In this bulletin:

• 'Pak dumped N-waste in Afghanistan'
• France may send a "few hundred" troops to Afghanistan
• NATO Afghan force to get only some extra troops: U.S.
• Gathering together a fractured alliance
• 2 police killed in suicide attack in southwestern Afghanistan
• ISAF rejects reported killing of 3 civilians in S Afghanistan
• Taliban chief held after escaping twice
• Afghan President leaves for Bucharest
• President Karzai Welcomes the New UN Envoy to Afghanistan
• Dr. Spanta congratulated the new Pakistani FM
• Afghan Lower House appreciates MFA
• Pakistan rethinks US policy on militants
• Give up pro-US stance first’: Taliban set terms for talks with govt
• The Haqqani Network and Cross-Border Terrorism in Afghanistan
• Culture, Politics Hinder U.S. Effort to Bolster Pakistani Border Forces
• 'Foreigners' at work to help Karzai win poll: MP
• Bin Laden at 1986 arms deal, book says
• Afghan Corruption a Growing Concern
• The Taliban will talk, but no 'sugar-coating'

'Pak dumped N-waste in Afghanistan'

Press TV (Iran) / April 1, 2008

Afghan officials say they have evidence indicating that Pakistan dumped its nuclear waste in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban.

"The waste was buried in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand," Parliamentary affairs Minster Faruq Wardag was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The minister said he did not know how much waste was dumped in Afghanistan or for how long the practice had continued. Wardag added he did not know the exact nature of the evidence.

A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said he could not comment until the Afghan government made an official statement about the allegations.

The circumstances of the Taliban's emergence remained a mystery. Despite repeated denials, Pakistan, a US ally, has been considered as one of the mentors of the group. The Taliban were in power in Afghanistan from 1996 until they were overthrown in 2001.

France may send a "few hundred" troops to Afghanistan

April 1, 2008 - PARIS (Reuters) - France may send a few hundred additional troops to Afghanistan to help NATO allies fight the Taliban and train the Afghan army, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday.

France already has some 1,500 troops based in Afghanistan serving as part of a 47,000-strong NATO force and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to announce later this week that the contingent will be reinforced.

"Our armed forces in Afghanistan may invest more in the command structures, particularly in Kabul, in training the Afghan army and in the units in the Afghan provinces," Fillon said during a parliamentary debate on the Afghan operation.

"The numbers could be something like a few hundred extra soldiers," he said, adding that France's contribution had not been finalized and depended on its NATO allies accepting a broader strategy for Afghanistan.

The parliamentary debate was called by the opposition Socialists who have attacked Sarkozy for planning to bolster the French force just a year after he indicated that he did not see any future for France's contingent in Afghanistan.

A BVA opinion poll published on Monday said 68 percent of French people disapproved of any strengthening of the French operation while just 15 percent approved.

The Socialists said they intended to submit a motion of no confidence against the government "in the coming days" for refusing to hold a vote on the Afghan deployment in the lower house of parliament.

Fillon said there was no need for a parliamentary vote because French soldiers were already present in Afghanistan, adding that sending more troops would increase the chances of bringing peace to the country.

France's constitution gives the president the power to send soldiers to combat zones without parliamentary approval.

NATO powers will meet in the Romanian capital from April 2 to 4 and Afghanistan is expected to be a main issue.

The United States and Britain have repeatedly called on NATO allies in recent months to boost their contribution to the force in Afghanistan, where there are signs that the Taliban militancy is growing in strength.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, editing by Crispian Balmer)

NATO Afghan force to get only some extra troops: U.S.

By Andrew Gray, April 1, 2008

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - NATO leaders are likely to commit more troops this week to help fight Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan but the force will still fall short of what commanders want, the U.S. defense secretary said on Tuesday.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Paris might agree to send "a few hundred" more troops to bolster the 47,000-strong NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Leaders of the 26-member alliance meet in the Romanian capital Bucharest this week with the mission high on their agenda amid concern about rising violence, particularly in southern Afghanistan.

Robert Gates said the force's commander wanted an extra three brigades for the mission, but acknowledged that it would take longer to send extra troops.

The size of a brigade varies depending on its function and nationality but a U.S. combat brigade has between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers.

"I think that we will see some additional commitments in Bucharest," Gates said at a joint news conference with his Danish counterpart Soren Gade.

"I don't think they'll be anywhere near that number. This is a challenge we'll have to keep working at."

NATO officials say the force is roughly between 1,500 and 3,000 troops short of the requirements laid out in an alliance document setting out the units needed for its mission.

Gates on Monday described even that document, the Combined Joint Statement of Requirements, as "pretty ambitious."

In describing a larger shortfall, Gates was referring to the number of troops the force's top commander, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill, would like to carry out his mission, a senior U.S. defense official said.

Gates noted the United States was deploying some 3,500 Marines to Afghanistan to fill some gaps among training and combat forces but those troops would leave in November.

"Now the challenge is what comes behind those Marines," he said.

He did not say which nations he expected to pledge more troops in Bucharest.

In Paris, Fallon told a parliamentary debate on Tuesday that France, which has 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, might send "a few hundred extra soldiers" to reinforce the command structures in Kabul and to train Afghan troops elsewhere in the country.

On Monday, NATO aspirant Georgia offered several hundred troops. Gates praised Denmark, which has some 550 combat troops in southern Afghanistan, as one of Washington's closest allies.

Fourteen Danish soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002, giving the nation of some five million people one of the NATO mission's highest per capita troop casualty rates.

But Gade said Denmark remained committed to Afghanistan. "We will keep doing the job in the south," he said. (Editing by Sami Aboudi)

Gathering together a fractured alliance

International Herald Tribune, 04/01/2008 - NATO plans to add three new members at its summit meeting this week, proving that it is still a club that European states want to join. The chance of membership has proved to be a good carrot for encouraging democracy in the 11 nations that have joined since the end of the Cold War. We hope it would do the same for the newest aspirants: Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.

Despite its benefits, expansion will not cure what ails the NATO. The greatest military alliance in history has begun the 21st century fractured and without a consensus about the threats it faces and how to meet them.

Nowhere are the Atlantic Alliance's problems more pressing - or more dangerous - than in Afghanistan. Twenty-six NATO states and partners have fielded some 47,000 troops to help the Afghan government and defeat a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda. The effort is not going well, especially in the South.

Americans have sent the most troops and taken the most casualties, and Britain and Canada have been hit hard, too. Other members are not doing their full share. Germany, France, Spain and Italy have balked at sending desperately needed additional combat troops and placed stiff restrictions on where and how their forces would operate. (France may now send extra troops.)

This has raised the dangerous specter of a two-tiered alliance where some members volunteer for the most dangerous duty and others opt out.

President George W. Bush bears a good part of the blame. After 9/11, the alliance offered to help in Afghanistan, but Bush insisted on going it alone. He belatedly decided that he needed assistance and gave NATO the huge job of taking over the fight in Afghanistan - after diverting American resources to Iraq.

European leaders have also failed to explain to their citizens that Afghanistan isn't just America's fight. Defeating extremists is vital to Europe's security.

NATO's problems go beyond Afghanistan. There is still a huge gap in American and allied military capabilities and spending. And alliance leaders have yet to have a serious and sustained discussion on how they would jointly address such major challenges as nonproliferation, energy security or a rising China.

Nor has the alliance figured out how to deal with Russia, whose opposition to Ukraine and Georgia being tapped as possible future members could create even more division and acrimony at the summit meeting.

Moscow must not have a veto over who joins NATO. But Bush was bull-headed in insisting decisions on Ukraine and Georgia be made this year. NATO has many more urgent problems to deal with, starting with how to salvage the war in Afghanistan.

2 police killed in suicide attack in southwestern Afghanistan

By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press / April 1, 2008 - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber hit a police compound in southwestern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two officers and wounding five others, an official said.

The bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives inside a police chief's compound in the town of Zaranj in Nimroz province, said provincial deputy police chief Asadullah Sherzad.

The vehicle exploded at the compound walls, killing two policemen and wounding five others, Sherzad said. The bomber also died. In neighboring Helmand province, meanwhile, police arrested a senior Taliban commander who has escaped twice from prisons in Afghanistan.

The officers nabbed Mullah Naqibullah during a clash that left three insurgents dead on Monday, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

Naqibullah was with a group of militants dressed in police uniforms who ambushed a police convoy north of the province's capital of Lashkar Gah, Andiwal said.

The ensuing gunbattle left three militants dead, and wounded two policemen and Naqibullah, who was taken into custody, Andiwal said.

It was the third time that authorities have arrested Naqibullah. Two months ago, Naqibullah managed to escape from the prison run by the Afghan intelligence service in Lashkar Gah, Andiwal said. Previously he had escaped from a prison in the capital, Kabul.

Helmand is the world's largest opium-producing province and the scene of fierce clashes between militants and Afghan and foreign troops.

In neighboring Kandahar province, an airstrike Monday killed three men irrigating land close to a road in Panjwayi district, said Shah Baran, the district chief. The men could have been mistaken for militants planting roadside bombs, Baran said.

Squadron Leader Iain Bright, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said their troops targeted four insurgents "as they were digging." There were no reports of civilians casualties in the strike, Bright said.

The differing accounts could not be independently verified due to the remoteness of the area.

In a separate incident, a mine struck a civilian vehicle Tuesday in southwestern Nimroz province, killing the driver and wounding two civilians, said provincial police chief Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi.

Badakhshi blamed the militants for planting the mine on the road frequently used by foreign and Afghan troops.

ISAF rejects reported killing of 3 civilians in S Afghanistan

KABUL, April 1 (Xinhua) -- NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Tuesday rejected the reported killing of three civilians in Panjwai district of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, saying the casualties were militants.

"An ISAF patrol spotted insurgents placing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on a road close to an ISAF base in central Panjwayilast night, calling in air support killing three and wounding one," a statement of the alliance released here Tuesday said.

Earlier, Hajji Shah Baran, the governor of Panjwai district, told Xinhua that all the three victims were innocent civilian farmers irrigating their lands when they faced fatal air attack. Baran also called on NATO to initiate a probe into the incident.

"However, the individuals targeted were clearly identified by ISAF as insurgents placing explosives along the road," ISAF statement said.

In order to avoid harming non-combatants, Afghan President Hamid Karzai several times called on international troops to coordinate military operations with local authorities.

Taliban chief held after escaping twice

The Associated Press, 04/01/2008 - KANDAHAR - Police arrested a senior Taliban commander who escaped twice from prisons in Afghanistan, nabbing him during a clash in the country's south that left three insurgents dead, an official said Tuesday.

The militants, led by Taliban commander Mullah Naqibullah and dressed in police uniforms, ambushed a police convoy Monday north of the Helmand province capital of Lashkar Gah, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.

The ensuing gunbattle left three militants dead, and wounded two policemen and Naqibullah, who was taken into custody, Andiwal said.

It was the third time that authorities have arrested Naqibullah. Two months ago, Naqibullah managed to escape from the prison run by the Afghan intelligence service in Lashkar Gah, Andiwal said. Previously he had escaped from a prison in the capital, Kabul.

Helmand is the world's largest opium-producing province and the scene of fierce clashes between militants and Afghan and foreign troops.

In neighboring Kandahar province, an airstrike Monday killed three men irrigating land close to a road in Panjwayi district, said Shah Baran, the district chief. The men could have been mistaken for militants planting roadside bombs, Baran said.

Squadron Leader Iain Bright, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said their troops targeted four insurgents "as they were digging."

There were no reports of civilians casualties in the strike, Bright said. The differing accounts could not be independently verified due to the remoteness of the area.

In a separate incident, a mine struck a civilian vehicle Tuesday in southwestern Nimroz province, killing the driver and wounding two civilians, said provincial police chief Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi.

Badakhshi blamed the militants for planting the mine on the road frequently used by foreign and Afghan troops.

Afghan President leaves for Bucharest

Xinhua, 04/01/2008 - KABUL - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai left for Bucharest Tuesday to attend the three-day NATO summit opened on Wednesday, a statement issued by his office here said.

"His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic of Afghanistan, left for Bucharest, Romania, this morning to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Bucharest on 2-4 April," the statement said.

The Afghan leader, the statement said, would address at the summit wide range of issues related to Afghanistan's progress, the challenges ahead, lack of capacity to effectively fight terrorism, strengthening Afghan national army and NATO's strategy to Afghanistan.

At the sideline of the summit, the Afghan President would hold meetings with the world body's chief Ban Ki-moon, NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister of Britain and other leaders of countries to exchange views on bilateral issues, the statement said.

It is expected that the leaders of the 26-nations military alliance would issue a statement in supporting the post-Taliban Afghanistan and continuing military mission there.

President Karzai Welcomes the New UN Envoy to Afghanistan

March 29, 2008, The new U.N. Special Envoy to Afghanistan in a meeting on Saturday with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul vowed to support the people and the government of Afghanistan and help improve coordination between the Afghan government and international donors on aid and development efforts.

President Karzai welcomed Kai Eide to Afghanistan on his new post as the new UN Special Representative and wished him success with his new job.

The President called Eide a well- known Norwegian diplomat for his skills, experience and knowledge of coordinating international aid into more effect and assured him of his support of any efforts for that end.  

Then new UN Envoy thanked the international community and the Afghan government for the trust and confidence they have expressed in him and vowed he would not spare any efforts in serving and helping the people of Afghanistan. Mr. Eide arrived in Kabul on Friday to assume his new post.

A career diplomat with the Norwegian Foreign Service, Mr. Eide served as Permanent representative of Norway to NATO from 2002 to 2006. In 2005 he was Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo and from 1997-1998 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Mr. Eide replaces Tom Koenigs of Germany, who completed his assignment on December 2007.

Dr. Spanta congratulated the new Pakistani FM

Posted On: Apr 01, 2008

KABUL--Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan today morning congratulated Makhdom Shah Mahmoud Quraishi on his appointment as the Pakistan Minister of Foreign Affair, via a telephone talk.

Dr. Spanta assured him Afghanistan supports stability in the neighbor country, Pakistan and wishes its prosperity.

In his part Mr. Quraishi said fighting against terrorism, providing stability and security in Afghanistan and in the region are of priorities in his foreign policy.

He also described positively the process of jirgas for building cooperation between the two countries.

The newly appointed foreign minister of Pakistan declared that Afghanistan has been the first country which congratulated him on his appointment. He while appreciating the Afghan FM, invited him to visit Pakistan.

At the end of the telephone talk, the FMs of the two countries once again emphasized on fighting against terrorism and cooperation for providing stability and security in the region.

Afghan Lower House appreciates MFA

Posted On: Apr 01, 2008

KABUL--The head of the Lower House appreciated the on time reaction and activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through diplomatic channels relating to the release of the anti-Islamic film “Fitna”.

In the Saturday March 30 session of the International Relation Committee of the Lower House with the participation of the Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Mohammad Kabir Farahi, the activities of MFA and the Afghan political representatives abroad, and the press statement of MFA were reported, which was read afterward, at the public session of the Lower House.

The Afghan parliament while appreciating the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requested to follow the case, according to the UN International Civil and Political Rights Convention and other International principles, through diplomatic channels.

Pakistan rethinks US policy on militants

By Barbara Plett, BBC News, Islamabad Tuesday, 1 April 2008

There is a buzz of excitement in the wood-panelled assembly hall of Pakistan's parliament. After eight years of military rule, the new legislators feel empowered by an enormous popular mandate.

And they are ready to tackle unpopular policies, especially Pakistan's participation in what is called the War on Terror.

"We've gone through enough problems because of following different agendas of different countries - we need to follow our own agenda," said one parliamentarian from the governing coalition, speaking to a crush of reporters outside. "Pakistan must get out of America's fatal embrace," said another.

Comments like these alarm the Americans, because Pakistan is crucial to their Afghan policy.

Since 9/11 they have relied on President Pervez Musharraf and the army for cooperation against al-Qaeda and the Taleban, in exchange for billions of dollars.

Until now parliament was out of the loop. "No one in this country knows what General Musharraf has agreed with the Americans or anyone else!" says Ahsan Iqbal, a minister in the new cabinet.

The president apparently agreed to an increase in US air strikes in the Taleban strongholds near the Afghan border. These have killed around 50 people this year, including militants. Like everyone else, Mr Iqbal read about the tacit understanding in the newspaper.

Such heavy handed tactics "give a cause for these militants to fight for", he says, "so therefore I think whatever strategy we work out, the sovereignty of Pakistan must be respected and we should not give more fuel to these militants".

Pakistanis believe a deadly bombing campaign in the country is the price they are paying for missile strikes and large scale army operations against the militants.

Nearly a thousand people were killed in suicide attacks last year. And massive injections of American aid have made little difference to their security.

"The general perception in Pakistan is that the deal over the War on Terror was favourable only to one party and unfavourable to Pakistan," says Aseff Ahmad Ali, a member of the governing Pakistan Peoples' Party and a former foreign minister.

"The Americans give us a billion dollars a year for the War on Terror. But where has the money gone? We don't know, maybe to the army.

"But we do know there's been no trickle-down effect - there is neither internal (security) nor food security nor development. "To the common man the US-Pakistan deal looks absolutely awful. It has to be renegotiated."

In a speech outlining the government's policies, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani emphasized social and political reforms to address the causes of militancy. He also said the government would negotiate with those who laid down their arms.

Some of his coalition partners go further, like the Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP), which has gained power in the North West Frontier Province near the Afghan border.

"This problem is not going to be solved by my going to talk to the tribal elders only," the provincial chief minister, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, told the Dawn newspaper.

"Unless we somehow approach the one who has taken up arms, or is involved in suicide bombing or has gone to the other extreme, and reach an understanding with him, the problem would not be solved."

This is a long term solution, but does America have the patience to wait? The head of its Central Intelligence Agency is sounding very impatient.

"The situation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border presents a clear and present danger to... the West in general and the United States in particular," Michael Hayden said during a recent interview on NBC television.

"It's very clear to us that al-Qaeda has been able for the past 18 months or so to establish a safe haven along the border area that they have not enjoyed before.

"Operationally, we are turning every effort to capture or kill that leadership from the top to the bottom."

Tanvir Ahmed Khan, a former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan argues that "the Americans have leverage (in Pakistan), but not the same degree as before".

"There would be a restive parliament. There is no strong opinion in parliament for reversing the policy, but there is a strong opinion for moderating it, for a better mix between military and diplomatic measures."

But will Pakistan's powerful army agree? President Musharraf's attempts at peace deals only strengthened the militants and put the military on the back-foot, says retired General Shujaat Ali Khan. The military would be wary of going down the same path again.

"There may be an (initial) agreement on the part of the militants, to sort of pull back their punches", he says, "but during this two or three month period there is a danger that they may regroup. "And if the armed force is withdrawn, there may be a resurgence, and they'll strike again."

Many here also believe that peace inside Pakistan will be difficult, as long as American and Nato troops remain in Afghanistan. On Sunday the Pakistan Taleban Movement (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) responded to the government's overtures.

It said it was ready to end attacks inside Pakistan if the authorities showed flexibility, but the 'jihad' against America would continue in Afghanistan.

"Our war is with America", local Taleban leader Maulvi Faqir Muhammed told a rally. "Whenever Pakistan will work for American interests as its ally, we will oppose it."

Give up pro-US stance first’: Taliban set terms for talks with govt

PakistanLink, Pakistan, 03/31/2008 - KHAR - The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said on Sunday that it was ready for talks with the government, provided that Islamabad reverses its pro-American policies. TTP leaders told a rally in the Inayat Kalay Bazaar of Bajaur Agency that they welcomed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s announcement that the government would negotiate with the Taliban and end the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).

Yousaf Raza Gillani said on Saturday that fighting terrorism would be his top priority and offered to hold talks with those militants who laid down their weapons. “We are ready to talk to all those people who give up arms and are ready to embrace peace,” Gillani told parliament, prompting loud support from lawmakers. TTP leaders, including Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, Maulvi Sher Bahadar, Dr Muhammad Ismail, and party spokesman Maulvi Omar, also demanded the implementation of Sharia law and the jirga system according to tribal traditions. Jihad against US: They said jihad against America would continue in Afghanistan. However, they added that they were ready to end their activities and improve law and order in Pakistan if the government showed flexibility.

Faqir said Islamabad should not cooperate with the United States, AP reported. “Whenever Pakistan will work for American interests as its ally, we will oppose it,” Faqir said, amid chants of “death to America”. The TTP leaders said that the Taliban were defenders of the country and that Pakistan’s western border was safe because of them, according to a staff report. They warned alleged kidnappers in the area that they would face consequences if they did not release all hostages within 24 hours.

The TTP meeting also passed resolutions calling for the removal of “unnecessary” checkposts in the area and the lifting of a ban on vehicles on which customs had not been paid. Warnings: The TTP leaders said that they would not allow anyone to demand interest on loans; asked women to adopt the veil; and warned tribal elders not to meet American officials.

They reiterated that they were observing the ceasefire reached with the government, but said they would not surrender their weapons as long as America and its allies were present in Afghanistan. About 5,000 people, including hundreds of armed militants, attended the rally, according to AFP.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), said the new administration would try to prevent the US military from launching airstrikes inside Pakistan, AP reported. “We will try our best to stop America from making any further attacks in our border areas,” Rehman told reporters in Multan. A recent wave of violence in the country has been largely blamed on Al Qaeda-inspired militant groups operating from tribal areas such as Waziristan and Bajaur.

Two senior US officials - John Negroponte, the deputy secretary of State and Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of State - visited Pakistan last week to discuss with the country’s new leaders how best to work together for a new approach. staff report/agencies

The Haqqani Network and Cross-Border Terrorism in Afghanistan

Jamestown Foundation, DC, By Imtiaz Ali (from Terrorism Monitor, March 24)
03/24/2008

There has been an increase recently in alleged missile strikes inside Pakistani territory by U.S. forces operating across the border in Afghanistan. The attacks come at a time when there is a growing call in the United States for strikes on Pakistani territory to take out al-Qaeda safe havens believed to exist in the tribal agencies along the Afghan border. NATO military commanders in Kabul have time and again expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of Pakistani security agencies in stopping the infiltration of armed Taliban groups like the “Haqqani Network” from Pakistan’s tribal areas into Afghanistan. Despite the fact that U.S. authorities have consistently expressed their respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty, they are simultaneously growing impatient with the growing strength of the militants on the Pakistani side of the border. According to U.S. officials, the cross-border activities of these militants have a direct impact on U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

Attack on Lwara Mundi - A March 12 missile attack targeted a home in the town of Lwara Mundi in North Waziristan, killing two women and two children. Pakistan quickly registered a protest with the Coalition forces in Afghanistan, deploring what an official called “the killing of innocent people.” However, U.S.-led Coalition officials in Kabul said that the target of the precision-guided missile was a safe house of the Haqqani Network based in the border region of the North Waziristan agency (Daily Nation [Lahore], March 14). Just a day after Pakistan lodged its protest over the attack in Lwara Mundi, another missile attack on March 16 left as many as 20 killed, including a number of foreign fighters, when a house was targeted in Shahnawaz Kheil Doog village near Wana, the regional headquarters of South Waziristan. It is believed that the missiles were fired from two U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the belief that the house was being used as a training camp for terrorists (Daily Post [Lahore], March 14). Though a U.S. Central Command spokesman would only say the missiles were not fired by any military aircraft—Predator UAVs are operated by the CIA—U.S. forces took responsibility for the earlier “precision-guided ammunition strike” on Lwara Mundi but made it clear that the target was the Haqqani Network (Daily Mail [Islamabad], March 14; AFP, March 13; Reuters, March 17). A spokesman for Coalition forces in Afghanistan said that Pakistan was informed after the attack, not before. The spokesman made it clear that U.S. forces will respond in the future as well if they identify a threat from across the border in Pakistan’s tribal belt (Daily Times [Lahore], March 14). Though the Pakistani tribal region has been a center of concern since late 2001 when hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters took refuge there, the lawless belt between Pakistan and Afghanistan is now receiving attention for the growing activities of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group which has been spearheading the insurgency against U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

A Profile of the Haqqani Network - The “Haqqani Network” is a group of militants led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani. Jalaluddin, who is said to be in his late 70s, is a noted Taliban commander with a bounty on his head and a place on the U.S. most-wanted list. Jalaluddin Haqqani is considered to be the closest aide of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and was a noted mujahideen commander in the 1980s resistance against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. He rose to prominence after playing a leading role in the defeat of Muhammad Najibullah’s communist forces in Khost in March 1991. After the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 1995, the senior Haqqani joined the Taliban movement and rose to the top echelon of power in the regime. He remained a minister during the Taliban government and a top consultant to Mullah Omar. The senior Haqqani has rarely been seen in public since the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001, when he is believed to have crossed into Pakistan’s Waziristan Tribal Agency to evade the advance of Coalition forces. There are continuous rumors that he is seriously ill or has even died. However, his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, alias Khalifa, has not only filled the void created by the absence of his veteran jihadi father, but his well-organized group, known as the Haqqani Network, has emerged as the most dangerous and challenging foe for the Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network is based in the Dande Darpa Khel village near Miramshah, headquarters of the North Waziristan Tribal Agency. The town is about 10 miles from the Afghan border. Sirajuddin, believed to be in his early thirties, has a $200,000 bounty on his head. He belongs to the Zadran tribe of Afghanistan, which also has roots on the Pakistani side of the border. Residents in Dande Darpa Khel say that the junior Haqqani grew up in this small and remote town of North Waziristan, once the operational headquarters of his father’s jihadist activities. It is said that he attended the now defunct religious seminary which his father founded in the early 1980s in the town of Bande Darpa Khel. Though he could not be considered a religious scholar, Sirajuddin certainly sharpened his jihad skills under the guidance of his father. Considered to be the leader of a new generation of Taliban militants on both sides of the border and a bridge between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, NATO officials have recently declared him as one of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in the ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan (Los Angeles Times, March 14). He is suspected as the mastermind behind the deadly attack on Kabul's only five-star hotel last January, which left eight people killed, including three foreigners (Daily Times, March 4). A U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base described Sirajuddin’s role in a series of devastating suicide bombings: “We believe him to be much more brutal and much more interested in attacking and killing civilians. He has no regard for human life, even those of his Afghan compatriots” (AP, February 21). The United States has offered a $200,000 bounty for Sirajuddin, who is expanding his operations from east Afghanistan into the central and southern regions.

Sirajuddin has evaded capture several times despite attempts by Pakistani security forces to arrest him at his house and seminary in Miramshah in North Waziristan. In 2005 Pakistani officials raided his headquarters in Dande Darpa Khel, the religious seminary and residential compound used by his network. The raiding party seized huge caches of weapons and ammunitions but Sirajuddin again escaped arrest (Dawn [Karachi], September 15, 2005).

Sirajuddin is also reported to have taken credit for a suicide-truck bombing in Khost on March 3 that killed two NATO soldiers and two Afghan civilians (Xinhua, March 13). The attack on a government building involved a truck loaded with explosives, drums of petrol, mines and gas cylinders. A Taliban videotape of the bombing was released on March 20, including a statement from the German-born suicide bomber, Cuneyt Ciftci—also known as Saad Abu Furkan—“The time has arrived to give sacrifices to Islam. Since we lack resources to fight the enemy, we will have to turn our bodies into bombs” (Newkerala.com, March 20).

On the Pakistani side of the border, Sirajuddin’s influence has been growing as a “revered jihadist commander.” He strongly opposed Maulvi Nazir’s campaign against Uzbek and other foreign militants waged earlier this year by the militant tribal leader in South Waziristan (see Terrorism Monitor, January 11). He is reported to have played an important role in stopping the fighting between Maulvi Nazir’s tribal militia and Uzbek militants in Wana and the surrounding area in March last year. Sirajuddin took part in a tribal jirga, attempting to sort out differences between combatant foreigners and local militants, but the talks collapsed when Maulvi Nazir asked for the surrender of all foreign militants residing in the region bordering Afghanistan (Dawn, March 24, 2007). In late January, two arrested members of the Haqqani Network revealed that up to 200 suicide bombers had infiltrated into Pakistan’s cities in preparation for the current wave of bombings (Khabrain [Lahore], January 28).

Two months ago, one of Sirajuddin’s most important commanders, Darim Sedgai, was reported killed after being ambushed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan, though spokesmen for the Haqqani Network claim that Sedgai is recovering from his wounds (The News [Karachi], January 28). Coalition forces in Kabul confirmed the killing of Sedgai, who was known as a powerful commander of the Haqqani Network, overseeing the manufacture and smuggling of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) into Afghanistan. These activities led U.S. forces to post a $50,000 reward for information leading to his death or arrest. A native of the North Waziristan agency, Sedgai was a follower of Jalaluddin Haqqani and fought under his command with the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Until his reported death in January, Sedgai was an important leader of the Haqqani Network and was considered to be a close friend of Sirajuddin Haqqani (Pajhwok Afghan News, January 28).

Conclusion - Afghan officials as well as Coalition forces in Kabul have cited Sirajuddin’s use of North Waziristan as operational headquarter for his alleged cross-border terrorist activities as one example of Pakistan’s inability to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in its tribal areas. Though the Pakistan government regards these claims as baseless, it is known that two years ago Sirajuddin issued a circular urging militants to continue their “jihad” against the United States and the Karzai government “till the last drop of blood.” But in the same statement he pointed out that “fighting Pakistan does not conform to Taliban policy those who [continue to wage] an undeclared war against Pakistan are neither our friends nor shall we allow them in our ranks” (Dawn, June 23, 2006). There are signs that this is no longer the policy of the Haqqani faction of the Taliban.

As the Haqqani Network has risen to the first rank of the Taliban insurgency it can be expected that U.S.-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan will continue to target Sirajuddin Haqqani and the rest of the network leadership. With such strikes now occurring on Pakistani soil the Haqqanis are emerging as a serious domestic problem for Islamabad. How it chooses to deal with the Haqqani Network threat will provide a test case for Pakistan’s role in the ongoing war on terror.

Imtiaz Ali is a Pakistan-based journalist working as a special correspondent for the Washington Post.

Culture, Politics Hinder U.S. Effort to Bolster Pakistani Border Forces

By Candace Rondeaux and Imtiaz Ali, Washington Post, March 30, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A project to send U.S. military advisers to train Pakistani border forces could begin as early as this summer. But the advisers, according to Western and Pakistani military officials, face serious challenges if they are to transform an ill-equipped paramilitary group into a front-line bulwark against terrorism.

Twenty-two American advisers are being tasked with training a cadre of officers in Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counterinsurgency and intelligence-gathering tactics, according to U.S. officials in Pakistan familiar with the plan. The goal is to bolster the force's operations along the country's porous 1,500-mile-long border with Afghanistan, an area that has become a hotbed for the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as their sympathizers.

But military analysts say that cultural and political fault lines within the Frontier Corps and Pakistan itself could prove the undoing of the U.S. program. The bulk of the force's rank-and-file troops are ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom are wary of going into battle against a Pashtun-dominated insurgency. Commanders, meanwhile, are regular army officers who often have little in common with their subordinates.

Maj. Gen. Mohammed Alam Khattak, the top commander of the Frontier Corps, said the move to train and equip his 80,000-strong force was long overdue. He expressed frustration with a slow-moving military bureaucracy that has left his troops to fight an insurgency with World War II-era rifles. In a recent interview at a newly opened Pakistani-Afghan border intelligence center, Khattak said his troops have been stymied by a doctrine of conventional warfare in an age of counterinsurgency.

"It's very difficult, but our force is an old force," Khattak said. "This is not the first eruption of an insurgency that we've seen. We are on a global geopolitical fault line."

About 30,000 Frontier Corps troops are deployed in the southeastern province of Baluchistan; about 50,000 are deployed in North-West Frontier Province, which has witnessed a fierce resurgence of Taliban activity since 2006.

Those units, poorly equipped and lacking support from the army, have suffered devastating defeats over the past six years. About 300 troops have been killed since 2001. Low salaries and inconsistent medical evacuation services for wounded troops have also dimmed morale, Khattak said. "Many of our casualties were not warranted. If we had been better equipped, we would not have seen so many casualties," he said.

In January, seven Frontier Corps troops were killed and 15 were missing after more than 200 Taliban fighters overran a fort in a nighttime assault in the remote tribal area of South Waziristan. The next day, another brutal assault on a nearby Frontier Corps post forced several more troops to flee.

Kidnappings of Frontier Corps members have also become common. Last August, pro-Taliban militants took 16 soldiers hostage in South Waziristan. One was beheaded, his killing later shown on a DVD distributed in the tribal areas. The remaining 15 troops were freed in a deal brokered by tribal leaders and local officials. But such incidents have fueled an increase in desertions and further hurt morale, according to troops, military officials and analysts.

"When you have a position that is only manned by five or six men and it's confronted by a contingent of dozens of Taliban militants, there's not a lot of incentive to stay and fight," a Western military official said. "As far as some of these Frontier Corps guys go, they think: 'What's the point in resisting these guys? If I don't fight, I live to see another day.' "

About 8,400 Frontier Corps troops are to receive training in a program that calls for U.S. advisers to remain in the country for up to two years. The $400 million program also calls for the paramilitary force to be equipped with more modern weaponry, body armor and better medevac services.

Many officials have expressed confidence that the program will improve the chances of survival for members of the paramilitary force. Yet almost all agreed that trainers will have to move fast to ready the troops for what could be a years-long conflict with rapidly growing militant forces inside Pakistan.

"These guys are Pashtuns, so they know the local areas. But there are problems. There's been this kind of historical stepchild relationship with the army," said a Western diplomat, who like many officials interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity because of the politically sensitive nature of the training program. "They've got different levels of equipment, different levels of medevac services than the army. One of the concerns we've heard about is: 'What happens if we get killed? What happens to our families?' "

Low wages, bribery, nepotism and poor equipment are just a few of the complaints among rank-and-file troops. Sadiq Ali, a former member of the corps, said he served two years before deciding to desert. He had spent most of his time on the front lines, in the troubled tribal area of North Waziristan, which has become a refuge for al-Qaeda and its pro-Taliban supporters.

"I personally fought against Taliban on several occasions in different places near the Afghan border, and some of them were really fierce. The Taliban are skillful fighters," Ali said.

Ali said he joined the Frontier Corps to help his family financially. But the meager wages were hardly enough to keep him in. He said his family pressured him to leave his post after the Frontier Corps suffered several widely publicized and bloody defeats in North Waziristan. "My family was very much concerned about my life when they would read news about all the bloody clashes in Waziristan," Ali said. "No parents would risk their children's lives just for a few thousand rupees a month."

Frontier Corps soldiers average $60 to $70 a month, or a little more than half what their counterparts in the regular Pakistani army make and a third less than Afghan army troops do. Part of the U.S. military aid will go toward improving the paramilitary force's salaries, Khattak said.

But money might not be much of a motivator for troops who have grown up in a region where religious conservatism is deeply entrenched. Besides sharing a common ethnic bond with the militants, many of the Frontier Corps troops attended the religious schools, or madrassas, run by the Taliban members that they now find themselves fighting.

Zeeshan, a 21-year-old Frontier Corps deserter who gave only his first name for fear of reprisals, said he left his unit in December after witnessing dozens of bloody skirmishes during his two-year tour in North and South Waziristan. He left his post after getting leave to attend a cousin's wedding in North-West Frontier Province, and decided never to pick up arms again for the Pakistani military.

"I didn't know why we were fighting this war," he said. "It was all about following the orders of my senior officers, and that's it."

'Foreigners' at work to help Karzai win poll: MP

Pajhwok News Agency, 03/31/2008 By Makia Monir

KABUL - Foreign circles are supporting President Hamid Karzai in the Wolesi Jirga in an attempt to help him win the forthcoming presidential election, a lawmaker from Ghazni has alleged.

Speaking in the Lower House on Wednesday, Muhammad Daud Sultanzai claimed the powers that be were trying to pave the way for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections.

Without naming the foreign supporters of Karzai, the parliamentarian argued everyone had the right to vote for an ideal candidate but Parliament was not a campaign venue.

"At an appropriate time, I will name the alien backers of Karzai," promised Sultanzai, who believed the time was yet ripe for such a disclosure. "At the moment, my information is not complete," he added.

Sultanzai pointed out the legislators had overwhelmingly voted in favour of conducting the elections on separate dates. They agreed simultaneous polls were against the Constitution, he continued.

Speaker Muhammad Younis Qanuni said they discussed at length the parliamentary and presidential polls at a meeting attended by President Hamid Karzai, jihadi leaders and officials of the Supreme Court and Attorney-General Office.

Jihadi leaders and a number of officials supported our stance (holding parliamentary and presidential polls separately) but some presidential advisors insisted simultaneous elections are not against the Basic Law, the speaker recalled.

Sultanzai felt there was no need for meetings on an issue already settled by Parliament. "Such discussions at the Presidential Palace confuse us because we have already decided on separately conducting parliamentary and presidential elections."

Bin Laden at 1986 arms deal, book says

WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden and his half-brother went to London in 1986 to discuss buying several surface-to-air missiles for the mujahedin in Afghanistan, a book says.

"The Bin Ladens," a newly released book by former Washington Post correspondent and noted bin Laden expert, Steve Coll, says bin Laden and his half brother, Salem, met with "contacts" at the Dorchester hotel in London to negotiate the sale of Russian SA-7 missiles from German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch.

The book alleges the government of Saudi Arabia paid for the weapons and set up the actual sale in South America, The Washington Post said Tuesday.

The U.S. and Saudi governments in 1986 supported the mujahedin in their resistance to the occupation of the Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. Though the United States arranged to supply the mujahedin with Stinger missiles to shoot down Russian aircraft, Coll says in the book the Afghans were wary of having too strong a link with the Americans.

The book makes several claims, including allegations the former mujahedin and current Taliban leader, Jalauddin Haqqani, got "unilateral" funding from the CIA in the late 1980s.

Coll's 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Ghost Wars" examines the rise of the al-Qaida network following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.

Afghan Corruption a Growing Concern

TIME, 04/01/2008 By Aryn Baker in Kabul

Afghanistan will top the agenda when NATO member nations gather this week in Bucharest to discuss the state of the alliance. General Dan McNeil, commander of the alliance's 43,250 troops in Afghanistan, has lobbied for reinforcements to help battle the rising insurgency in the country's south. But commanders on the ground would also like a little more help from the Afghans on whose behalf they're fighting. "Frankly, defeating the Taliban is the least of our worries," says one. "They are not going to beat us. It's not them that are crippling the economy. What is killing this country is corruption and drugs. That is not for NATO to deal with; that is for the Afghan government to deal with." Military measures are temporary, at best: If Afghans don't trust their government, NATO's best efforts will ultimately be futile.

Transparency International ranked Afghanistan 172 out of the 179 countries surveyed last year on its corruption-perceptions Index. Hardly surprising, then, that despite thousands more troops on the ground and billions of dollars in aid, the Taliban insurgency has only grown stronger. Ordinary Afghan people are fed up with a government that has squandered their faith and hope by pillaging whatever small treasures remain after 27 years at war. Yet they also resent the international forces that put that government in power but look away when it doesn't fulfill its duties. And the distance between the people and the government in Afghanistan is ever widening, creating fertile ground for the insurgency to take root even amongst those who welcomed the new government when it first came to power.

"Corruption is the tree. Terrorism, destabilization, smuggling and poppy are its branches," says parliamentarian Hossein Balkhi. "If you cut down corruption, the rest will die."

Every Afghan has a story about corruption. The electronics store owner in my old neighborhood in the capital, Kabul, hasn't had electricity for the past year, because he refuses to pay the $400 bribe required to secure a connection to the electrical grid. The scarcity of so many basic necessities allows petty corruption to flourish in many corners of the world without necessarily feeding an insurgency. But Afghanistan's corruption is intimately linked to a culture of violence. The driver of an Afghan friend was picked up one day by the police, beaten, stripped naked and left outside in the snow for several nights until his employer paid a bribe of $3,000 to release him. The principled stance would have been to complain, but to whom? And for how many days? And what if it only made things worse? "We could have complained afterwards," says the employer. "But then we could have been charged ourselves for bribery." The electronics shop owner, Adel Shah, 22, puts it succinctly: "Even robbery victims won't go to the courts because you have to pay a bribe. You would have to quit your job in order to complain to the police, because it takes so much time."

And also money. According to Afghans, judges routinely accept bribes for favorable verdicts. Mohammad Mumtaz, an Afghan businessman visiting from the U.S., tells the story of a cousin's property dispute gone bad. His opponent paid a higher bribe to the court, and his cousin landed in jail for trying to get a squatter off his land. But it turned out OK, says Mumtaz. The cousin went through a broker who was a friend of the judge, paid $6500, and was released a month early. Such stories take on a more somber note when criminals and alleged members of the Taliban are involved — such as Timur Shah, sentenced to death for kidnap, rape and murder, who "escaped" on the eve of his execution last October, while the other 16 men on death row met their intended fate.

"What do you expect," asks Izzatullah Wasifi, Director of the General Independent Administration of Anti- Corruption and Bribery, "when we pay a [policeman] $60 a month, give him a gun, and tell him to stand up against terrorists and narcotics smugglers, when everyone around him is corrupt? We pay him nothing and expect him to act like an angel and go home and feed his family what — dust, rocks?" The solution, he says, is better training and higher salaries, both of which are forthcoming under a new U.S.-led national police-training program. But as long as higher government officials act with impunity, corruption will not be seen as a crime. "You have to start from the top," says Wasifi. "If I don't take it, then my department won't take it. If I take it, how can I expect people below me not to?"

Last fall, President Hamid Karzai admitted that several senior officials were involved in corruption. Though he didn't reveal any names, he swore to take action. Five months later, not a single official has been successfully prosecuted. Meanwhile, politicians and ministers build mansions and collect armored SUVs worth far more than their yearly salaries. "If we can't punish them, how do we tell a small government official who makes $40 a month not to take bribes?" asks Wasifi.

Wasifi understands the value of punishment. Twenty years ago he served time in an American jail for dealing drugs. "I paid for it. I learned. This is why I believe in good law. It works."

The Taliban, for all its draconian practices and human rights abuses, is also remembered for bringing order following the excesses of rival commanders in the country's civil war. Crime was punished — brutally and in excess, yes, but visibly and uniformly. If the Taliban and the insurgents can convincingly offer civilians a return to law and order, they will gain support. The Afghan government may realize that it's better to take a page from their book — tempered with human rights and due process — than to be defeated by an inability to crush corruption.

The Taliban will talk, but no 'sugar-coating'

Asia Times, 04/01/2008 By Syed Saleem Shahzad - KARACHI - While responding positively to the Pakistani government's offer of peace talks, the Pakistani Taliban have demanded the release of several key personalities in return for the Taliban freeing about 250 security personnel they are holding.

The Pakistani Taliban's list includes Maulana Abdul Aziz, a prayer leader of the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, Mullah Obaidullah, a former minister of defense under Taliban rule in Afghanistan and Muslim Dost, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner now in Inter-Services Intelligence detention.

In return, the Pakistani Taliban have offered the safe return of 250 security personnel from their custody.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said the newly elected government would seek peace with the Taliban and offered to hold talks with militants who laid down their weapons.

The Taliban's demand is the first challenge to the new cabinet to make an urgent choice between internal peace on the one side and resentment from Islamabad's "war on terror" allies on the other.

"This demand was given from Baitullah Mehsud's camp as soon as Islamabad proposed dialogue," a source affiliated with the Shura of Mujahideen in the North Waziristan tribal area told Asia Times Online. Mehsud is a leading Pakistani Taliban figure.

Gillani has vowed to eradicate militancy from the country through dialogue. He has also taken the bold step of moving to abolish discriminatory British colonial tribal laws. The Pashtun sub-nationalist Awami National Party, which forms part of a coalition government in North-West Frontier Province, has confirmed it has already started negotiations with the Taliban for peace in the tribal areas. The Taliban have welcomed the change of government in Pakistan.

And the Taliban have a potent bargaining chip in the form of their 250 captives, who include members of the Khasadar tribal force, the Frontier Corps and the Pakistani army seized during clashes between the Taliban and the Pakistani security forces over the past months.

All of the captives are in the custody of Mehsud's men. The hardline al-Qaeda-linked Mehsud, who is wanted in connection with the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto and other suicide attacks in Pakistan, is believed to no longer be in the tribal areas; his only possible hideout could be in Afghanistan, from where he is thought to be sending messages through his local contacts and tribal intermediaries.

A no-win situation?
The government in Islamabad is now in the unenviable position of having to decide between giving in to the Pakistani Taliban's demands and releasing some of its most-wanted detainees, or submitting to inevitable war. Neither option is appealing.

The second-most important ally in the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, fared well in February's parliamentary elections by opposing the policies of President Pervez Musharraf during his years as a military ruler.

Specifically, the party promised the nation it would stop highly contentious military operations in the tribal areas and launch an investigation into the Lal Masjid operation in which the mosque was stormed last year to clear it of radicals. The party also said it would reconstruct the Jamia Hafsa, a women's seminary adjacent to Lal Masjid which was demolished during the operation, and have all prisoners taken during the incident released.

"Yes, we are fully committed to abide by our promises. We will get the investigations into the Lal Masjid operation done, get their prisoners released and reconstruct the women's seminary," said the newly elected member of the National Assembly (and now the minister for youth affairs) Khawaja Saad Rafiq in a television talk show last week.

The problem is, this stance is at odds with that of the leading coalition partner, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Although the PPP desperately wants peace in the country, it will not be at the expense of the "war on terror".

On Monday, the government announced the appointment of Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, retired Major General Mahmood Ali Durrani, as national security advisor to the prime minister. This indicates the PPP does not have any intention of pulling back from its "war on terror" commitments or from Washington's agenda in the region.

Durrani took immediate retirement after the death in a plane crash in 1988 of military dictator General Zia ul-Haq and went to the United States, where he worked for various policy think-tanks. He is considered to be very close to Washington's decision-making community. Due to this rapport, he was appointed envoy to Washington in June 2006 by the Musharraf government. The family of Zia has accused Durrani as being a conspirator in the mysterious plane crash in which Zia died.

One of the most compelling reasons for the PPP not to comply with the demands of the militants - even at the cost of a war with them - is financial. Special secretary at the Ministry of Finance Ashfaq Hassan Khan recently revealed that the US did not release the promised funds for Pakistan's expenditures in the "war on terror" last year and as a result Pakistan was forced to take loans from local banks worth US$5.6 billion.

Should Pakistan now bow to the militants' demands it will surely be seen in Washington as reneging on its "war on terror" commitments, which could mean further money being withheld - as much as $1.25 billion a quarter.

"The age of sugar-coated dialogue is over. If the government means business, it has to make a bargain, otherwise, to us, nothing is changed," a contact belonging to the Pakistani Taliban camp in the tribal areas told Asia Times Online.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]