Pakistan: US Apologises (Kind Of) But Islamabad Keeps Border Closed

The US Government has offered a series of apologies to Islamabad for airstrikes and cross-border raids that killed Pakistani soldiers. General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, said coalition forces "deeply regretted" the "loss of life". Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Islamabad, cited the importance of “Pakistan’s brave security forces”. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a private apology to the head of Pakistan’s military, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a telephone call.

In the understatement of the year, "American and NATO officials said privately that the Pakistani government’s closing of a crucial border crossing might have made it easier for militants to attack backed-up tanker trucks carrying fuel through Pakistan to Afghanistan to support the American war effort".

Yet I'm not sure, at least from the account in The New York Times, how fulsome the US apology is. The emphasis of the story is, yeah, yeah, stuff happens, but let's get over it.

Certainly Islamabad is, at best, taking its time before accepting US apologies as sincere. Abdul Basit, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that authorities were still evaluating the situation and a decision to reopen the Torkham crossing to NATO tankers, supplying troops in Afghanistan, will be taken "in due course".

Click to read more ...

White House Report: Pakistan Not Doing Enough Against Insurgents (Henry)

Despite repeated Obama administration claims in public that Pakistan is working hard to crack down on militants, a private White House review uses unusually tough language to suggest the ally is not doing nearly enough to confront the Taliban and al Qaeda, according to a copy of a report to Congress.

The report notes that from March to June, the Pakistani military "continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or [al Qaeda] forces in North Waziristan. This is as much a political choice as it is a reflection of an under-resourced military prioritizing its targets."

The report notes bluntly that despite having a presence of 140,000 military and paramilitary personnel, the Pakistani military has been "nonetheless constrained to disrupting and displacing extremist groups without making lasting gains against the insurgency."

Click to read more ...

US and Afghan Government "In Direct Talks" with Haqqani Insurgents (Borger/Walsh)

Both the Afghan and US governments have recently made contact with the most fearsome insurgent group in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network.

Hamid Karzai's government held direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani clan over the summer, according to well-placed Pakistani and Arab sources. The US contacts have been indirect, through a western intermediary, but have continued for more than a year.

The Afghan and US talks were described as extremely tentative. The Haqqani network has a reputation for ruthlessness, even by the standards of the Afghan insurgency, and has the closest ties with al-Qaida. But Kabul and Washington have come to the conclusion that they cannot be excluded if an enduring peace settlement is to be reached.

Click to read more ...

Pakistan: More Attacks on NATO Tankers as Islamabad Challenges Washington

The fourth attack in six days on NATO oil tankers killed one person and burned at least 20 vehicles. 

The attack outside the city of Quetta was claimed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, which said the assaults "will further intensify attacks with the intensification of US drone strikes" in the country. 

Beyond the "Taliban", however, the political and military story is the Pakistani Government's acceptance of the attacks on its American ally. Islamabad is still blocking the key supply route to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. While another route into southern Afghanistan is still open, the Khyber Pass road has been the main supply line. About 70% of NATO's supplies in Afghanistan come through the Pakistani port of Karachi.

Click to read more ...

Afghanistan: Taliban & Karzai Government in "High-Level Talks" (DeYoung/Finn/Whitlock)

In The Washington Post, Karen DeYoung, Peter Finn, and Craig Whitlock report that the Taliban and the Afghan Government have begun discussions for an end to conflict.

Not all observers find this dramatic or promising. In response to the question of Times of London reporter Jerome Starkey, "Did we know this already or did I dream it?", an aid worker in Afghanistan responded, "I don't think you were dreaming. It's lather, rinse, repeat."

---

Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.

The talks follow inconclusive meetings, hosted by Saudi Arabia, that ended more than a year ago. While emphasizing the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said that for the first time they believe that Taliban representatives are fully authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based inPakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar.

"They are very, very serious about finding a way out," one source close to the talks said of the Taliban.

Click to read more ...

Pakistan: Tankers Burn While Petraeus and Washington Fiddle and Fret

The News in Pakistan reports, "Six people were killed and dozens sustained critical injuries [late Sunday night] when a group of bike-riding terrorists sprayed bullets at 28 Nato oil tankers and set them ablaze by throwing chemicals at them."

The Express Tribune is more conservative in its estimate, "At least 11 oil tankers carrying supplies for Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan were gutted and four people were killed when gunmen mounted a late night attack on a filling station in Islamabad."

Whatever the numbers, Sunday's attack is merely the latest development in an episode stemming not only from "terrorism" but from a dispute between US military commanders and the Pakistani Government. Upset at American bombings and raids that killed Pakistani troops as well as civilians and insurgents, Islamabad suspended permission for NATO tankers to cross the border and supply forces in Afghanistan. And sitting tankers make pretty attractive targets.

Steve Hynd calls out the US military and, specifically, American commander David Petraeus for the escalation in violence:

Click to read more ...

Pakistan: US Supplies for Afghanistan Blocked, 27 Trucks Burned (Cole)

Tensions between the United States, NATO, and the Pakistani government boiled over on Thursday and Friday after American helicopter gunships killed 3 Pakistani Frontier Corpsmen and wounded 4 others. The two countries are nominally allies in the battle against Taliban and other extremists, but Pakistan stands accused of being selective in which extremists it wants to combat and of remaining anti-American even as it takes $8.5 bn. in aid from Washington.

Some 27 NATO fuel tankers parked near Shikarpur and sidelined because of the Pakistani blockade of such vehicles were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades by insurgents early on Friday, turning them into a massive bonfire.

Click to read more ...

Pakistan: As Military Threatens Move, The Tension Rises for Washington (DeYoung)

Karen DeYoung's article for The Washington Post is a must-read. Work through the detail and analysis and the following is on the table.

1: Pakistan's military is threatening a takeover if the Zardari Government does not carry out sweeping action against its own officials;

2. The US Government, while not happy with a coup, is looking to a "best-case scenario" of those Government changes;

3. At least one key Administration officials says that changes from military pressure are preferable to Pakistan's constitutional process, carried out through the courts, concerning President Zardari:

Click to read more ...

Following Up EA's Stories: Strikes on Pakistan, Flotilla Raid, US Military v. Obama, Israel's Settlements, Twitter and Activism

Putting this week's stories on EA WorldView into context....

The Strikes on Pakistan: On Tuesday, we considered, "Stepping Up the Drone Killings (And How to Accept Them)".

The political tensions continue to increase. Dr Zalmai Rassoul, the Afghan foreign minister, has issued a pointed warning: "On many occasions from this podium, the Afghan delegation has drawn the attention of the global community to the reality that terrorism and the ideologies of extremism and radicalism are spawned beyond the borders of Afghanistan." 

Rassoul said that, as long as" certain state and non-state actors" provide Al Qaeda and its affiliated individuals and entities with sanctuary, arms and financing, they would remain formidable and murderous adversaries.

Yesterday Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said to members of his party that "international forces were whipping up a storm against the government" and pledged not to bow to the pressure.

Click to read more ...