Washington overweegt meer geheime acties Pakistan

[Lex]

Pakistan's al Qaeda alarms Pentagon

The Pentagon is "extremely concerned" about the emergence of al Qaeda in Pakistan, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday.

"There are concerns now about how much [al Qaeda] turned inward, literally, inside Pakistan, as well as the kind of planning, training, financing and support that the worldwide effort is," Adm. Mullen said.

"So, [the Pentagon is] extremely, extremely concerned about that, and I think continued pressure there will have to be brought," he said.

Adm. Mullen added, however, that "Pakistan is a sovereign country and certainly it's really up to ... President Musharraf and certainly his advisers and his military to address that problem directly."

Pakistan's large tribal region, situated along the border with Afghanistan, has long been a serious concern for U.S. intelligence officials who suspect al Qaeda is establishing training camps in the region and recruiting fighters from as far away as Europe and Africa.

U.S. intelligence officials suggest that the area is an operational command center for al Qaeda's senior leaders, including Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

In recent months, U.S. officials began putting pressure on Pakistan over mounting concern that al Qaeda's strong presence along the border is destabilizing progress that has been made in Afghanistan.

Recent reports that the CIA and U.S. military want to begin covert operations in Pakistan to target al Qaeda have been criticized by Pakistani officials, who contend that U.S. forces should not enter unless invited.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf yesterday told the Straits Times, an East Asian newspaper, that U.S. military presence would not be welcomed unless assistance was requested by Pakistan.

"Nobody will come here until we ask them to come. And we haven't asked them," he said in the interview.

Mr. Musharraf said a unilateral intervention would be seen as an invasion.

"Certainly, if they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan," Mr. Musharraf said.

The United States currently has more than 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, more than 50 percent of the total force provided by NATO, according to information from the House Armed Services Committee.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani told editors and reporters at The Washington Times that thwarting terrorism is a core issue for his government.

He said that despite reports that terrorists are entering Afghanistan from strongholds in Pakistan, it is in fact a "reverse flow" with terrorists entering Pakistan from the outside and recruiting members within.

Mr. Durrani added that the Pakistani military is capable of handling the growing threat of al Qaeda in the region and that discussions to send U.S. troops into Pakistan, regardless of Mr. Musharraf's permission, are "not helpful to Musharraf; they are not helpful to Pakistan; they are not helpful for Pakistan-U.S. relations."

"We never said we don't need any help," Mr. Durrani added. "We've defiantly said we don't need any interference."

There are nearly 100,000 Pakistani troops in the vast tribal area, said Mr. Durrani, comparing his nation's troop numbers with a much smaller U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan has caught, captured, killed the most al Qaeda people in this world," he said. "We've had the most casualties in our region. We're still having casualties in Pakistan. ... We are continuing to battle this."

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are debating whether to send an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Adm. Mullen said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates "is considering" the proposal to send more troops but the decision has not yet been made.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, warned NATO members yesterday that the U.S. is doing more than its share in Afghanistan, and asked NATO members to contribute to the effort or risk losing "lucrative defense contracts offered by U.S. taxpayers."

He added that the U.S. should not bear the burden of sending more troops to Afghanistan when some NATO allies fail to follow through with their commitments.

"The U.S. Department of Defense is considering the deployment of 3,000 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan, as a result of our NATO allies' inability to support the combat mission," Mr. Hunter's letter said. "In the eyes of Congress, it is unacceptable that the United States must continue to dig deeper into its military force when some of our NATO allies are unwilling to fulfill or make robust commitments to the international effort in Afghanistan."

January 12, 2008
By Sara A. Carter –
Washington Times

[Apies]

Da's waar 

[Enforcer]

Met $$$$$$ wordt dan weer een hoop goedgemaakt.... 

[Apies]

SpecOPs is ook binnenvallen maar dan stiekem en middels "kleine" operaties.

[Enforcer]

Ze vallen het land niet binnen. Gewoon veel meer SpecOps.

[Apies]

Sinds november 2007 heeft Nederland de ontwikkelingshulp aan Pakistan opgeschort. De aanleiding was de machtsgreep van de Pakistaanse Legerleider Musharraf. Nederland blijft zeker tot 2009 ontwikkelingsgeld steken in Uruzgan.

Overigens, ik vraag mij af of het wijs is Pakistan (of India) binnen te vallen. Het land beschikt over kernwapens 

[Enforcer]

En Bush zal vast luisteren.....

Tijdens Vietnam gingen ze ook wel eens de grens over om de VC na te jagen. Alleen deden ze dat officieel niet.

[Lex]

Pakistan Will Deny U.S. Operations to Hunt Al Qaeda on its Soil

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  —
Pakistan reiterated Sunday that it will not let American forces hunt Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on its soil, after a news report said Washington was considering expanding U.S. military and intelligence operations into Pakistan's tribal regions.
The Foreign Ministry dismissed as "speculative" a story in the New York Times on Sunday saying U.S. President Bush's top security officials discussed a proposal Friday to deploy American troops to pursue militants along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
"We are very clear. Nobody is going to be allowed to do anything here," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the army's top spokesman.
"The government has said it so many times," Arshad said. "No foreign forces will be allowed to operate inside Pakistan."
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Bush's top security advisers — including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — debated whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to "conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan," the Times reported.
Recent reports indicate Al Qaeda and the Taliban are "intensifying efforts" to destabilize Pakistan's government, the newspaper said.
It said Bush's meeting with security advisors was to discuss Washington's strategy following the Dec. 27 assassination of populist opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a moderate pro-U.S. politician who had vowed to fight Islamic extremists if she was elected in an upcoming parliamentary vote.
The Pakistan-Afghan border area has long been considered a likely hiding place for Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and his top deputy Aymen Al-Zawahiri, as well as an operating ground for tribal Taliban sympathizers.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally in the war against terror, has blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal militant leader allegedly tied to Al Qaeda, for Bhutto's death.
Mehsud has reportedly denied involvement.

Sunday , January 06, 2008
AP

[Enforcer]

Releases Other Than Attack, oftewel vuile bommen.

[Lex]

...., terwijl een aantal militairen op Europees grondgebied straks bezig is met een daadwerkelijke ROTA inzet......

Zou je voor niet ingewijden kunnen aangeven wat  ROTA is?
Dank.

[KapiteinRob]

Het Pakistaanse leger reageerde woedend op het bericht. "Het is niet aan de Amerikaanse regering. De Pakistaanse regering is verantwoordelijk voor haar land", aldus generaal Waheed Arshad.

Het zou ook niet aan een of andere Pakistaanse generaal moeten zijn om te reageren en/of zich over dit soort zaken uit te laten.......

[Enforcer]

laat de Amerikanen vooral niks doen en de Taliban gewoon hun gang laten gaan. Musharraf krijgen ze dan ook nog wel een keer te pakken net als (delen van) het atoomarsenaal. Kunnen we gezellig in Europa gaan debatteren wat we moeten doen, terwijl een aantal militairen op Europees grondgebied straks bezig is met een daadwerkelijke ROTA inzet............ en een paar dooien aan het bergen.......

[KapiteinRob]

De puinhoop in afghanistan is overigens een amerikaans product.

Ik zou het anders stellen: de reeds aanwezige puinhoop in Afghanistan is er helaas niet minder om geworden.....

[HermanB]

Makkelijk om de VS de schuld te geven van alle ellende die moslim radicalen over elkaar en anderen uitstorten. Ze maken er overal een bende van niet alleen in Afghanistan en Irak. Zonder buitenlandse troepen wordt er alleen 0,0 aandacht aan besteed in de media. Out of sight out of mind.

[mikemans]

Ook pakistan is een souverein (en door Nederlandse OSW gelden gesubsidieerd) land. En dus is het niet aan Amerika om in dat land ongevraagt militaire akties te gaan ondernemen. Niet dat de VS zich nog erg stoort aan het de wassen neus internationaal recht.

De puinhoop in afghanistan is overigens een amerikaans product. Evenals de situatie in Irak. En nu dus binnenkort ook de situatie in Pakistan. Gelukkig weten we van Pakistan in ieder geval dat die 'weapons off mass destruction' daadwerkelijk aanwezig zijn. Dat zou je vooruitgang kunnen noemen in de strategie van de VS.