Book of the Month

No Country for Armed Men--

by artappraiser 6/26/2012 - 1:37 am

By Ahmed Rashid, ForeignPolicy.com, June 22, 2012

Pakistan is in such bad shape, even the generals don't want to stage a coup ....

Ahmed goes on from there with a litany of the troubles and to suggest their real source.

If you don't know of him, he is a journalist and author of five books on South Asia. His latest is Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Read the full article at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/22/no_country_for_armed_men

By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press – 5 hours ago

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — The Taliban released a video Wednesday that they say shows the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers captured in a cross-border raid from Afghanistan this week and beheaded.

In violence Wednesday, a bomb in a railway station in Pakistan's southwest killed at least five people, police said, and the leader of an anti-Taliban militia was killed in Peshawar in the northwest.

The Pakistani Taliban's bloody cross-border raid Sunday night showed the threat still posed by the group, despite multiple army offensives. Increasingly, the militants have used sanctuaries in eastern Afghanistan to attack border areas in Pakistan's northwest [....]

The Pakistani Taliban said in the video that they killed 18 soldiers, but 17 heads were displayed on a bloody white sheet on the ground outside. Several militants whose faces were covered were standing around the heads, holding weapons they said were captured from the soldiers.

The Associated Press obtained the video by email Wednesday from Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan.

The beginning of the video contains a voice recording by Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in which he says the militants will continue to battle the army until Pakistan's government stops supporting the U.S. and enforces Islamic law throughout the country. It was unclear when the message was recorded.

The Pakistani military said previously that 13 troops were killed in the cross-border raid into the country's northwest Upper Dir region, and seven of them were beheaded. Four others were reported missing at the time. The military did not immediately respond to request for comment on the video [....]

Pakistan Army facing greater threat from al-Qaeda: observers
The News (Pakistan) June 28, 2012, From Print Edition

Islamabad--The Pakistan Army, which is in the forefront of battling terrorist groups in Fata, is now facing a progressive campaign from the top terror outfit al-Qaeda to damage its standing and credibility.

“We have seen some developments that indicate that al-Qaeda has launched a vicious attack on Pakistan Army which is a major threat to its designs,” well-connected sources here in the federal capital revealed.

The sources said that in July 2010, a message by al-Qaeda had first discussed the role of Pakistan Army in the global war against terror in detail and offered twisted justifications for launching a Jihad against Pakistan.

A video was then released in January 2012 by the TTP, which is hands in glove with al-Qaeda, discussing the role of the army in defending the Muslims. The video stated that “the units of this Army played a singular role alongside the British in the World War I in handing over Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque to these Infidels”. It also claimed that during the 1800s, Syed Ahmed Shaheed was killed by the Pakistan Army soldiers.

Then in March 2012, the al-Qaeda propagandists again justified a holy war against the Pakistan Army while making a hitherto unverified claim that Pakistani forces were holding 10 senior Taliban leaders in jail.

Similarly, on the first death anniversary of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2012 the al-Qaeda in its rhetoric on the internet launched a tirade against the army, even threatening to assassinate senior army officers.

“What we are witnessing is a progressive attack on the Pakistan Army and its credibility. The al-Qaeda and its allied organizations are under tremendous pressure and they are battling for their life. It is a desperate attempt to fight back.”

The sources pointed out that the TTP had also recently launched a psychological campaign for its recruits against the Pakistan Army showing forged and doctored photographs of an alleged Pakistan Army tank destroyed in Swat, torturing of Taliban prisoners, Pak Army troops resting and enjoying themselves with the US troops in mountainous areas, etc.

The sources pointed out that the army had [....]

Cavaet on the second article: "Federal" anonymice speaking in Pakistani media are usually way way more complicated in nature than in the US media; just offered on a "buyer beware, as we don't have the decoder ring yet" basis. It sure is an interesting, cryptic piece, though.

by artappraiser 6/27/2012 - 11:10 pm

Southwest Pakistan? 

On Iran's southeast corner? 

http://tinyurl.com/7a5pudk

http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/balochistan-next-stop-corporate-fascist-amerikas-war-profit-tour-14026

by Resistance 6/27/2012 - 11:28 pm (re: artappraiser)

Nope: FATA of Pakistan, in the northwest, between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Balochistan the much larger adjacent province of Pakistan proper, to FATA's south, is the largest of the country's four provinces (i.e., it is not an "adminstered tribal area," it is an actual province of the country, under full law.)

The small Balochi independence movement has very little if anything to do with the Taliban or Al Qaeda, not the least of which because Balochs are not Pashtuns and their culture is more Persian than Afghan with quite a few Shia among them.

Note from the link on the province that it also is the case that it's not only Balochs who live in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, so it's not like its homogenous and ready to be made into its own country, though certain dingbat Texas Republicans might think so. (Got to say that his opinion does makes sense in the context of some Texans thinking all Texans would like to secede from the union.)

To be clear, if you don't know, like the Kurds, Balochis were basically split between two countries, Iran and Pakistan, and they also have a wide diaspora. (In Iran, the equivalent area is Sistan and Baluchestan Province). Like some Kurds, some Balochis (I would far far fewer than some Kurds, maybe more than the the number of Texans that think the same) want their own country and don't like being stuck as part of either country.

Final tips:the two tiny movements named Jundallah, Jundallah of Pakistan and Jundullah of Iran, should not be confused with one another and are not very similar at all.

by artappraiser 6/28/2012 - 2:04 am (re: Resistance)
I a given to understand from the odd BBC commentary, that the Pashtuns (who, let it be said are no pushovers in tribal combat...) threaten unruly children with snatching by Baloch abductors should they not square up and behave.
by jollyroger 6/28/2012 - 2:32 am (re: artappraiser)

hah!

by artappraiser 6/28/2012 - 3:24 am (re: jollyroger)

Balochis were basically split between two countries, Iran and Pakistan.

Both friends of the US? 

With a little incitement excitement, that area could become a nice place for bases.

Maybe a new alliance between this new country and Afghanistan, would also provide, land locked Afghanistan a nice warm water port?

Of course the United States would love to assist this new Independent country.

The Israeli beach head in the Med, and the new country of Balochistan in the Arabian Sea. A dream come true for American geopolitical design.

Art; you didn't hear or read; Al Qaedans and the Talibanis are under every rock in the region? Is the "Maine" stationed there?

  

by Resistance 6/28/2012 - 2:47 am (re: artappraiser)

Maybe I wasn't clear enough: Americans supporting that idea are a small anti-Obama-administration-policy Republican group i.e., it's not going to happen under his watch.  If you're worried about it, though, you might want to ask whoever you plan to vote for whether they agree with them.

by artappraiser 6/28/2012 - 3:22 am (re: Resistance)

I'm worried about you Art.

Maybe your mind is a little fuzzy or you've  forgotten? 

To be clear, if you don't know,

Most people don't like wars, but they always seem to get into them anyway.

Art, You need to start thinking outside the box,

If the military/industrial machine wants or thinks that region is vital, all they need is a precipitating EVENT.

To be clear, if you don't know, 

Democrats love war. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War

"American public opinion grew angrier at reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba. After the mysterious sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor,

political pressures from the Democratic Party

pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war he had wished to avoid"

DAMN WARMONGERING DEMOCRATS

"Oh no, the Taliban arent letting girls go to school; we need to intervene" 

Wasn't that the Democratic mantra before we went to Afghanistan, before we went to Iraq? 

you might want to ask whoever

As for which candidate would do this or that, when in office...Go ahead, ask your lying President; did he wink about NAFTA, in order to get elected?

No, I'm not worried about the war, I'm more worried about an ignorant electorate.

by Resistance 6/28/2012 - 9:39 am (re: artappraiser)

Enough of the play condescension from you (you're not very good at it, ya know, I'd venture a guess than the majority of your readers can see through it), no more Mr Nice Guy from me. You should learn when to cut your losses. Had you just left your previous comment, I woulda let it lie. But now you're just talking stupid ridiculous and changing the subject to ranting about McKinley and Nafta and all your usual suspects.

I think you're a perfect example of someone who needs to think outside your usual narrative box; here you're basically doing what wingnut conservatives do: the world runs according to these simple truths of mine and everything can be fit into this story of mine, here's my pet peeves and truths and it's clear this situation, like every other in the world, fits them.

Every situation/story in the world does not boil down to "they are all imperialist warmongers." Er, try to keep in mind it's a big world and for every conflict the US has gotten into in history, there are 999 others that they didn't get into!

Also, to me,  it always looks like your myopic focus on "he lied about Nafta" and "they didn't bailout the homeowners" seems to prevent you, blind you, from seeing other situations clearly, so that you are quite ready to foolishly buy into any half-baked cherry-picked bullshit narrative by a self-styled black ops pr activist that fits your angry one about jobs and home losses.

It's really pretty outrageous to see you complain about an uninformed electorate when so many times I've seen you don't even look at facts of a story but go seeking for crazy stuff right away to fit some narrative you invented about it,  like wackily inapplicable historical comparisons (Spanish-American war, Vietnam, Hitler) or prophecies from the Bible. So outrageous that I'd love to see a poll of Dagblog readers asking: Have member Resistance's comments here overall proven him to be a good example of the uninformed electorate?

Here's my answer to you and to Mr Black PR's post on Balochistan:

Heelllo out there in never never land. There is NO PROFIT (or security) available in Baluchistan, nobody with any brains wants in, it's been proven: the big fancy Gwadar port funded by China is a big fat fucking failure that no one wants to use and that the Chinese have dumped it, ran away, left their stuff behind, and if they ever had ambitions of putting a naval base there, they have cut and run, don't want to have anything more to do with the sickness that is the Balochis in Pakistan

Now Resistance, why would any sane Dem or GOP politician want China's rejects? Because Resistance and IronBoltBruce have stories to prove that says they want to?

Ya know, if you are going to claim to know what the oligarchs are planning and doing, here's a tip: read their media like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times to find out what they are actually doing! Don't just make up stuff out of whole cloth after you saw a couple of stories on CIA activity in one country or another and then get all freaked out about what you made up!

by artappraiser 6/29/2012 - 8:38 pm (re: Resistance)

here's a tip: read their media like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times to find out what they are actually doing!

Art....... GIGO

no more Mr Nice Guy from me.

I only responded to your passive aggression. 

Maybe I wasn't clear  

What is clear by this release of hostility, this pent up comment; you've become unglued.

Stop the passive aggression, STOP THE AGGRESSION. 

by Resistance 6/29/2012 - 10:09 pm (re: artappraiser)

I think you're a perfect example of someone who needs to think outside your usual narrative box;.......Heelllo out there in never never land. There is NO PROFIT (or security) available in Baluchistan, 

http://dagblog.com/link/no-country-armed-men-14083#comment-158396

Looks like our enemies disagree with you?

The profit...Missles on Iran's Southeastern front? Missiles towards Pakistan?

Because China realizes, get out of the middle of this war?  

$$$$$$$$$$

To be clear; Obama did lie, about the most devastating event to weaken the American workers movement. NAFTA was the shiff in the back, to Union Workers.

It's obvious, you care little about? 

by Resistance 6/29/2012 - 10:26 pm (re: artappraiser)

Pakistan militants threaten revenge
By Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, Asia Times Online, June 27, 2012

Summary:

The Pakistan Taliban have pledged revenge for the murder of a prominent religious scholar, with the insurgents blaming domestic intelligence agencies for Mualana Shiekh Naseeb's death. The warning comes amid a drastic decline in random suicide attacks that suggests a deterioration in Islamabad's relations with Washington has led to a change in the group's agenda. -

Excerpt:

The Pakistani Taliban have suffered large losses in the wake of successive military offensives across the lawless tribal region. However, analysts believe they still have the capacity to orchestrate major attacks. While the militants have retreated from major cities, in other areas like Orakzai Agency and South Waziristan, they are resisting security forces and consequently both sides are still suffering casualties.

"It is quite obvious that the military has pushed back the militants from the major towns of FATA [the Federally Administered Tribal Areas] and Malakand. Their command and control mechanism has been ruthlessly disrupted but there are training camps, leadership, splinter cells and suicide squads still sitting unscathed across Pakistan", said Nazar-u-Islam, a correspondent for Newsweek Pakistan.

TTP spokesman Ehsan has said that the TTP will continue attacking the Pakistani government and its security forces until the TTP's version of Sharia law is implemented in the country. "We want to free Pakistan from its current slavery. For this purpose we have sacrificed hundred of our mujahideen and will continue to do so," He told ATol.

by artappraiser 6/28/2012 - 2:28 am

Taliban storm eastern Afghan district, killing 10

AFP, June 28, 2012

KABUL: Hundreds of Taliban fighters stormed a remote district in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, sparking a fierce 12-hour battle in which 10 people were killed, including four civilians, an official said.

Afghan security forces fought off the attack in Kamdish district of Nuristan province, which began in the early hours of Friday morning, with the help of Nato air strikes, provincial spokesman Mohammad Zarin told AFP.

Zarin said more than 20 militants – who he said had infiltrated the district from across the border in Pakistan – were killed in the counter-attack.

“More than 20 insurgents were killed and as many injured in the counter attack, their bodies still lay in the battlefield,” he said  [....]

by artappraiser 6/29/2012 - 9:58 pm

Over 400 killed in Balochistan sectarian violence: Report
By Zahid Gishkori, The Express Tribune, July 1, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The government seems to be at a loss to explain the escalating sectarian strife in Balochistan, which has claimed more than 400 lives in more than 200 incidents of ethnic and sectarian violence in the past four years.

The decade-long insurgency recently turned into a battleground for politically motivated attacks on religious sects with banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi allegedly targeting the Shia and Hazara communities throughout the embattled province.

The provincial home department said in an official report last week that cross-border influence, among other factors, was fuelling the sectarian violence.

The official report which covers a period of four years states that over 400 Shias and Hazaras, who account for nearly a fifth of the country’s 170 million population lost their lives as a result of the aggression. Around 100 pilgrims have been killed in just the first half of the current year [....]

by artappraiser 7/2/2012 - 2:03 am

Travel advisory: Govt issues list of ‘no go’ areas for foreigners
By Our Correspondent, The Express Tribune, July 2, 2012

The federal government on Sunday issued a list of prohibited areas for foreigners to visit and directed police and law enforcement agencies to bar entry of foreigners in these places, an official document revealed.

Cantonment areas – including all those places where sensitive and important installations fall – 10 miles from the Line of Control in Kashmir have been declared off limits for foreigners.

[....]

The so-called “no-go” areas for foreign visitors in Balochistan include Pishin, Quetta, Bugti Agency, Kohlu Agency, Sibi district, 35 miles border area of Qilla Saifullah, Zhob Agency, Loralai.

The government has also declared Mosa Khel in Punjab and Bannu district and the special scanning border area of Dera Ismail Khan as off limits for foreigners [....]

by artappraiser 7/2/2012 - 2:10 am

Clerics pass edict against funerals of NGO beneficiaries

By Muhammad Sadaqat,  The Express Tribune (KP & FATA section,) July 2, 2012

KOHISTAN: Local clerics in Kohistan have handed down their “final edict” against non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the district, terming their activities “haram” and demanding that the local administration revoke their NOCs immediately.

In a meeting at Jamia Masjid Kamila, over 150 clerics from across the remote district vowed that they will not offer funeral prayers (Namaz-e-Janaza) for the people who continue to be beneficiaries of any NGO. They also formed a 34-member committee for the purpose of ensuring that the NGOs pack up and leave the area as soon as possible. The committee will meet on July 14 to decide on a future line of action if the NGOs are not driven out from the district

[....]

There are over 500 local youths working with NGOs in the district and a majority feel that their jobs are now at risk, said a local social activist requesting anonymity.

by artappraiser 7/2/2012 - 2:17 am

Pakistan secretly permitting lethal NATO supply via air
By Kamran Yousaf, The Express Tribune, July 1, 2012

ISLAMABAD: In blatant disregard to foreign policy terms approved by parliament this year, Pakistan has secretly allowed US-led Nato forces to use its airspace for transporting lethal supplies to Afghanistan, official sources revealed.

It is not clear when the permission was granted but it is believed to be a stop gap arrangement between Pakistan and the United States till they finalise a deal on the resumption of vital land routes for foreign forces in Afghanistan.

But the move is likely to spark a strong public backlash in view of parliament’s resolutions which state that Pakistan’s territory, including its airspace, shall not be used for transportation of arms and ammunition to Afghanistan.

A credible source told The Express Tribune that the foreign office and the defence ministry were at odds with each other over allowing Nato planes to carry weapons.

The foreign office opposed the decision considering it a violation of parliament’s resolutions. However, it eventually started issuing non-objection certificates (NoCs) to such planes after pressure from defense authorities [....]

by artappraiser 7/2/2012 - 2:40 am

And now we have a DEAL struck on the loose ends: Pakistani parliament & public appearances:

Pakistan Opens NATO Supply Line as Clinton Apologizes

By Eric Schmitt, New York Times, July 3, 1:16 PM ET

The secretary of state on Tuesday said for the first time “we are sorry” for the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in a November airstrike, and she said Pakistan would waive extra truck fees for supplies to Afghanistan.

by artappraiser 7/3/2012 - 5:31 pm (re: artappraiser)

Amazing isn't it, when the threat of opening up an Arabian Sea Port to replace the extortionists plans, opens Pakistani eyes.

'There are many ways to skin a cat'

Tell me again Art, how theres no profit in a warm, southern, deep water port?

by Resistance 7/3/2012 - 6:06 pm (re: artappraiser)

Huh?! The article above the new one tells you those in charge of Pakistan have been allowing NATO supply all along, they just didn't want it too public.

There was no threat by the US to Pakistani leaders!  Nor no real one from Pakistan to the US! There was a problem figuring out how to do it so that it appeared that the US had backed down, so that the Pakistani parliamentarians could tell their constituents that the US had paid a price. In reality, all of this commotion was phony, they were letting NATO supply by air  all along until their public calmed down, don't you get it? Those in power are still in cahoots with us on the Taliban and their friends and us with them and were all along!

And all of this has virtually nothing to do with sectarian unrest in Balochistan or the Balochi independence movement! Kashmir has more to do with it in a round about way than Balochistan! (Go to the top of this page, read Rashid's article--he happens to be complaining about how there is more than one problem for leaders to deal with in Pakistan!)

And the Obama administration does not want a base in Pakistan!  (Neither did the Bush administration for that matter! Having some CIA running around a country looking for info or agents that could be helpful to an administration's agenda elsewhere does not automatically mean they want a base there!) Actually, they want to be able to eventually leave the area! They already have plenty of bases close by in Afghanistan right now that they would eventually like to leave! They do not want to jump from frying pan into the fire!

by artappraiser 7/3/2012 - 7:08 pm (re: Resistance)

Taliban kill eight Pakistani police and prison officers
Gunmen shot dead eight Pakistani police and prison guards early on Thursday in an audacious predawn raid in the eastern city of Lahore.

By Rob Crilly in Islamabad and agencies, The Telegraph, 12 Jul 2012

It is the second attack on security personnel in the province of Punjab in three days, igniting fears of a new round of terrorist strikes far from the lawless north-west where Taliban militants are based [....]

by artappraiser 7/12/2012 - 3:56 am

Check out the bottom line on this chart:

from

Most Muslims Want Democracy, Personal Freedoms, and Islam in Political Life; Few Believe U.S. Backs Democracy, Pew Global Attitudes Project, July 10, 2012

Is it that many would still like the military to rescue them from democracy?!

by artappraiser 7/16/2012 - 8:43 pm

The Pakistan/US kabuki show for the citizens of Pakistan now completed, the US money spigot is being re-opened, barring any protestations from Congress (and, as the suitably cynical already suspected, will be retroactive):

First war on terror bills sent to Washington since OBL raid
By Shahbaz Rana, The Express Tribune, July 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD: Now that ties between Pakistan and US are fast thawing, Islamabad has sent the first Coalition Support Fund (CSF) bills to Washington since the US Navy SEALs raid to hunt down Osama bin Laden in May  last year.

The Joint Staff headquarters has sent fresh CSF claims to Pentagon, a senior official from the finance ministry told The Express Tribune. Neither the ministry nor the US Embassy in Pakistan disclosed the exact amount of the claims, but it is said to be between $500 and $600 million.

During the earlier stalemate, both the military and civilian leadership had maintained national pride and sovereignty were more important than financial gains. Pakistan had decided not to send any receipts for expenditures incurred from the May 1, 2011 US raid which killed Osama Bin Laden to the air strike that claimed the lives of over 24 Pakistani soldiers at the Salala check post on November 24.

However, the first bill sent to Pentagon since the raid in Abbottabad on May 1 last year is, interestingly, for expenditures incurred during the same period.

The US Embassy in Islamabad refused to comment on the recent development. “For information on new claims filed by the Pakistani government, you will have to refer to them,” said the embassy’s spokesman Mark Stroh.

Replying to another question, Stroh said Obama’s administration had notified the Congress regarding reimbursement of existing claims worth $1.1 billion. According to standard procedure, the Congress has 15 days from the day of the notification to object to the claims. If no objections are raised, the administration is allowed to complete the transaction [....]

US intends to reimburse Coalition Support Fund: Pentagon
By Fayyaz Yaseen, News Pakistan, July 20, 2012

Washington: (Thursday, July 19, 2012) The United States of America has said that it intends to pay back $ 1.1 billion owed to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).

 Speaking to a private news television channel, a reporter from Washington said that the amount will be paid to Pakistan soon. Pentagon spokesperson, while commenting on the development, said that the US was pleased with the reopening
of the Ground Lines of Communication. He also added that relationships with Pakistan have always remained critical to the US.

 The spokesperson further added that Pak-US relations were entering a new phase and were getting past some of the obstacles encountered over the past two years.

 The spokesperson did not comment on the signing of any agreement.

by artappraiser 7/24/2012 - 9:09 pm

Pakistan nuclear scientist AQ Khan launches political movement
Move by former head of Pakistan's nuclear programme likely to alarm many in the west

By Saeed Shah in Islamabad, guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 August 2012 13.47 EDT    
AQ Khan, the renegade Pakistani nuclear scientist, has launched his own political movement targeting the youth vote as the country gears up for an election.

Khan's entry into politics could alarm many in the west, after his involvement in spreading nuclear technology to customers including Iran and Libya. He enjoys hero status in Pakistan, while the religious right lauds him for having created the "Islamic bomb".

Khan said he wanted the growing younger population to cast its ballot, and "not sit at home", against the established politicians.

"We need a new generation of political people and technocrats," said Khan. "My message to young voters is: don't bring these old politicians back. Don't give your vote to thieves and liars. But who exactly they vote for, is up to them."

Khan said the movement was aimed at engaging younger voters. He did not plan, at the moment, to contest the election. However, further evolution of his political organisation is "in the hands of God".

Khan headed Pakistan's nuclear programme, which stole technology from other countries to build a weapon. In 2004, Pakistan was forced to confront Khan about his nuclear dealings, after evidence was shown to Islamabad by the United States.

He was punished only with house arrest, but even those restrictions have since been lifted, despite the fact that Washington still regards him as a "serious proliferation risk" [....]

by artappraiser 8/28/2012 - 12:34 am

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