ANP: Never say die!

By Benazir Shah
ZoneAsia-Pk

HE’S LOST 819 OF HIS PARTY COLLEAGUES TO TERRORISM, AND SURVIVED AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN 2008. WE RECENTLY SPOKE WITH ASFANDYAR WALI KHAN, CHIEF OF THE TALIBAN-THREATENED AWAMI NATIONAL PARTY, WHICH GOVERNED KHYBER-PAKHTUNKHWA PROVINCE UNTIL MARCH, ABOUT SATURDAY’S ELECTIONS AND MORE. EXCERPTS:

The ANP has been mercilessly attacked by the Taliban in the run-up to the elections. As a result your party has been unable to campaign freely. At any point, did you consider not participating in the May 11 polls?

In the last four years, our party has lost a total of 819 workers. Why are we being targeted? Simple: [the Pakistani Taliban] want to keep us out of the elections. For Pakistan these are not just any elections, the new Parliament will have to deal with 2014, when NATO and ISAF forces withdraw from the region. When 2014 comes around, they do not want liberal people to be in the government. These forces want a free hand to do whatever they want, but they will not keep us out. This is not just a war between ANP and the Taliban or Asfandyar Wali and [Taliban kingpin] Hakimullah Mehsud, this is a war between two mindsets. The liberal, progressive, and democratic are on one side. On the other end are those who ruled Afghanistan and later surfaced in Swat. If we back off now, we let them win. The more the elections are delayed, the more bloodshed there will be. It is not going to get any better.

How is your party campaigning?

We cannot run advertisements like the other parties. We just don’t have that kind of money. It is common knowledge how much these [cable news] channels charge for broadcasting ads. Our local workers move door to door. The day Haroon and Ghulam Ahmed Bilour were attacked in Peshawar [on April 16], we lost 17 workers. The very next day pamphlets were distributed in the city warning people not to hoist any flags of the ANP or display its posters and stickers. And the same evening in Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swabi, and Mardan our party circulated thousands of stickers. The stickers had the party’s [electoral] symbol on it, which is the lantern, and a slogan, “Country or Coffin.”

Your partner parties the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Peoples Party have also been specifically targeted by the Taliban.

There is some misunderstanding. ANP has not gone into an electoral alliance with the MQM. PPP, MQM, and ANP have borne the brunt of terrorist attacks. We thought that if we got together to raise our voice against the bloodshed, the impact would be different. But let me clarify, again, that this is not an electoral alliance. It might not help the situation, but the three of us share an enemy. The people of Pakistan had been fooled for a very long time in believing that Karachi is the turf of the MQM and ANP. Now at least everyone knows the truth.

Is it accurate to say that the bloodshed in Karachi over the past five years is a result of turf wars among militias affiliated with the ANP, MQM, and PPP?

If I had a Pakhtun militant wing in Karachi, would I be targeted the way I am today? Please do not push us to the wall. That is my biggest fear. Do not push us to a situation where we decide to defend ourselves. The day we start defending ourselves, things are going to take a very ugly turn! If I had a militant wing in Karachi, I don’t think anyone would have had the guts to attack me.

‘The true referee of the electoral showdown is Hakimullah Mehsud.’

Will election results accurately reflect voters’ choice?

Let me make it very clear, ANP has been shoved into a wrestling ring with its hands tied. The opponents stand across from us and their hands are free. Until now, we were under the impression that the referee for these elections was the chief of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim. I have the utmost respect for him. But the true referee of the electoral showdown is Hakimullah Mehsud. Look at his statements, he’s “allowed” Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to hold public rallies, and he’s not “permitted” ANP, MQM or PPP to do the same. Is this his decision to make? Mehsud has clearly defined his friends and his foes.

After the attack on Haroon Bilour, you wrote to the Election Commission demanding more security. What became of that?

Copies of the letter were also sent to the president, the caretaker prime minister, and to the chief justice. Nine days lapsed and nothing happened. There wasn’t a word from the ECP. On the 10th day, Ebrahim showed up on television claiming he never received any such letter. That is the last I heard of that. The Election Commission is telling us to make our own security arrangements. Use your own untrained security guards, they say. Now, if these untrained security guards are enough to guard me and my candidates, then they must be capable of also guarding the country? The government took my security away in a very awkward manner, at 9:30 p.m. one night, without even informing me. The security that had been provided to me consisted of one policeman and four guards. The Election Commission denies it ordered it, but then there is written evidence proving it requested all security be withdrawn.

Will you accept the election results without any hesitation?

No, that will depend. It will depend on the results and how things shape up. As far as electoral alliances are concerned, it is still too early to decide that. Let me repeat, since this is a war between two mindsets, I will not go for an alliance with a party which belongs to the other camp. Let’s not name anyone. However, I would like to add that of late there is a new phenomenon arising before the elections. A few days ago, two Jamaat-e-Islami workers were caught with 90,000 fake ballot papers. Now new reports are emerging-I am still trying to confirm them-that a Jamaat aspirant’s house was raided and another 30,000 to 35,000 bogus ballot papers have been recovered. If these things start developing then there will be a big question mark on the upcoming elections.

What should be the chief priority of the next elected government?

Terrorism needs to be addressed immediately. One has to take control of the field. Right now, the ownership of the field is being challenged. We can continue to fight among ourselves about what we may want to plant in the field, but first we must own it.

Blackwater/Xe cells conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan

Wayne Madsen

WMR has learned from a deep background source that Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, has been conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan that are later blamed on the entity called “Pakistani Taliban.”

Only recently did the US State Department designate the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a terrorist group. The group is said by the State Department to be an off-shoot of the Afghan Taliban, which had links to “Al Qaeda” before the 9/11 attacks on the United States. TTP’s leader is Hakimullah Mehsud, said to be 30-years old and operating from Pakistan’s remote tribal region with an accomplice named Wali Ur Rehman. In essence, this new team of Mehsud and Rehman appears to be the designated replacement for Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri as the new leaders of the so-called “Global Jihad” against the West.

However, it is Xe cells operating in Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad and other cities and towns that have, according to our source who witnessed the U.S.-led false flag terrorist operations in Pakistan. Bombings of civilians is the favored false flag event for the Xe team and are being carried out under the orders of the CIA.

However, the source is now under threat from the FBI and CIA for revealing the nature of the false flag operations in Pakistan. If the source does not agree to cooperate with the CIA and FBI, with an offer of a salary, the threat of false criminal charges being brought for aiding and abetting terrorism looms over the source.

The Blackwater/Xe involvement in terrorist attacks in Pakistan have been confirmed by the former head of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), General Hamid Gul, according to another source familiar with the current Xe covert operations. In addition, Pakistani ex-Army Chief of Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg, reportedly claimed that while serving as president, General Pervez Musharraf approved Blackwater carrying out terrorist operations in Pakistan. Blackwater has been accused of smuggling weapons and munitions into Pakistan.

Earlier this year WMR reported that “intelligence sources in Asia and Europe are reporting that the CIA contractor firm XE Services, formerly Blackwater, has been carrying out ‘false flag’ terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Somalia, the Sinkiang region of China, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, in some cases with the assistance of Israeli Mossad and Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) personnel . . . A number of terrorist bombings in Pakistan have been blamed by Pakistani Islamic leaders on Blackwater, Mossad, and RAW. Blackwater has been accused of hiring young Pakistanis in Peshawar to carry out false flag bombings that are later blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. One such bombing took place during the Ashura procession in Karachi last month. The terrorist attacks allegedly are carried out by a secret Blackwater-XE/CIA/Joint Special Operations Command forward operating base in Karachi. The XE Services component was formerly known as Blackwater Select, yet another subsidiary in a byzantine network of shell and linked companies run by Blackwater/Xe on behalf of the CIA and the Pentagon. On December 3, 2009, the Pakistani newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt reported: ‘Vast land near the Tarbela dam has also been given to the Americans where they have established bases for their army and air forces. There, the Indian RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] and Israeli Mossad are working in collaboration with the CIA to carry out extremist activities in Pakistan.’”

The bombing of a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan last December was blamed on the TTP but may have actually involved the covert Xe/CIA program to stage false flag attacks and something went drastically wrong with the operation that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA personnel, including the Khost station chief. The TTP was also linked to the failed Times Square “bombing” last May.

Responsibility for the recent bomb attack of a pro-Palestine Shi’a rally in Quetta that killed 54 people was claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, but it was actually carried out by one of the Xe covert cells in the country, acting in concert with the CIA, Israeli Mossad, and Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The ultimate goal is to destabilize Pakistan to the point where it has no choice but to allow the Western powers to secure its nuclear weapons and remove them from the country in a manner similar to the procurement by the West of South Africa’s nuclear weapons prior to the stepping down of the white minority government in the early 1990s.

WMR has been informed that any American, whether or not he or she holds a security clearance, is subject to U.S. national security prohibitions from discussing the U.S.- sponsored terrorist attacks in Pakistan. In one case, a threat was made against an individual who personally witnessed the Xe/CIA terrorist operations but is now threatened, along with family members.

Drone strikes kill 24 in North, South Waziristan

By Irfan Burki, Malik Mumtaz & Mushtaq Yusufzai

WANA/MIRAMSHAH/PESHAWAR: Twenty-four people, majority of them local tribal militants, were killed and some others were injured in three different missile attacks by the US spy planes in South Waziristan and North Waziristan on Sunday.

The first attack took place in Shaktoi area of South Waziristan where the drone fired two missiles and hit a double-cabin pickup carrying militants. Taliban sources said 14 militants were killed and two others were injured in the attack.

They belonged to the Hakimullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to Taliban sources, these militants along with several other Mehsud insurgents had returned recently to their native South Waziristan and were planning to fight the Pakistani security forces there.

Many Mehsud Taliban fled their strongholds in South Waziristan and mostly shifted to the adjoining North Waziristan and Orakzai tribal regions when the government launched a military operation against Hakimullah Mehsud and his militants on October 17, 2009.

The sources among the militants said 14 insurgents died on the spot and two others sustained serious injuries. The two injured were shifted to a hospital in Mir Ali, the second biggest town of neighbouring North Waziristan. They were reported to have suffered multiple injuries.

It was the first attack by US spy planes in the Mehsud-inhabited areas of South Waziristan, particularly in Shaktoi after the January 15 missile strikes on a house after the US and Pakistani officials started making claims that Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed.

The second drone attack on Sunday occurred in Landikhel village of Srarogha Tehsil in South Waziristan. Tribal sources said four people, suspected to be militants belonging to the TTP, were killed and five others sustained injuries.

They said the drone fired two missiles on a house where some militants were having dinner. Moreover, six people were killed and four others injured in the third drone attack in the adjoining North Waziristan tribal region.

Official and tribal sources said the drone fired two missiles and struck a house in Tolkhel village, seven kilometres north of Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan. Villagers in Tolkhel said four spy planes were seen flying over the village for quite sometime on Sunday.

They said rescue work was started after two hours as the spy planes were still flying over the area. There was no word on the identity of those slain in the drone strikes.

Faisal Shahzad: A Game Against Pakistan

By Brig Asif Haroon Raja

Going over the sequence of events that led to detection of smoking SUV at Times Square (TS) on 1 May and arrest of Faisal Shahzad from Dubai bound plane on 3 May, that is two days after the botched attempt, and speedy linkage of Faisal with Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in North Waziristan (NW), coincidental reincarnation of declared dead Hakimullah Mehsud in January and his offensive statements to burn down cities of USA, his spokesman Azam Tariq claiming responsibility of failed TS incident, arrest of a Pakistani in Santiago and some others in USA and their alleged connections with Faisal, one has reason to believe that something fishy is going on. Possibility that Faisal was framed in order to maximize pressure on Pakistan at a time when it is not agreeing to start an operation in NW cannot be ruled out.

People protesting against a fake case of Faisal Shahzad

Obama’s Drone Blitz

They Seek Them Here, They Bomb Them There ….

By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY

They seek him here, they seek him there,
Those drones they seek him everywhere.
Bin Laden struck? – Or maybe missed?
That damned, elusive terrorist.

With apologies to Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1903

Let us imagine that Spain invaded Mexico in similar fashion to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 because Madrid suffered a terrorist atrocity that was planned by a Saudi Arabian fanatic living in Chihuahua.

Spanish troops poured into the country, and Spanish generals and mercenaries were to all intents running the place although generously subsidizing a corrupt national government whose president was in power through gross electoral fraud.

A militant resistance movement developed and a lucrative drug industry prospered mightily. There was much illegal movement of criminals and insurgents across the US-Mexico border.

Pakistani news presenter accused of link to Taliban hostage’s murder

Leaked audio tape purportedly reveals phone conversation between Hamid Mir and a Taliban spokesman about hostage

Declan Walsh

The Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir. Photograph: Getty Images

Pakistan‘s pugnacious media world was plunged into controversy today when a leaked audio tape apparently linked its most popular television presenter with the execution of a Taliban hostage.

Faisal Shahzad & what we should do

As expected, immense pressure is being brought to bear on Pakistan to go after the Taliban because of the apparent Faisal Shahzad connection to them. As all this is happening, a spokesman for the Tehrik-i- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) told an Indian news channel on Thursday that the organisation had no link with Shahzad. That, however, flies in the face of what Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said and also conflicts with Shahzad’s own reported admission before American investigators that he had received training in Waziristan. Furthermore, the timing of the TTP denial, days after the organisation’s very own chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, suggested that the TTP was behind it and after severe pressure from the US administration on Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban, is such that there may be few in western capitals who will believe it. In fact rational and sensible Pakistanis who know the history of the Taliban and how they were created may also have doubts on this denial.

Pakistan’s Punjab heartland alive with extremist groups

By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers

FAISALABAD, Pakistan – Even the Pakistan army conducts military operations against Taliban guerrillas in northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, banned al Qaida -linked groups are operating openly in the Pakistani heartland of Punjab, which itself has been the target of dozens of terror attacks.

The province on Pakistan’s eastern border with India is home to more than half the country’s population and functions as its economic and political powerhouse, as well as the main recruiting ground for the military.

It is the stronghold of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who leads the opposition to President Asif Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party , which rules nationally from Islamabad.

Down, But Not Out

Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Aysha Chowdhry, Research Analyst/Publications Manager, Foreign Policy, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World

Reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has died from wounds inflicted in a CIA drone attack are welcome if true. But his demise is unlikely to significantly disrupt the Taliban’s operations. Since its birth just a few years ago the Pakistani Taliban has rapidly developed and matured into a formidable terror network reaching across the country. There may be some confusion at the top in replacing Hakimullah, but it will not deal the terror gang a mortal blow.

Pakistan Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud is seen with his arm around Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud during a news conference in South Waziristan.

Hakimullah took control of the group just last August when his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in another CIA strike. For Americans Hakimullah’s infamy was assured by his role in sending a Jordanian triple agent into a CIA forward operating base in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009. Al Khurasani, as he is known in his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, blew up the base, killing more CIA officers in one attack than any terrorist since an attack in Beirut in 1983.

For Pakistanis, the Taliban has been even more devastating. According to a Pakistani think tank, over 25,000 Pakistanis were killed or wounded in terror-related violence last year. Around 5,000 were killed or wounded in suicide bombings linked to the Taliban. The Pakistani army’s two offensives against the Taliban, first in the Swat valley last summer and then in south Waziristan this fall, have so stretched the army’s resources that it told Secretary of Defense Bob Gates last month that it will not be able to conduct another large-scale offensive against the Taliban for at least six and probably twelve months.

The Taliban has expanded far beyond its roots in the tribal areas of the Afghan border in just a few years. It has conducted attacks from Kashmir in the north to Karachi in the south. It still recruits most effectively in the Pashtun tribes, but it has also developed extensive support in the Punjabi heart of the nation. It has demonstrated an uncanny ability to strike deep inside some of the most fortified secure zones of the country, including Rawalpindi, the nations’ military capital.

The group has also moved ever closer towards al-Qaeda. Khurasani’s attack was trumpeted in an al-Qaeda statement days after he struck, with the terror group saying his martyrdom was retaliation for CIA missions that had killed Baitullah and two al-Qaeda leaders. Hakimullah appeared in a video with Khurasni to underscore their close alliance.

The Taliban’s goal is to disrupt Pakistani society so as to make the country ungovernable, hoping that chaos will lead to a jihadist takeover. Their immediate objective appears to be to destabilize the country’s largest port, Karachi, by provoking ethnic and sectarian violence between the city’s various communities. Violence in Karachi directly threatens the NATO mission in Afghanistan as well, since more than three quarters of NATO’s supplies arrive via Karachi.

So Mehsud’s passing is merely a battle victory. Although his death may temporarily offset the momentum of the Pakistani Taliban, make no mistake, there are a hundred more Mehsud’s waiting in the shadows. The war is far from being decided.

U.S. to give spy drone technology to Pakistan

By Andrew Lebovich and Katherine Tiedemann

Busy trip

Defense Secretary Robert Gates continued his swing through Pakistan yesterday, meeting with Pakistani military leaders and attempting to address “misconceptions” about American policies towards the country (AFP, LAT, AJE). In an interview with Pakistani television, Gates indicated that the United States would begin supplying the Pakistani military with unarmed “Shadow” reconnaissance drones, in a bid to increase military efforts against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied groups (NYT, CSM, AFP, BBC, Daily Times). And the German newspaper Die Welt reported last week that they had unearthed a recent video showing Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) leader Tahir Yuldashev, who had previously been thought killed in a drone strike last summer (Die Welt – in German, Daily Times).

Gates also confirmed the presence of the security contractor Xe, formerly Blackwater, on Pakistani soil (Department of Defense). However, Gates was careful to say that any security groups operating under contract for the U.S. government would comply with strict American rules and Pakistani law.

Despite statements from Pakistani military leaders yesterday that no offensive in North Waziristan would occur for six to twelve months, Reuters reports today that Pakistani troops backed with helicopter gunships attacked a “militant hideout” near Miram Shah, the agency’s main town, while the AP writes that a handful of fighters were killed in a search-and-clearance operation nearby (Reuters, AP). And amidst reports that a group of Mehsud tribal elders had agreed to surrender militants as well as TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, the TTP has issued pamphlets warning Mehsud tribesmen not to return to South Waziristan “for their own safety.” (Dawn).

High alert

India has put a high alert on airports in the country after receiving intelligence that militants linked to al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group were planning to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight traveling to a neighboring South Asian country (AP, AJE, CNN, BBC, AFP, WSJ, Times of India, Indian Express). Sky marshals have been deployed on certain planes, and passengers are being subjected to intense screening at least until the end of the month.

Whirlwind Washington tour

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new strategy for civilian engagement in Afghanistan yesterday, one that involves an increased, long-term civilian presence in Afghanistan beyond the nearly 1,000 civilians already there or slated to arrive in the near future (Department of State, Reuters). The plan addresses issues from agriculture development to corruption and reconciliation efforts with Taliban fighters, though some doubt whether the ambitious strategy, developed by Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Amb. Richard Holbrooke, will receive sufficient support from Congress (AFP).
Appearing with Holbrooke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband stressed the need for a revised political strategy in Afghanistan, telling the Committee that in order to defeat the Taliban, “[w]e have to make sure we are not outgunned, but we always have to make sure we are not out-governed (Independent, AP). Miliband also said ahead of next week’s conference in London on Afghanistan that he wanted to shift responsibility for security to the Afghan government and support Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s plan to reconcile some Taliban fighters with the Afghan government in part through money and job programs, an idea Secretary Gates also supports (Telegraph, WSJ, NYT, AFP, Dawn, McClatchy, BBC). Even the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads one of the major insurgent factions in Afghanistan, has expressed a recent willingness to cooperate with Karzai’s government under certain conditions, though he has a long history of switching sides (WSJ).

COIN adjustments

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has slowed the implementation of a program meant to arm and train local anti-Taliban militias, reflecting an ongoing debate between military and civilian officials over the best way to fight the Taliban in the Afghan countryside (Wash Post). Meanwhile, the Afghan government moved quickly in the wake of Monday’s deadly assault on Kabul to claim victory in the engagement, holding a news conference and a medal ceremony for some Afghan soldiers who helped subdue Taliban fighters (WSJ). Afghan officials emphasized the fact that Afghan commandos responded to the attack with little foreign assistance (Economist).

NATO will soon curtail “night raids” in Afghanistan, in an effort to reduce the hostility these operations engender among many Afghans (AP). Night raids have received more attention since top U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal limited the use of air strikes and other tactics last year in an effort to reduce civilian casualties and grievances. Dexter Filkins looks at the mystery surrounding a recent night raid that killed four in Ghazni Province and sparked intense protests from Afghan civilians (NYT).

Afghanistan’s government has banned the common fertilizer ammonium nitrate, after an investigation found that it was used in a number of bombs targeting Afghan and western forces (AP). Afghan farmers have 30 days to turn in their supplies of the chemical or face punishment. And an American gunsight manufacturing company that aroused controversy this week over Bible references stamped on their equipment will voluntarily remove the markings from future sights and provide kits so troops in the field can remove them (AJE, VOA, CNN).

Pitch battles

Pakistani civilians, cricket players, and government officials alike have expressed anger that no Pakistani players were chosen in this week’s Indian Premier League auction, held this week (WSJ). While Indian officials insist that they have nothing to do with the selection of players for India’s most important cricket league, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik complained publicly about the snub, and Pakistanis protested in several cities.

STRATFOR: Anti-Pakistan and Anti-Islam Propaganda Site Run by a George Friedman

by Khurram Shaikh

STRATFOR’s chief executive officer, Dr. George Friedman, is a widely recognized international affairs expert and author of numerous books, including The Next 100 Years (Doubleday, 2009), America’s Secret War (Doubleday, 2005), and The Future of War (Crown, 1996).

Stratfor is a site run by George Friedman. It is a relentless propaganda machine against Pakistan. It is managed and controlled by a Dr.George Friedman, a Jewish American. It has published stories, which are basically against Pakistan’s nuclear program and support propaganda out of India. It has a very high sounding name, as if it is an independent Think Tank, which it is NOT. It reflects biased views and zionist thinking. An example such an article is shown below:

Washington, January 12, 2010
US think-tank hints at ISI hand in CIA attack
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article79491.ece

The suicide strike on the key U.S. intelligence base in Afghanistan had hallmarks of an operation carried out by a national intelligence service, a leading U.S. think-tank has said, apparently hinting that it could be the handiwork of Pakistan’s ISI or its rogue elements.

“The hit was by all account a masterful piece of trade craft beyond the known abilities of a group like Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan,” U.S. think-tank Stratfors said.

“The Jordanians penetration of the CIA was less like the product of an insurgency than an operation carried out by a national intelligence service. And this is the most troubling aspect for the U.S.,” the think tank said.

The speculation about a possible ISI hand in the suicide attack is being traced back to U.S. and Afghan government sources who said in the analysis of explosives used, it was found they were of standard military grade which points to the ISI.

Stratfors deduction comes even as al-Jazeera TV said the Jordanian bomber Khali Abu Mulal al-Balawi was brought to the U.S. base in Khost in eastern Afghanistan by car from across the border in Pakistan.

The agency which was one of the TV channels which beamed a footage of al-Balawi alongside Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud said the video showed “there was clearly a link between Pakistani Taliban headed by Hakimullah Mehsud and some of the al-Qaeda elements operating in Pakistan.

The Arab TV channel said, this video was expected and “everybody in the tribal border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan was told al-Balawi had recored a message before he went to his mission to blow the American Chapman base.” The channel said that the video would provide the Afghan government “more ammunition” with which to criticise their counterparts in Pakistan. “This is definitely something that is going to put more pressure on the Pakistanis in the future and will definitely make the Afghans and the Americans change their strategy as far as dealing with eastern Afghanistan.”

Stratfors, in an in depth analysis of the hit on the CIA base, said as the Jordanian bomber exited the vehicle on December 30, the security guards at the Chapman base noticed he was behaving strangely. As the guards moved towards al-Balawi screaming for him to take his hands out of his pocket, the Jordanian instead of complying detonated the suicide device he was wearing.

The explosion, Stratfors said killed the bomber, three security contractors, four CIA officers and the Jordanian intelligence official who was his handler. But the vehicle shielded other CIA officers at the scene from the blast. The CIA officers killed included the chief of base at Khost and an analyst, who was the agency’s foremost expert on al-Qaeda.

“The U.S. cannot hope to reach a satisfactory solution in Afghanistan unless it can win the intelligence war. But the damage done to CIA in this attack cannot be overestimated. At least one of the agency’s top analysts was killed. In an intelligence war, this is equivalent to a sinking of an aircraft carrier in a naval war,” Stratfors said.

Keywords: CIA, US think tank, attack, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, ISI, Pakistan, Kabul, suicide attack

Most academics and thinkers globally know the hidden agenda of Stratfor. It’s independent antecedents are highly suspect and its literature and reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. Pakistan’s ISI is a premier intelligence organization. It does not use dirty tricks like the ones mentioned in the following article redacted from Stratfor by the RSS and VHP propaganda machine as reflected by its URL(http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article79491.ece). Pakistan’s ISI operates in defence of Pakistan and protection of Pakistan’s strategic assets. It has never and never will target agents from brotherly nations like Afghanistan or friends like the U.S. Stratfor’s aim is to spew out venomous propaganda as legitimate strategic reports. It feeds off many anti-Pakistan, intelligence organizations like RAW and Mossad.

CIA and ISI collaborate on many fronts in the War on Terror. Stratfor’s aim is to malign this relationship, but so far, CIA is smart enough to know where Stratfor’s ideas are emanating and germinating. The bottom line is creating a hostile environment between Pakistan and the U.S., in order to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear assets. This may be their aim or wishful thinking but facts on the ground are different. No matter what the bad intentions of the enemy, they will blow back on their faces. Evil fate for evil intentions is a trusted paradigm.

Pakistan – Terrorist killed in FBI strike

Associated Press

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.

The death would be the latest victory for the CIA-led missile campaign against militant targets in Pakistan’s insurgent-riddled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a campaign that has recently escalated. One Thursday is believed to have missed Pakistan’s Taliban chief.

The intelligence officials said a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. The FBI’s Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group.

Rahim is wanted for his alleged role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, according to the FBI site.

The hijackers demanded that 1,500 prisoners in Cyprus and Israel be released and that they be flown out of Pakistan. At one point, the hijackers shot and threw hand grenades at passengers and crew in one part of the plane. Some 20 people, including two Americans, died during the hijacking.

Rahim had been tried and convicted by Pakistan, but he and three suspected accomplices were apparently released in January 2008. All four were added to the FBI list late last year.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The three Pakistani intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to speak to media on the record. They cited field informants and sources in militant ranks.

But the information is nearly impossible to verify independently because access to Pakistan’s tribal regions is restricted.

North Waziristan is considered a key sanctuary for a range of militant groups, including al-Qaida and factions focused on battling the U.S. in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been resisting mounting U.S. pressure to wage an army offensive in the region.

In the meantime, the U.S. has been pounding it with missiles. A pair of missiles hit a house in the Mishta area of South Waziristan on Friday, the 10th such attack in roughly two weeks in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Two intelligence officials told The Associated Press that the two people killed were suspected militants. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have the authority to make such disclosures to the press.

Four of the drone-fired missiles landed Friday in the Zarniri area of North Waziristan, killing three people. The area is near where a strike Thursday killed 12 people but is thought to have missed its apparent target, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

A purported audiotape of Mehsud denying his death emerged Friday but contained no specific reference to the missile strike.

The lack of a reference to Thursday’s strike means the tape could have been recorded prior, possibly to keep the Pakistani Taliban united in case Mehsud was incapacitated. Militants have in the past given misleading information about who lived and who died.

“Propaganda is spreading through the media that Hakimullah has been martyred, and propaganda is spreading that the operation in South Waziristan has successfully concluded. It can never happen,” Mehsud said in the Pashto language on the audio recording.

Another Pakistani Taliban militant played the audiotape for the AP reporter in a landline phone call, which the reporter recorded. The reporter recognized the voice as Mehsud’s.

Intelligence officials have said Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud appeared to have escaped the strike, while a local Taliban commander also denied rising speculation Friday that Mehsud was wounded.

“I can confirm that our emir, Hakimullah Mehsud, is alive. He is not wounded. He is leading the fighters in South Waziristan,” said the commander, Omar Khatab, in a walkie-talkie conversation with an Associated Press reporter.

Killing Mehsud would be a major victory for both Washington and Islamabad.

Under the 28-year-old’s watch, militant attacks in Pakistan have soared since October, even as the army has waged an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan tribal region. Mehsud also appeared on a recent video with the Jordanian militant who killed seven CIA employees in a December suicide attack in Afghanistan.

Mehsud’s predecessor, fellow tribesman Baitullah Mehsud, died in a missile strike last August in South Waziristan. For nearly three weeks, militants denied his death even as U.S. and Pakistani officials said they were increasingly confident of it.

The Pakistani Taliban appeared in disarray for those initial weeks following Baitullah Mehsud’s death, with several reports emerging of a power struggle between Hakimullah Mehsud and the man who eventually became his deputy, Waliur Rehman.

In public, Pakistani government officials criticize the missile strikes and say the United States is violating their country’s sovereignty. But there is little doubt Islamabad agrees to at least some of the attacks and provides targeting information for them.

Pakistan invades Taliban stronghold

By Anjum Herald Gill THE WASHINGTON TIMES

LAHORE, Pakistan | Pakistan’s army launched a huge air and ground offensive in the Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday, deploying 30,000 troops, in a critical effort to crush the insurgents, who threaten the stability of the nuclear-armed country.

Pakistan Army troops prepare to leave for patrolling during a curfew in Bannu, a town on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt Waziristan, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a much-awaited ground offensive in an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border, officials told The Associated Press – the nuclear-armed U.S. ally’s toughest test yet against militants aiming to topple the state.

Troops carried out attacks on several militant bases in the region on the Afghan border, but faced strong resistance from the insurgents on the first day of the offensive.

According to the Associated Press, the Pakistani army said Sunday that 60 militants had been killed, while six soldiers had died. The Taliban claimed to have inflicted “heavy casualties” on the army and to have pushed invading soldiers back into their bases.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters that NATO forces in Afghanistan have been informed of the offensive but that no help would be sought from them during the operation.

He said the military thinks that about 2,000 foreign militants could be present in South Waziristan and that 80 percent of the terrorist attacks carried out in Lahore and other parts of the country were planned in this Taliban sanctuary.

He said the operation would continue for the next six to eight weeks. However, a strong resistance is expected from the militants. Intelligence officials said the offensive also could provoke backlash attacks by the militants.

Curfews have been imposed in the cities and towns surrounding South Waziristan, including Bannu, Wana and Shakai. The roads and paths leading to the militants’ safe havens have been sealed, the army said, with a heavy deployment on the roads between South and North Waziristan.

The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to mount the offensive, which follows three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the mountainous, remote region, the Associated Press reported.

The assault, which has been planned for several months, comes after a surge in attacks by militants killed more than 175 people across Pakistan over the past two weeks.

Over the last three months, the Pakistani air force has been bombing targets, while the army has said it has sealed off many Taliban supply and escape routes.

The U.S. is trying to rush in equipment that would aid mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a U.S. Embassy official told AP in a recent interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive.

With the people of Pakistan and political parties backing the much-awaited operation, the decision to attack the stronghold of the Taliban was made in a four-hour-long meeting late Friday night that was chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and included the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha briefed the federal Cabinet and opposition parties.

More than 100,000 residents of Waziristan moved away from the region in the past few days in anticipation of the offensive. And government and aid-agency officials fear that the number of internally displaced people will increase tremendously in the coming two days.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants appear to have changed their guerrilla war strategy since the last military offensive in South Waziristan, and officials fear they could attack media groups to mount pressure on the government.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has warned that offices of private TV channels, press clubs across the country and newspaper offices could be the terrorists’ next targets.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists recently alerted its members of the new threat through an e-mail. It quoted a senior security official as saying, “Telephonic conversation of a commander of Baitullah Mehsud’s network had been intercepted wherein he was issuing directives to his subordinate commanders to target media offices all over the country besides attacking or hijacking school buses and security agencies’ offices.”

Mehsud, the top commander of the Pakistani Taliban, reportedly was killed in a U.S. drone attack in August. The militants have since named fellow tribesman Hakimullah Mehsud as their leader.

The Lahore Press Club has received two letters from the Taliban warning of an attack any time after Oct. 10. The letter explained that the attacks would be carried out if the journalists continue to portray the Taliban as terrorists instead of highlighting them as “mujahedeen.” The letter warned the journalists to “stop becoming a mouthpiece of America and prepare the people for jihad against American infidels.”

The letters were received on Oct. 10 and 12. And on Oct. 15, three simultaneous attacks were carried out in Lahore, targeting three security agencies. Thirty-two were killed, including 10 attackers.

Through the letters, the Taliban group that calls itself “Sars Mission” demanded release of its men, threatening attacks on the courts, the legal community and the Lahore High Court’s chief justice and his family.

The threats have led to increased security around the Lahore Press Club, where visits by worried members have ebbed.

Intelligence reports said coeducational English schools also could be targeted. The Taliban is against coeducation and girls’ education.

Elite English schools have been criticized by the religious and militant organizations for quite some time. They have been provided police security by the government, and some institutions have arranged their own armed security. Attendance at both the government and private schools has remained thin. Some schools have been shut down until Monday.

Divided Pakistani Taleban name Hakimullah Mehsud as their new leader

Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

The Pakistani Taleban have announced a successor to their dead leader, Baitullah Mehsud, in an apparent effort to put an end to bitter infighting within the group.

Taleban spokesmen said that Hakimullah Mehsud, 28, a militant commander who is believed to have masterminded the attack in Lahore on the Sri Lanka cricket team this year, was the new leader. He was elected by the group’s 42-member governing council.

The Taleban still deny that Mehsud is dead, conceding merely that he is unable to perform his duties because of ill health. US and Pakistani officials believe that he was killed in a missile strike on August 5.

Analysts said that the selection of Mr Hakimullah was an attempt to shore up an organisation reeling from the loss of its leader, who had unified various militant elements under the banner of Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that the election of the young militant known for his erratic behaviour could further accentuate the division in the group which seemed to be already in disarray.

Mr Hakimullah’s appointment has not been endorsed by his main rival, Wali Ur Rehman, a spokesman of the TTP who was believed to have been injured in a gunfight in a council meeting called to name the new chief.

Mr Hakimullah is believed to have been behind threats to foreign embassies in Islamabad, and there is a bounty of ten million rupees (£80,000) on his head. His men have been blamed for attacking US and Nato supply convoys travelling through northwestern Pakistan en route to Afghanistan, and he has claimed responsibility for the June 9 bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar and the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore in March.

Rehman Malik, the Pakistani Interior Minister, said that the Government had received intelligence reports about Mr Hakimullah’s appointment “as the chief terrorist” but that there was no official confirmation.

The Taleban have detained four relatives of the slain leader on suspicion of tipping off authorities about his whereabouts. A senior intelligence official said that Ikramamuddin, Mr Mehsud’s father-in-law, was among those detained by the militants for questioning.

Mr Mehsud was killed while being treated with an intravenous drip at the house of Ikramamuddin, the father of his second wife, who was also killed in the strike.

Security officials said that their detention could be a part of power struggle within the group. Earlier the Taleban executed a driver for Mr Mehsud and a paramedic on suspicion of spying for the Government.

TTPs treasure Financial Trail of terror leads straight to Indian RAW agents

Written by Abhijay Patel

A bloody feud that followed Baitullah Mehsud’s death involving about three-dozen best-trained Taliban fighters early on Wednesday morning was actually a battle among various Taliban warlords to control Rs 2 billion Taliban funds and ownership of arms and ammunition worth about Rs 1 billion by grabbing the ‘Emarat’ (the leadership) of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to senior security officials and knowledgeable Taliban sources.

Such was the charisma and awe of 35-year-old, five feet two inches tall Baitullah Mehsud that none of his associates ever dared to challenge his leadership till an American missile strike blew his body apart on the first floor of the house of his second wife in South Waziristan last week.

An intelligence official said: “For about four years, some 3,500 trained fighters and dozens of suicide bombers blindly followed Baitullah as he was the centre of gravity of terrorism in Pakistan.” The battle for the control of the Rs 3 billion Taliban treasure erupted within two days of Baitullah’s death, when two of his most trusted lieutenants, Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, claimed succession in an emergency meeting in Sararogha, where an armed clash left Hakimullah Mehsud dead, along with 40 Taliban fighters, on Saturday evening, a security official said.

An official account of this incident said Waliur Rehman got seriously wounded, while Qari Hussain, who ran the Taliban’s suicide operations directly under Baitullah Mehsud, was also wounded with bullet injuries on both legs in the same incident.

Hakimullah Mehsud, Waliur Rehman and Qari Hussain were claimant to the ‘Emarat’ of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, that comes with a grip on funds of billions of rupees, huge cache of weapons and thousands of trained fighters and a close affinity with al-Qaeda and its leader Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had chosen Baitullah Mehsud to lead the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

“There is a constant flow of tens of millions of dollars from foreign enemy sources that keeps the Taliban machine rolling,” a senior security official said, adding: “Over the years Baitullah had built a cash reserve of about Rs 2 billion in addition to large cache of sophisticated weapons, ammunition and latest communication equipment.”

Intelligence officials believe money for the Pakistani Taliban was either buried in various caves in the tribal areas or it was stashed in various bank accounts in Pakistan and in some Gulf states.

Baitullah Mehsud’s coffers expanded so much last year that he sent one of his cousins to Dubai for cash investment in various real estate projects; subsequently millions of dollars were remitted for adventurous business proposals in Gulf states.

“It was not theft, Baitullah just wanted to bolster Taliban reserves because of growing expenses,” said a Karachi-based Mehsud tribesman, who had associated with Baitullah in the past. Narrating another incident, the same source said when a renowned Taliban commander informed Baitullah about huge monetary offers he was receiving from Pakistani officials to surrender, Baitullah’s answer to this man was: “Money is not with the government of Pakistan. Money is with me, tell me how much you want.” Officials concede Baitullah’s money power was such that it was difficult for them to buy his key commanders, as he conveniently outbid them in case of a couple of important commanders.

A senior police official in Peshawar said Baitullah was convinced by al-Qaeda and Pakistan’s foreign enemies that South Waziristan would soon emerge as an independent “Islamic Emirate” and he would be declared as its first Amir.

Intelligence accounts speak of smooth flow of cash to Baitullah from enemy agents, posing as wealthy and highly motivated Arab Muslims, who had established direct connection with the reclusive Taliban commander.

The Taliban sources close to Baitullah Mehsud say a strong cash flow was his most crucial need because his top priority remained an uninterrupted payment of monthly salaries to the families of each of his fighters. Baitullah was supervising a smooth system of cash deliveries ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs20,000 at the doorsteps of his fighters all across Pakistan. Sustenance allowance reached the families of those killed in action.

“Cash pipelines emanating from RAW and Afghan secret services headquarters were terminating in Baitullah-ran accounts, besides cash and weapons infusion,” intelligence officials believed. They estimate Baitullah was paying about Rs600 million in salaries for his fighters every year.

While intelligence agencies see a direct hand of Indian and Afghan secret agencies in financing terror outfits in Pakistan, US officials have consistently accused wealthy individuals in unnamed Gulf countries of providing finances to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistani and Taliban sources say Maulana Ikramuddin, the man who gave his young daughter to Baitullah Mehsud in marriage last year, was the custodian of some of the key financial secrets of Baitullah Mehsud. Ikramuddin was not at home when the US missile struck his residence, killing Baitullah and about 40 of his bodyguards.

Intelligence officials watched with keen interest that when Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman groups clashed in Sararogha, each one of them tried to kidnap Ikramuddin, who was there to arrange a negotiated succession agreement under his umbrella. Ikramuddin, an official source said, was taken away by injured Waliur Rehman.

While foreign cash inflows remained an important source of the Taliban funding, irrefutable evidence showed that Baitullah also ran strong syndicate of select Mehsud tribesmen in Karachi and some Jihadi elements of southern Punjab who were assigned to provide cash injection through bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom.

In one incident two years ago, two private security guards, both Mehsud tribesmen and close associates of Baitullah Mehsud, looted Rs140 million from a foreign exchange company in Karachi. The investigation led the trail to Baitullah Mehsud, who was later approached by a delegation of top Islamic scholars of Karachi for the return of the money. Baitullah obliged the Ulema by returning Rs16.5 million from the looted Rs140 million. The matter is in full knowledge of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who had organised the Scholars’ meeting with Baitullah Mehsud.

Several important cases of kidnappings for ransom in Karachi and Lahore over the last two years and a majority of kidnappings for ransom cases reported in Peshawar in the past two years were settled when the Taliban or their contacts were paid huge ransoms. After Baitullah, battle on for Taliban treasure. Moin Ansari