Tribune  Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:53:48 +0000

WASHINGTON: A US Army officer has accused the American military of painting a misleading picture of progress in the war in Afghanistan while glossing over the Kabul government’s many failings.

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis deliberately broke ranks with the official portrayal of the war after spending a year in the country, issuing a grim assessment and accusing his superiors of covering up the harsh realities that plague the mission.

“What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by US military leaders about conditions on the ground,” Davis wrote in an article published in Armed Forces Journal, a private newspaper not affiliated with the Pentagon.

“Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level,” he wrote under the headline, “Truth, Lies And Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down.”

Local Afghan government officials are failing to serve the Afghan population and their security forces are reluctant to fight insurgents or are colluding with the Taliban, he wrote.

“How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding and behind an array of more than seven years of optimistic statements by US senior leaders in Afghanistan?” he said in his article.

Davis has also reportedly shared his pessimistic view with some members of Congress and written a classified version of his article for the Defence Department, a highly unusual move that he expects will anger his commanders and short-circuit his professional career.

“I’m going to get nuked,” he was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

The Pentagon politely disagreed with Davis’s portrayal of the war but stopped short of suggesting any disciplinary action.

“Lieutenant Colonel Davis is obviously entitled to his opinion,” spokesman George Little told reporters, adding that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “has very strong confidence in his commanders in Afghanistan, as they provide assessments of what’s happening on the ground in the war.”

The military’s evaluation of the war effort is based on “rigorous analysis” from a myriad of sources and does not depend on one person’s view, he said.

Working with the US military’s Rapid Equipping Force, Davis said he traveled 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) around Afghanistan and spoke with more than 250 soldiers during his 12-month deployment.

His comments and anecdotes reflect opinions often expressed by American and coalition troops, who make no secret of their frustrations with Afghan security forces.

Davis recounted a conversation with an Afghan police officer in eastern Afghanistan in Kunar province less than three hours after an insurgent attack.

Through an interpreter, Davis asked the police captain how his forces usually responded to such an incident and if his squad would go after the insurgent fighters.

The Afghan police officer gave him an incredulous look, laughed and said: “‘No! We don’t go after them,’ he said. ‘That would be dangerous!’”

Tribune  Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:59:14 +0000

CHICAGO: A Chicago taxi driver pleaded guilty on Monday to charges linked to a scheme to funnel money to a Pakistani terror group with links to al Qaeda, the US Justice Department said.

Raja Lahrasib Khan, a native of Pakistan who became a naturalised US citizen in 1988, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, the department said in a statement.

When Khan, 58, was arrested in March 2010, officials said he never posed any imminent danger to the United States and had personally sent only a few hundred dollars to an alleged terrorist leader.

But authorities said his plea indicated he wanted to provide additional funds to the same individual after learning he was working with al Qaeda.

Khan faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but under his plea agreement the sentence will be between five and eight years in jail, and requires him to cooperate with the government. Sentencing is set for May 30.

Khan, who lived in the Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan before coming to the US in the late 1970s, admitted that he met Ilyas Kashmiri.

Officials said that during a 2008 meeting, Kashmiri told Khan that Osama bin Laden was alive, healthy and giving orders. Khan gave Kashmiri Rs20,000, which he intended Kashmiri to use to support attacks against India.

In 2009, Khan sent the equivalent of $930 from Chicago to an individual in Pakistan, with instructions to give $300 to Kashmiri, according to justice officials. Although Khan intended the funds to be used by Kashmiri to support attacks against India, he was also aware Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda.

Khan met in 2010 with an undercover law enforcement agent who posed as someone interested in sending money to Kashmiri, which led to his arrest.

At the time of his arrest, authorities said Kashmiri, the leader in Kashmir of Harakatul Jihad alIslami, which is on the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organisations, was looking for operatives in America.

Khan was recorded telling the agent that he was going to ask Kashmiri to teach him how to plot an attack on a stadium.

Tribune  Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:06:46 +0000

KARACHI: Officials in the United States Department of State are said to have been supporting a proposal circulating in the administration for the US to issue a formal apology over the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in the November 26 Nato airstrike, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The daily quoted a US official, briefed on the State Department’s view, as saying, “We’ve felt an apology would be helpful in creating some space.”

Earlier, the White House had said that US President Barack Obama will not issue a formal apology or condolences on the deaths.

Additionally, as a first step towards thawing frosty strategic ties between United States and Pakistan by the Obama administration, the head of United States military’s Central Command (Centcom) General James N Mattis is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan this month to meet Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

The New York Times reported that General Mattis is likely to discuss investigations of the November 26 attack by Nato forces that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, along with new border coordination procedures to avoid such incidents in the future.

US Department of State spokesperson Mark Toner had earlier countered a report that General Mattis’ trip to brief Pakistan over the Nato-Isaf investigation report of the attack had been cancelled, saying that the trip had postponed due to internal political dynamics of Pakistan.

Officials in the US and Pakistan think that the talks between General Mattis and General Kayani will set off a sequence of negotiations and engagements that will revive the tattered relationships between the two countries.

Pakistan, hours after the Nato-Isaf report was launched had rejected it, calling it “short on facts” and also had declined US’ offer to become a part of the joint probe. While the US inquiry places major blame on Nato, it maintains that Pakistani soldiers fired first.

The US, through back channels, has hinted at coming up with a clear stance on the Nato attacks in order to pacify resentment in Pakistan.

Pakistan has also recently hinted at resuming Nato supply lines which have been closed down for over a period of two months.

Pakistan Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman had met with General Mattis in Washington. In the meeting, Rehman had stressed the need for both countries to work together to build a relationship that is “equitable, transparent and predictable.”

Rehman had added that Pakistan endured the most sacrifices out of any country in the war against terror, and that they had also contributed the most towards successes in the war.

The Centcom Commander had acknowledged Pakistan’s contribution, especially the close cooperation of Pakistani military with Nato/Isaf forces stationed in Afghanistan. General Mattis had also stressed the importance of continued collaboration between both countries at all levels.

Tribune  Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:25:57 +0000

UNITED NATIONS: Indonesia on Monday formalised ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty at the United Nations and its foreign minister called on eight key holdout nations to take a “calculated risk” and sign on.

Indonesia is the 157th country to adopt the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) but eight more nations in a core group of 44 nuclear countries – China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and United States – must still ratify to bring the global ban into force.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said a “trust deficit” over the intentions of other nuclear states often holds back countries.

“These countries must have the courage to step out of their comfort zone and to take some kind of a calculated risk that their positive moved will be reciprocated,” Natalegawa told reporters after formally handing over Indonesia’s ratification documents to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Indonesia had resisted ratification for many years but the minister said the government saw “a window of opportunity to advance the disarmament agenda” and so parliament unanimously agreed to adopt the treaty in December.

Natalegawa said Indonesia hoped its ratification of the CTBT “will propel others to do likewise.”

“I guess we need to communicate with the countries concerned to be able to listen what it is that is holding them back.”

The 44 countries which must ratify the treaty to bring it into force all have nuclear weapons or atomic programs.

Natalegawa also said he hoped a Southeast Asia nuclear arms free zone would come into force this year.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) completed its talks on the regional weapons free zone last year and the 10 member states are now completing ratification of that treaty.

The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone treaty commits ASEAN’s 10 member states “not to develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control over atomic weapons.”

It also prohibits the storage or transit of nuclear weapons in the association’s zone. The treaty prevents the testing of any nuclear device and dumping of radioactive waste in the region.

The declared nuclear powers – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – co-sponsored a resolution on the Southeast Asian zone in the UN General Assembly last year, giving implicit recognition to the initiative.

Tribune  Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:57:38 +0000

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Israel has not yet decided how to respond to concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and said there was no evidence that Iran has the “intentions or capabilities” to wage attacks on US soil.

Asked in an NBC interview whether Israel was set to attack Iran, Obama said: “I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons program,” adding Israel and the United States would work “in lockstep” on Iran.

Obama, who is up for re-election in November, has ended the US war in Iraq and is seeking to wind down combat in Afghanistan amid growing public discontent about American war spending at a time when the economy remains weak.

The Democrat made clear on Sunday that he would not like to see more fighting in the oil-producing Persian Gulf region.

“Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us. It could have a big effect on oil prices, we’ve still got troops in Afghanistan, which borders Iran, and so our preferred solution here is diplomatic,” he said.

Republican Mitt Romney, the top contender to oppose Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election, said he would start his presidency by imposing “far tougher” sanctions on Iran and back up American diplomacy with “a very credible military option.”

Tehran says its nuclear program is meant to produce energy, not weapons, but has not responded to the latest Western overtures for talks and has threatened to retaliate against US and European sanctions affecting its finances and oil sales.

In the NBC interview, Obama stressed he was not taking any options off the table to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. “We’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race – a nuclear arms race – in a volatile region,” he said.

Tribune  Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:21:43 +0000

DOHA: Rival Palestinian factions have agreed to name president Mahmud Abbas as head of an interim government to oversee preparations for presidential and legislative elections, a Palestinian official said on Monday.

“An agreement was reached on appointing Mahmud Abbas as prime minister until elections are held,” the official, who is participating in the talks, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal met on Sunday in Qatari capital Doha to finalise issues arising from a reconciliation agreement signed by the two factions last April. They are expected to meet again on Monday, with a formal announcement expected later in the day.

The official said Hamas and Abbas’ secular Fatah movement had agreed that the “national consensus government will be made up of independents and technocrats and they will be responsible for overseeing the elections.”

He did not say when the elections would take place, but under the terms of the reconciliation deal, parliamentary and presidential elections are both to be held by May.

Hamas, meanwhile, has confirmed that Abbas will be named premier, according to a statement published on a website affiliated with the group. “We have reached initial agreement,” on Abbas’ appointment, the statement said, citing an unidentified Hamas official.

Another Palestinian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the parties agreed to hold a meeting with “all other Palestinian political factions” in Cairo on February 18, when Abbas’ appointment “will be endorsed”. “That’s when we’ll set the date for the parliamentary and presidential elections,” he said.

Among other major issues to be decided in Cairo are elections for the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation which does not include Hamas, the official said.

Implementation of the deal has been delayed several times despite repeated meetings between the two parties, but on Sunday they agreed to move speedily ahead with elections.

“We agreed on the importance of holding the elections quickly … and removing any obstacles that might delay the polls,” said Fatah spokesman Azzam alAhmad, who is with Abbas in Doha.

He said Sunday’s talks, hosted by Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa alThani, were “positive” and that both sides reached an “agreement on all the major issues” regarding the reconciliation accord.

The last Palestinian elections were in 2006 when Hamas beat the previously dominant Fatah to secure more than half the seats in parliament.

Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza after a week of deadly clashes in June 2007, cleaving the Palestinian territories into rival hostile camps.

Since then, Gaza has been effectively cut off from the West Bank, which is under the control of Fatah.

Tribune  Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:20:59 +0000

According to the investigation carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for the Sunday Times, drones not only targeted militants but also civilians who had gone to help the victims targeted by the drones.

Earlier, Pakistan had acknowledged ‘tactical advantages’ to US drone strikes on the Taliban and al Qaeda, but appeared to shrug off the unexpected confirmation by Washington of attacks on its soil.

Foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit had said that drone strikes are “unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable.”

The remarks from Pakistan’s foreign ministry came as President Barack Obama confirmed for the first time that drone aircraft had targeted militants in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Contrary to Obama’s claim that the drone strikes were ‘focused and targeted’ and has not cost a huge number of civilians deaths, the research by the Bureau revealed that since Obama took office three years ago, between 282 and 535 have  been reported dead — casualties included over 60 children.

The investigation cited eyewitness reports and evidence that drone strikes killed at least 50 civilians who had gone to help victims, whereas, over 20 civilian deaths were reported in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners.

The drone strikes were initiated under the administration of former US president George W Bush; however, they have been intensified under the Obama administration.

There have been 260 drone attacks so far by unmanned drones during Obama’s administration – Predators or Reapers – which on an average count as one every four days, the report added.

No Let-Up

260 drone attacks have occurred during President Obama’s administration including both Predators and Reapers

Collateral Damage?

60 or more children have died in drone strikes, according to the Bureau’s investigation

Targeting Rescuers

50 civilians were killed while rescuing or helping the victims of drone strikes

Targeting Mourners

20 civilians died in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners during the last three years

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2012.

Tribune  Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:46:35 +0000

BEIJING: China’s top newspaper on Monday defended Beijing’s rejection of a UN resolution pressing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to abandon power, saying Western campaigns in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq showed the error of forced regime change.  

The commentary in the People’s Daily, the top newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, was Beijing’s clearest defence of its decision to join Moscow at the weekend in vetoing a draft United Nations resolution that would have backed an Arab plan urging Assad to quit after months of bloodshed.

The commentary suggested that Chinese distrust of Western intervention lay behind the veto, which was described by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a “travesty”.

“The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and numbers of civilian casualties keep rising. Vetoing the draft Security Council resolution does not mean we are giving free rein to letting this heart-rending state of affairs continue,” said the commentary in the paper, which echoes government thinking.

China, not its Western critics, was acting “responsibly” for the sake of the Syrian people, it said. The author used the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, which can mean “voice of China” and is often used to give Beijing’s position on foreign policy.

“Currently, the situation in Syria is extremely complex. Simplistically supporting one side and suppressing the other might seem a helpful way of turning things around, but in fact it would be sowing fresh seeds of disaster,” said the paper.

China’s siding with Russia over Syria could add to irritants with the United States. Vice President Xi Jinping is due to visit there next week, burnishing his credentials as the Communist Party’s likely next top leader.

Beijing and Washington have also sparred over Iran, which faces tightened Western sanctions over its nuclear ambitions.

The commentary also laid bare broader Chinese concerns about Western-backed intervention in the Arab world and beyond.

China is one of the five permanent UN Security Council members that hold the power to veto resolutions.

In March, China abstained from a Council vote that authorised Western military intervention in Libya. That resolution became the basis for a Nato air campaign that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, despite misgivings from Beijing and Moscow about the expanded campaign, which they said went beyond the resolution.

“Libya offers a negative case study. Nato abused the Security Council resolution about establishing a no-fly zone, and directly provided firepower assistance to one side in the Libyan war,” said the People’s Daily Commentary.

It also cited Iraq and Afghanistan in its case against theSyria resolution.

“The calamities of Iraq and Afghanistan should be ample to wipe clear the world’s eyes. Forceful prevention of a humanitarian disaster sounds filled with a sense of justice and responsibility,” said the paper.

“But are not the unstoppable attacks and explosions over a decade after regime change a humanitarian disaster?” it said.

Tribune  Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:15:51 +0000

WASHINGTON: A United States (US) Congressman has submitted a bill to the House of Representatives asking to grant US citizenship to Dr Shakil Afridi, the doctor who provided vital help to the US in finding Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

The bill submitted by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Friday, called for Dr Afridi to be deemed “a naturalized citizen of the United States.”

In his speech in Congress, Rohrabacher, who is also the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight, said, “Pakistan’s Inquiry Commission on the Abbottabad Operation, the US mission which killed bin Laden, has recommended that Dr Afridi be tried for treason for helping the US. If convicted, he could be executed. My bill would grant him US citizenship and send a direct and powerful message to those in the Pakistani government and military who protected the mastermind of 9/11 for all those years and who are now seeking retribution on those who helped to execute bin Laden.”

Rohrabacher cited media reports that Dr Afridi’s wife, an American citizen of Pakistani origin was also missing. “This bill shows the world that America does not abandon its friends,”  adding that 21 members of Congress had endorsed the bill as well.

The bill, which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, comes after US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in an interview last week that Dr Afridi had provided key intelligence that led to the raid in Abbottabad.

Media reports had earlier said that Dr Afridi had organized a polio vaccination campaign in the city for the Central Intelligence Agency, in order to collect DNA sample to prove that the al Qaeda leader was present in the Abbottabad compound.

Tribune  Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:16:38 +0000

MONTREAL: Over 30 American imams signed a fatwa on Saturday condemning honour killings, after a Canada court convicted Afghan immigrants for murdering four female relatives accused of damaging the family’s reputation.

“There is no justification for honour killings, domestic violence and misogyny in Islam,” according to the religious order issued by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada (ISCC) and signed by 34 imams from Canada and the United States.

Such violence, including spousal abuse and child abuse in all forms, is “forbidden,” it said. “The relationship between the husband and wife is based upon mutual love and kindness.”

Imam Syed Soharwardy, the ISCC’s founder, said the group put out the fatwa “because of the Shafia trial, because it has been a large focus (for) the Islamic community and people said a lot of things,” adding that imams wanted to clear up “some misunderstandings about Islam” by non Muslims.

Last week a court in Kingston, Ontario found businessman Mohammad Shafia, 58, his 42-year-old wife Tooba Yahya and their 21-year-old son Hamed guilty of first degree murder and sentenced them to 25 years in prison.

In what the judge called “heinous” crimes and the indictment described as “honor killings,” the defendants were found guilty of the deaths of the couple’s three daughters and Shafia’s first wife in his polygamous marriage.

“We are not criminals. We are not murderers,” Mohammad Shafia had told the court. “This is unjust.”

The bodies of the victims were found in a car submerged in a canal lock near Kingston in June 2009. The defendants argued the deaths were an accident.

Canada has seen 13 such killings — which are more common in the Middle East and South Asia — since 2002, Amin Muhammed, a psychiatry professor at Memorial University in Saint John’s, Newfoundland, said.