Within days of the 9-11 attacks, media speculation started that al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear weapons. Now it is starting to look like US actions could make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. Washington imposed sanctions on both Pakistan and India after their… Read morePakistan’s nukes up for jihadi grabs?
Five people were killed and six others wounded when a missile—allegedly fired from a US drone—hit a suspected militant compound in the restive North Waziristan region of Pakistan, near the Afghan border Nov. 2. Residents said a pilotless US drone… Read moreUS bombs Pakistan —again?
Japan has ordered the withdrawal of its two ships supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan following the government’s failure to agree a deal with the opposition to extend the mission beyond the end of its mandate on Nov. 1. The administration… Read moreJapan ends Afghan support mission
Pakistani security forces backed up by helicopter gunships engaged militants at the madrassa of extremist cleric Maulana Fazlullah at Kabal in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province Oct. 26. The gun-battle apparently began when a patrol was fired on, and ended when… Read morePakistan: security forces battle neo-Taliban in NWFP
Pakistani soldiers and tribal fighters in North Waziristan are observing an unofficial ceasefire while tribesmen bury their fallen killed in air raids. At least 250, including dozens of soldiers, have died and thousands have fled in five days of fierce… Read moreAir raids, insurgency rock Waziristan
A suicide bomber in burqa killed 13 people at a police checkpoint Oct. 1 at Bannu in northwest Pakistan on the Afghan border. (AGI, Oct. 1) The following day, a suicide bomber killed 12 Afghan police on a bus in… Read moreTerror both sides of Pak-Afghan border
The Politics of Militarism and Islamist Extremism in Pakistan by Beena Sarwar, Himal Southasian The Pakistan Army emerged victorious from the Lal Masjid battle that took place in Islamabad on July 10, following a week’s standoff. But it is a… Read moreBOOTS, BEARDS, BURQAS, BOMBS
Continue ReadingBOOTS, BEARDS, BURQAS, BOMBSLike the similar claims being made about Iran arming its Sunni-extremist deadly enemies in Iraq, this strikes us as utterly improbable. Recall that before 9-11, Iran was on the brink of war with Afghanistan, over the Taliban’s ethnic cleansing of… Read moreIran arming Taliban?
Two successive suicide bomb blasts hit the central Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, killing at least 24 and wounding more than 60 early Sept. 4. The first bomber detonated his exposives on a bus carrying government workers. Minutes later, a… Read morePakistan terror: “tentacles” from Tribal Areas
Opium production in Afghanistan has hit a record $3 billion this year, accounting for more than 90% of the world’s illegal output, according to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Production is concentrated mainly… Read moreUN: Afghan opium bumper crop
Way to go, guys. From The Guardian, Aug. 25: Three British troops killed by US jet An urgent investigation was under way last night into why a US fighter plane killed three British soldiers, and seriously injured two others, after… Read moreAfghanistan: US bombs Brits
Note the last sentence of this Aug. 19 AFP account. Do you think Hamid Karzai grasps the irony? Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistan’s Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the country’s young… Read moreOccupied Afghanistan celebrates “independence”
