Terror, Tribes, and the War on Women in Pakistan
29 January 2010
Terror, Tribes, and the War on Women in Pakistan, Council on Asian Transnational Threat Research via the Human Security Gateway, 1 October 2009
EXCERPT: "Not only is it nearly impossible to find statistical data on the number of women affected by the conflict that began in Afghanistan and has now bled over to the tribal areas of Pakistan, but few efforts have been made to provide systematic or targeted aid to them. According to...
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Cautious Pakistan's Afghan Influence Seen Limited
29 January 2010
Cautious Pakistan's Afghan Influence Seen Limited, Reuters via AlertNet, 29 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Pakistan has shown support for Afghanistan's invitation to the Taliban to take part in a peace council but the old Taliban ally has only limited influence over the militants, who many expect will reject the offer. The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a jirga, or traditional council, during an international conference...
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Rift Among Bajaur Taliban Widens as Casualties Mount
29 January 2010
Rift Among Bajaur Taliban Widens, DAWN, 29 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Differences among militants in Bajaur Agency simmering for some time have widened and one group is reported to have replaced local Taliban chief Maulana Faqir Mohammad with Maulana Mohammad Jamal (Maulvi Dadullah). Maulana Faqir was the deputy chief of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and a close associate of Baitullah Mehsud. However, Maulana Jamal's supporters have...
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Swat Valley Holds First Elections Since Taliban Rule
29 January 2010
Swat Voters Go to Polls Today Amid Fears, The News International, 28 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Voters in PF-83 Swat are set to cast ballot amid fears of terrorist attacks to elect their representative for the NWFP Assembly as the Election Commission has finalised all arrangements for the polling from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The security concerns may keep the turnout low. But the authorities said on Wednesday that they had put in place stringent security...
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US Aid Failing in Pakistan: Report
29 January 2010
, Press Association, 29 January 2010
EXCERPT: "A $45 million USAID program aimed at improving the ability of Pakistani tribal leaders to govern a politically sensitive stretch of territory along the Afghan border has failed to achieve its primary mission of improving the delivery of basic services, according to an audit by the agency's inspector...
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NATO Afghan Convoy Attacked in Karachi
28 January 2010
Rare Afghanistan Convoy Attack in Normally Safe Pakistan City, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 January 2010
EXCERPT: "A NATO convoy came under assault Thursday while carrying supplies through Pakistan to Afghanistan in a rare ambush inside Karachi, the relatively secure port city from which 300 to 400 of the coalition's trucks leave each day. Any assault on the Pakistani supply route is worrisome to the US-led forces in Afghanistan,...
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Testimony of Steve Coll Before the the House Armed Services Committee: The Paradoxes of Al-Qaeda
28 January 2010
House Testimony: The Paradoxes of Al Qaeda by Steve Coll, The New Yorker, 27 January 2010
EXCERPT: "[...] In a political-military sense, Al Qaeda's greatest potential today probably lies in the violence and ambitions pursued by regional actors in its network. Whether it is correct to call these regional groups Al Qaeda-linked varies from case to case and is in any event difficult to assess confidently from the open source record... In the...
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Pak Seeks Role as Mediator in Afghan Taliban Talks
28 January 2010
, The Washington Post, 28 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Pakistan, which once sponsored Taliban forces but turned against them under American pressure in 2001, now hopes to play a role as a broker in proposed negotiations among Taliban leaders and the Afghan government, with support from the United States. As leaders of 60 countries meet in London on Thursday to discuss...
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Conflict Induced Displacement: The Pandits of Kashmir
28 January 2010
Conflict Induced Displacement: The Pandits of Kashmir, African Centre for for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes // Conflict Trends via the Human Security Gateway, Issue #4 2009
EXCERPT: "Displacement is one of the stark realities of the Kashmir conflict. It remains dwarfed by the attention that the conflict itself has drawn. About 10 categories of internally displaced people can be identified. These people have been uprooted...
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Militants Try to Cash in on Farmer's Water Woes
28 January 2010
Militants Try to Cash in on Pakistani Farmer's Water Woes, The National, 27 January 2010
"The decrease in irrigation water to the Roohi desert region ? a place that since 1988 has been a recruiting ground for militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir ? was first noticed by residents five years ago. 'There was ample water until 2005 ? more than enough to grow our crops. Then, suddenly, the number of days that water was available...
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