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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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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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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Obama "Insists" Pakistan Fulfills Counterinsurgency Promises as US Prepares Afghanistan Withdrawal
23 June 2011
President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed the United States will “insist” Pakistan fulfill its promises to counter militant sanctuaries on its soil. “We will work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism, and we will insist that it keep its commitments,” Obama said in a televised speech on troop withdrawal plans for the war in Afghanistan. Obama’s comments underscored festering tensions...
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Pakistan Seeks Greater Role in US-Taliban Talks
21 June 2011
Pakistan on Monday sought ‘greater transparency and clarity’ from the United States in its plans to reach out to the Afghan Taliban in a move that indicates Islamabad’s unease over Washington’s recent overtures with insurgents. The Obama administration has recently confirmed that it had established contacts with the Afghan Taliban though it insisted the negotiations were at a preliminary stage. It is widely believed that the...
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Summary of Recent Security Incidents
16 June 2011
More than 200 militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan early Thursday and attacked a border village with rockets, mortars and machine guns, killing five people and kidnapping more than 20, officials and residents said. The deadly raid underlines challenges ahead for the U.S. and Pakistan when Washington begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan later this year. Pakistan maintains that NATO already needs more troops along the Afghan side...
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Al Zawahiri Becomes Al-Qaeda Chief
16 June 2011
Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the group has said in a statement issued in the name of the group's general command. "The general command of al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the statement, posted online on Thursday, said. US special forces killed bin Laden in a raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2....
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Karzai Visits Islamabad for Talks on Taliban
10 June 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Friday seeking Pakistan’s help to end a 10-year Taliban insurgency, as their mutual ally the United States tries to build on battlefield gains to force a political settlement. Pakistan is seen as a critical regional player with the clout to help all parties in the conflict reach a settlement. Karzai will meet President Asif Ali Zardari and other Pakistani leaders, although no breakthroughs...
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Tribal Militias Seek Official Support to Fight Taliban but Face Skepticism
08 June 2011
When hundreds of militants began pouring across the Afghan border into his district of Upper Dir last week, tribal elder Haji Malak Mutabar Khan gathered a few dozen neighbors, piled everyone into jeeps, and raced off to fight them. Mr. Khan’s group of minutemen – known in Pakistan as a lashkar – held down the Taliban as more locals emerged to help. The next day, the Pakistan Army arrived and routed the militants back into Afghanistan....
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KP Petitions NATO, Pakistan, and Afghanistan for Future Security after Fourth Day of Taliban Attack in Upper Dir
06 June 2011
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday condemned the ‘infiltration’ of militants from Afghanistan into Dir Upper and asked both the Pakistan and Afghan governments to take measures for preventing occurrence of such events in future. The provincial government made the demand in a special meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti here on Saturday. The meeting was convened to discuss aftermaths of a militants’...
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