AFPAK / Iraq Sweep09 November 2011

 

Afghanistan 1) Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday said another attack on Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan will cause many to question the mission, but the country is committed to the war until the scheduled withdrawal in 2014. Three Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan when an Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier opened fire to his colleagues. The incident came just 10 days after three Australian soldiers died and seven wounded in a similar attack in Afghanistan. Also in May, an Afghan soldier shot dead his Australian mentor as they carried out guard duty. Xinhuan

2) Scores of Taliban fighters were killed Tuesday evening as they attempted to storm a small U.S. outpost along the Pakistani border and were driven back by American soldiers, according to U.S. military officials in the province. The insurgents launched the attack by firing rocket-propelled grenades and rifles from the grounds of two Islamic schools located near Combat Outpost Margah, in eastern Afghanistan’s volatile Paktika province. WP

3) India plans to train Afghan army combat units at top counter-insurgency schools, officials say, deepening its commitment to Afghanistan as Western forces prepare to withdraw, a move that will fan Pakistani fears of encirclement. India may also provide light weapons to the Afghan army and train pilots and ground staff for Afghanistan's small air force under a strategic partnership agreement signed last month. Reuters

4) Reeling from a Taliban suicide bombing that left three of its workers dead, the U.N. refugee agency plans to intensify cooperation with local aid groups to get out the message that its mission in Afghanistan is purely humanitarian, the agency's head said Wednesday. The agency is also pressing the international community and the Afghan government to work harder on the reintegration of more than 5 million Afghans who have come home, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees told The Associated Press. AP(Yahoo)

5) Norwegian military forces are getting ready to pull out of Afghanistan after years of participation in NATO-led operations and several casualties. Norway’s role is already in the midst of major change, while experts worry whether Afghan forces are ready to take over. NIN

Pakistan1) Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former president, has said that the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar is not and has "never been in Pakistan". Musharraf also vehemently denied the existence of the Quetta Shura. Geo

2) Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar said Wednesday the environment was improved ahead of bilateral talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Geo

3) President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan and China have strong strategic ties and appreciated China’s support for Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and underscored the importance of time-tested strategic partnership between the two countries. Geo

4) Pakistan’s president promised to work with the United States to ”eradicate” the militant Haqqani network, a pledge made during a meeting with visiting American congressmen, according to one of the lawmakers. But the head of the Homeland Security delegation, Michael McCaul, downplayed the significance of the remarks, saying it was unclear whether President Asif Ali Zardari had the power to make good on his pledge, given the influence of the military in Pakistan. Dawn

5) Brushing aside New Delhi media’s frenzy over joint anti-terrorism exercise, the Ministry of National Defence here has dismissed Indian reports that China and Pakistan are holding a joint military exercise to put pressure on New Delhi, and said the anti-terror drill is not targeted at any third country. Dawn

6) Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz alleged, in his op-ed in the Financial Times, that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had offered to replace Pakistan s military and intelligence leadership and cut ties with militant groups in the wake of Osama bin Laden s killing in Abbottabad. Ijaz also alleged that Zardari communicated this offer by sending a top secret memo on May 10 through Ijaz himself, to be hand-delivered to Adm. Michael Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a key official managing the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Dunya

7) Security forces captured a Swat Taleban commander and his accomplice from Mardan who had earlier escaped a military offensive in 2009. Official sources said that they raided a house in Mardan when they received the information from the residents about the militant Hazrat Bilal's presence in the area. Translations

 

Iraq 1) Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said on Wednesday that "every piece of Iraq's territories must be under control by the Central Govenment, warning against the announcement of federations and regions, because the current time is not suitable for such decisions.""Iraq's unity is a red line, we won't bargain upon," Maliki said in a speech during reception of leaders of intellectuals of southern Iraq's Karbala city, screened by Iraq's semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Satellite Station, adding that "every part of Iraq's territories must be under control by the Central Government." ASWAT

2 ) A Pro Iraqi-government al-Sahwa (Awakening) Force commander has been killed in anexplosive charge blast in Iraq's Salahal-Din Province on Wednesday, a police source reported.ASWAT

3) The Mayor of the city of Mosul, the center of north Iraq's Ninewa Province, has escaped an assassination attempt during an attack on his house in southern Mosul, a Ninewa security source reported on Wednesday. ASWAT

4) Twin IED blasts in Anbar province on Wednesday killed one civilian and left four policemen injured. In the first blast a farmer was killed in while he was watering his plantations in Anbar's al-Obeidi district, west of the provincial capital Ramadi, capt. Abbas al-Duaimi from Ramadi police department told AKnews. In the second IED struck a police patrol in Ramadi's al-Jazeera area wounding four policemen in addition to causing extensive damage to the police vehicle and a civilian car parked near the scene of the attack. AKNews

5) Three policemen were killed on Tuesday evening in two separate armed attacks in the volatile city of Mosul, 365 km north of Baghdad. Insurgent shot dead a traffic policeman near his house while off duty in Mosul’s al-Karama area before running away, Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Jubbouri told AKnews. AKNews

  

 Full Articles

 Afghanistan

1) Afghanistan attack to cause questions, but Australia committed: PM

English.news.cn 2011-11-09 16:26:14 FeedbackPrintRSS

MELBOURNE, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday said another attack on Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan will cause many to question the mission, but the country is committed to the war until the scheduled withdrawal in 2014.

Three Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan when an Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier opened fire to his colleagues. The incident came just 10 days after three Australian soldiers died and seven wounded in a similar attack in Afghanistan. Also in May, an Afghan soldier shot dead his Australian mentor as they carried out guard duty.

Gillard said she was very conscious the attack, coming so soon after the previous "dreadful killings", might cause Australians to question the mission in Afghanistan and trust in ANA soldiers.

Although the attack "corroded" trust, Gillard insisted progress was being made in Afghanistan.

She said training Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and local police is "pivotal" so they can eventually provide security and Australian troops can come home.

"(But) as distressing as these incidents are, as dreadful as these incidents are, our mission in Afghanistan does need to continue," she told reporters in Melbourne.

Defense Minister Stephen Smith agreed, saying that the latest attack, which would be "exhaustively investigated", represented a very serious setback.

He noted that there had been 15 such incidents over the past 12 months involving international forces in Afghanistan.

"(But) despite these events we continue to very strongly believe we're on track to transition to Afghan responsibility for security matters by 2014," he said.

Defense force chief David Hurley said security has now been beefed up at the small Basir base where the attack occurred overnight.

Australia will now raise vetting procedures with the International Security Assistance Force "to make sure everything is done to vet those people that go into the Afghan national security forces".

Special Report: Afghanistan Situation

2) Taliban attackers driven back, killed in attack on U.S. base

By Joshua Partlow, Updated: Wednesday, November 9, 5:59 AM

KABUL — Scores of Taliban fighters were killed Tuesday evening as they attempted to storm a small U.S. outpost along the Pakistani border and were driven back by American soldiers, according to U.S. military officials in the province.

The insurgents launched the attack by firing rocket-propelled grenades and rifles from the grounds of two Islamic schools located near Combat Outpost Margah, in eastern Afghanistan’s volatile Paktika province. The company of American soldiers stationed there fired back as large groups of fighters moved toward the base from a wadi to the west, U.S. military officials said.

The fighting lasted less than two hours, ending by about 8:30 p.m. No U.S. troops were killed. A spokesman for the Paktika governor said that between 50 and 60 insurgents were killed.

The U.S. base has become a favorite target for Haqqani network insurgents based in Pakistan, who ignore the border to attack Americans. It was at least the third major attack on the base in a little more than a year.

In October 2010, about 100 fighters managed to overrun an observation post that looked down on the base. Many of them were killed by bombs from U.S. aircraft, U.S. military officials said. On Oct. 7 this year, insurgents fired 111 rockets and mortars at the outpost and dispatched a suicide bomber toward it in a truck rigged with explosives. The truck was disabled by U.S. gunfire before it could get to the gate.

“It’s a base the insurgents generally don’t like,” said Col. Edward T. Bohnemann, the U.S. brigade commander, in an interview this month. “It’s four kilometers from the border. It’s in an area that has not been openly friendly to [the Afghan government] ever.”

The massing of large groups of insurgents to assault U.S. positions has grown increasingly rare in Afghanistan this year, as the Taliban resorts to safer guerrilla tactics to take on U.S. and Afghan forces.

In Paktika, insurgents along the border typically fire rockets and mortar rounds at U.S. bases, while the western part of the province sees more roadside bombs.

When insurgents do fight in a group, they tend to sustain heavy casualties over a short period, because they lack the firepower of U.S. troops.

On July 20, U.S. Special Operations soldiers found a group of insurgents who had stashed weapons inside a cave overlooking a wadi in Paktika’s Sar Howsa district. Wave after wave of fighters came at the coalition troops, until more than 100 of them had been killed, according to U.S. military officials. One American soldier died.

“If they’re planning a massive attack, they may be able to muster a group of 100 around there,” Maj. Eric Butler, the brigade’s intelligence officer, said in an interview last week. For the Taliban, he said, “usually it ends very, very badly.”

3) Analysis: With an eye on 2014, India steps up Afghan role

Wed, Nov 09 00:29 AM EST

By Sanjeev Miglani

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - India plans to train Afghan army combat units at top counter-insurgency schools, officials say, deepening its commitment to Afghanistan as Western forces prepare to withdraw, a move that will fan Pakistani fears of encirclement.

India may also provide light weapons to the Afghan army and train pilots and ground staff for Afghanistan's small air force under a strategic partnership agreement signed last month.

Up until now India has mainly provided discreet training to Afghan security forces in an unstructured manner, with officers attending largely theoretical courses. Once, in 2007, two platoon-sized units of 30 men each were trained.

But the new agreement sets the stage for a formal Indian involvement in boosting Afghan security forces beyond 2014, when foreign combat troops will withdraw, leaving Afghans to fight a Taliban insurgency now at its most potent in 10 years of war.

"The Afghanistan initiative, so far as I understand it, will be training, including future trainers, in such places as the Army War College in Mhow," said an Indian security official, referring to a top institution in central India.

"This is about ... military exercises designed to enable them to engage in actual combat operations," he said.

A greater and more overt Indian role in boosting Afghan security preparedness, on top of a $2 billion civil aid effort building highways, power transmission lines and dams, marks an intensification of a regional struggle for post-2014 influence.

It also represents a re-ordering of regional alliances, with the United States seen to have backed the India-Afghan pact after the fraying of its relationship with Pakistan, which it blames for sheltering militants fighting in Afghanistan.

"I think it's a huge deal. It confirms a lot of Pakistan's worst fears about Afghanistan. Moreover, given how many ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) join to fight Pakistan, adding Indian mentorship into the mix strikes me as a terrible idea," said Joshua Foust, a security analyst at the non-partisan think tank the American Security Project in Washington.

"But I think a lot of the decisions are driven by wanting India to pick up this slack the U.S. will be leaving," he said. "This has high-level backing in Washington and Delhi, so it's a done deal. They think there won't be a blowback. I disagree."

RACING THE CLOCK

NATO is racing against the clock to train a force of 350,000 Afghan police and soldiers to take over the battle against the Taliban and other insurgents.

As domestic support for the war falls, U.S. President Barack Obama could be looking at even faster withdrawals, sources said last month after the White House asked the Pentagon for 2014 scenarios that included 2013 troop levels.

Pakistan, which sees itself as the central player in shaping a political solution to the conflict, has warned repeatedly against what it describes as destabilizing Indian involvement.

It also worries about Afghan officers being trained in India because it could mold them into an anti-Pakistan institution.

The Indian embassy in Kabul has been attacked twice, with U.S. and Indian officials blaming the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network. U.S. officials say the Haqqanis have close ties with Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.

India, riding one of the world's fastest-growing economies, has signaled it will stay the course despite the threat of a backlash. It also has a wary eye on China's growing investments in Afghanistan's potentially rich mining sector.

"The door has been opened for the training of Afghanistan's army, air force and police in India," said retired Indian army Major-General Ashok Mehta.

He said the Afghans want to build their army on the Indian model of a secular, national force that draws recruits from across the country and from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and turn them into a cohesive fighting unit.

The Afghan army is still seen as a force dominated by the minority Tajik and Hazara ethnic groups, with the Pashtuns who make up the majority of the population under-represented.

"They didn't want to go to Pakistan, even though the Pakistanis have repeatedly offered ... , because they said they didn't want to 'Islamise' the army," Mehta added.

GIVING WEAPONS, TRAINING PILOTS

Mehta said the Afghans were expected to send company-sized units of 120 men for training at Indian bases, including a respected counter-insurgency school in northeastern Vairengte.

Afghan infantry units are also expected to train at a high- altitude warfare school in Kashmir, where Indian forces have had plenty of experience battling revolts over 20 years.

Part of the Soviet Union's exit strategy after its disastrous campaign in Afghanistan relied on training troops, and some pilots, in then Soviet-Uzbekistan. Some soldiers were also flown to Moscow in the mid-1980s.

Under the India-Afghan pact, weapons such as rifles, rocket launchers and artillery would help fill equipment gaps and pilots would be trained on simulators in India. Kamran Bokhari, vice president of Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs at global intelligence consulting firm STRATFOR, said intelligence sharing would be the biggest, yet least talked-about, part of the India-Afghanistan partnership.

He said military cooperation between the two countries had to be limited because they don't share a border and that a hostile Pakistan lies in between.

"But intelligence is something that doesn't require borders and they can do quite a lot in that area," Bokhari said.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

4) AP Interview: UN boosting cooperation with AfghansAPBy TAREK EL-TABLAWY - Associated Press | AP – 3 hrs ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Reeling from a Taliban suicide bombing that left three of its workers dead, the U.N. refugee agency plans to intensify cooperation with local aid groups to get out the message that its mission in Afghanistan is purely humanitarian, the agency's head said Wednesday.

The agency is also pressing the international community and the Afghan government to work harder on the reintegration of more than 5 million Afghans

who have come home, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees told The Associated Press.

The move to more reliance on local non-governmental organizations comes after an Oct. 31 suicide bombing and simultaneous attack by Taliban insurgents in the restive southern province of Kandahar on a compound housing the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

The attack, which killed five people including three UNHCR guards, underscored the precarious security situation in Afghanistan 10 years after the start of the U.S.-led campaign that ousted the Taliban from power.

"It's ... very important to emphasize the capacity to reach out to the population the capacity to show that we are fully committed to humanitarian principles," Guterres said. He arrived Wednesday and immediately flew to Kandahar to pay his respects to the families of those killed in the attack.

"Afghanistan lives in a very complex situation, both in relation to the internal political situation and global security problems it faces," he said, "but our agenda is limited to the needs of the people we care for, and it is also very important that the population understands that."

Guterres said given the security concerns, "one of the very important instruments is cooperation with the local actors, and ... that cooperation with the local actors will be intensified in the near future" to ensure that those needing the UNHCR's help do not suffer from decreased services.

Guterres said despite having helped about 4.6 million Afghans return home, 50 percent of those who have resettled in the country have not been fully reintegrated.

The refugee question is one of the most difficult confronting the government of President Hamid Karzai as it struggles to rebuild after a ruinous war further compounded decades of neglect. More than 8 million Afghans live at or below poverty levels, according to the U.N., and job creation has been negligible even for those who have remained in country, let alone those who have returned from abroad.

Decades of war drove millions of Afghans from the country, and the continued fighting around the country has left hundreds of thousands more displaced from their homes.

Guterres said the issue of reintegrating the refugees represented the one of the biggest hurdles with which the agency and the international community must grapple.

But inroads are being made, he said.

Iran and Pakistan — who together host the majority of the Afghan refugees — have agreed with Afghanistan and the UNHCR to hold a conference early next year to appeal to the international community to support a comprehensive framework for dealing with the refugee crisis and reintegration efforts.

"I think this capacity to bring together these three countries is something new, and represents also potentially an example of other areas of cooperation that could be essential to bring more stability to the region," he said.

Such broader international cooperation is key because the Afghan government lacks the resources to tackle the issue alone.

Guterres said one element that Afghan officials can focus greater attention on is land ownership and resolving land disputes — a move that would afford returnees a chance to build homes and set down roots in their country.

The land ownership issue is key in Afghanistan, where titles are often missing or land is simply expropriated by warlords or others.

A U.S. State Department report in July said that an Afghan government program to allocate land to returnees "has been mismanaged and has not met its goal of providing land to support basic livelihood for returnees."

Without access to land ownership and the crafting of a comprehensive rural development program, the scenario likely to emerge is that people will shift to the slums in the cities — especially Kabul — further exacerbating economic and social problems in those areas.

5) Norway winds down in Afghanistan

November 9, 2011

Norwegian military forces are getting ready to pull out of Afghanistan after years of participation in NATO-led operations and several casualties. Norway’s role is already in the midst of major change, while experts worry whether Afghan forces are ready to take over.

Norway has suffered its share of casualties in Afghanistan over the years. PHOTO: Forsvarets mediesenter/Torbjørn Kjosvold

Norwegian soldiers and officers will, in practice, be withdrawn from the front lines around New Year, reported newspaper Aftenposten on Wednesday. The withdrawal will be part of the international reduction in forces that have been in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and try to restore stability and security after decades of war and terrorism.

Latvian forces will replace the Norwegian troops assigned to the military response command at Meymaneh. Its assignment has been to help Afghan security forces to respond to insurgent attacks in the so-called “Norwegian” area of northern Afghanistan.

The area has recently become the scene of far more unrest and intense battles, and there are concerns whether the Afghan forces are ready to assume responsibility for the country’s security from NATO troops pulling out. The decision has been made, however, that NATO forces will withdraw by 2014.

Crown Prince Haakon greeting troops in Afghanistan in 2009. PHOTO: Forsvaret

Norway has maintained around 500 troops on average in Afghanistan, a fraction of those supplied by countries like the US and Great Britain but still relatively large given Norway’s small population and overall military force. Many will remain, but in administrative and command roles, not engaged in active fighting.

The defense ministry’s operative headquarters (Forsvarets operative hovedkvarter, FOH) describes the move as from being active in the field, to a more “strategic” role. The plan will also reduce costs and “wear and tear” on the military at home in Norway.

Asked whether Afghan authorities and security forces will be able to take over, FOH chief and Vice Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hansen chose to be optimistic.

“We can’t compare the Afghans’ military ability with NATO’s,” Bruun-Hansen told Aftenposten. “The Afghans don’t have the western fighting force and won’t have it for the foreseeable future. But we must look at this from the Afghan perspective. The authorities themselves believe they are able to handle the security situation. Right now a new group of cities and provinces is taking over responsibility for their own security.”

Bruun-Hansen added that in Faryab, where Norwegian forces have been active, the Afghan police and military “have become steadily better, also on an organizational basis. There’s now a provincial governor and a security adviser who identify security challenges and tell the police and military how to handle them.”

He said he’s aware that the situation is entirely different in other provinces. He recognizes the possibility of power struggles breaking out after the NATO troops leave. “The various ethnic, religious and cultural groups and interests will position themselves,” he said. “But there’s hope we have helped get a regime in place that can handle that.”

Kristian Berg Harpviken of the peace research institute PRIO in Oslo is far less optimistic. “Today there are very few divisions within the Afghan security forces

that are able to operate effectively alone,” he told Aftenposten. “In addition there are questions about their loyalty and the ethical balance. That creates anxiety, both in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, that forces can be split and become part of a new civil war.”

Former Norwegian defense chief Sverre Diesen thinks the international forces are pulling out too quickly. “I think … that we would have achieved a more successful operation by being there longer,” he told Aftenposten.

Pakistan1) Mullah Omar has never been in Pakistan: Musharraf.

Updated at: 1856 PST, Wednesday, November 09, 2011

LONDON: Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former president, has said that the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar is not and has "never been in Pakistan". Musharraf also vehemently denied the existence of the Quetta Shura.

In an interview with BBC, former military ruler said, “You say it is true, I say it is all nonsense,” Musharraf said to the presenter about the presence of the Quetta Shura.

He agreed that the relationship between Pakistan and the US has "fundamentally broken down", saying it is at the "lowest ebb".

Musharraf said that he was not answerable in the killings of Benazir Bhutto and Nawab Akbar Bugti.

He said that he would arrive in Pakistan on March 23, 2012.

2) Ties with India improving: Khar.

Updated at: 1810 PST, Wednesday, November 09, 2011

ADDU, Maldives: Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar said Wednesday the environment was improved ahead of bilateral talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

"I can certainly say from our side that we look at this environment to have improved considerably. The trust deficit that typically existed between the two countries for many, many years has been reduced to a large order," she said.

Khar said the threat of terrorism was a challenge to both India and Pakistan and will be addressed by leaders at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit. (AFP)

3) Pak-China have strong strategic ties: Zardari.

Updated at: 1101 PST, Wednesday, November 09, 2011

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan and China have strong strategic ties and appreciated China’s support for Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and underscored the importance of time-tested strategic partnership between the two countries.

A Chinese delegation, led by Member of Central Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), Lu Hao called on President Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House on Tuesday and discussed Pak-China bilateral relations and also ties between PPP and CPC.

The discussion involved wide ranging matters including mutual cooperation in economic and finance sectors besides the regional situation. He was accompanied by JIA Tingquan Deputy Secretary General CPC Committee of Gansu Province, WANG Yongqian Director General Foreign Affairs, JI Ping, Wang Huanxiang, Du Dingding and Zhao Xu.

President Zardari said it was encouraging to note that the traditional Pak-China friendship was being translated into economic cooperation for mutual benefit of the two countries.

The President said Pakistan attaches great importance to enhancing economic and trade links with China. He said that numerous areas such as energy, mining, infrastructure, information technology, telecom, agriculture, irrigation, railway, communication, finance and banking provided excellent opportunities for the peoples of two countries to take advantage and further promote mutual collaboration.

The President called for the need of currency swap agreement between the two countries as it would provide impetus to the existing level of mutual trade by facilitating business community. He also mentioned recently signed Currency Swap agreement with Turkey.

The President said that Chinese investors, businessmen were most welcome to undertake business ventures in Pakistan and take benefit of business-friendly policies and incentives offered by Pakistan Government.

Seeking more investments by Chinese companies in Pakistan, the President stressed upon the need for making efforts to realize full potential of bilateral trade.

He said China was like a second home to him and he was keen to learn from Chinese experience of development and progress.

Discussing recent developments and war against militants, Mr. Hao appreciated Pakistan’s countless sacrifices in making this world a safer place to live. He said China greatly values scarifies made by Pakistani people in the war against terror.

He also invited President Zardari to visit Gansu province, which the president agreed to consider. Hao was of the opinion that both political parties should play their role in promoting harmony.

4) Zardari vows operations against Haqqanis.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president promised to work with the United States to ”eradicate” the militant Haqqani network, a pledge made during a meeting with visiting American congressmen, according to one of the lawmakers.

But the head of the Homeland Security delegation, Michael McCaul, downplayed the significance of the remarks, saying it was unclear whether President Asif Ali Zardari had the power to make good on his pledge, given the influence of the military in Pakistan.

According to McCaul, Zardari also appeared to brush off threats that US aid spending to Pakistan could be significantly cut if Islamabad did not do more to squeeze insurgents like the Haqqanis, who are based in northwest Pakistan but attack US and Afghan troops in Afghanistan.

”I think he thinks it’s a given that we are going to continue the aid, but I tried to tell him that it’s in jeopardy,” McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas, said of Zardari. ”He said, ‘I appreciate your assistance, but it’s trade more than aid that I need.”’

McCaul and the visiting lawmakers met with Zardari in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Tuesday, and revealed details of his conversation later the same day.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have plummeted over the last year following the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor and the American unilateral raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

Persistent allegations that Pakistani security forces are aiding or tolerating Afghan insurgents have led many US lawmakers to call for cuts in the billions of dollars in aid given to Pakistan.

The Haqqani network is an al-Qaida linked militant group with roots in eastern Afghanistan that has long been based in the Pakistani border region of North

Waziristan. US and Nato officials say it is currently the most deadly foe in Afghanistan.

The problem is especially acute because Washington is committed to withdrawing most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Seeing the country fall back into the hands of the Taliban or descend into bloody civil war would be a crushing failure for Washington.

The US has been applying steady pressure on Pakistan to tackle the Haqqanis, but with little effect.

”The president, on the record, said ‘I am going to work with you to eradicate them,”’ McCaul said. He further quoted Zardari as saying: ”I know these people very well, they are snakes and I’m going to go after all of them.”

McCaul said he welcomed the president’s statement, but ”the real question is how much does this president control the military” and the country’s spy service.

Zardari heads a democratically elected civilian government, but the military, which has ruled Pakistan for much of its existence, does not follow his orders when it comes to Afghan policy and other defense issues.McCaul said the American delegation asked to meet the Pakistani army and spy chiefs, but this was not possible.

The Pakistani military views neighboring India, and not militants at home, as the country’s biggest threat and sees Afghanistan through that lens. Consequently, Islamabad is widely believed to be reluctant to move against the Haqqanis because it sees them as potential allies against Indian influence in Afghanistan when America withdraws.

In talks late last month with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other American officials, Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani recognized the need to ”squeeze the Haqqanis,” a senior US official said at the time, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Greater intelligence sharing, cutting financing networks and stopping fighters from crossing the border were discussed, he said.

5) China-Pakistani military drill not targeted at India.

BEIJING: Brushing aside New Delhi media’s frenzy over joint anti-terrorism exercise, the Ministry of National Defence here has dismissed Indian reports that China and Pakistan are holding a joint military exercise to put pressure on New Delhi, and said the anti-terror drill is not targeted at any third country.

According to the annual exchange plan between China and Pakistan’s militaries, the two armies will hold the ‘Friendship 2011′ joint anti-terror exercise near Islamabad, The China Daily quoted the Information Office of the Ministry of National Defence.

“This is the first joint drill of the two armies this year and is not targeted at any third nation. It is aimed at enhancing the capability of the two militaries to handle non-traditional security threats and launch joint anti-terror activities,” the office said in a written reply.

The two-week exercise will begin on Nov 16, it said.

Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, while rejecting the report accused the Indian media of basing such reports on “hearsay evidence”.

“They always wear blinkers to examine China cooperation with Pakistan.

For example, we all know there are many Chinese experts and engineers in Pakistan working on large projects. It is the Indian media which linked that with security issues,” he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao suggested that the Indian media should stop overplaying security issues and make more positive efforts to improve bilateral relations, when he visited the country last year.

The premier said that, in recent years, there has been no conflict in the China-India border area.

“But the border issue has been hyped as a rather serious problem.”

6) Mullen denies any secret letter from Zardari.

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz alleged, in his op-ed in the Financial Times, that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had offered to replace Pakistan s military and intelligence leadership and cut ties with militant groups in the wake of Osama bin Laden s killing in Abbottabad.

Ijaz also alleged that Zardari communicated this offer by sending a top secret memo on May 10 through Ijaz himself, to be hand-delivered to Adm. Michael Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a key official managing the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. The details of the memo and the machinations Ijaz describes paint a picture of a Zardari government scrambling to save itself from an impending military coup following the raid on bin Laden s compound, and asking for U.S. support to prevent that coup before it started.

Mullen, now retired, denied this week having ever dealt with Ijaz in comments given to The Cable through his spokesman at the time, Capt. John Kirby.

"Adm. Mullen does not know Mr. Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him," Kirby told The Cable. "I cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him -- the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual. And in any case, he did not take any action with respect to our relationship with Pakistan based on any such correspondence ... preferring to work at the relationship directly through [Pakistani Army Chief of Staff] Gen. [Ashfaq Parvez] Kayani and inside the interagency process."

Mullen s denial represents the first official U.S. comment on the Ijaz memo, which since Oct. 10 has mushroomed into a huge controversy in Pakistan. Several parts of Pakistan s civilian government denied that Ijaz s memorandum ever existed. On Oct. 30, Zardari spokesman Farhatullah Babar called Ijaz s op-ed a "fantasy article" and criticized the FT for running it in the first place.

7) Taleban commander arrested in northwest Pakistan

Text of report By Umer Farooq headlined "Swat Militant Commander Arrested in Mardan" published by Pakistan newspaper The Express Tribune website on 9 November

Peshawar: Security forces captured a Swat Taleban commander and his accomplice from Mardan who had earlier escaped a military offensive in 2009.

Official sources said that they raided a house in Mardan when they received the information from the residents about the militant Hazrat Bilal's presence in the area.

The sources added that, earlier, when operation "Rah-e-Rast" was launched in Swat to hunt down militants back in 2009, around 4,500 militants were arrested; however, some militants had managed to escape.

Officials said that intelligence officials were still chasing the militants and said that a number of militants were arrested with the support of the locals.

"We aim to continue the chase and will arrest those who had escaped the operation. We have detained Bilal along with his close ally from Mardan," the official said.

According to the official, more than 1300 intelligence based search operations have been conducted in Swat so far.

Iraq

1) "Every piece of Iraq's territories must be under control by its Central Government," Prime Ministers

11/9/2011 12:46 PM

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said on Wednesday that "every piece of Iraq's territories must be under control by the Central Govenment, warning against the announcement of federations and regions, because the current time is not suitable for such decisions."

"Iraq's unity is a red line, we won't bargain upon," Maliki said in a speech during reception of leaders of intellectuals of southern Iraq's Karbala city, screened by Iraq's semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Satellite Station, adding that "every part of Iraq's territories must be under control by the Central Government."

Maliki said that "some shortages in some Iraqi provinces here and there can be settled by common action and not through secession or division," adding that "the national interest shall remain to serve the citizens and not the policians," who he described some of them as "failing to serve the interest of Iraq and its unity, but their own interests."

"We are heading towards increasing the authorities of Iraq's different Provinces," he said, warning that "calls for federations and regions, despite their constitutionalism, but time is not suitable to raise such demands."

Prime Minister Maliki has expressed surprise from "raising such constitutional rights by some parties and their criticizm of the government, including the illegallity of (Iraq's former ruling) Baath Party and opposing its practice, charging that "there are plan to make those regions as safe places for escaped wanted elements of Baath Party, aimed at undermining the stability of Iraq."

The past few days have witnessed calls for the establishment of "independent regions" in iraq, following the voting of 20 out the 28 members of Iraq's Salahal-Din's Province's Council to become an independent "Region," within United Iraq, announced by the Deputy Chairman of the Province's Council, Sabhan Mulla Chiad, who charged the decision was taken due to the "irresponsible" policy of the Central Government against Salahal-Din's inhabitants.

2) Pro-government Sahwa (Awakening) force commander killed in Iraq 11/9/2011 11:11 AM

SALAHAL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: A Pro Iraqi-government al-Sahwa (Awakening) Force commander has been killed in anexplosive charge blast in Iraq's Salahal-Din Province on Wednesday, a police source reported. "An explosive charge, planted under the car of Sheikh Ali al-Sheikhani, blew off early Wednesday in Salahal-Din's RailwayStation, killing him on the spot," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. In another incident, the police source said that 2 explosive charges blew off against al-Sahwa checking point in Baladtownship of Salahal-Din Province on Tuesday night, cause no human casualties. Tikrit, the center of Salahal-Din Province, is 175 km to the north of Baghdad.

3) North Iraq's Mosul's Mayor escapes assassination11/9/2011 12:04 PM

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: The Mayor of the city of Mosul, the center of north Iraq's Ninewa Province, has escaped an assassination attempt during an attack on his house in southern Mosul, a Ninewa security source reported onWednesday. "Mosul's Mayor, Hussein Ali Hachem, has escaped an assassination attempt at dawn Wednesday, in an attack against his house that caused material damage to the house at Gayara township, 60 km to the south of Mosul,but the Mayor was not hurt, when his guards returned fire and forced the attackers to escape," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Mosul, the center of Ninewa Province, is 405 km to the north of Baghdad.

4) Twin IED blasts in Anbar kill one, injure three09/11/2011 15:51

Anbar, Nov. 9 (AKnews) - Twin IED blasts in Anbar province on Wednesday killed one civilian and left four policemen injured.

In the first blast a farmer was killed in while he was watering his plantations in Anbar's al-Obeidi district, west of the provincial capital Ramadi, capt. Abbas al-Duaimi from Ramadi police department told AKnews.

In the second IED struck a police patrol in Ramadi's al-Jazeera area wounding four policemen in addition to causing extensive damage to the police vehicle and a civilian car parked near the scene of the attack.

Anbar province - 110 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad – is one of Iraq's unstable provinces that witness frequent insurgent attacks.

reported by Anwar Msarbat RY/AKnews

5) Three policemen killed in armed attack in Mosul09/11/2011 12:50

Nineveh, Nov. 9 (AKnews) – Three policemen were killed on Tuesday evening in two separate armed attacks in the volatile city of Mosul, 365 km north of Baghdad.

Insurgent shot dead a traffic policeman near his house while ff duty in Mosul’s al-Karama area before running away, Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Jubbouri told AKnews.

Separately, insurgents in a speeding car opened fire on two policemen in al-Sukkar area, east of Mosul, killing them immediately.

Mosul - 362 km north of Baghdad – is the capital of Nineveh province. It is the site of daily bombings and killings. Mosul is the bloodiest of all Iraq’s cities when population is taken into account, according to Iraqi Body Count. In recent months targeted attacks against government officials and military officers have been stepped up, often making use of silenced weapons and roadside bombs.

The Iraqi government believes that al-Qaeda is operating in Mosul to finance insurgent operations in Afghanistan. The Chancellery of National Reconciliation and the Iraqi government claimed to have information that indicate this connection.

Reported by Rezan Ahmed