Pakistan says US not hunting bin Laden on its turf

[u2spirit]

Source: AP

Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader.


In an interview with The Associated Press, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his nation's new government has ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants.

"Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive," he said Saturday. "People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in."

The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as al-Qaida, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, and has offered U.S. troops to strike at terror networks. Critics in Washington also have expressed frustration with the new Pakistani government's pursuit of peace deals with tribes in the region. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080712/ap_on_re_as/us_pakistan_3;_ylt=AgSQhj_KGeEtKZLsxl1ZqDAE1vAI

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Quelle surprise

[leveymg]

1. U.S. hunting bin Laden? That's so pre-9/11.

[tanyev]

7. Pre-Bush administration, even.

[billyoc]

2. We're not hunting him anywhere else, either.

[mcctatas]

3. We might have caught him already...

except the bushies sent our troops on the mother of all snipe hunts looking for WMD in Iraq! :grr:

[Drum]

4. Why start now?

IMO, they're just saying it out loud for a change. Some ally. :(

[ShockediSay]

5. Anybody else notice ohow the corprafascist MSM is not reporting

about Afghanistan?

Maybe it would show them to be incompetent in real matters of national defense.

[JDPriestly]

6. Is the Bush administration still giving money and equipment to Pakistan?

I just don't understand. I read that we are supporting the Pakistan government/military, and then I read things like this. If Bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan (and not already dead, which is a question in itself), then why don't we simply say either you hand him over or you're on your own. Is our support of Pakistan actually just money to try to keep them from supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and fighting our troops in Afghanistan? I don't understand that situation at all.

[rosesaylavee]

8. Well duh. He's been dead since December 2001

I am tired of our government playing us for idiots.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=141244&mesg_id=141264

[ohio2007]

9. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive

or because they have no means of communication.
New York Times. July 11, 2002
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/osama_dead.html

Remember the "experts" said if OBL was announced a martyr ( by his own people ) , the muslim world would really hate us....not a good thing. Fact is the not knowing for sure is how the boogy man plays all sides.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/19/obama-says-bin-laden-must_n_108023.html

OBL is taking a dirt nap and the mystery of his ghost lives on through his followers but even his followers are finding it hard to keep hope alive for a triumphant return ;)

Both parties are "keeping him alive" on the campaign trail when most people know better

Osama Bin Laden Will Be Executed If Caught: Obama
- Post Media Reply



http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4d0_1215955404

Somebody should grow a set of balls and come out and call the bluff,
yes, like Bhutto did.

[rosesaylavee]

10. Bush = Boogey man

Bhutto spoke the truth about a lot of things. She paid dearly for it.

[ohio2007]

11. U.S. war on terrorism loses ground in Pakistan ( Bhuttos' ghost whispers.. )

snip

In dozens of interviews, senior U.S. national security, intelligence and military officials described a counter-terrorism campaign in Pakistan that has lost momentum and is beset by frustration.

CIA officers pursuing Al Qaeda fighters are confined largely to a collection of crumbling bases in northwestern Pakistan. Most are on remote Pakistani military outposts, where they are kept on a short leash under an awkward arrangement with their hosts -- rarely allowed to leave and often left with little to do but plead with their Pakistani counterparts to act.

"Everyone who serves in Pakistan comes back frustrated," a former CIA case officer said. The case officer, like many other officials, spoke on condition of anonymity when describing U.S. counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan because the efforts are highly sensitive and the officials in many cases are not authorized to speak publicly.
Two troubled options define the U.S. approach. One is the present policy of counting on a politically evolving Pakistan to address the problem, which could allow Al Qaeda to operate relatively unmolested for years. The other, unilateral U.S. military action, even counter-terrorism hard-liners acknowledge, might only compound the militant threat.

Asked what might cause the United States to recalculate its present course, one high-ranking U.S. counter-terrorism analyst said, "Obviously, another attack on the homeland."

"Had the plot in Britain in 2006 succeeded, we would not be having this conversation," the official said, referring to an alleged scheme in which suspects were to detonate liquid explosives on transatlantic flights. "I suspect that in the spectrum of Pakistan as ally and Pakistan as territory that needs to be cleansed, we would have moved toward the latter."

snip
New partners

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani, who will meet with President Bush at the White House on Monday, and other senior officials say Pakistan already has made great sacrifices in confronting the militants, who use the country's tribal areas as a springboard for attacks in Pakistan and on Western troops in Afghanistan.

Gillani, who took office in March, has pledged more action against Islamic militants, but also has warned that his government would not tolerate foreign troops.

snip

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-uspakistan27-2008jul27,0,7917426.story?page=3&track=rss


Soon, the Pakistani forces will be considered "foreign" forces in the break away province with their alternate government already set up and functioning.
Maybe when the bombs start to explode in Islamabads government buildings, they will finally treat the issue as shots fired on ft Sumter.

Maybe they won't send another peace committee then
but,
most likely, they probably will....

[varun]

13. Bush has been "appeasing" Pakistan post 9/11

All fingers point to Pakistan, but because Pakistan has nukes, and they have secretly sold their nuke technology to N Korea and Iran, Bush is afraid that Pakistani nuke technology will be sold to other unfriendly nations and rogue groups.

Obama has called Pakistan what it is : A terrorist enabler.

[ohio2007]

15. The easy part of Divide and Conquer is over, now comes the hard part

obviously, the next administration will have to carry that torch;

Pakistan cedes Hangu (province) to the Taliban
July 25, 2008
The Pakistani government has signed yet another peace accord with the Taliban in a settled district of the Northwest Frontier Province. Just one day after the military canceled an operation in Hangu, the provincial government cut a deal with the Taliban.

The peace agreement in Hangu largely mirrors the accords signed throughout the tribal areas, according to details published in Dawn. The Taliban are required to recognize the government’s writ, stop attacks on government security forces, and refrain from running a parallel government and legal system.......

snip
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/07/pakistan_cedes_hangu.php



Taliban control of Mohmand (province) highlights failures of peace negotiations
July 24, 2008


Taliban commander Omar Khalid "is the strongest and most influential Taliban leader after Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Faqir," residents told Daily Times, referring to the leader and deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Khalid has become the dominant Taliban commander in Mohmand after defeating the Shah Sahib group, a rival pro-Taliban group.


snip

The Mohmand Taliban took control of the tribal agency after the Pakistani government negotiated a peace agreement with the extremists at the end of May 2008. The deal required the Taliban to renounce attacks on the Pakistani government and security forces. The Taliban said it would maintain a ban on the activities of nongovernment organizations in the region but agreed not to attack women in the workplace if they wear the veil. Both sides exchanged prisoners.

The Taliban promptly established a parallel government in Mohmand. Sharia or Islamic courts were formed and orders were given for women to wear the veil in public. "Criminals" were rounded up and judged in sharia courts. Women were ordered to have a male escort at all times and prevented from working on farms. The Taliban also kidnapped members of a polio vaccination team.

The Pakistani government has been powerless to stop the rise of the Taliban in Mohmand

snip


Mohmand went red after the government signed a peace agreement with the Taliban in May. The government signed peace agreements in the red agencies/ districts; purple districts are under de facto Taliban control; yellow regions are under Taliban influence.


http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/07/taliban_control_of_m.php


Give them their own country. oops, they pretty much have established that already. Just remove the nukes based in the badlands...if your allowed to that is.

[The Croquist]

12. I beg to differ...

"Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader."

No way. Maybe we're not there legally but we are there. The next thing you know he'll say "Nobody is spying on us".

[mmonk]

14. That chance died with Bhutto.