place during Obama’s first visit as president to Afghanistan.

In a decision that markedly increased his administration’s stakes in the outcome of the U.S. and NATO-led fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, Obama in December ordered the deployment of an extra 30,000 to Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has had an uneasy relationship with Karzai throughout Obama’s 15 months in office.

The White House began the effort to effort mend fences with Karzai last week when Obama sent a letter to the Afghan president thanking him for his hospitality during the visit and reiterating the importance of the partnership between Washington and Kabul.

White House National Security Adviser James Jones, who briefed reporters on the letter on Friday, brushed off Karzai’s earlier comments and said the Afghan leader “did not intend to create any damage to the relationship” with them.

On CBS, Gates said Karzai had been helpful in an operation to regain control of the southern city of Kandahar, Karzai’s hometown.

“He’s already made a couple of these trips to the Kandahar area with General (Stanley) McChrystal and so he is very much participating in setting the stage if you will for this next phase of the campaign,” Gates said. McChrystal is the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

(Additional reporting by Emily Kaiser; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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U.S. seeks to heal rift with Karzai

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) – Top U.S. officials sought to repair Washington’s troubled relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, calling him a reliable partner and pledging to treat him with greater sensitivity.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both described Karzai as a constructive player in trying to stabilize Afghanistan and distanced themselves from people outside the administration who have described his behavior as erratic. Their comments were made in television interviews taped on Friday but aired on Sunday,

“Some of these outlandish claims that are being made and accusations that are being hurled are really unfortunate,” Clinton told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“This is a leader who is under enormous pressure,” she said. “And I wonder sometimes how anybody can cope with the kind of relentless stress that you face after having been in some military activity or war footing for 30 years, which is what the reality is in Afghanistan.”

Gates told ABC’s “This Week” that the U.S. military had a “very positive” relationship with Karzai and called him “the embodiment of sovereignty for Afghanistan.”

“I think we frankly have to be sensitive in our own comments about President Karzai,” Gates said.

Earlier this month, after a series of comments by Karzai that rankled Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs left open the possibility of a cancellation of Karzai’s planned May 12 meeting with President Barack Obama.

In remarks that U.S. officials now downplay as an effort to seek favor with his domestic audience, Karzai blamed foreigners for perpetrating election fraud in Afghanistan and accused Western governments of trying to weaken him.

Media reports also suggested that Karzai’s meeting with Obama last month had been tense, with the Afghan leader perceiving Obama’s comments about corruption as lecturing. The meeting took place during Obama’s first visit as president to Afghanistan.

In a decision that markedly increased his administration’s stakes in the outcome of the U.S. and NATO-led fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, Obama in December ordered the deployment of an extra 30,000 to Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has had an uneasy relationship with Karzai throughout Obama’s 15 months in office.

The White House began the effort to effort mend fences with Karzai last week when Obama sent a letter to the Afghan president thanking him for his hospitality during the visit and reiterating the importance of the partnership between Washington and Kabul.

White House National Security Adviser James Jones, who briefed reporters on the letter on Friday, brushed off Karzai’s earlier comments and said the Afghan leader “did not intend to create any damage to the relationship” with them.

On CBS, Gates said Karzai had been helpful in an operation to regain control of the southern city of Kandahar, Karzai’s hometown.(ID:nSGE639039])

“He’s already made a couple of these trips to the Kandahar area with General (Stanley) McChrystal and so he is very much participating in setting the stage if you will for this next phase of the campaign,” Gates said. McChrystal is the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Emily Kaiser; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Q+A – Where does China stand on Iran sanctions?

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator is heading to China for talks on Thursday as Western governments become increasingly confident that Beijing will back sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear activities.

WHAT IS CHINA’S GENERAL POSITION ON SANCTIONS?

China has long said sanctions are not an effective tool to solve diplomatic disputes, and its diplomats have often repeated that line in answering questions about Iran.

That position partly reflects Beijing’s resentment of Western sanctions it has faced, especially after the 1989 armed crackdown on pro-democracy protests around Tiananmen Square.

It also chimes with China’s stance of “non-interference” in other nations’ domestic affairs, a position that has often amounted to wanting to insulate its economic interests from diplomatic disputes.

But Beijing has backed previous rounds of U.N. sanctions against North Korea and Iran over their disputed nuclear activities. China this year also threatened to put unilateral sanctions on U.S. firms selling weapons to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

Since the 1990s, China has cast itself as a responsible supporter of nuclear non-proliferation safeguards.

That desire to be a respected global player and not be isolated from dominant international opinion could weigh in favour of China allowing fresh sanctions against Iran, especially with Russia indicating it may back sanctions.

HOW WILL CHINA HANDLE THE NEW SANCTIONS PUSH AGAINST IRAN?

China is one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with the power to veto any proposed resolution.

While Beijing sometimes abstains from Security Council votes on decisions it dislikes, it is much less willing to use its veto and risk diplomatic isolation, especially if fellow Security Council member Russia backs a resolution.

China is more likely to use its influence to draw out negotiations on sanctions and try to thwart any measures that could threaten its energy and economic ties with Iran, as it has done before.

In July 2006, China backed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1696 that threatened sanctions on Iran, and in December of the same year it supported Resolution 1737, which imposed sanctions on Iranian nuclear imports and exports.

It supported two further resolutions, one in 2007 which broadened the sanctions to cover a ban on Iranian arms exports, and another in 2008 which criticised Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

Each time, however, Beijing has worked to rein in Western demands for tougher restrictions on Tehran.

A draft sanctions document circulated by Western powers a few weeks ago proposes restricting more Iranian banks abroad, but does not call for sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas industries.

WHY IS CHINA OPPOSED TO STRICT ECONOMIC SANCTIONS?

Beijing sees Iran as an important oil supplier and trade partner and as a major strategic actor in the Middle East, where China is buying growing volumes of oil. There is scant chance of China risking those ties by backing expansive economic sanctions.

China is the world’s No. 2 crude oil consumer, behind the United States. Iran has the world’s second-largest crude oil reserves, but needs investment to develop them.

In 2009, Iran was China’s third biggest source of imported crude oil. But in the first two months of 2010, China imported 2.53 million metric tonnes of Iranian crude oil, a drop of 37.2 percent compared to the first two months of 2009.

That made Iran the fourth-ranked foreign source of crude for China so far this year, behind Russia, Angola and top supplier, Saudi Arabia.

China is also an investor in Iranian oil and gas, and Chinese state-owned energy conglomerates have been exploring for new fields there, with an eye to expanding their stake.

Industry sources have said China has been selling gasoline to Iran, which lacks refining capacity to meet domestic demand. Chinese customs statistics do not record any shipments, which may go through intermediaries.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Yemen says rebels violating truce deal

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Yemen accused northern Shi’ite rebels on Tuesday of violating a ceasefire deal with Sanaa aimed at a war that drew in neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

World | Saudi Arabia

“The (rebels) returned again to some sites after leaving, established new checkpoints, and committed numerous violations and attacks on citizens and some public and private installations,” Yemen’s supreme security committee said, according to state news agency Saba.

Analysts say the six-point truce February agreement between the government and rebels, who belong to the minority Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam, is unlikely to last as it does not address the insurgents’ complaints of discrimination by Sanaa.

The security body also said the rebels were obstructing the work of committees charged with overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire deal, according to Saba.

On their website, the rebels, known as the Houthis after the family name of their leader, said military units and local officials had entered unhindered a number of northern areas on Monday, including Malahith, Razih and al-Zaher.

“These steps come as we confirm that we do not interfere with matters of the local authorities, and that we have never done so, and never will,” rebels said in a statement posted on Monday.

Yemen shot to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

The impoverished Arab country is also struggling with flaring tensions in its south, where violence between southern secessionists and government troops has escalated in recent weeks.

Western governments and neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

Saudi Arabia was drawn into Sanaa’s conflict with northern rebels in November after the insurgents seized Saudi border territory and accused Riyadh of letting Yemeni troops attack them from Saudi ground.

(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky, editing by Paul Taylor)

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Israeli troops wound 7 Palestinians: medics

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Israeli troops wounded at least seven Palestinians during a confrontation in the West Bank on Monday, Palestinian medical sources said, and a senior Palestinian politician said a new Intifada could break out.

World

Palestinian witnesses and medics said soldiers had fired live rounds at the demonstrators but the Israeli military denied this, saying other measures to disperse the crowd were used.

Tensions between Palestinians and Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967, have escalated in recent weeks following an Israeli government decision to include West Bank religious sites in a Jewish national heritage plan.

Senior Palestinian politician Ahmed Qurie, a former prime minister, said steps taken by Israel, including measures Palestinians believe aim to deepen its control over Jerusalem, risked triggering a new Intifada, or uprising.

“If matters remain at this level, regardless of whether we take the decision or not, it is coming. If Israel continues these practices, it is coming,” Qurie told reporters.

The leaders of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, which is backed by Western governments, have ruled out any repeat of the uprising mounted by the Palestinians in the early years of the past decade.

They have, however, stated support for “popular resistance”, including protests, to put pressure on Israel to end its occupation of territories where the Palestinians aim to establish a state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Israeli army said on Monday it would limit access to two Palestinian villages which have been the scene of weekly protests against Israel’s West Bank barrier.

Activists said the move was another sign of an Israeli decision to crack down on protests in the West Bank.

JERUSALEM TENSIONS

The Palestinians wounded on Monday were taking part in a demonstration against Israeli plans announced last week to expand settlements in East Jerusalem and the opening of a restored synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

They had marched to the checkpoint of Atara, north of Ramallah, from the nearby Birzeit University. Dozens of them hurled rocks at the soldiers. The Palestinian medics said two were hit by live ammunition.

But the Israeli military spokesman, who said one soldier was lightly injured, denied any such use of bullets:

“The security forces are responding using riot-dispersal means. There is definitely no live fire,” he said.

Among anti-riot methods used by Israel are metal bullets covered in a rubber jacket.

Citing security concerns, Israel has banned Palestinians who do not have Jerusalem residency from crossing into the city from the West Bank until Tuesday. Dozens have been wounded in Jerusalem in recent weeks in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

The opening of the restored Hurva synagogue, scheduled for Monday, has triggered criticism from Palestinian politicians who have repeated warnings against Israeli efforts to “Judaise” the city.

The synagogue was destroyed by Jordanian forces during the 1948 war from which the state of Israel emerged. Jordan occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank until 1967.

The synagogue is several hundred meters (yards) from Jerusalem’s holiest Islamic sites: the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry)

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Yemeni forces clash with suspected rebels in south

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

* At least two police dead

* Truce in north has let government focus on southern rebels

* Southern separatist protests growing
(Adds government website in paragraph 4)

ADEN, Yemen, March 1 (Reuters) – Yemeni security forces clashed on Monday with suspected rebels in the southern Abyan province, where separatists are campaigning against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Residents said at least three Yemeni policemen had been killed and five wounded. But a government source in Sanaa said only two members of the security forces had died.

He said the gun battle took place when security forces tried to arrest an arms dealer suspected of supplying the separatists, and that four other people had been killed, including a man suspected of links to al Qaeda named as Ali al-Yafie.

The government website September 26 said only that Yafie and another militant were killed and a third injured in an operation against a number of separatist targets in the town of Zinjibar.

Last week a policeman was shot dead in an ambush in the south, and on Sunday crowds protested in the southern provinces of Abyan, Dalea and Aden against the arrest of 21 people accused of rioting. Many carried the flag of the former South Yemen.

North and South Yemen united under Saleh’s presidency in 1990 but many in the south, home to most Yemeni oil facilities, complain that northerners have used unification to grab resources and discriminate against them.

Yemen’s government struck a truce on Feb. 11 with Shi’ite rebels who they had been fighting in the north, allowing them to turn their attention to the rebellion in the south as well as al Qaeda militancy.

Authorities have often linked both northern and southern rebels to al Qaeda, a charge both deny.

Yemen rose to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western governments and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants to launch attacks in the region and beyond. (Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashaf and Mohammed Sudam; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Yemeni police reported dead in south Yemen clash

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ADEN, March 1 (Reuters) – At least three Yemeni policemen were killed on Monday and five wounded, residents said, in a clash with gunmen in south Yemen, where separatists are campaigning against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Residents reported that the fighting took place in Abyan province after Abyan, Dalea and Aden saw demonstrations on Sunday over the arrest of 21 people accused of rioting.

A government source in Sanaa said the exchange took place when security forces tried to arrest an arms dealer suspected of supplying the separatists. The source said only two died.

People in the south, home to most Yemeni oil facilities, complain that northerners have abused the 1990 agreement uniting the country to grab resources and discriminate against them.

Yemen’s government struck a truce on Feb. 11 with Shi’ite rebels who have been fighting over religious, economic and social grievances in the north, allowing the authorities in Sanaa to turn attention to the southern separatist movement as well as al Qaeda militancy.

Yemen rose to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western governments and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

A policeman was shot dead in an ambush in the south last week. Demonstrators at the weekend carried the flag of the former South Yemen, which united with the north under the presidency of veteran ruler Saleh in 1990. (Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashaf and Mohammed Sudam; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Angry UK terms arrest of embassy staff in Iran unacceptable

June 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 29 (ANI): The Gordon Brown Government in Britain has reacted to the arrest of at least eight Iranians working for the British Embassy in Tehran, calling the move unacceptable “harassment and intimidation”.

According to The Times, the eight, who are thought to work in the embassy’s political section, are accused of playing a “significant role” in opposition protests.

Their detention has dismayed Western governments. EU foreign ministers demanded the release of the eight and said that intimidation of their diplomatic staff in Tehran would provoke a “strong and collective response”.

Sources told The Times that if Britain was forced to close its embassy the 26 other EU states would probably follow suit.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said: “These are hard-working diplomatic staff and the idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran in recent weeks is wholly without foundation.”

About 2,000 supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the challenger to President Ahmadinejad in the election, have been arrested and hundreds more are believed missing.

The British Embassy employs about 100 Iranians in roles ranging from political advisers, consular officials and translators to security guards. (ANI)

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Iran’s Guardian Council admits presidential vote was flawed, but won’t change results

June 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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London, June 22 (ANI): Iran’s powerful Guardian Council has ruled out changing Iran’s presidential election result, but admitted that the vote was flawed.
/p
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The calls came as the Guardian Council, the body charged with reviewing the contested election, said it had concluded an investigation but would not be overturning the result. /pp
Its spokesman, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, said the number of votes collected in 50 cities was more than the number of eligible voters, but the discrepancy was not sufficient to account for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s margin of victory, The Telegraph reports. /pp
The admission was made as the main presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, implored supporters to renew street protests in Tehran on Monday and defy the threat of a brutal crackdown by the security forces. /pp
Organisers of the campaign to overturn the result of the June 12 election, which gave Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president, a landslide victory said demonstrations must continue after petering out on Sunday. /pp
The campaign called on people to march with black candles or turn on the lights on their cars during an afternoon rally./pp
Mousavi reiterated his backing of the protests at the end of a tense weekend in which at least 17 people were killed in the Iranian capital. /pp
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave the greet light to the repression when on Friday he declared the protests were illegal. /pp
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry lashed out at foreign media and Western governments. Its spokesman Hasan Qashqavi accused them of a racial mentality that Iranians belong to the Third World. (ANI)/p

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Chinese billions helping Lanka ward off Western peace efforts, fight LTTE

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 2 (ANI): China is using the Sri Lankan crisis to expand its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean region as part of its “string of pearls” strategy, and this is one of the main reasons behind failure of Western governments to negotiate a ceasefire to help Tamil civilians trapped on the front line, according to a leading UK based daily.

The world, including India, has called for a cessation of hostilities to enable civilians to escape from the war zone, but China is still encouraging the Lankan offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

China is building a one billion dollar port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy in Lankan fishing town of Hambantota.

The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the Sri Lankan Army is poised to defeat the Tamil Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line, The Times reported.

China has given Sri Lanka all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West, ever since Colombo agreed to the plan in March 2007.

Even India, Sri Lanka’s long-time ally and the traditionally dominant power in South Asia, has found itself sidelined in the past two years and this becomes clear from Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram comments said that India’s response to the Lankan crisis has been impacted by China which is using this issue to expand its sphere of influence.

The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a “string of pearls” strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma.

China’s aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost one billion dollar last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave 7.4 million dollars last year, and Britain just 1.25 million pounds. (ANI)

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Q and A: Egypt tries new cure for Palestinian split

April 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Egyptian mediators suggest the rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah break the deadlock in reconciliation talks by concentrating on jointly reconstructing Gaza. Their “unity” talks are due to restart on April 26.

Q – Why are they divided?

A – Hamas is a hardline Islamist movement which says it will never recognize Israel and which refuses to renounce violence as a means of pursuing its aim of recovering all Palestinian lands. Fatah, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is a secular movement committed to creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza in a land-for-peace deal with Israel.

Q – So why do they want to unite?

A – Both are significantly weaker on their own and the common Palestinian cause is weaker as a result of the split. Unless it is overcome, Hamas will continue to be isolated in its Gaza Strip stronghold where Fatah is effectively neutralized, and the Palestinian Authority’s claim to speak for all four million Palestinian people will be hollow. Western governments ready to back a peace deal want one number to call, not two.

Q – What are the obstacles to reconciliation?

A – While Abbas stresses that any unity government with Hamas must abide by the peace undertakings of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he chairs, the Islamist group suggests it is only ready to “respect” those obligations, a term that was a symptom of their split in 2007, after a national unity government failed to persuade the West to end its policy of isolating the Islamist group.

Q – What’s the problem with honoring the PLO commitments?

A – Hamas says they mean recognition of Israel. Instead Hamas leaders said they would accept a long-term truce that could last for 15 years, but they refuse formally to recognize the right of Israel to exist.

Q – How can such a fundamental difference be bridged?

A – A Palestinian official close to the talks said Egyptian mediators were suggesting formation of a joint committee that would focus first and foremost on reconstruction of Gaza, and if that can be achieved, to use it as a foundation for further cooperation.

(Writing by Douglas Hamilton, editing by Jonathan Wright)

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Pakistan braces for turmoil as Zardari’s hold loosens

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad  – Fears are growing that the Pakistani opposition’s planned march on Islamabad this week might throw the nuclear-armed country into chaos and put the political future of pro-Western President Asif Ali Zardari at risk.

The political confrontation could also drive Pakistan away from its fight against extremism and efforts to overcome its economic crisis, two prime concerns Western governments want the Islamic country to focus upon.

An alliance of opposition parties, headed by two-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the influential legal community, plans to start a protest rally, dubbed a long march, from the southern port city of Karachi Thursday and reach Islamabad four days later.

It plans to hold a sit-in in the capital until its demand for the restoration of the judiciary under independent-minded former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is met.

The march was expected to swell in numbers as it travels through the eastern province of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populace region and a stronghold of Sharif.

“It will have very dangerous dynamics for the country,” said Rasool Bux Raees, a political science professor at the prestigious Lahore University of Management Sciences. “Violence, instability, protests, strikes and more confrontation will grow, and the government has not really realized the gravity of the situation.”

Sharif’s conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joined Zardari’s liberal Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in a coalition government after February 2008 elections, which saw the defeat of the political supporters of former military strongman Pervez Musharraf and the restoration of civilian rule after eight years.

But Sharif parted from Zardari after the president showed reluctance in fulfilling his promise of reinstating Chaudhry, who was sacked by Musharraf under emergency rule in late 2007.

The rift between the two widened last month when judges loyal to Zardari banned Sharif from elected office and nullified the election of his brother Shahbaz Sharif, suspending his provincial government in Punjab. Zardari said he did not dictate the verdict.

The February 25 court ruling triggered occasionally violent, countrywide protests and kept businesses closed for three days in Punjab, home to more than 60 per cent of Pakistan’s 160 million people.

The concerns have grown in Washington and other Western capitals that the political infighting would divert Pakistan’s attention from its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants launching cross-border attacks in Afghanistan.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week that the two leaders should put their differences aside and unite against the “mortal threat Pakistan faces,” but the advice was not heeded by either side.

The efforts for mediation between the traditional opponents by US and British envoys also were unfruitful.

In a move that was likely to fail ahead of this week’s march, the Pakistani government banned rallies in Punjab and arrested dozens of Sharif’s supporters in a countrywide crackdown early Wednesday. Thousands of paramilitary troops were called in, and police were alerted to stop the protesters from entering the capital.

Pakistan’s top security official, Rehman Malik, warned Sharif that his anti-government speeches are tantamount to sedition, which may be punished by a life sentence.

“Unfortunately, President Zardari and his loyalists have little political experience,” Raees said. “They live in self-delusion that they can control the situation and suppress the opposition.

“Instead of finding the political means to resolve the issue, he is trying to block the rallies, but such attempts are unlikely to defeat the resolve of the seemingly charged opposition.”

“And this is also going to put his own political future at stake,” the professor added.

Zardari rose to power by chance after his wife, Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, was killed in a gun-and-bomb suicide attack during an election rally in late 2007. He became the head of her PPP and eventually the president.

But he has remained unpopular among the public for alleged corruption involving more than 1 billion US dollars during Bhutto’s 1993-96 premiership.

Dissenting voices also emerged recently in his own party, challenging his decision to ignore senior party leaders and appoint inexperienced but loyal friends to key government posts.

The PPP’s leader in the Senate and Bhutto’s close aide, Raza Rabbani, resigned as a federal minister and Senator Enver Baig quit the chairmanship of the Senate’s foreign affairs committee in protest over Zardari’s nepotism, media reports said Tuesday.

There was also speculation about tensions escalating between Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, also of the PPP. Gilani has occasionally resisted directives from Zardari, media reports said.

“From day one, Mr Zardari has tried to grab all powers for himself, and this has left him with few friends and many enemies,” said the analyst and retired military general Talat Masood.

“It seems now that he has fallen in his own trap,” Masood said, warning that if the crisis becomes acute, the country’s military might intervene. “I don’t see any future for him. Only a miracle will save him.”

But Raees argued the military was unlikely to intercede. “Given the international scenario, the military is not in a position to take over as it has done in such political deadlocks in the past,” the professor said.

“But if the political disorder grows further it might adopt a minus-Zardari formula that would amount to a removal of Zardari and bringing together all the political forces under certain parameters,” he added. (dpa)

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