Pakistan

Stories 1081 - 1100 | << Prev   Next >>

Pakistan to Arm Local Militias
 Pakistan to Arm Local Militias 
Oct 23, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Pakistan to Arm Local Militias

Insurgency strategy, successful for US in Iraq, boosts American confidence in ally

(Newser) - Pakistan plans to give weapons to thousands of  tribal fighters along its border with Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports—a strategy that has helped the US in Iraq. The move to link the militias—called lashkars—to anti-Taliban efforts is a boost to US confidence in Pakistan’s military efforts,...

Foreign Views Prove Less Neat Than 'Hawk' and 'Dove'

Candidates have complicated ideas on American power

(Newser) - For the presidential candidates, divergent experiences in Asia—John McCain's time in a Vietnam prison, Barack Obama's childhood years in Indonesia—gave rise to opposing views of American power. Yet the nominees' foreign policy stances have often blurred during the campaign, with Obama appearing more hawkish and McCain more diplomatic,...

Pakistan Seeks Cash Amid Financial Crunch

(Newser) - Pakistan's new leaders are scrambling for foreign cash to ward off a possible economic meltdown at a time when they are trying to contain soaring violence by Islamic fundamentalists, the AP reports. Battered by high inflation and a plunging currency, the nuclear-armed country hopes global powers and financial institutions will...

Petraeus Panel to Rethink Iraq, Afghan Strategy

General assembles brain trust for 100-day review of regional efforts

(Newser) - Gen. David Petraeus is assembling a panel of experts to carefully reconsider US strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan, Iran and the surrounding region, reports the Washington Post. He's recruiting a handpicked brain trust of advisers from the private sector, State Department and Pentagon. The group will...

US Kills al-Qaeda in Iraq's No. 2

Insurgent leader specialized in recruiting

(Newser) - American troops acting on a tip killed the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq—a Moroccan known for his ability to recruit and motivate foreign fighters—in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said today. The man, known as Abu Qaswarah, was a charismatic...

US Missiles Kill 5 in Pakistan
 US Missiles Kill 5 in Pakistan 
Oct 12, 2008 6:07 AM CDT

US Missiles Kill 5 in Pakistan

Strike is second this week in militant stronghold

(Newser) - A pair of US missiles yesterday killed five militants in a Pakistani border community, according to a local intelligence official. Some were foreigners living in a village in North Waziristan, an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, the official said. US drones had been circulating for hours and delivered the missiles after...

Latest US Strike Kills 12 in Pakistan Border Region

9 suspected militants among casualties

(Newser) - Another US airstrike today killed at least 12 people in the Pakistani province of North Waziristan, sources tell the BBC, backing off original estimates of 20 casualties. “Most were foreigners,” an official told AFP, and nine are suspected of having been Islamic militants. Taliban fighters use the area...

Red Cross: Pakistan Now a War Zone

Tribal areas become war zone as government steps up assault on militants

(Newser) - Pakistan's escalating confrontation with the Taliban has plunged the country into full-scale war, the New York Times reports. A quarter of a million people have fled the fighting as the Pakistani army attacks the militants in tribal areas on at least three fronts, and 20,000 have flooded in desperation...

Zardari Slapped With Fatwa for Flirting With Palin

Pakistani feminists also angry at president for 'shameful' behavior

(Newser) - Asif Ali Zardari’s overly-friendly interaction with Sarah Palin earned Pakistan’s president a fatwa from a conservative mosque for salacious behavior, not to mention the scorn of feminists who accuse him of objectifying the US vice-presidential candidate, the Christian Science Monitor reports. At the UN last week, Zardari told...

Pakistan Helped Taliban Plan Afghan Attacks: Report

Leaked Spanish document alleges link between intelligence agency and militants

(Newser) - Pakistani spies armed Taliban insurgents in 2005 assassination plots against the Afghan government, Cadena Ser radio reports after obtaining a confidential Spanish defense document. Bearing the defense ministry’s seal, the report alleges that Pakistan’s intelligence gave the militants roadside bombs, and may have also provided intelligence and training....

Afghanistan Commander Calls for More Troops, Now

US General appeals for political support, manpower

(Newser) - The top US commander in Afghanistan today asked for more troops, as well as additional political and economic aid, "as quickly as possible" to combat a growing influx of foreign insurgents in the country, the AP reports. The fight against Islamic militants is going to get harder before it...

Three Warlords Loom Large in Afghanistan

Former anti-Soviet allies come back to haunt US

(Newser) - Behind Afghanistan’s recent escalation in violence looms three faces familiar to the US intelligence community. Mohammed Omar, founding mullah of the “Big T” Taliban government; Jalaluddin Haqqani, his one-time cabinet minister; and the ruthless Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are most responsible for leading the anti-government charge, the LA Times reports—...

Brits Want Diplomats' Kids Out of Volatile Pakistan

Spouses offered return to UK, too, after hotel bombing

(Newser) - Children of British diplomats stationed in Pakistan are returning home amid security concerns following the Marriott Hotel terrorist bombing in Islamabad last month. Britain will also allow spouses and other dependents to join the 60 kids as instability grows in the volatile nation, the Daily Telegraph reports. The departures are...

US Bombs Pakistani Village, Kills 6

(Newser) - Missiles launched by the US military struck a village in Pakistan's border region this morning killing at least six people, Pakistani officials told the Guardian. Two missiles were fired by a pilotless drone after it was shot at by tribesmen, reportedly striking the home of a local Taliban commander. The...

Taliban Leader Suspected in Bhutto Killing Dead

Baitullah Mehsud fell victim to kidney failure, Pakistani official say

(Newser) - The Taliban leader suspected in the December assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto died today, officials tell CNN. Baitullah Mehsud, believed to be 34, succumbed to kidney failure, sources in his native tribal region of South Waziristan said; though Pakistani military officials also claimed Mehsud had died, some...

US War on Terror Hasn't Hurt Al-Qaeda: World Poll

59% say efforts haven't damaged militants or made them stronger

(Newser) - In the eyes of many, the war on terror hasn’t damaged al-Qaeda: 29% of responders to a BBC poll conducted in 23 countries said US efforts had not affected the militant group, while 30% say al-Qaeda has actually been strengthened. Overall, 22% thought al-Qaeda had been weakened, while 34%...

Once-Nurtured Militants Have Pakistan Teetering on Brink

Paradoxically, insurgents strengthen after US-inspired strikes

(Newser) - Pakistan’s government is caught between two overbearing powers: the Taliban fighters who want to destroy it, and the American officials who inflame tensions between the government and its people. “The Pakistanis are truly concerned about their whole country unraveling,” a Western military official tells Dexter Filkins, who...

Pakistan Fires on US Choppers
 Pakistan Fires on US Choppers 
Sep 25, 2008 10:34 AM CDT

Pakistan Fires on US Choppers

Crew and craft not damaged, but tensions rise

(Newser) - Pakistani troops fired at American reconnaissance helicopters patrolling the Afghan-Pakistan border today, heightening tensions as US steps up cross-border operations in a region known as a haven for extremists. Two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters were on a routine afternoon patrol in the province of Khost when they received small-arms fire...

US Must Talk With Taliban: Pakistan Official

Frontier governor says insurgents have place in peace efforts

(Newser) - The governor of Pakistan’s tribal region says the US must negotiate with the Taliban if it hopes to bring peace to Afghanistan. “They have to talk to Mullah Omar, certainly—not maybe,” Owais Ghani told the Telegraph, referring to the group’s leader. “Political stability will...

US Drone Downed in Pakistan
 US Drone Downed in Pakistan 
Sep 24, 2008 7:27 AM CDT

US Drone Downed in Pakistan

Pakistan claims US spy craft crash-landed near Afghan border

(Newser) - The Pakistani military says it has recovered the wreckage of an American spy drone in the tense Afghan border region. Local tribesmen had earlier claimed to have shot the drone down, but Pakistani officials said the wreckage had no bullet holes, and apparently was downed by a malfunction. US officials...

Stories 1081 - 1100 | << Prev   Next >>