30 June 2011
Pakistani troops backed by jets and helicopter gunships have killed 40 militants in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan in the past three days, a military commander said Thursday.Brigadier Aftab Ahmad told AFP by telephone that his forces had destroyed 17 militant hideouts in the Baizai region under his command in the lawless tribal area of Mohmand. "Militants were regularly attacking our posts on the Afghanistan border at Shonkari and Mithai...
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29 June 2011
He built Pakistan's nuclear bomb and is accused of having sold his knowledge to Libya and Iran. Since 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan has been under a state of house arrest. In an e-mail interview, he now explains why he accepted sole blame for the accusations at the time and points a finger at the Pakistani army.
Spiegel Online: Recent attacks on a naval base in Karachi, Pakistan, which resulted in the deaths of 16 people, show that extremists are posing...
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29 June 2011
Human rights violations in Pakistan’s southwest province of Balochistan are getting worse as militants and security forces target civilians, while authorities seem unwilling to rein in lawlessness, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an independent non-governmental organisation, said in its report that lawlessness in the province had proliferated at an alarming rate with a growing numbers...
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29 June 2011
A tribunal headed by Justice Mohammad Hashim Kakar of the Balochistan High Court submitted on Tuesday its report on the Kharotabad incident of May 17 in which five foreigners, three of them women, were killed by security personnel, but the provincial government has decided not to make it public. According to sources, the government observed after going through the report that recommendations made by the judicial tribunal could not be fully implemented....
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28 June 2011
A report released by the US State Department suggests that militants in Pakistan use children to fight or carry out suicide attacks. In a statement delivered with the Trafficking in Persons report, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “Every year, we come together to release this report, to take stock of our progress, to make suggestions, and to refine our methods. Today, we are releasing a new report that ranks 184 countries, including...
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28 June 2011
The announcement by President Obama on 22 June 2011 of substantial withdrawals of United States troops from Afghanistan by September 2012 marks an important moment in the almost decade-long war in the country. The impact of the decision will be felt on the current diplomatic calculations over the nature of a settlement that will bring the war to an end. It may also impinge on the presidential-election campaign in the US that reaches a climax in November...
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TTP Commander Leaves Group amid Disapproval of Civilian Killings
27 June 2011
A Pakistani Taliban warlord who claims to control hundreds of foot soldiers said Monday he had broken with the militia and would form his own anti-American group along the Afghan border. Fazal Saeed described himself as the leader of Pakistan’s umbrella Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) faction in the tribal district of Kurram, but said he had run out of patience with the network for killing civilians. TTP has claimed a series of high-profile attacks...
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Pakistan's Border Regions Vulnerable amid Planned US Withdrawal
27 June 2011
Fighting across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will overshadow talks when the two countries meet along with the United States on Tuesday to map out plans for reconciliation with the Taliban. Pakistan on Monday rejected Afghan allegations it had fired 470 rockets into Afghanistan over the past three weeks, saying only that "a few accidental rounds" may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who had attacked its security forces. But the...
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Summary of Recent Security Incidents
27 June 2011
At least 12 people have been killed after a police station in northwestern Pakistani came under attack from suspected Taliban fighters. Three explosions sent plumes of smoke into the air at the Kolachi police station in the Dera Ismail Khan district during the assault, which prompted a standoff on Saturday. Ten policemen were killed and another five wounded in the assault. Two of the attackers were also killed. Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the...
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Kabul Calls for End to Cross-Border Attacks from Pakistan as "Artillery Shells Kill Four Children"
24 June 2011
Afghanistan on Friday complained to Pakistan for a second time in a week about its shelling of Afghan villages in which four children were killed, fighting that threatens to raise regional tensions as the United States begins a gradual troop withdrawal. The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs first complained on Monday about Pakistan shelling soon after an assault by Pakistani forces drove militants across the border. The two sides blame each other...
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