dagblog - Comments for "Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town"

Thank you AA, I look forward

Bruce Levine — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:30:22 +0000

In reply to Experts may not always agree

Thank you AA, I look forward to reading the article. Happy weekend/holiday.

Experts may not always agree

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:27:17 +0000

In reply to AA and/or NCD: Have you read

Experts may not always agree with his analysis or prognostications, but consensus is that he definitely knows wassup in Pakistan. He's been doing it for so long that maybe he gets a little arrogant at times towards newbies in the field. Prolly if you are looking for a primer one could not chose a better author.....

I was just re-reading Dexter Filkins' New Yorker article on the murder of my favorite Pakistani journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad. Shahzad was much more of a muckraker and ambulance chaser than Rashid, who is more wonkish. Anyhew Rashid talked to Filkins for the article, what he said gives you an idea about where he stands in the spectrum now:

The journalist best known outside Pakistan is Ahmed Rashid, the author of several books on Pakistan and Afghanistan; his book “Taliban” was a best-seller in the U.S. He has published dozens of revelatory reports on the military and intelligence services. Rashid says that he has been threatened repeatedly by the I.S.I. over the years, and was once warned personally by Musharraf. Rashid’s colleagues believe that his prominence in the West has protected him; he writes regularly for The New York Review of Books and the Financial Times.

These days, Rashid says, he has had to be more careful. After a recent threat, he stayed out of Pakistan for a couple of months before returning to his home, in Lahore. “There is a red line in Pakistan—there has always been a red line,” Rashid said. “But, after Saleem Shahzad, no one knows where the red line is anymore.” He went on, “It’s debilitating. You can’t really go out and report. Sometimes you just sit and think about what is going to happen.”

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/09/19/110919fa_fact_filkins#ixzz2Owkg99Eg

AA and/or NCD: Have you read

Bruce Levine — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:12:17 +0000

In reply to Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town

AA and/or NCD:

Have you read anything by Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan and the overall region? I'm only asking because I just recently bought this latest book of his on the region and what's going on in Pakistan, etc. Thanks!

Taliban Attack Targets

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:48:46 +0000

In reply to Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town

Taliban Attack Targets Pakistan Security Commander
VOA News, March 29, 2013

Officials in northwest Pakistan say a suicide bomber has targeted the convoy of a security forces commander, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 15 others. The dead included two women.

Authorities say the commander, Abdul Majeed Marwat, survived the attack Friday in the city of Peshawar near the U.S. consulate, the target of previous attacks.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan telephoned VOA to say the blast was in response to army operations against Taliban bases in the tribal areas [....]

Taliban bomber kills twelve in Peshawar, 31 wounded
Zahir Shah Sherazi, Dawn, 6 hours ago

PESHAWAR: At least 12 people were killed and 31 injured Friday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a Frontier Constabulary convoy in a high security area of northwestern Peshawar city, police said.

The bomber blew himself up near a military checkpost, barely 500 yards from the US consulate, on Peshawar’s Fakhr-i-Alam Road, which connects the city’s Mall Road and Cantonment Road.

The Corps headquarters is also located half a kilometre away from the site of the attack, for which the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

The bomber intended to target FC Commandant Abdul Majeed Marwat, security officials said. The senior paramilitary official, however, managed to escape the attack relatively unhurt [....]

I was thinking more along

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:10:20 +0000

In reply to The Taliban can have Karachi,

I was thinking more along these lines:

Memo to the I.S.I.: be careful what you wish for, as you may get it.

The Taliban can have Karachi,

NCD — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:07:41 +0000

In reply to Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town

The Taliban can have Karachi, if the people of Pakistan allow it.