QUETTA, 30 August 2010 (IRIN) - “The food they give us is insufficient to fill me or my three children and much of the rice goes to my husband, as he is a man and needs more, leaving only a small plate to be shared between the other four members of the family,” said Shamoona Bibi, at a camp for flood displaced people in Quetta, Balochistan Province.

QUETTA: Dozens of houses were washed away in Sultanpur and Talli areas of Sibi district on Thursday when the Nari river swelled after heavy rain in hilly areas of Ziarat and Harnai. Sources told Dawn …

Three rockets have been fired from Hina Mountains in Quetta due to which three people got injured; where as the roof and an outer wall of a house was damaged. First rocket was fired on the roof of an empty house located near house of former member Baluchistan Assembly Roshan Khurshid Barocha on Jinnah Road

The appeal of the Pakistani bishops and an invitation to collaboration between Christians and Muslims. In Faisalabad and Gojra (where there was a massacre of Christians) the two communities collect funds and aid for flood victims. The dioceses most affected Hyderabad, Multan, Rawalpindi and Quetta. ...

Black Day is being observed in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan on the fourth death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti on Thursday. A shutter-down strike is being observed on the call by the Baloch Republican Party and Jamhoori Watan Party

If you want to follow news on your mobile, click on http://dawn.com/mobile/ and download Pakistan’s first mobile news application. Tags:

The US launched its second Predator airstrike in Pakistan in three days, targeting a compound in a village known as a stronghold of the Haqqani Network in the Taliban-controlled tribal Agency of North Waziristan.

Five people were killed and three more were wounded when unmanned US strike aircraft, either the Predator or more deadly Reaper, fired missiles at a compound in the village of Danda Darpa Khel, a village just outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan, according to Dawn.

Today's strike is just the third this month, and the 52nd this year. The US will match last year's strike total with the next attack in Pakistan. The last strike took place on Aug. 21, and also targeted the Haqqani Network in the town of Anghar Kala. Six people were reported killed.

The village of Danda Darpa Khel is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.

The Haqqani family runs the Manba Ulom madrassa in the village of Danda Darpa Khel, a hub of activity for the terror group. The US has struck at targets in Danda Darpa Khel six times since Aug. 20, 2009, and eight times since September 2008.

The Haqqanis are closely allied to al Qaeda and to the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar. Siraj Haqqani is the leader of the Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Taliban's top four commands. In addition, Siraj sits on the Taliban's Quetta Shura and is also a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis. The Haqqanis are based on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, and operate primarily in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.

Another top leader of the Haqqani Network is Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of Siraj. In July, the US Treasury added Nasiruddin to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Nasiruddin has traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between 2004-2009 to carry out fundraising for the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The US has been targeting the Haqqani Network in Pakistan as part of its Predator air campaign. On Feb. 18, the US killed Mohammed Haqqani, another of the 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in an airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel, just outside Miramshah. Mohammed had served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network. Over the past year, Siraj Haqqani and his military commander, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, have been the targets of several strikes.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir. The Haqqanis, Bahadar, and Nazir are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The US military has been lobbying Pakistan to take on the Haqqani Network, but has recently eased the pressure after recognizing that the Pakistani government has no interest in tackling the al Qaeda-linked group.

For more information on the recent strikes in Pakistan, see US Predator strike kills 6 in North Waziristan.

The US launched its second Predator airstrike in Pakistan in three days, targeting a compound in a village known as a stronghold of the Haqqani Network in the Taliban-controlled tribal Agency of North Waziristan.

Five people were killed and three more were wounded when unmanned US strike aircraft, either the Predator or more deadly Reaper, fired missiles at a compound in the village of Danda Darpa Khel, a village just outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan, according to Dawn.

Today's strike is just the third this month, and the 52nd this year. The US will match last year's strike total with the next attack in Pakistan. The last strike took place on Aug. 21, and also targeted the Haqqani Network in the town of Anghar Kala. Six people were reported killed.

The village of Danda Darpa Khel is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.

The Haqqani family runs the Manba Ulom madrassa in the village of Danda Darpa Khel, a hub of activity for the terror group. The US has struck at targets in Danda Darpa Khel six times since Aug. 20, 2009, and eight times since September 2008.

The Haqqanis are closely allied to al Qaeda and to the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar. Siraj Haqqani is the leader of the Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Taliban's top four commands. In addition, Siraj sits on the Taliban's Quetta Shura and is also a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis. The Haqqanis are based on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, and operate primarily in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.

Another top leader of the Haqqani Network is Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of Siraj. In July, the US Treasury added Nasiruddin to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Nasiruddin has traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between 2004-2009 to carry out fundraising for the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The US has been targeting the Haqqani Network in Pakistan as part of its Predator air campaign. On Feb. 18, the US killed Mohammed Haqqani, another of the 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in an airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel, just outside Miramshah. Mohammed had served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network. Over the past year, Siraj Haqqani and his military commander, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, have been the targets of several strikes.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir. The Haqqanis, Bahadar, and Nazir are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The US military has been lobbying Pakistan to take on the Haqqani Network, but has recently eased the pressure after recognizing that the Pakistani government has no interest in tackling the al Qaeda-linked group.

For more information on the recent strikes in Pakistan, see US Predator strike kills 6 in North Waziristan.

QUETTA, 23 August 2010 (IRIN) - The southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan is struggling to cope with an influx of flood displaced people from neighbouring Sindh Province, despite a growing number of camps.

The US has carried out its second Predator airstrike inside Pakistan's tribal areas this month, killing six people, including several "foreigners."

The strike took place today in the village of Anghar Kala, just outside of Miramshah, the main town in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. AFP reported that two vehicles were the targets of the attack, while Geo News claimed that four missiles were fired from Predators or the more more deadly Reapers and struck a compound and a vehicle.

Strike takes place in Haqqani Network territory

The village of Anghar Kala is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj. The Haqqanis are closely allied to al Qaeda and to the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar. Siraj Haqqani is the leader of the Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Taliban's top four commands. In addition, Siraj sits on the Taliban's Quetta Shura and is also a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis. The Haqqanis are based on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, and operate primarily in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.

Another top leader of the Haqqani Network is Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of Siraj. In July, the US Treasury added Nasiruddin to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Nasiruddin has traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between 2004-2009 to carry out fundraising for the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The US has been targeting the Haqqani Network in Pakistan as part of its Predator air campaign. The US killed Mohammed Haqqani, another of the 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in the Feb. 18 airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel just outside Miramshah. Mohammed served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network. Siraj Haqqani and his military commander, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, have been the targets of several strikes over the past year.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir. The Haqqanis, Bahadar, and Nazir are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The US military has been lobbying Pakistan to take on the Haqqani Network, but has recently eased the pressure after recognizing that the Pakistani government has no interest in tackling the al Qaeda-linked group.

Background on US strikes in Pakistan

Today's strike is the second reported inside Pakistan in August. The last strike took place on Aug 14, also on terrain controlled by the Haqqani Network fighters. Twelve "rebels" were killed in the strike, but no senior Taliban, Haqqani Network, or al Qaeda operatives were reported killed.

Prior to the Aug. 14 strike, the previous attack was on July 25. The 20 day pause in strikes between July 25 and Aug. 14 is the longest since the attacks were ramped up in July 2008. Over the past year, the US has averaged between six to eight strikes a month. Last month, the US carried out just four attacks inside Pakistan.

So far this year, the US has carried out 51 strikes in Pakistan; all but five have taken place in North Waziristan. The other five strikes took place in South Waziristan and the tribal agency of Khyber.

The US is well on its way to exceeding last year’s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal areas in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

The US scored its biggest success in the air campaign in Pakistan in May of this year. On May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, and the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date.

Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. He served on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making council. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Another top terrorist leader was confirmed killed earlier this month. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan confirmed that its leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was killed in the aftermath of the Aug 27, 2009 airstrike in South Waziristan. Yuldashev was close to Osama bin Laden and was a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top council. The IMU is an al Qaeda affiliate that is based along the Afghan and Pakistani border.

On Tuesday, a statement on a website of the Afghanistan Taliban movement called for the establishment of a joint committee to investigate civilian deaths.

In addition to the Taliban, representatives from the United Nations, Nato and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference would sit on the committee. The statement came in response to a UN report, issued last week, which found that anti-government forces, including the Taliban, were responsible for 76 percent of civilian casualties during the first six months of 2010, and that such casualties had jumped 31 percent compared with the same period in 2009.

 

The statement has been attributed to Zabiullah Mujahid, a self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman, and has yet to be formally endorsed by the Quetta Shura, the movement’s governing council. Several analysts have seized on the statement as evidence that the Taliban is attempting to bolster its image as a legitimate political movement within the country. Nato diplomats are reportedly ‘cautiously considering’ the offer.

 

The openSecurity verdict: It is understandable that Nato diplomats regard the online statement with caution; without direct endorsement from more senior Taliban commanders, let alone Mullah Omar himself, it is unclear how far the offer can be taken at face value. If it is serious, it raises the question of what it signifies.

 

In the best case scenario, it is the Taliban, on their own terms, proposing a joint political initiative that can lay the groundwork for future negotiations. Covert UN initiatives directed towards this end have reportedly been underway for months. A diplomatic track of sorts has been a key part of Nato’s strategy since President Obama authorised a surge in US military forces into the country at the beginning of the year. According to this reading, even without the vaunted assault on Kandahar which was a central component of the military track, the Taliban are themselves open to negotiations aimed at a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

 

There are, unfortunately, inconveniences to such an interpretation. Firstly it is clear that the Taliban central leadership are trying to combat the public perception that they are responsible for as many, if not more, civilian deaths than coalition forces, particularly in the wake of the McChrystal doctrine last year, urging restraint on the part of US troops. Part of this effort was the release last year of a code of conduct to its fighters urging that civilians be treated well and according to Islamic principles. The code of conduct was re-released last month. This offer to form a joint committee may simply be part of the wider war over public perception.

 

Secondly, however, a key problem raised by the promulgation of the code of conduct by the Taliban leadership was that, by and large, it was ignored. Candace Rondeaux, an analyst based with the International Crisis Group in Kabul, has cited this fact as part of an increasingly compelling body of evidence that the Quetta Shura’s control of its field commanders is weakening. This raises the critical quandary that, even if the offer on the website is genuine and reflects the consensus of the Taliban high command, how effective can negotiations be when the Taliban’s own forces, let alone affiliated groups such as those led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Sirajuddin Haqqani, do not consider them binding?   

 

Pakistan to crack down on extremist-backed charities

 

Pakistan announced on Friday that charities connected with Islamist militants will be excluded from ongoing relief operations in the flood-stricken country. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that ‘the banned organisations are not allowed to visit flood-hit areas’, and that any members of banned organisations who were caught collecting funds will be arrested and tried under anti-terrorism legislation.

 

The move comes amid fears, expressed most strongly in Washington, that the sluggish international response to the recent floods will allow Islamist militant organisations to steal a march on western aid agencies. In the process, they will be able to exploit the suffering of the nearly 4 million Pakistanis who have been made homeless by the disaster, generating sympathy for the militant cause and undermining ongoing operations against the Taliban. Islamist groups pursued such a strategy in the wake of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake with substantial success.

 

But there is considerable scepticism surrounding the effectiveness of such a ban. Certainly it is not the first time Pakistan has attempted to clamp down on charities acting as fronts for Islamist groups. Critics of the move say that banned groups quickly reform under different names and that this is frequently sufficient to circumvent government measures.   

 

Israel and Palestinians due to resume talks

 

On Thursday evening, US state department officials were briefing that Israeli and Palestinian representatives would be announcing on Friday a return to direct talks after an icy stalemate that lasted for twenty months. A precondition that the talks have a one-year time limit has reportedly been agreed to by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

On Friday it is thought that the Middle East Quartet, comprising the US, Russia, the UN and the EU, will make the first move, outlining a plan for direct negotiations and exhorting the participants to engage. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will then issue a statement inviting both sides to Washington to commence the direct talks, which will possibly commence as soon as 2 September.

 

Aside from the one-year time limit, the Israelis have staunchly rejected any other preconditions for talks, including extending a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank which is due to expire on 26 September. It is thought that this key deadline has been the motivating force in US negotiations with both parties. It is thought that if negotiations can begin before this deadline, an ongoing moratorium can be discussed as part of comprehensive negotiations.

 

The potential breakthrough comes after nearly twenty months of ‘proximity talks’ that saw thr US special representative shuttling between both sides attempting to reach an agreement by which direct talks could be resumed. Although today’s announcement, if it comes, will be undoubtedly a step in the right direction, the previous twenty months have witnessed a catalogue of incidents that may make any direct talks intractable. These include the Gaza War of winter 2008-2009, the ongoing dipute over the Goldstone report that followed in the wake of the war, and most recently the Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla.

 

As if to underscore the depth and complexity of the obstacles that remain, on Thursday the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a report that criticised the increasing restrictions placed on Gaza residents’ access to farmland and fishing zones by the Israeli military. Highlighting the fact that these restrictions have gradually been increasing over the past ten years, the report has found that currently access to 17 percent of the total area of the Strip and 35 percent of its agricultural land is currently restricted. If Gaza residents violate these restrictions, the IDF has fired ‘warning shots’ ostensibly attempting to avoid civilian casualties. Notwithstanding these attempts, the report states that, since January 2009, 22 civilians have been killed and 146 injured in such incidents.

 

South African government resorts to harsh measures to break national strike

 

In response to a national strike which has seen more than one million state workers protest against low pay, South African President Jacob Zuma has responded with harsh measures, sending in security forces to break the strike by force. South African police have used rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse strikers picketing schools and hospitals. The public sector unions are demanding an 8.6 % pay rise; an amount which the South African government adamantly declares is unaffordable.

What began as a dispute over pay and conditions has reportedly become something potentially far more dangerous, with one analyst observing that ‘this is more than an industrial dispute’. The analyst, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu of the University of Johannesburg, went on to state that "it is a political testing of strength in which Zuma can't be seen to be weak." With schools and hospitals reduced to battle grounds across Sub-saharan Africa’s largest economy, it remains to be seen if any party can emerge from the clashes a winner.

BQuetta Bazaar 1905 There is no notable industry in Baluchistan that is why more than 0.1 million pe

Tausna Sharif is experiencing a high level flood as 568,000 cusecs floodwater is e passing through Taunsa Barrage after 18 years. The Indus Highway has been closed for the last 30 days, most of the roads linking Punjab and Khyber Pukhtoonkhaw have been disrupted. The bus service between Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad remains suspended.

Madrid, 17 (EUROPA PRESS)

El Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR) ha alertado este martes del riesgo de que la comunidad internacional no pueda hacer frente a la emergencia en Pakistán.

"Las necesidades de urgencia continúan sobrepasando la capacidad de respuesta de las agencias humanitarias y de las autoridades y se prevé el riesgo de que la comunidad internacional no llegue a abarcar tal escala de emergencia", dijo el portavoz de ACNUR, Andrej Mahecic, durante una rueda de prensa en la sede de la ONU en Ginebra, Suiza.

"ACNUR continúa enfrentándose a un gran reto logístico para hacer llegar la ayuda lo más rápido posible a fin de paliar esta crisis persistente", manifestó el portavoz, quien advirtió de que la situación continúa empeorando, con los caudales de los ríos desbordados que se dirigen hacia el sur, nuevas zonas inundadas y nuevos desplazamientos masivos.

Las personas afectadas necesitan todo tipo de ayuda: refugio, alimentos, agua potable y sistemas de salud e higiene, enumeró. En particular, el alojamiento será una de las prioridades clave en los próximos meses, dijo, al tiempo que recordó que las últimas estimaciones elevan el número de viviendas destruidas o seriamente dañadas a unas 893.000.

Mahecic indicó que en muchas zonas de la provincia de Jiber Pajtunkwa (antigua provincia de la Frontera del Noroeste) el nivel del agua ha descendido y ha puesto de manifiesto la magnitud real de la devastación, pero a la vez ha permitido a ACNUR acceder a las comunidades.

El portavoz señaló también que, desde el comienzo del Ramadán la semana pasada, ACNUR ha observado un aumento de las personas que están retornando a sus hogares dañados en Jiber Pajtunkwa, y estas están limpiando escombros y tratando de rescatar, entre el lodo, sus muebles y otras pertenencias.

Sin embargo, otras personas continúan huyendo de zonas como Jacobadad en la provincia de Sindh hacia los distritos de Sibi, Nasirabad y Quetta, en la provincia de Balochistán.

A very long goodbye

In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published yesterday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that he may step down sometime next year (FP, Guardian, CBS, AP). Gates noted in the interview that a 2011 retirement would give him the chance to oversee the December 2010 Afghan strategy review and the completion of the additional troop deployments ordered by President Barack Obama while avoiding the need for Obama to look for a replacement in an election year (FT, Reuters). Gates also said there was "no question" that a drawdown of U.S. troops would begin in 2011, which appears to run counter to suggestions that ISAF commander Gen. David Petraeus might seek a delay in the scheduled withdrawal (Tel, AP, USA Today). [[BREAK]]

This is not the first time Gates has spoken of retiring, as he attempted to retire at the end of his service to President George W. Bush, but was asked by Obama to stay on (Wash Post). Possible successors to Gates are said to include current undersecretary of defense for policy Michèle Flournoy, President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies John Hamre, former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, and CIA director Leon Panetta (AFP). Walter Pincus looks at the major projects Gates intends to pursue before his retirement (Wash Post).

And Yale University announced yesterday that former ISAF commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be joining the university's new international affairs institute in the fall as a Senior Fellow, where he will teach a graduate class on leadership (AFP, BBC, ABC).

Tit-for-tat

Non-governmental and U.S. government officials expressed concern about Afghan President Hamid Karzai's purported plan to ban all private security companies from Afghanistan in four months (LAT, WSJ). The U.S. government alone employs 26,000 private security contractors, and the current Afghan security forces would be hard-pressed to provide security for those who need it in the absence of private forces (NYT, Guardian). Other officials cast doubt on the veracity of Karzai's pledge, characterizing it as a reaction to U.S.-led anti-corruption efforts (Wash Post).

NATO and the U.N. are reportedly considering an offer made on a Taliban website to participate in a joint commission to investigate and assign blame for civilian casualties in Afghanistan (Guardian). Insurgents killed an Afghan official and a policeman yesterday in the western Farah province (AP). NATO forces in southern Afghanistan seized 17 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer commonly used in improvised explosive devices and banned in Afghanistan (Tel). The fertilizer shipment reportedly originated in Quetta, Pakistan. And two former Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) employees will be arraigned today on charges of killing two Afghan men during a traffic stop in Kabul in 2009 (CNN).

About-face

For the first time since the founding of Pakistan, the country's powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has assessed that domestic militancy poses a greater threat to the country than India (WSJ). However, the annual assessment may not reflect uniform views within the military, the ISI, or even average Pakistanis about the threat from India; indeed, in a recent Pew poll of Pakistani public opinion, 53 percent said India posed the greatest threat to the country, as opposed to 23 percent for the Taliban and 3 percent for al Qaeda (NAF).

Pakistani and international officials fear that continued flooding will have a lasting impact on the country, including a possible wave of disease, severe damage to Pakistan's economic base, disruption of its food supply, and potentially millions of potentially ill orphans (NYT, ET, ABC, AP). Flood waters are also washing explosives from militant areas downstream, where they can cause further injury (Dawn). The World Bank yesterday formally approved a $900 million loan for Pakistan's recovery and relief efforts as aid trickled in from more countries, including $1 million from Afghanistan (Dawn, NYT, BBC, Dawn, ET, Dawn).

Still, the U.N. warned that only a fraction of Pakistan's aid needs have been met, as Pakistan's High Commission in London announced that the cost of rebuilding Pakistan could be as high as $15 billion (AP, Reuters). U.N. officials fear that actual donations to Pakistan have been relatively low compared to other disasters due to donor fatigue and Pakistan's lingering poor image for some in the West (Reuters, AFP). And the Pakistani government's response to the flooding continues to spur protests (Wash Post, LAT).

Five more people have been killed in Karachi's ongoing violence, including a "senior police officer" and his driver, as well as the son of a prominent religious scholar (ET, Dawn, Dawn).

Have it your way

In his interview with the Washington Post yesterday, Gen. Petraeus suggested that he might reverse a rule put in place by Gen. McChrystal banning fast food outlets at Kandahar Military Air Base (Guardian). The decision, if made, would mark a rare change from the Gen. McChrystal's policies, which Gen. Petraeus has for the most part maintained.

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Former Prime Minister Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali said that in order to save Shahbaz Sharif, Jamali bypass was demolished and Dera Allyar was drowned; however he also said that Federal Minister Ejaz Jakhrani is a liar. Talking to APakistanNews.Com, former Prime Minister said that nobody has so far contacted him and no aid has also reached to him till now. Despite of orders given by Corps Commander Quetta for halting the demolishing of bypass, the water was still spilled by cutting the bypass and drained into Dera Allayar, he added.

MADRID, 16 (EUROPA PRESS)

Al menos 64 toneladas de suministros no alimentarios del Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR) llegaron este lunes a la ciudad paquistaní de Quetta para ayudar a los afectados por las inundaciones en la provincia de Baluchistán (oeste), aunque esta agencia de la ONU pidió más fondos y resaltó la necesidad de un puente aéreo para responder a las necesidades cada vez mayores de los damnificados.

Así, cuatro aviones del Gobierno paquistaní trasladaron las 64 toneladas de tiendas, lonas y mosquiteras desde los almacenes de ACNUR en Peshawar para ayudar a acelerar los esfuerzos de ayuda. Además, se espera que se realicen más traslados de este tipo en los próximos días, a la espera de la disponibilidad de los aviones.

Durante el pasado fin de semana, decenas de miles de personas huyeron desde la ciudad de Jacobabad, en la provincia de Sindh (sur) hasta Sibbi, Nasirabad y Quetta, en Baluchistán, y se espera que haya más debido a las amenazas de inundaciones. Decenas y, posiblemente, cientos de miles están desplazándose por dichas advertencias, indicó hoy ACNUR.

Muchos de los que llegan a Baluchistán toman refugio en edificios comunitarios como escuelas, hospitales y estadios, indicó la agencia. Algunos, mientras, duermen al raso, y se unen a las decenas de miles de afectados por las inundaciones en Baluchistán, que ya alcanza a las 545.000 personas. Probablemente, indica esta agencia de la ONU, las cifras cambien mientras prosiguen las evaluaciones.

"Nos enfrentamos a serios desafíos para trasladar los suministros de ayuda suficientes a la provincia para dar suministros al número de personas que lo necesitan, que crece cada día", indicó el director de la oficina de ACNUR en Baluchistán, Bekele Nagash, que coordina los esfuerzos de la ayuda humanitaria en la provincia.

"Las necesidades son enormes: la gente necesita todo: refugio, alimentos, agua potable y suministros sanitarios y de higiene", añadió. "Junto con el resto de agencias de la ONU, estamos trabajando tan rápido como podemos para llevar ayuda a quienes la necesitan", afirmó.

Hasta la fecha, ACNUR en Baluchistán ha distribuido materiales de refugio y, a la espera de ayudar a más afectados, indica que la agencia necesita de forma urgente ayuda. "Nuestros suministros escasean debido a las necesidades cada vez mayores, y seguimos enfrentándonos a las dificultades de llevar los suministros a la provincia lo suficientemente rápido", detalló. "Necesitamos más traslados aéreos y más financiación para responder a esta emergencia", indicó Bekele.

by Ahmed Rashid

Though it has received only moderate attention in the western press, the torrential flooding of large swaths of Pakistan since late July may be the most catastrophic natural disaster to strike the country in half a century. But even greater than the human cost of this devastating event are the security challenges it poses. Coming at a time of widespread unrest, growing Taliban extremism, and increasingly shaky civilian government, the floods could lead to the gravest security crisis the country—and the region—has faced. Unless the international community takes immediate action to provide major emergency aid and support, the country risks turning into what until now has remained only a grim, but remote possibility—a failed state with nuclear weapons.

Since the upper reaches of the Indus and other rivers in Northern Pakistan first flooded their banks over three weeks ago, the floods have spread to many other parts of the country, submerging dozens of villages, killing thousands, uprooting some 20 million people, and leaving millions of poor children and infants at terrible risk of exposure to water-borne diseases. But the next few months could be even worse, as the collapse of governance and growing desperation of flooded areas leads to increasing social and ethnic tensions, terrible food shortages, and the threat that large parts of the country, now cut off from Islamabad, will be taken over by the Pakistani Taliban and other extremist groups.

A key part of the security problem lies in the already precarious situation of the regions most affected. The floods and heavy rain have caused the worst damage in the poorest and least literate areas of the country where extremists and separatist movements thrive: this includes the northern region, near Afghanistan, but also parts of Balochistan and Sindh provinces in the south. By contrast, central Punjab, the country’s richest region, with incomes and literacy about double that of other parts of the country, has been relatively unscathed by the disaster. The longstanding resentment by ethnic groups in the smaller provinces against Punjab is thus likely to increase.

The situation in the north is particularly critical. Now inundated by floodwaters, the poverty stricken North Western Frontier Province—now officially known as Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KP)—is a haven for both the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. Millions of people have lost their homes and taken flight only a few months after many of them had returned following a successful offensive against militants by the Pakistan army.

In the Swat valley, where the army had flushed out extremists only a year ago, every single bridge has been destroyed and roads washed away. Across the province hundreds of miles of electricity pylons and gas lines have been ripped out, power stations flooded, and livestock and standing crops decimated by as much as 50 percent. All this will dramatically loosen what little control the state had managed to sustain over outlying areas—especially those bordering Afghanistan, which could now be quickly captured by local Taliban.

Another major recruitment center for extremists are the rural plains of southern Punjab and northern Sind, which suffer from underdevelopment and widespread poverty. Now, these regions too are drowned in water. Lacking any prospects for meaningful employment or education, more young men from these regions will join the militants, who are already proclaiming that the floods represent God’s wrath against the government.

In Balochistan, the large province in southwestern Pakistan that skirts Afghanistan’s southern border, the floods have deepened an already existing crisis. The country’s poorest region, Balochistan, has long hosted a separatist insurgency as well as Afghan Taliban bases (Quetta, the provincial capital, has been a haven for a number of senior Taliban leaders). Now, flash floods have destroyed infrastructure and what little was working in the region’s below-subsistence economy; the state’s fragile control of the region has become even more tenuous, as Baloch separatists, blaming the government for poor relief efforts, are urging a stepped up struggle for independence. (The last time such major floods hit the country in the late 1960s, the inadequacy of the government’s response led in part to the secession of east Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.)

Meanwhile, the floods have had little effect on the rampant violence by extremists and other groups that has been occurring across the country. The Pakistani Taliban continue to carry out suicide bombings and have vowed to wipe out the country’s government leaders while in Karachi, inter-ethnic violence between political parties representing the Pashtun, Sindhi and Urdu speaking communities has resulted in some 100 deaths in the past four weeks. Since the flooding began, the Taliban have also been seeking to prevent Pakistani non-governmental organizations from carrying out relief work by threatening their workers, while encouraging militant groups who have set up their own relief camps to expand.

Much now depends on the ability of the government and its foreign allies to bring relief to flood victims. Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops and virtually the army’s entire helicopter fleet are now involved in the effort. But its resources are way overstretched, and for months to come the army is unlikely to be in a position to even hold the areas along the Afghan border that it has recently won back from the militants, let alone initiate any new campaigns against the Taliban.

That means the war in Afghanistan is about to become even more bloody. US and NATO efforts to secure southern Afghanistan and new US troop deployments in eastern Afghanistan will be affected, as more militants come across the border.

With the chronic shortage of foodstuffs and the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan, food prices have already doubled, raising the prospect of social tensions and even food riots. Amid overbearing heat and humidity, electricity production is down by one third across the country, leaving those rural areas where power lines are still standing without electricity for up to 18 hours a day.

So far the international aid response, apart from the US and Britain has been next to pathetic. The US is providing some US $71 million and has sent 19 helicopters from Afghanistan and from US carriers stationed off the coast of Karachi. Britain has given US $31 million. But as international aid organizations like Oxfam have complained, donations from the European Union, NATO countries, and especially the Islamic world have been negligible. The UN appeal for US $459 million to cover immediate relief for the next ninety days is not even half met yet.

Once there is sufficient humanitarian relief, the most urgent need is for donors to rebuild bridges, restore power, and reopen roads, especially in the strategic KP province. Pakistan’s coffers are empty and the country is entirely dependent on a US $11.3 billion loan from the IMF. If it is to deliver any kind of effective response to the crisis, Pakistan’s government must be bolstered by the international community.

For its part, India has failed to respond to the crisis, and relations between the two countries remain locked in bitter animosity, especially as India blames this summer’s uprising in Indian Kashmir on Pakistan. Major international pressure is needed for both countries to sort out their acute differences over the control of their common river systems and the building of new dams on both sides of the border. (The sources of many of the rivers that flow into Pakistan are in Indian-controlled territory either in the Himalayas or Kashmir. There have been recent rise in tensions with Pakistan accusing India of building unauthorized dams on these rivers upstream.) Indian relief goods, cheaper food, and construction materials should be immediately allowed to enter Pakistan.

The Pakistani floods are more than just floods. They herald a potential regional catastrophe. Unless the West acts quickly, the situation could rapidly become too difficult to contain.

Readers who wish to make a donation to help the aid effort in Pakistan may do so online at the American Red Cross and the American Jewish World Service.

A man who is said to be representing a foreign-funded organization at a hunger-strike camp in front of the Quetta Press Club was on Sunday asked to go home, according to resistance sources. Faraz Baloch, a...

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A polícia afegã apreendeu hoje (15/8) no sul do país 17 toneladas de explosivos escondidos em recipientes de pintura procedentes do Paquistão.

O caminhão que transportava os explosivos foi parado em Spin Boldak, um posto na fronteira entre Afeganistão e Paquistão. O veículo saíra de Quetta, no território paquistanês.

"Tínhamos informações que nos levaram à descoberta desta importante quantidade de explosivos", declarou o general Shafique Afzalli, comandante da polícia no sul do Afeganistão.

Os explosivos seriam utilizados para a confecção de bombas caseiras, a arma predileta dos talibãs. Esses explosivos, baratos e fáceis de dissimular, são a principal causa de morte entre os civis e as tropas internacionais.

Os serviços secretos paquistaneses (ISI) são acusados pelo Afeganistão de apoiar os talibãs, dando refúgio aos extremistas nas zonas tribais de fronteira, ou de organizar Os ataques para enfraquecer o governo afegão e defender os interesses paquistaneses.

O Paquistão, aliado do regime talibã em Cabul (1996-2001) antes de uma aliança com os Estados Unidos após a queda do governo extremisa em 2001, sempre negou dar apoio aos insurgentes afegãos.

La policía afgana se ha incautado este domingo en el sur de Afganistán 17 toneladas de explosivos escondidos en recipientes de pintura provenientes de Pakistán.El camión que transportaba los explosivos fue detenido en Spin Bolda, un puesto fronterizo entre Afganistán y Pakistán. Venía de Quetta, Pakistán.

Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people in a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamist insurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboring Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Associated Press

...

The US carried out its first Predator airstrike inside Pakistan's tribal areas in almost three weeks. Twelve "rebels" were reported killed in the airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

The strike took place in the village of Issori, just outside of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan. One missile fired from either a Predator or the more more deadly Reaper struck a compound thought to be sheltering Taliban or al Qaeda operatives.

"One missile fired from a US drone struck a militant compound in the village killing at least twelve rebels," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. Another Pakistani official said the casualties from the attack could rise. No senior al Qaeda, Taliban, or allied terror group operatives have been reported killed in the strike at this time.

The village of Issori is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj. The Haqqanis are closely allied to al Qaeda and to the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar. Siraj Haqqani is the leader of the Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Taliban's top four commands. Siraj sits on the Taliban's Quetta Shura and he is also is a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis. The Haqqanis are based on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, and operate primarily in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.

Another top leader of the Haqqani Network is Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of Siriaj.
In July, the US Treasury added Nasiruddin to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Nasiruddin has traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between 2004-2009 to carry out fundraising for the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The US has been targeting the Haqqani Network in Pakistan as part of its Predator air campaign. The US killed Mohammed Haqqani, another of the 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in the Feb. 18 airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel just outside Miramshah. Mohammed served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network. Siraj Haqqani and his military commander, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, have been the targets of several strikes over the past year.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir. The Haqqanis, Bahadar, and Nazir are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The US military has been lobbying Pakistan to take on the Haqqani Network, but has recently eased the pressure after recognizing the Pakistani government has no interest in tackling the al Qaeda-linked group.

Background on US strikes in Pakistan

Today's strike is the first reported inside Pakistanin August, and the first since July 25. The pause in strikes is longest since the attacks were ramped up in July 2008. Over the past year, the US has averaged between six to eight strikes a month. Last month, the US carried out just four attacks inside Pakistan.

So far this year, the US has carried out 50 strikes in Pakistan; all but five have taken place in North Waziristan. The other five strikes took place in South Waziristan and the tribal agency of Khyber.

The US is well on its way to exceeding last year’s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal areas in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

The US scored its biggest success in the air campaign in Pakistan in May of this year. On May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, and the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date.

Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. He served on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making council. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

A gang of gunmen intercepted a passengers bus at Aab-e-Gum place which was coming from Lahore to Quetta. They asked all passengers to alight from the vehicle and show their identity cards. After identifying 15 passengers as residents of Punjab province, they opened fire at them, killing 10 on the spot and injuring five others.

Senior police official Hamid Shakeel says gunmen stormed a home in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and killed six workers who were painting it. Three others were wounded. All the victims …

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis traveling on a bus and painting a house in two attacks in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 16 people and wounding eight, police said.

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis traveling on a bus and painting a house in two attacks in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 16 people and wounding eight, police said.

Police: 6 killed in Pakistan ethnic-based attack QUETTA, Pakistan ? Police say gunmen have killed six workers in southwestern Pakistan in the second apparent ethnic-based attack of the day. Senior police official Hamid Shakeel says gunmen stormed a home in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, and killed six workers who were painting it. Three others were .... Source article on Gaea Times at  : Police say gunmen kill 6 workers in southwest Pakistan in 2nd apparent ethnic-based attack.

QUETTA, Pakistan — Police say gunmen have killed six workers in southwestern Pakistan in the second apparent ethnic-based attack of the day.

QUETTA, Pakistan - Gunmen singled out non-ethnic Baluch passengers traveling on a bus in southwestern Pakistan...

QUETTA, Pakistan : Gunmen attacked a passenger bus and shot dead at least 10 people in insurgency-hit southwest Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.

Police: Gunmen kill 10 bus travelers in Pakistan QUETTA, Pakistan ? Gunmen singled out non-ethnic Baluch passengers traveling on a bus in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 10 and wounding five others, police said. The attack is sure to add to ethnic tensions in Baluchistan province, where a nationalist movement led by armed ethnic Baluch groups has .... Original source  : Police say gunmen kill 10 bus passengers in southwest Pakistan in apparent ethnic-based attack.

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen singled out non-ethnic Baluch passengers traveling on a bus in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 10 and wounding five others, police said. The attack is sure to add to ethnic tensions in Baluchistan province, where a nationalist movement led by armed ethnic Baluch groups has long sought greater provincial autonomy from the central government.

At least five people including three policemen were killed in two different firing incidents on Sariab Road in Quetta on Friday. Whereas two FC officials got injured in rocket attack

Three policemen were killed during a firing incident on Sariab Road in Quetta on Friday.

QUETTA: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced restoration of subsidy on agriculture tubewells in Balochistan.

MADRID, 12 (EUROPA PRESS)

Fuerzas de seguridad afganas y efectivos de la coalición internacional han lanzado una operación en el distrito de Zadrán en la provincia de Paktiya, baluarte de la red 'Haqqani', que está muy ligada a los talibán del noroeste de Pakistán. El objetivo de la operación, todavía abierta, es obstruir la libertad de movimiento de la red en esta zona.

"La red Haqqani es una amenaza común en Afganistán en estos momentos. Las fuerzas afganas y de la coalición están centradas en revertir su influencia y poder", ha explicado el director del Centro de Operación Conjunta del Mando Combinado de la Fuerza Internacional de Asistencia a la Seguridad afgana (ISAF), coronel del Ejército estadounidense Rafael Torres.

La operación de limpieza todavía está en marcha y, hasta la fecha, más de 20 insurgentes han perecido en la operación de las fuerzas afganas e internacionales. Los insurgentes estaban atrincherados en posición de combate en toda la zona montañosa que rodea el distrito con ametralladoras, granadas propulsadas con cohetes y armas automáticas, cuando entraron las fuerzas afganas e internacionales que necesitaron apoyo aéreo para reducir la insurgencia.

Desde el distrito de Zadrán, conocido refugio de la red Haqqani, insurgentes de la facción han lanzado ataques en Kabul y el paso de Jost-Gardez. "Todos los días sacamos a más insurgentes del campo de batalla, para que los afganos puedan vivir en paz", ha recalcado el coronel estadounidense en un comunicado.

La operación es especialmente importante si se tiene en cuenta que la red Haqqani está muy vinculada a comandantes en las áreas tribales del noroeste de Pakistán, especialmente los de Waziristán del norte, procedentes en su mayoría de la tribu Zadrán.

BASES Y MIEMBROS DE LA RED

La base operativa de la red Haqqani se encuentra en la localidad paquistaní de Miram Shah, ubicada al suroeste de Peshawar y desde donde operan al menos tres campamentos de entrenamiento: el bazaar de Miram Shah que dispone de instalaciones informáticas, un campamento en las afueras de Sarai Darpa Khel y un tercero en los suburbios de Danday Darpa Khel, localidad donde residen varios familiares del antiguo mujahidin Jalaluddin, según publicó la revista Foreign Policy en su edición de junio pasado. La mayor parte de las decisiones estratégicas, tanto operativas como de adquisición y entrega de armas, se toman en esta base.

La cúpula de la red Haqqani, conocida como Miram Shah Shura, está compuesta por miembros de la familia Haqqani y comandantes asociados a la familia a la que han servido durante años. Dichos comandantes son el vínculo principal entre el líder operativo de la red y los comandantes desplegados en el campo de batalla en Afganistán, aunque el propio líder operativo de la red está cada vez más frecuente en las primeras líneas de fuego en Afganistán desde 2009.

El líder operativo de la red, Sirajuddin Haqqani, hijo del fundador de la red Jalaluddin Haqqani, no sólo se encarga de supervisar las actividades militares y políticas del grupo sino que ejerce de principal enlace con la Shura talibán en Quetta que dirige el jefe de los talibán afganos, el mulá Omar y es, asimismo, uno de los principales enlaces de dirigentes talibán paquistaníes y de Al Qaeda. El vicecomandante de Sirajuddin es Bakhti Jan, quien ha tenido un destacado papel para impulsar las relaciones del grupo con otros grupos talibán con base en Waziristán del Norte como Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

La red Haqqani está compuesta por cuatro grupos. El primer grupo compuesto por comandantes que sirvieron bajo el mando de Jalaluddin durante la guerra en Afganistán contra la invasión de la Unión Soviética, los que se sumaron al movimiento en 2001 procedentes de Paktiya, los insurgentes de Wazaristán del Norte asociados a la red durante años y el grupo de milicianos extranjeros de etnia no pashtun --la de la mayoría de los talibán afganos--, incluidos árabes, chechenos y uzbekos.

Los insurgentes de esta red han estado implicados en distintos tipos de secuestros para obtener rescates, incluido el secuestro del periodista del diario 'The New York Times', David Rohde, por el que llegaron a pedir millones de dólares y la puesta en libertad de dos insurgentes afganos. También obtienen fondos procedentes de la extorsión, imponiendo peajes por moverse por los territorios que controlan y robos transfronterizos, sobre todo a los camiones que cruzan la frontera entre Afganistán y Pakistán. También se cree que obtienen dinero de países del Golfo.

LOS MALOS, ESTÁN EN PAKISTÁN

La operación de las fuerzas afganas y de la coalición contra los dirigentes insurgentes vinculados con Pakistán pone de manifiesto el creciente esfuerzo de las tropas internacionales por atajar la insurgencia talibán a ambos lados de la frontera, aunque las tropas enmarcadas en la ISAF que dirige la OTAN en el país centroasiático no están autorizadas a realizar operaciones en el lado paquistaní.

Después de que Estados Unidos haya aumentado la presión para actuar contra la insurgencia en Wazaristán del Norte, la red Haqqani ha emprendido una "retirada estratégica" en Pakistán para evitar la confrontación militar con el Gobierno de Islamabad, según ha informado el diario paquistaní 'Pakistán Express'.

El Ejército paquistaní lanzó en junio de 2009 una gran operación contra la insurgencia en Waziristán del Sur y su líder, Baitulá Mehsud, muerto en una operación y al que Islamabad imputaba la muerte de la ex primera ministra Benazir Bhuto. A pesar del éxito de la operación en Waziristán del Sur, que duró varios meses, las fuerzas paquistaníes rechazaron entonces proseguir la operación en Waziristán del Norte. Se cree que en la región, que forma parte de las áreas tribales administradas federalmente por un Gobierno local, se encuentran al menos 10.000 integristas.

The Taliban claimed it carried out the failed suicide assault on a compound in the Afghan capital of Kabul that left two security guards and two Taliban fighters dead.

Two suicide bombers armed with assault rifles attempted to storm a guesthouse used by foreigners, The New York Times reported. Two Afghan security guard who work for Hart Security, a British security company, stopped the two-man Taliban team at the main gate of the guesthouse. The Taliban fighters then detonated their vests at the gate.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The New York Times that a 4-man Taliban suicide team attacked the compound and penetrated the perimeter, killing 23 people inside the guesthouse. But there is no evidence to support Mujahid's claim, and the Taliban provide wildly exaggerated casualty reports on their website, the Voice of Jihad. The Taliban claim scores of Coalition and Afghan troops are killed and dozens of "tanks" are destroyed on a daily basis.

The Taliban have targeted civilian guesthouses, hotels, and embassies in Kabul in an attempt to kill as many foreign civilians as possible. A Feb. 26, 2010 attack on a guesthouse used by Indian nationals killed 17 people, including nine Indians and two Europeans. A similar attack, on Oct. 24, 2009, targeted a UN guesthouse in Kabul. The assault team killed five foreign UN workers and three Afghans before Afghan police killed the attackers.

The Indian embassy has been the focus two Taliban attacks over the past year. On Oct. 8, 2009, a Taliban suicide bomber killed 17 civilians and wounded more than 80 in an attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul. And on July 7, 2009, a suicide car bomber hit the outside wall of the Indian embassy in a crowded neighborhood in Kabul on Monday, killing 54 people and wounding more than 140.

These attacks have been carried out by what ISAF has called the Kabul Attack Network, which is made of up the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and al Qaeda.

Background on the Kabul Attack Network

The Kabul Attack Network is led by Dawood (or Daud) and Taj Mir Jawad, military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Dawood is the Taliban's shadow governor for Kabul, while Taj Mir Jawad is a top commander in the Haqqani Network. Taj Mir Jawad is identified as a top Haqqani Network leader in the US military files released by Wikileaks.

"The Haqqani Network is deeply entrenched in the Kabul Attack Network specifically with the facilitation of weapons and fighters into the area south of Kabul in Logar and Wardak provinces," an ISAF public affairs official told The Long War Journal.

Top Afghan intelligence officials have linked the Kabul Attack Network to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate as well.

"The intelligence service of our neighboring country has definitely had its role in equipping and training of this group,” Saeed Ansari, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, said on May 24.

Pakistan's military and intelligence services have been documented as backing the Taliban and the Haqqani Network faction. The Quetta Shura, the Taliban's executive council, is based in Quetta and Karachi in Pakistan, while the Haqqani Network operates from Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. [See LWJ report "Pakistan's Jihad" and Threat Matrix report "Pakistan backs Afghan Taliban" for additional information on the ISI's complicity in attacks in Afghanistan and the region.]

Since July 14, Afghan and Coalition forces have captured four Taliban facilitators and a "Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin/Taliban-associated attack planner" during four separate raids in Kabul and the surrounding areas, according to International Security Assistance Force press releases.

The Kabul Attack Network sought unsuccessfully to disrupt the Kabul Conference which held in July, and the network continues to conduct attacks in the area. On July 18, the Kabul Attack Network was behind two suicide attacks. One attack killed four Afghan civilians in a suicide bombing near a medical clinic in Kabul. The other suicide attack, which failed, took place outside Bagram in Parwan province; the attacker was from Paktika province, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. Two months ago, the terror network executed the May 18 suicide attack in Kabul that killed a US colonel and a Canadian colonel, two lieutenant colonels, two US soldiers, and 12 Afghan civilians.

Sources

• Fatal Attack on Guesthouse in Afghan Capital, The New York Times
• 2 American troops missing in Kabul as US targets Kabul Attack Network, The Long War Journal
• Suicide assault teams target foreigners in Afghan capital, The Long War Journal
• Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, behind attack on UN guesthouse in Kabul, The Long War Journal
• Suicide assault teams target foreigners in Afghan capital, The Long War Journal
• Suicide attack kills 17 outside Indian embassy in Kabul, The Long War Journal
• 41 killed in Kabul suicide strike at Indian embassy, The Long War Journal
• Kabul Attack Network-associated Attack Planner Captured in Kabul, ISAF press release
• Afghan and Coalition Force Captures Taliban Facilitator in Kabul, ISAF press release
• Insurgents Captured, Killed in Kabul, Kandahar and Zabul Provinces, ISAF press release
• IJC Operational Update, July 15, ISAF press release
• Haqqani Network executed Kabul suicide attack, The Long War Journal
• Toll in Kabul Suicide Attack Included U.S. and Canadian Officers, The New York Times
• Taliban suicide bomber kills 18 in Kabul, The Long War Journal
• Pakistan's Jihad, The Long War Journal
• Pakistan backs Afghan Taliban, Threat Matrix

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Balochistan PA slams withdrawal Tuesday, August 10, 2010 By Muhammad Ejaz Khan QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted a joint resolution on Monday, demanding of the federal government to withdraw the decision of removal of the electricity subsidy on the agriculture tube wells in the best interest of the province and its people.

In various incidents in Quetta, two people were killed in two separate incidents of violence in Quetta on Monday; where as the culprit of kidnapping for ransom money was arrested injured after a police operation. According to the police, some indentified people killed a police official Jumma Khan who was a resident of Khuzdar on Qambrani road; where as the chairman of the Muhammad Hasni Qaumi Ittehad, Rawat Khan, was killed on Brewery Road near Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital.

In various incidents in Quetta, two people were killed in two separate incidents of violence in Quetta on Monday; where as the culprit of kidnapping for ransom money was arrested injured after a police operation. According to the police, some indentified people killed a police official Jumma Khan who was a resident of Khuzdar on Qambrani road; where as the chairman of the Muhammad Hasni Qaumi Ittehad, Rawat Khan, was killed on Brewery Road near Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital

"We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that [Pakistan] is allowed to look both ways and is able . . . to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world." Both the content and the location of this sentiment - voiced by Britain’s prime minister David Cameron on 28 July 2010 during his visit to India - ensured that it would provoke a strong backlash among both domestic political opponents and Pakistani government spokespersons. But if much political and media reaction depicted it as an error, the context and rationale of the statement suggest otherwise.

The immediate high-level response certainly gave the impression that Cameron had blundered. Pakistan’s lead intelligence agency cancelled a planned trip to Britain, and its foreign ministry summoned London’s high commissioner for Pakistan to receive an official reproach. Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, came under intense pressure at home to cancel his proposed five-day visit to the United Kingdom  on 4-8 August in protest at a perceived insult - a sentiment which was then reinforced by devastating floods across much of Pakistan, which led many citizens to accuse him of abandoning the country during a national emergency.

The balance of judgment of the furore - perhaps reinforced by earlier and later factual slips over the United States and Iran - indeed seems to be that Cameron’s inexperience and lack of understanding of the complexities of Pakistan and south Asia led him to commit a “gaffe”. Another view, however, suggests that both his comments and their place of delivery were well considered; and that they reflect real insight into the regional dynamics as they pertain to the US and Nato’s forthcoming drawdown in Afghanistan - arguably the British prime minister’s number-one foreign-policy challenge.

The Pakistan calculation

Some positive indicators notwithstanding, the coalition effort in Afghanistan is not going well. The killing of ten aid-workers in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on 6 August 2010, though more likely the result of banditry than of insurgent action, is but one illustration of the fragility of the current situation.

The four main planks of Nato’s transition strategy are each in some difficulty. The creation of a strong and unified Afghan national army and Afghan national police able to hold the country together is faltering; the US-led counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy has stalled in Kandahar; the Afghan government is surrounded by allegations of corruption and vote-rigging; and the process of the reconciliation and reintegration of the Afghan Taliban is making little headway.

Despite all this, the US and Nato appear to be preparing for their departure from Afghanistan. To many observers with longer memories, the Rolling Stone magazine article which led to General Stanley McChrystal’s sacking and the WikiLeaks revelations of American military communications recall the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and the wider atmosphere of civil-military turbulence in the United States which presaged the ignominious withdrawal from Vietnam.

But the coalition forces cannot “just” leave: the fact that so much western blood and treasure has been lost in Afghanistan means that Washington, London and other Nato allies are looking for a positive narrative in Afghanistan to tell their publics which can provide the political cover for disengagement. The key to that narrative, the US and UK now believe, is Pakistan (see "Pakistan and the 'AfPak' strategy", 28 May 2009).

Pakistan is the one state which can in principle advance four desirable objectives: deliver at least some elements of the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table; help create and stabilise a more inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan which accommodates the Afghan Taliban and other Pakistani proxies like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; encourage the Afghan Taliban to distance itself from al-Qaida; and host residual US bases in the region (such as the one at Shamsi, in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan), thus enabling the US to maintain downward pressure on al-Qaida.

America and Britain have no illusions about the fact that Pakistan wields a strong hand in Afghanistan. The Pakistan army chief-of-staff General Afshaq Kayani and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director General Ahmed Shuja Pasha have made a series of visits to Kabul to meet Hamid Karzai, and have already had some success in influencing the appointment of the head of Afghanistan’s national directorate of security [NDS]. Pakistan has been involved in tentative discussions with the Haqqani network, with Hekmatyar’s group, and with members of the Quetta and Peshawar shuras. It has also cleared the way for the extradition to Kabul of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, detained by the ISI in late January 2010, almost certainly with the aim of brokering a deal with moderate Afghan Taliban elements. At the same time the Pakistan army has reportedly been assisting the transit of Punjabi Taliban elements into the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to strengthen its militant proxies.

Pakistan thus sees itself positioned as the key arbiter of the transition in Afghanistan, which will allow it both to ensure its interests are met and to seek to shape the nature of the US’s continued engagement in the region (in turn ensuring that the US does not again abandon Pakistan, as it did in 1989). It is precisely Pakistan's imminent ascendancy in Afghanistan which triggered the British prime minister’s intervention.

The fear of the United States and United Kingdom is that Pakistan may seek to maximise its dominance in Afghanistan in the years ahead in order to exclude all Indian influence and reassert itself as the de facto master of its neighbour (see "The Pakistan army and the Afghanistan war", 25 November 2008). The anxiety is that this will create the conditions on the ground either for civil war in Afghanistan or for renewed Indo-Pakistan conflict. The reasons for such a worry lie in the very different stakes for India in Afghanistan than those which were at play in 1989.

The Indian factor

Over the past twenty years, India has emerged as a dynamic rising economy whose fortunes are now dependent on the energy supply-lines from or through the middle east and central Asian states. Afghanistan is geo-strategically poised between these two regions, and Pakistani control of Afghanistan creates a powerful choke-hold on India, reinforced in turn by the vast Chinese-built port at Gwadar on Pakistan’s Balochistan coast (which has the potential to threaten India’s strategic waterways).

India - which has no contiguous border with Afghanistan, and which cannot project significant military power at distance into Afghanistan - thus faces a stark strategic predicament (see Kanchan Lakshman, "India in Afghanistan: a presence under pressure", 11 July 2008). Its options, in a situation where it is perceived to be pushed to the wall, are limited. They include revivifying the Northern Alliance to recreate a violently contested space in Afghanistan, which may shore up at least some of India’s interests; and pressuring Pakistan through Kashmir (and the main Pakistani rivers, which rise there and on which much of Pakistan depends). But both of these options are pathways to conflict.

In this context, David Cameron’s remarks in Delhi - which are likely to have been coordinated with Washington - can be seen in part as a statement of reassurance to India that its interests matter and align with those of the west. More importantly, they can also be seen as a strong signal to Pakistan that it should not overplay its hand in Afghanistan, and a warning that it should exert influence on the Afghan Taliban - by using its direct links, and by applying meaningful military pressure on the movement - so that the latter comes to play a constructive role in a plural transitional political settlement.

General Kayani, whose opinion matters far more than that of Pakistan’s President Zardari in relation to Afghanistan, has to find the political courage to limit Pakistan’s objectives in Afghanistan. India in turn could significantly encourage that by once again opening up the political space around Kashmir, and by working with the United States, Nato and Pakistan to underwrite a stable settlement for Afghanistan.

Sideboxes

'Read On' Sidebox: 

Pakistan Security Research Unit

Shaun Gregory, Pakistan: Securing the Insecure State (Routledge, 2008)

Ian Talbot, Pakistan: A Modern History (C Hurst, 2005)

Pakistan Policy Blog

Long War Journal

Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Story of Pakistan

Ayesha Siddiqa, Military Inc: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy (Pluto Press, 2007)

Sidebox: 

Shaun Gregory is professor in the department of peace studies at the University of Bradford and head of the (PSRU). He is the author of Pakistan Security Research Unit. Among his books is Pakistan: Securing the Insecure State (Routledge, 2008)

Also by Shaun Gregory in openDemocracy:

"Pakistan on edge" (24 September 2006)

"Pakistan: farewell to democracy" (3 November 2007)

"Musharraf: the fateful moment" (16 November 2007)

"Pakistan's political turmoil: Musharraf and beyond" (27 August 2008)

"The Pakistan army and the Afghanistan war" (25 November 2008)

"Mumbai: Pakistan's moment of opportunity" (3 December 2008)

"Pakistan and the 'AfPak' strategy" (28 May 2009)

Related stories: 

Pakistan: the road from hell

Pakistan’s American problem

Nepal: Maoists' lock, India's door

Pakistan’s war on civilians

How to solve Pakistan’s problem

Lahore to Peshawar: the trophy-target war

Barack Obama and Afghanistan: a closer look

Pakistan: a path through danger

Pakistan: a country on fire

Kashmir's new generation

Pervez Musharraf, the commando who couldn’t

Pakistan’s democracy: after the honeymoon

India in Afghanistan: a presence under pressure

Pakistan’s rivalrous coalition

Pakistan: dynasty vs democracy

Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto

Pakistan: misgovernance to meltdown

Pakistan: the power of the gun

Pakistan's permanent crisis

The assassin’s age: Pakistan in the world

Pakistan: the army as the state

Both the Taliban and the Hizb-i-Islam Gulbuddin claimed to have killed 10 medical personnel, including eight foreigners, during an ambush in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan.

The ten aid workers were traveling to Kabul from Nuristan province, and passed through a forest in Badakhshan, where they were ambushed and executed on Thursday, Aqa Noor Kintoz, the Provincial Police Chief of Badakhshan told TOLOnews.

"These ten persons came to Badakhshan through Panjshir, and introduced themselves as doctors, and returned to Nuristan after a few days," the police chief said. "While returning from Nuristan province to Keran district of Badakhshan, ten militants followed them on the way, killing them after they escaped to the jungles, and they took their money as well."

Six of the medical workers killed were Americans, two were Afghans, one was a Briton, and another was a German, Voice of America reported. Two other Afghans with the group escaped; one claimed he was freed after he recited passages from the Koran.

A spokesman from Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, contacted TOLOnews and said the ten medical workers were killed because they were "spies" who "had gone to the province for espionage." A Hizb-i-Islami spokesman also contacted Pajhwok Afghan News to claim the attack.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, also claimed the murder of the 10 aid workers and said they were killed for proselytizing Christianity. Mujahid told Reuters that the medical team had bibles translated in Dari in their possession when they were shot and killed.

The ten medical workers worked for International Assistance Mission, "an international charitable, non-profit, Christian organization, serving the people of Afghanistan, through capacity building in the sectors of Health and Economic Development," according to the group's website. The director of International Assistance Mission told Voice of America that the medical workers were not missionaries.

"This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966," according to a statement released on the International Assistance Mission website. "We hope it will not stop our work that benefits over a quarter of a million Afghans each year."

Security in Badakhshan and the neighboring province of Takhar has deteriorated over the past year as US forces have withdrawn from remote districts in nearby Kunar and Nuristan provinces. Attacks against the government, Afghan security forces, and civilians have spiked in Badakhshan and Takhar. Afghan intelligence officials have intercepted rogue Pakistani Frontier Corps personnel and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence directorate agents penetrating Badakhshan from Kunar over the past year.

Background on Hekmatyar and HIG

The Taliban and HIG often conduct operations jointly in northern and eastern Afghanistan. HIG, along with the Haqqani Network and Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura, make up the three strongest terror groups in Afghanistan. All have close ties to al Qaeda and other jihadist groups based in Pakistan and Central Asia.

HIG is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a notorious opportunist who has ties with al Qaeda, Iran, and Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment.

Hekmatyar was a key player in the Soviet-Afghan war and led one of the biggest insurgent factions against Soviet and Afghan communist forces. But Hekmatyar's brutal battlefield tactics and wanton destruction of Kabul following the collapse of the Afghan Communist regime in the early 1990s led to the demise of his popularity. The Taliban overran his last stronghold south of Kabul in 1995 and forced him into exile in Iran from 1996-2002.

HIG forces have conducted attacks in northern and northeastern Afghanistan, and have bases in Pakistan's Swat Valley as well as in the tribal agencies of Bajaur, Mohmand, and North and South Waziristan.

In May 2006, Hekmatyar swore alliance to al Qaeda's top leader, Osama bin Laden. "We thank all Arab mujahideen, particularly Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, and other leaders who helped us in our jihad against the Russians," he said in a recording broadcast by Al Jazeera.

"They fought our enemies and made dear sacrifices," Hekmatyar continued. "Neither we nor the future generations will forget this great favor. We beseech Almighty God to grant us success and help us fulfill our duty toward them and enable us to return their favor and reciprocate their support and sacrifices. We hope to take part with them in a battle which they will lead and raise its banner. We stand beside and support them."

Despite Hekmatyar's pledge to al Qaeda, senior US generals have stated that he can be weaned from the insurgency and brought into the Afghan government. Earlier this year, Major General Michael Flynn, the top intelligence official in Afghanistan, called both Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin "Haqqani "absolutely salvageable" even if they currently support and harbor al Qaeda.

"The HIG already have members in Karzai’s government, and it could evolve into a political party, even though Hekmatyar may be providing al Qaeda leaders refuge in Kunar," Flynn told The Atlantic. "Hekmatyar has reconcilable ambitions."

Sir Graeme Lamb, a senior adviser to General McChrystal, the former ISAF commander, echoed Flynn's view on Hekmatyar and Haqqani, and discounted the groups' close ties to al Qaeda.

"Haqqani and Hekmatyar are pragmatists tied to the probability of outcomes," Lamb also told The Atlantic. "With all the talk of Islamic ideology, this is the land of the deal."

Many Western observers believe a peace deal can be reached with Hekmatyar. Several of his representatives have met Afghan government representatives in talks over the past year, and many people were excited when Hekmatyar released a so-called peace plan in February and again in March. The plan called for the full withdrawal of NATO forces by the summer of 2011 and the dismissal of the Afghan government.

Sacked employees continue hunger strike Trading Markets (press release) Sacked employees of Merck Marker Pharmaceutical Factory Quetta on 12th consecutive day on Monday also continued hunger strike to protest their termination. ... and more »

A former Guantanamo detainee who is currently a senior Taliban leader has threatened to kill tribal elders cooperating with Coalition forces and the Afghan government. According to Newsweek, Abdul Rauf Khadim, who was transferred from Gitmo to Afghanistan in 2007, authored a “short handwritten note” on “the letterhead of Mullah Mohammed Omar’s defunct Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

The note, which was shown to Newsweek, reads: “We have made a decision for your death. You have five days to leave Afghan soil. If you don’t, you don’t have the right to complain.”

Khadim’s note is part of the Taliban’s campaign to attack and threaten any Afghans cooperating with US-led forces. The Taliban recently issued a new code of conduct that sanctions attacks on Afghan civilians who work with the Afghan government or coalition forces. In June, NATO claimed to have recovered a directive from Mullah Omar, who also sanctioned attacks on civilians cooperating with the Taliban's enemies. [See LWJ Report: "Mullah Omar orders Taliban to attack civilians, Afghan women"]

Two of Mullah Omar’s top four leaders are former Gitmo detainees

The career of Abdul Rauf Khadim (whose internment serial number at Gitmo was 108) is intertwined with that of another former Guantanamo detainee, Mullah Abdullah Zakir (internment serial number 8). Both were detained at Gitmo for several years and then transferred together, along with 11 other Gitmo detainees, to Afghanistan on December 12, 2007.

Khadim, according to Newsweek, escaped Afghan custody last year. He then quickly rejoined the Taliban’s ranks. Zakir had already rejoined the Taliban and became its surge commander in southern Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, “The Taliban's surge commander was Gitmo detainee” for more information on Zakir.]

Khadim and Zakir were reportedly detained together by Pakistani officials earlier this year and then released in short order. Multiple press outlets have reported that the two have been named to the Taliban’s Quetta Shura Council – that is, Mullah Omar’s inner circle. Some accounts have suggested that Khadim is the head of the Quetta Shura, but it is not clear if that is true, as other accounts say that another Taliban leader holds that position. (Leadership within the Shura is also known to rotate.)

Still, Khadim and Zakir are consistently reported to be among Mullah Omar’s top four leaders.

Khadim claimed to be a low-level conscript

During two hearings at Guantanamo, Khadim claimed to be a low-level conscript who was forced to serve the Taliban. “I am not a member of the Taliban,” Khadim said during his combatant status review tribunal (CSRT). During his administrative review board (ARB) hearing, Khadim also denied receiving any weapons training or fighting for the Taliban. Khadim said that he merely served food to the Taliban’s soldiers from a nearby bakery.

US military officials found otherwise. In a memo prepared for his CSRT, the US military alleged that Khadim “joined the Taliban in 1998,” “worked for the Taliban military,” and “fought for the Taliban.” A memo prepared for Khadim’s ARB hearing notes that he “was identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf, a Taliban troop commander.”

Khadim denied all of these allegations. But Khadim also claimed, “I wish there was a way…I could prove to you that I will not be a danger anymore.”

“If I go back right now and there is Karzia’s [sic] government, all I want to do is go there and work on my land,” Khadim claimed during his ARB hearing. “I know they are probably a little upset but I had no choice,” Khadim said in reference to his Taliban service. “If they do not mind, I’d love to go there and help them out with the new government and work for them.”

During questioning by a member of his review board, Khadim elaborated further on his plans for life after Guantanamo. “I had two bulls that were pulling the plow to soften the soil and we grew vegetables and rice and corn and that’s how I survived from my own land. That’s what I’m planning on doing. To go there and feed my family and myself.”

Instead of farming the land or serving Karzai's government, however, Abdul Rauf Khadim is now a senior Taliban leader who threatens the Taliban’s opposition.

Save the Children subraya la necesidad de reunificar a las familias ya que hay muchos niños separados de sus padres

ISLAMABAD, 4 (Reuters/EP)

El Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PAM) ha advertido este miércoles de que la zonas afectadas por las inundaciones que se han producido en Pakistán, las peores registradas desde hace 80 años, se enfrentan a una escasez de alimentos que puede poner en peligro numerosas vidas.

Amjad Jameel, portavoz del PAM, declaró a la agencia Reuters en una entrevista telefónica que el personal de esta organización está tratando de llegar con urgencia a las áreas inundadas del noroeste donde el suministro de alimentos ha quedado interrumpido. "Hemos enviado una petición al Gobierno y vamos a recibir seis helicópteros desde los que lanzaremos suministros a las zonas que están incomunicadas", dijo.

"Las inundaciones, durante cinco o seis días, han causado estragos. La gente ha perdido sus reservas de comida, los mercados no funcionan, las tiendas se han derrumbado. En definitiva, la gente tiene una enorme necesidad de comida", explicó.

La catástrofe, que comenzó hace casi una semana y se ha cobrado más de 1.400 vidas, probablemente se agudice ya que se han pronosticado más precipitaciones. Además, podría producirse una crisis sanitaria si hay un brote de enfermedades que se transmiten por el agua, como el cólera.

ENFERMEDADES

Según el Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja (CICR), las inundaciones "tendrán graves efectos en una población que ya estaba en una situación de vulnerabilidad". Debido a que gran parte de la infraestructura sanitaria de los lugares más perjudicadas ha quedado destruida, "ahora una de nuestras prioridades es hacer todo lo que está a nuestro alcance para evitar la propagación de enfermedades que se transmiten por el agua", señaló Bernadette Gleeson, delegada de salud del CICR en Islamabad.

"Intentamos volver a poner en funcionamiento los sistemas de distribución de agua y entregamos jabón y lavabos con la esperanza de evitar muchos de los problemas sanitarios que podrían surgir si un gran número de personas tuviera que utilizar fuentes de agua contaminadas", agregó en un comunicado.

Con este fin, se han desplegado equipos multidisciplinarios, que cuentan con personal sanitario, ingenieros especializados en abastecimiento de agua y expertos en seguridad económica, en las partes más afectadas de Jyber Pajtunjwa (la antigua Provincia de la Frontera del Noroeste), las Zonas Tribales de Administración Federal y Punjab.

Voluntarios de la Media Luna Roja de Pakistán continúan distribuyendo alimentos, agua y artículos para el aseo personal, y el CICR está prestando apoyo a ocho unidades de atención médica básica y a dos unidades móviles con las que la Media Luna Roja responde a las necesidades médicas de muchos de los desplazados de las zonas damnificadas.

Por precaución y para utilizar en caso de que se produzca un brote de cólera, el CICR ya cuenta con carpas, camas, instalaciones de atención médica y medicamentos suficientes para atender hasta a 600 personas.

Por otro lado, se ha entregado material de socorro para unas 14.000 víctimas de las inundaciones a la filial en Quetta de la Media Luna Roja de Pakistán, que será distribuido en Baluchistán. Además, continúa la entrega de alimentos para unos 10.000 damnificados en el sur de las Zonas Tribales de Administración Federal. Para este lunes está prevista la distribución de alimentos para 19.000 personas en Nowshera y Charsadda.

NIÑOS SEPARADOS DE SUS FAMILIAS

Ante la catástrofe, uno de los grupos de población más afectados es el de los niños, según la organización Save the Children, que tiene constancia de 75 casos de menores que se han visto separados de sus familiares a causa de las inundaciones, 16 casos en que han perdido a uno o los dos progenitores y seis casos de desaparecidos, de acuerdo con las conclusiones de un estudio que ha realizado durante los dos últimos día en más de 80 comunidades del valle del Swat.

Lucía Losoviz, responsable de Programas Internacionales de Save the Children, indicó en un comunicado que "aunque los niños y niñas identificados están a cargo de parientes o de familias que los han acogido, la cifra señala claramente la necesidad de trabajar con el gobierno provincial y con las comunidades para reunificar a las familias".

En las comunidades afectadas, muchos padres han enviado a sus hijos e hijas a lugares más seguros, con familiares o amigos, mientras que ellos se quedan cuidando de sus posesiones e intentando reconstruir sus casas, según la ONG. En un 94 por ciento de las zonas arrasadas por las inundaciones no hay lugares seguros donde los menores puedan jugar y estar protegidos.

"Los padres hacen lo que pueden para proteger a sus hijos. El equipo de Save the Children está observando que muchos niños y niñas están sufriendo trastornos emocionales", informó Losoviz, que considera que "estos niños necesitan un contexto seguro y bien estructurado donde puedan jugar, recibir el apoyo necesario y comenzar su recuperación".

Save the Children ha determinado que más de la mitad de los hogares afectados no tiene reservas de alimentos, el 50 por ciento de las comunidades no tienen acceso a servicios médicos, el 45 por ciento está biebiendo agua contaminada de los ríos, lagos y estanques y el 42 por ciento no dispone de contenedores para almacenar agua.

"La situación de los niños, niñas y sus familias es grave. La falta de alimentos pone a los niños en riesgo de sufrir desnutrición. Para los bebés y niños más pequeños, enfermedades como la diarrea pueden resultar mortales", adviritó Losoviz.

"Los padres nos cuentan que no tienen otra opción que la de darles a sus hijos agua contaminada de los ríos y los lagos. No hay más agua disponible. Y aunque tuvieran acceso a agua potable no tienen dónde almacenarla", agregó.

A pesar de las dificultades de acceso, Save the Children ha distribuido kits de refugio a 237 familias en la zona de Fatchpur, en Swat. La responsable de Programas Internacionales de la ONG señaló que "aunque hayan perdido sus casas y todo esté destruido, la mayoría de las familias ha preferido quedarse cerca de sus hogares en lugar de ir a un campamento de desplazados".

"La carretera que llega a nuestra sede ha resultado arrasada por las inundaciones. Muchas familias han caminado más de 30 kilómetros por caminos poco seguros para recibir los kits", aseguró.

Los equipos médicos de Save the Children en las zonas de Barikot, Qamber, Rang Mohalla, Sher Palam y Talang atendieron a más de 1.200 personas este martes, entre ellas 258 niños y niñas menores de cinco años con diarrea, dificultades e infecciones respiratorias, dolencias de estómago, erupciones en la piel y malaria.

Some advice for David Cameron before his meeting with Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, this Friday

In an echo of the celebrated 1983 British movie, Educating Rita, Pakistani officials said this week that President Asif Ali Zardari will attempt to "educate" David Cameron about their country and region when the two men meet at a showdown summit at Chequers on Friday. But the subject is a complex one that a busy prime minister may have little time to study. And the controversial Zardari is not necessarily the most objective teacher. So in the interest of "educating Dave", here are five things Cameron should know about Pakistan:

1. Terror

Cameron complained, accurately, that elements within Pakistan, including the military's spy agency, have been complicit in exporting and supporting terrorism, principally in Afghanistan and Kashmir. But overall, Pakistan is more victim than perpetrator. Suicide bombings and other outrages in major cities, fighting with Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas, US drone missile attacks on foreign jihadis, and political and religious feuding caused 12,600 deaths last year alone. The Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies says 3,021 people died in terrorist attacks in 2009, compared with about 2,000 in Afghanistan. Since 2001, officials say more than 2,700 Pakistani security force members have died. When it comes to fighting terror, a bit of the famous Cameron humility might not be out of place.

2. Af-Pak Border

When discussing ways to "seal" the Afghan-Pakistani frontier, it's important to remember this border is largely imaginary. As Stephen Tanner noted in Afghanistan: A Military History, "this arbitrary line, drawn through the mountains in 1893 by the bird-watching Englishman, Mortimer Durand, was meant at the time to split the Pashtun people, the world's largest remaining tribal-based society". London also wanted to keep Peshawar, Quetta, and the strategic Khyber Pass in the territory of the Raj. It succeeded in both aims – but the partition of "Pashtunistan", heartland of the Taliban, is now a major complicating factor in the security situation. This problem was made in Britain.

3. Kashmir

India routinely blocks international discussion of Kashmir, which it regards as an internal matter even though much of the territory is controlled by Pakistan and a bit by China. But as Labour MP Denis MacShane wrote in today's Guardian, "not mentioning Kashmir is a sensible as not mentioning Gaza when discussing the Middle East". The UN first proposed a plebiscite on the territory's future in 1948. Delhi opposes a vote and accuses the Punjab-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group of fomenting violence. Since 1989 separatist conflict involving the Muslim majority has killed more than 47,000 people in Indian-controlled Kashmir; some estimates put the number at 100,000. Violence has intensified in recent weeks; two anti-government protesters, including a 16-year-old boy, were shot dead by police around Srinagar earlier today. Kashmir was once described as the most dangerous place in the world. It's an issue that a "plain speaking" PM should not try to dodge.

4. Democracy

Pakistan's democracy is a fragile creation, deserving of vigorous outside support, and historically vulnerable to violent overthrow. But Britain's record is unimpressive. After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, western countries including Britain connived with General Zia ul-Haq, who had led a military coup against the elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977 and subsequently hanged him. Britain and the US also warmly embraced General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power from an elected civilian government in 1999, and hugged him close after the 9/11 attacks. Now there are signs that the current army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani may be getting too big for his boots (with Washington's encouragement). Who d'you want to deal with, Dave? Pakistani democrats, with all their failings, or another dictator?

5. People

Pakistan's population is more than three times the size of Britain's – about 180 million – and is growing fast. Although the economy expanded by 4% in the year to June, most Pakistanis, especially in rural areas, endure chronic poverty, youth unemployment is high, and corruption is pervasive. Education is the key. But while educational opportunities remain limited, the potential for radicalisation of young Muslim men through madrassas (foreign-funded religious schools) is significant. Visiting in June, international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said: "Pakistan is facing an education emergency. The facts are shocking. Half the adult population – and two-thirds of women – are illiterate."

Although Mitchell announced an expansion of bilateral educational assistance, more needs to be done. Doubling Britain's annual £130m aid to Pakistan would be an audacious move at a time of domestic financial austerity. But it would serve the British national interest – and after the bitter arguments of recent days, would send an overdue, positive message in typical "Cameron Direct" style.

And I wonder, still I wonder

Pakistani authorities estimate that over 1,100 people are dead and over 1.5 million affected in flooding that has swept across much of northern Pakistan and Kashmir, hitting the province of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa particularly hard (BBC, ET, Dawn, Hindustan Times). More rain is predicted, which could impede rescue efforts for the tens of thousands of Pakistanis and tourists cut off in the Swat Valley and elsewhere (AFP, MSNBC). The Chief Minister for Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa told reporters, "We are facing the worst-ever natural disaster in our history that has pushed the province almost 50 years back" (Dawn). [[BREAK]]

The Pakistani army has contributed 30,000 troops as well as dozens of helicopters to the relief efforts, and the United States has pledged $10 million, 50,000 meals, helicopters, portable bridges, and water-filtration units to affected areas (Wash Post, ET, AFP, BBC, Daily Times). Still, local residents and aid workers attacked the Pakistani response for being slow and ineffective, and some have expressed concern that militant organizations will fill the aid gap, especially in areas that have already seen fighting between extremists and the Pakistani army (NYT, Wash Post). Flash floods have also killed at least 65 in Afghanistan, where the Afghan Air Force has been flying helicopter rescue missions (AFP).

The poor weather also hampered efforts to recover the black boxes, found Saturday, from Pakistan's worst ever plane crash outside of Islamabad (AFP, AJE, BBC). And eight more have been killed in the latest politically-motivated violence in Karachi (Dawn, ET, Daily Times).

A tale of two visits

Reacting to remarks last Wednesday from British Prime Minister David Cameron that Pakistan should not be allowed to "promote the export" of terrorism, the head of Pakistani intelligence Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha canceled his trip to the United Kingdom, scheduled for this week (AP, CNN, Guardian, Telegraph). The remark drew angry criticism from a wide spectrum of Pakistanis, and the Pakistani government summoned Britain's high commissioner to Pakistan in order to discuss the remarks (Guardian). However, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari reportedly plans to meet with Cameron at the latter's country house as planned, despite calls from opposition parties to cancel the trip (Guardian, FT, BBC).

Pakistani security forces reportedly killed 15 militants in Orakzai agency this morning (Dawn). And in a television interview U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates hinted that the United States might consider incursions into Pakistan to attack the Haqqani Network (Dawn).

The first to go

The Netherlands began pulling out their 1,900 combat troops in Afghanistan Sunday, becoming the first NATO country to do so (AJE, Reuters, VOA, NYT). The Dutch contingent, mostly based in the central Uruzgan province, became well-known for attempting to connect with local leaders, and sometimes patrolled without body armor and on bicycles. The deployment which began in 2006 was deeply unpopular at home, and brought down the Dutch government in February when debate began on extending the Dutch mission (AP)

The Dutch withdrawal will increase the burden on U.S. ground troops, who now make up roughly two thirds of the international force in Afghanistan (LAT). However, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates this weekend said the U.S. would only withdraw a small number of troops after the July 2011 deadline (AP, CNN).Gates also further criticized the website WikiLeaks for putting soldiers and Afghans in danger, as a former hacker reports that Army Pfc. Bradley Manning may have had help from an MIT student and one other in the Boston Area in leaking classified information to the site (NYT, CNN, NYT, CBC, Wash Post).

Reports indicate that the status of the British offensive into the Nad-i-Ali district of Helmand province is "relatively good" as local officials welcomed the British back amid fear that they would soon be leaving and simmering anger at purported Pakistani support for the Taliban (Telegraph, Telegraph). And according to Newsweek the residents of Nad-i-Ali are not the only ones who distrust Pakistan's role in Afghanistan; the Afghan Taliban also harbor suspicions of Pakistani intentions (Newsweek).

Multiple protests

Protesters marched through Kabul this weekend, spurred on by a car accident allegedly caused by DynCorp contractors in addition to an air raid last week believed to have killed dozens of civilians (Wash Post). After the crash Friday, which was believed to have killed 4 Afghans, hundreds of rioters torched the contractors' car, and three contractors were injured (Guardian). Despite the contradictory reports, the Afghan police cleared the contractors of fault and said the accident was caused by an Afghan, and that only one civilian was killed (NYT).

The protests come as the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, has reportedly "clarified" the restrictive guidelines around ordering airstrikes, easing restrictions on strikes against abandoned buildings and other structures (WSJ). And as counterinsurgency struggles, U.S. forces are reportedly turning more towards a strategy of targeted killings of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan (NYT).This as the U.N. Security Council removed five former Taliban leaders from a blacklist, including a former Taliban ambassador to the U.N. and former ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Zaeef; however, two of those removed are already dead (RFI, Daily Times, BBC).

Elsewhere a minibus struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, killing six Afghan civilians (AFP, AP). Also in the south, a suicide bomber targeting a government official killed five children instead (AP). A bomb attack in Jalalabad wounded an adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai (Pajhwok). And a suicide bomber killed a pro-government militia leader and two others in Kunduz (AP).

Flashpoint

Clashes between Indian security forces and Kashmiris continued for the third straight day Sunday in Indian-administered Kashmir, with at least nine civilians dying over the weekend (VOA, BBC, AFP, Daily Times). The Indian government placed the region under "indefinite curfew" after confrontations Saturday, and banned two T.V. stations for broadcasting "provocative programmes" favorable to Kashmiri nationalists (VOA, AP, NDTV).

Stylish opportunity

In an effort to provide opportunities for young boys and girls in the restive and underdeveloped province of Balochistan, the Pakistani military this month founded the Balochistan Institute of Technical Education in Quetta (Daily Times). Subjects taught include auto electronics, mechanics, sewing, knitting, and "beauty."

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Maintenance Worker (NC) (UNDP) - Quetta

Background: The Government of Balochistan, Planning and Development Department launched “Assistance to Governance Reforms and Practices in Balochistan (AGRP-B)” Project in the province with the technical assistance of ....[more]