Pakistani forces have undertaken their most concerted offensive against an expanding Taliban insurgency that has raised fears for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally’s stability and the safety of its nuclear arsenal.

The focus of the fighting has been the former tourist destination of Swat, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, which the Taliban virtually took as the government alternated between inconclusive military action and peace pacts.

But tension has also been rising in South Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, with military officials saying an offensive was likely there after Swat is secured.

The United States and the Afghan government have long been pressing Pakistan to root militants out of South Waziristan and other enclaves on the Afghan border, from where the Taliban direct their Afghan war.

Militants attacked a paramilitary force camp in Jandola, 80 km (50 miles) east of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, late on Saturday, security officials said.

“Militants came in force and attacked a paramilitary camp and fighting lasted for eight hours. At least 40 militants were killed while four soldiers died,” said an intelligence official in the region who declined to be identified.

A military spokesman said the militants had been pushed back after a heavy exchange of fire. Up to 15 militants and three soldiers were killed, he said.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualty estimates.

Militant violence in Pakistan has surged since mid-2007, with attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets.

There have been eight bomb attacks in various towns and cities since the offensive in Swat and neighboring districts began in late April and the Taliban have threatened more.

EXODUS

The offensive in Swat has sparked an exodus of about 2.4 million people, according to government figures, and the country faces a long-term humanitarian crisis.

Bomb attacks in cities and the plight of the displaced could undermine public support for the offensive but for now, analysts say, the authorities are determined to defeat the Taliban in Swat.

The army said on Saturday it had regained full control of Mingora, the main town in Swat, and a top Defense Ministry official said on Sunday the military operation could be over in a two or three days.

“Only five to 10 percent of the job is remaining and hopefully within two to three days, the pockets of resistance will be cleared,” Syed Athar Ali, secretary of defense for Pakistan, said at a regional defense meeting in Singapore.

Military spokesman have been cautious about predicting how long the offensive would last, saying there was still resistance in the valley.

“It’s very difficult to give a timeline,” said chief military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. “It’s a very big area so nobody’s in a position to give any timeline for the operation.”

On Sunday, the military urged civilians to leave the town of Charbagh, about 15 km (10 miles) north of Mingora, and lifted a curfew there and in Mingora to allow people to get out.

Pakistan is vital for U.S. plans to defeat al Qaeda and cut support for the Afghan Taliban.

The United States, which is sending thousands of reinforcements into Afghanistan, has been heartened by the offensive in Swat.

Pakistan battles Taliban; Swat offensive near end

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The fact-finding mission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate rights violations during the Gaza war also renewed a call for Israel to support its investigation.

Richard Goldstone, who heads the four-member mission, stressed that his team would adopt a law-based approach in preparing its report to council in July, and would investigate alleged rights violations by both Israel and Hamas.

“I would like to emphasize that we will focus our investigation not on political considerations, but on an objective and impartial analysis of compliance of the parties to the conflict with their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, especially their responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians and non-combatants,” said Goldstone, a former UN war crimes prosecutor in a statement issued on Friday.

“I believe that an objective assessment of the issues is in the interest of all parties, will promote a culture of accountability and could serve to promote greater peace and security in the region,” the South African judge said.

The mission intends to conduct visits to southern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and has requested the cooperation of the Israeli government.

The other members of the team include Christine Chinkin, professor of international law at the London School of Economics; Hina Jilani, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; and Col. (ret.) Desmond Travers of Ireland, a member of the board of directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).

On Wednesday, President Shimon Peres told reporters that IDF forces did not intentionally aim at civilians or UN facilities during Operation Cast Lead. However, he acknowledged that Israel might have made “some mistakes.”

Speaking after a private meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Peres repeated the government’s position that it would not accept “one word” of the UN report released Tuesday on the attacks on UN facilities during the recent fighting.

The report, commissioned by Ban in February, blamed Israel for failing to take adequate precautions to ensure that UN installations and civilians sheltering in them would be protected from shells or other fire intended for Hamas terrorists.

According to the report, the IDF was responsible for fatalities and damage in six cases, including a strike that killed people sheltering at a Gaza school.

UN team probing Gaza war to visit Strip

Ethnic Baluch separatists had earlier claimed responsibility for the abduction and at one point threatened to kill Mr Solecki — the highest-profile Westerner to be kidnapped in Pakistan since Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was beheaded in 2002. News of Mr Solecki’s release came as a suicide bomber attacked a crowded Shia mosque in central Pakistan, killing at least 28 people.

Shakil Baloch, a spokesman for the Baluch Liberation United Front (BLUF), one of several separatist groups fighting for greater autonomy in Pakistan, told local journalists that Mr Solecki was released on humanitarian grounds. “We want to give a message to the international community that Baluch are not terrorist,” he said.

Rehman Malik, the federal Interior Minister, said that Mr Solecki was freed because of personal intervention by President Zardari. Some sources in the Government said that his release was agreed in negotiations with the BLUF involving Pakistani and US officials. “There was certainly a trade- off,” one official said.

The BLUF, which is fighting for greater autonomy for Baluchistan, had been demanding the release of Zarina Baloch, a women’s rights activist, and several others being held by security forces. Human rights groups say hundreds of Baluch nationalists have been detained without trial since security forces killed Akbar Bugti, a former governor of Baluchistan and nationalist leader, in 2005.

The Government has already freed some of the detainees that the BLUF wants released, and has promised to find out about others. It is not clear whether those released included Ms Baloch, who rights activists say was taken away by security forces a few years ago and was also allegedly raped, although the Government denies detaining her.

Harbiar Marri, a Baluch separatist leader now living in London, is also believed to have played a significant role in securing Mr Solecki’s release. The Pakistani Government has sought the extradition of Mr Marri, whose brother, Balach Marri, lead the insurgency in Baluchistan and was killed by security forces two years ago.

Baloch provincial and UN officials declined to comment on the reasons for Mr Solecki’s release.

Jennifer Pagonis, a UN spokesman, said only that he was flown to the United States by special medical flight early yesterday morning after spending the night in a military hospital in Quetta. “He seemed OK this morning,” Ms Pagonis said.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, said that he was grateful for the efforts to secure Mr Solecki’s release, citing Mr Zardari and President Karzai of Afghanistan.

His release was a rare piece of good news in Pakistan, which has suffered a wave of kidnappings, bombings and commando-style attacks in the past year, mostly blamed on Islamic militants based in northwestern Pakistan.

The militants apparently struck again yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded Shia mosque in the town of Chakwal, central Pakistan, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 50.

A senior police officer said that the bomber, believed to be in his teens, detonated his explosive after he was stopped by security guards at the entrance of the mosque, where 2,000 worshippers were gathered. “The casualties would have been much higher had the bomber not been intercepted at the entrance,” said Zulfikar Chaudhry, the local police chief.

Witnesses said that the blast occurred during a brief interval in the religious session when the worshipers were going in and out of the mosque.

“There was a huge blast and a lot of smoke. I rushed to the main gate and saw several bodies lying in a pool of blood and body parts scattered all around,” said Qazi Wafa, who was inside the mosque.

It was the first such incident in Chakwal district, in central Punjab province, which is the main recruiting ground for the Pakistani Army. The attack came hours after another suicide bombing killed eight paramilitary soldiers at a security post in Islamabad, the capital.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to the top Taleban commander Baitullah Mehsud, said that his group was responsible for that attack. Mehsud has claimed responsibility for a raid on a police training school in Lahore that killed 13 people last week.

Yesterday’s attack also followed a bombing late last month on a packed mosque near the Afghan border which killed at least 48 people in the worst attack in Pakistan this year.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets killed at least 18 militants in Mohmand, one of seven lawless tribal districts in northwestern Pakistan where Taleban and al-Qaeda militants are sheltering.

UN hostage John Solecki released in Pakistan as militants attack mosque

In interviews, several Taliban fighters based in the border region said preparations for the anticipated influx of American troops were already being made. A number of new, younger commanders have been preparing to step up a campaign of roadside bombings and suicide attacks to greet the Americans, the fighters said.

The refortified alliance was forged after the reclusive Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, sent emissaries to persuade Pakistani Taliban leaders to join forces and turn their attention to Afghanistan, Pakistani officials and Taliban members said.

The overture by Mullah Omar is an indication that with the prospect of an American buildup, the Taliban feel the need to strengthen their own forces in Afghanistan and to redirect their Pakistani allies toward blunting the new American push.

The Pakistani Taliban, an offspring of the Afghan Taliban, are led by veterans of the fighting in Afghanistan who come from the border regions. They have always supported the fight against foreign forces in Afghanistan by supplying fighters, training and logistical aid.

But in recent years the Pakistani Taliban have concentrated on battling the Pakistani government, extending a domain that has not only threatened Pakistan but has also provided an essential rear base for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

At the same time, American officials told The New York Times this week that Pakistan’s military intelligence agency continued to offer money, supplies and guidance to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as a proxy to help shape a friendly government there once American forces leave.

The new Taliban alliance has raised concern in Afghanistan, where NATO generals warn that the conflict will worsen this year. It has also generated anxiety in Pakistan, where officials fear that a united Taliban will be more dangerous, even if focused on Afghanistan, and draw more attacks inside Pakistan from United States drone aircraft.

“This may bring some respite for us from militants’ attacks, but what it may entail in terms of national security could be far more serious,” said one senior Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to talk to news organizations. “This would mean more attacks inside our tribal areas, something we have been arguing against with the Americans.”

The Pakistani Taliban is dominated by three powerful commanders — Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulavi Nazir — based in North and South Waziristan, the hub of insurgent activity in Pakistan’s tribal border regions, who have often clashed among themselves.

Mullah Omar dispatched a six-member team to Waziristan in late December and early January, several Taliban fighters said in interviews in Dera Ismail Khan, a town in North-West Frontier Province that is not far from South Waziristan. The Afghan Taliban delegation urged the Pakistani Taliban leaders to settle their internal differences, scale down their activities in Pakistan and help counter the planned increase of American forces in Afghanistan, the fighters said.

The three Pakistani Taliban leaders agreed. In February, they formed a united council, or shura, called the Council of United Mujahedeen. In a printed statement the leaders vowed to put aside their disputes and focus on fighting American-led forces in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied that the meetings ever took place or that any emissaries were sent by Mullah Omar. The Afghan Taliban routinely disavow any presence in Pakistan or connection to the Pakistani Taliban to emphasize that their movement is indigenous to Afghanistan. “We don’t like to be involved with them, as we have rejected all affiliation with Pakistani Taliban fighters,” Mr. Mujahid said. “We have sympathy for them as Muslims, but beside that, there is nothing else between us.”

Several Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to news organizations, confirmed the meetings. But they said that the overture might have been inspired by Sirajuddin Haqqani, an Afghan Taliban leader who swears allegiance to Mullah Omar but is largely independent in his operations.

Mr. Haqqani, and his father Jalaluddin Haqqani, the most powerful figures in Waziristan, are closely linked to Al Qaeda and to Pakistani intelligence, American officials say. From their base in North Waziristan, they have directed groups of fighters into eastern Afghanistan and increasingly in complex attacks on the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The Taliban fighters said the Afghan Taliban delegation was led by Mullah Abdullah Zakir, a commander from Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, whose real name is reported to be Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul.

A front-line commander during the Taliban government, Mullah Zakir was captured in 2001 in northern Afghanistan and was detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, until his release in 2007, Afghan Taliban members contacted by telephone said.

The Pakistani fighters described Mullah Zakir as an impressive speaker and a trainer, and one said he was particularly energetic in working to unite the different Taliban groups. Beyond bolstering Taliban forces in Afghanistan, both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders had other reasons to unite, Pakistani officials said.

One motivation may have been to shift the focus of hostilities to Afghanistan in hopes of improving their own security in Waziristan, where more than 30 drone strikes in recent months have been directed at both Mr. Mehsud and Mr. Nazir. Two senior commanders of the Haqqani network have been killed.

The Pakistani Taliban leaders also rely on Mr. Haqqani and their affiliation with the Afghan mujahedeen for legitimacy, as well as the money and influence it brings.

In their written statement, decorated with crossed swords, the three Pakistani Taliban leaders reaffirmed their allegiance to Mullah Omar, as well as the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

The mujahedeen should unite as the “enemies” have united behind the leadership of President Obama, it said. “The mujahedeen should put aside their own differences for the sake of God, God’s happiness, for the strength of religion, and to bring dishonor on the infidels.” The Taliban fighters interviewed said that the top commanders removed a number of older commanders and appointed younger commanders who were good fighters to prepare for operations in Afghanistan in the coming weeks.

In confident spirits, the Taliban fighters predicted that 2009 was going to be a “very bloody” year.

Pakistani and Afghan Taliban Unify in Face of U.S. Influx

Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the United States’ War on Terrorism. Bin Laden and fellow Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a 1998 interview, he gave his birth date as 10 March 1957. His father Muhammed Awad bin Laden was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Osama bin Laden was born the only son of Muhammed bin Laden’s tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas. Osama’s parents divorced soon after he was born; Osama’s mother then married Muhammad al-Attas. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister.

Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim. From 1968 to 1976 he attended the “élite” secular Al-Thager Model School. Bin Laden studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or a degree in public administration in 1981. Other sources describe him as having left university during his third year, never completing a college degree, though “hard working.” At university, bin Laden’s main interest was religion, where he was involved in both “interpreting the Quran and jihad” and charitable work. He also writes poetry.

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia. According to CNN national security correspondent David Ensore, as of 2002 bin Laden had married four women and fathered roughly 25 or 26 children. Other sources report that he has fathered anywhere from 12 to 24 children.

Links

• Osama bin Laden – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Hunting Bin Laden
• Osama bin Laden – People unlimited

The poor security for the visitors and the ease with which the terrorists were able to target the team, has further isolated both Pakistan as a global hub of terrorism and a venue for international cricket.

President Asif Zardari was forced to apologise to his Sri Lankan counterpart yesterday for the lack of protection, while the International Cricket Council officials said it was unlikely that international cricket matches could be played in Pakistan again until the security situation has dramatically improved.

The revelation that security warnings for such a sensitive match will fuel further criticism. Sri Lanka had stepped in to play Pakistan after India withdraw following last november’s attack on Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists. The Sri Lankans came under intense pressure to pull out from India amid concerns about the country’s poor security situation.

A leaked report from Punjab’s Crime Investigation Department (CID), passed to Pakistani papers reveals that authorities were warned almost six weeks ago, of a plot and urged the all security agencies in the state and federal governments to take special precautions to protect the visitors.

The report identifies the Indian intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), as the force behind the plot – an accusation regularly traded between India and Pakistan – but specifically identified the drive between their hotel and the stadium as the scene of the attack.

Pakistani newspapers quoted the report, dated January 22nd 2009, warning:”It has reliably been learnt that RAW (Indian intelligence agency) has assigned its agents the task to target Sri Lankan cricket team during its current visit to Lahore, especially while travelling between the hotel and stadium or at hotel during their stay.

“It is evident that RAW intends to show Pakistan a security risk state for sports events, particularly when the European and the Indian teams have already postponed their proposed visits considering it a high security risk to visit Pakistan .Extreme vigilance and heightened security arrangements indicated.” A further letter from Punjab’s then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif’s office to Lahore’s Inspector-General of Police and security ministers, requested extra security protection for the tourists. “The chief minister has seen the enclosed source report and has desired that every effort may be made for the security of the Sri Lankan cricket team during its current visit to Lahore. He has further desired that extreme vigilance and heightened security arrangement may be made to avert any untoward incident,” his officials wrote.

The correspondence and the ‘secret report’ have been leaked in a new political row over who is to blame. Sharif was forced to stand down as chief minister shortly before the attack after a Supreme Court ruling that he had been ineligible to stand for the post. His government was dismissed and President Asif Ali Zadari imposed the state’s governor Salman Taseer as acting chief executive.

Sri Lankan cricketers: Pakistan ‘ignored’ warnings about attack on team bus

While police continued to scour the eastern city of Lahore for the gunmen, all of whom escaped, the government of the eastern province of Punjab appealed for help from the public in most national newspapers.

Officers announced today that they had arrested “some suspects” behind the attack, but the gunmen were still at large.

“The dignity of the country has been hurt,” the Punjab government said, alongside blurred images of the gunmen grabbed from CCTV footage.

“Assist us in identifying the terrorists who fired at the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.”

As the hunt for the gunmen continued, Haji Habibur Rehman, Lahore police chief, said that none of those detained in the city had directly carried out the attack. He did not say how many had been arrested.

“So far we have not made any headway toward the perpetrators,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Pakistani officials say yesterday’s attack outside Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium bore all the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group blamed for a similar commando-style attack on Mumbai in November.

However, several have hinted at a “foreign hand” in the attack, fuelling speculation among ordinary Pakistanis – despite a complete lack of evidence – that India carried out the attack as revenge for the Mumbai attacks.

One newspaper printed what appeared to be a fake report from the Punjab police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) warning in January that India’s intelligence agency might try to attack the Indian cricket team.

The report, dated January 22, 2009, says that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) “has assigned its agents the task to target Sri Lankan cricket team during its current visit to Sri Lanka, especially while travelling between the hotel and stadium.”

It appears to be signed by Malik Muhammad Iqbal, the additional Inspector General of Police, CID Punjab.

When contacted by The Times, Mr Iqbal declined to confirm or deny the authenticity of the report.

“That is something which has been leaked,” he said. “I cannot comment on intelligence matters.”

Other Punjab police officials declined to comment.

Several security experts and political analysts said the report was clearly a fake, designed to deflect attention from LeT and to shift blame onto the federal government that took charge of Punjab last week.

It nonetheless illustrates how Pakistan’s charged political climate contributes to the popular sense of denial about the threat posed by the al Qaeda and Taleban militants sheltering near its border with Afghanistan.

Asif Ali Zardari, the President, vowed today to continue the fight against the militants who are also blamed for the assassination of his wife, the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in December 2007.

“This is an existential battle,” he said in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal. “If we lose, so too will the world. Failure is not an option.”

However, Western diplomats fear that he is being undermined by members of Pakistan’s powerful army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency who have links to LeT and other militant groups.

One former ISI chief with clear Islamist sympathies has even speculated publicly that yesterday’s attack could have been carried out by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels, backed by Indian intelligence, as a payback for Mumbai.

“It’s all too obvious that it is the handiwork of the Indian intelligence,” said retired general Hamid Gul.

Despite the lack of supporting evidence, such theories easily gain credence among ordinary Pakistanis stunned at the attack on their most cosmopolitan city – and a sport that is a national obsession.

“Pakistanis could not do this,” was a typical response from Shazia Sardar, a 28-year-old immigration officer. “The people who did this were not Muslims.”

However, most serious Pakistani commentators dismissed talk of an Indian conspiracy and urged the government to confront the homegrown militants who have ruined Pakistan’s reputation as a sporting venue.

“The worst thing that can happen to a state is to go into denial. How long will we deny that we have groups that have run amok and whose obvious agenda involves destroying Pakistan as a nation state?” wrote Ejaz Haider in the Daily Times.

“To point to India… without bothering to look at other evidence for which we now have a long trajectory, is not simply ignorance; it is deliberate perfidy.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s cricketers were being welcomed home by tearful relatives and the country’s sports minister, Gamini Lokuge, amid tight security at the international airport in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.

“I never thought I will be able to come home alive,” said Mahela Jayawardene, the team captain, as he was greeted by his relieved wife Christina.

Batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, who were both hit by bullets, were among the first of the 25-member touring party to leave the airport to be taken to a private hospital in Colombo.

“Both of them may need further treatment and surgery,” said Geethanjana Mendis, a sports medicine specialist who assessed their injuires before they flew home.

He said the entire team needed medical evaluation, but none of the injuries were life threatening.

Six players and a British assistant coach were hurt in yesterday’s attack, which also left six Pakistani policemen and two civilians dead, including one of the team convoy’s drivers.

In Washington last night, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, offered his sympathy to the victims of the attack but said Pakistan must be seen to be dealing with the ‘terrorist problem in its midst.’

“My first thoughts are with those who died and those who have been casualties as a result of this terrorist attack,” he said.

“Obviously, when people are competing in sport and suddenly there’s a terrorist attack, it is all the more tragic.

“What we have to do is to make sure that action against terrorism in Pakistan is effective. We know that the vast majority of al Qaida fighters are in Pakistan, not in Afghanistan.

“We know that there are groups in Pakistan that are terrorist groups that need to be brought under control, arrested and brought to trial.

“I have been pressing for some time the Pakistan government to make sure that arrests happen, terrorists are brought under control and Pakistan is seen to be fulfilling its role in the world community in dealing with the terrorist problem in its midst.”

Pakistan offers $125,000 bounty for terrorists who attacked cricketers

ndia has become one of the largest arms importers during the recent years due to the nation’s complicated relations with Pakistan. A third Indo-Pakistan war may break out at any moment. Foreign companies get ready to fight for the Indian billions. France’s Rafale, Europe’s Eurofighter, Sweden’s Gripen and USA’s F-16 and F-18 will be a serious competition for Russia.

Russia’s Sukhoi already conducts cooperation with India : the nation launched the licensed production of Su-30MKI fighters in 2004. However, Russia has another trump card to win a possible contract – the MiG-35 fighter, which will be unveiled at Aero India 2009 air show.

MiG-35 is outfitted with aviation electronics of new generation, including a powerful radar. The aircraft also has optoelectronic systems to fight air and ground targets, a powerful defense complex and latest airborne weapons.

“MiG-35 is virtually a new modification of the old fighter, but it is quite competitive. Its low price and technical advantages leave Western rivals behind,” Konstantin Sivkov of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems told Pravda.ru. “It would also be better for India to buy this fighter for compatibility reasons. The political aspect and the foreign orientation of the political leadership play the most important role on the market of arms. The future tender will test the political orientation of India ,” the expert said.

Russia has all chances to sign the contract with India at this point. The two countries have been maintaining friendly relations with each other for many years. One should not forget the ties between Russia’s MiG Corporation and its Indian partners either. MiG fighters originally appeared in India in 1963, whereas MiG-21 used to be the basic aircraft of the Indian Air Force for years.

The cooperation continues today as well. India’s navy receives the MiG-29K/KUB carrier fighter on a regular basis. The personnel of the Indian Air Force undergoes the technical training in Russia . To crown it all, MiG modernizes India’s MiG fighters and supplies them with necessary spare parts.

Russia’s MiG-35 fighter to win billion-dollar contract and leave US rivals behind

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Early years and personal life

Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun of the Popalzai clan of the Durrani tribe, was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He comes from a family that were strong supporters of the former king, Zahir Shah. He has six brothers and one sister. Karzai is well-versed in several languages, including his mother-tongue Pashto, as well as Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and French.

From 1979 to 1983, Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. He then returned to work as a fund-raiser by supporting anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention for the rest of the 1980s. After the fall of Najibullah’s Soviet-backed government in 1992, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

In 1999, Hamid Karzai married Zeenat Karzai, an obstetrician by profession who was working as a doctor with Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. They have a son born in 2007 named Mirwais.

Former Taliban supporter

When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their U.N. ambassador. However on August 20, 1998, after an attempt by the United States to kill Osama bin Laden with a cruise missile, Karzai said,

He lived in exile in Quetta, in Pakistan where he worked to reinstate the Afghan king, Zahir Shah. His father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was assassinated, presumably by Taliban agents, on July 14, 1999, and Karzai swore revenge against the Taliban by working to help overthrow them. In 2001, Hamid Karzai worked closely with the Ahmad Shah Massoud to help gather support for the anti-Taliban movement.

On February 11, 2005, in an interview with the Oxford International Review, Karzai criticizes the role the U.S. played in empowering the Taliban to take control in Afghanistan. He claims he spent many years before the 9/11 attacks warning embassies about the threat, but the West failed to respond, an act of “neglect, selfishness and short-sightedness.”

President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

After winning a democratic mandate in the 2004 election and removing many of the former Northern Alliance warlords from his cabinet, it was thought that Karzai would pursue a more aggressively reformist path in 2005. However, Karzai has proved to be more cautious than was expected.

Ever since Karzai’s new administration took over in 2004, the economy of Afghanistan has been growing rapidly for the first time in many years. Government revenue is increasing every year, although it is still heavily dependent on foreign aid.

On September 20, 2006 Karzai told the United Nations General Assembly that Afghanistan has become the “worst victim” of terrorism. Karzai said terrorism is “rebounding” in his country, with militants infiltrating the borders to wage attacks on civilians. He stated, “This does not have its seeds alone in Afghanistan. Military action in the country will, therefore, not deliver the shared goal of eliminating terrorism.” He demanded assistance from the international community to destroy terrorist sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan. “You have to look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism,” he told the UN General Assembly, and “destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond” the country, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region that recruit, indoctrinate, train, finance, arm, and deploy terrorists. These activities are also robbing thousands of Afghan children of their right to education, and prevent health workers from doing their jobs in Afghanistan. In addition he promised to eliminate opium-poppy cultivation in the country, which helps fuel the ongoing insurgency. He has repeatedly demanded that NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces take more care when conducting military operations in residential areas to avoid civilian casualties, which undermine his government’s already weak standing in parts of the country.

In a video broadcast on September 24, 2006, Karzai stated that if the money wasted on the Iraq War was actually spent on rebuilding Afghanistan, his country would “be in heaven in less than one year”. In May of 2007, after as many as 51 Afghan civilians were killed in a bombing, Karzai asserted that his government “can no longer accept” casualties caused by the US and NATO operations.

Links

• Official Site: Office of the President | Hamid Karzai Speeches
• Wikipedia: Hamid Karzai Overview
• Election Updates : Hamid Karzai

The State Department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report also said Afghanistan slashed opium poppy cultivation by 19 percent in 2008 after two years of record highs.

But drug trafficking and poppy cultivation continued to fuel insurgencies in Afghanistan’s less secure southern areas, it said.

The report identified 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, as “major” producers and transit points for illegal drugs. Of those, Myanmar, Bolivia and Venezuela had “failed demonstrably” to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements.

About 60 countries, including the United States, are home to financial institutions that engage in transactions identified as money laundering for drug traffickers, the report said.

The annual report on global anti-drug efforts raised concerns about a growing presence of drug trafficking groups in Central America that have been driven out in Mexico and Colombia by government crackdowns.

More than 6,000 people were killed in the battle for control of Mexico’s drug trafficking operations last year, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to fight the country’s violent drug cartels.

The report said because of Calderon’s successful efforts, “criminal gangs are now fighting among themselves for now diminishing profits.”

“The restructuring of security forces, coupled with the military’s strong engagement in the fight to dismantle major drug trafficking organizations, has proven to be effective,” it said.

“These efforts led to numerous arrests of key narcotraffickers, the discovery of clandestine drug laboratories, and a dramatic decline in the importation of methamphetamine … into the United States.”

The fight in Mexico has sparked concerns about spillover violence in the United States, and U.S. authorities capped a nearly two-year campaign against one of Mexico’s most violent cartels this week with 52 arrests.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, has become Mexico’s most violent city as security forces take on drug cartels warring for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

US says Mexico makes progress against drug cartels

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