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NEWS JUST IN

MIRAMSHAH: A suspected US drone has been shot down in North Waziristan, sources said Sunday. The local tribesmen have claimed that they fired down the unmanned aircraft in Hamzoni area.

The unmanned aircraft came down in Humzoni area of Datta Khel in North Warisitan bordering Afghanistan, where there have been over 14 drone strikes over the past few weeks.

According to state TV, the drone was shot down while the tribesmen have also claimed that they fired down the pilotless aircraft.

Both the Pakistani and US authorities have maintained a silence on this officially, although it is suspected to be a warning to Langley from Pakistan’s Armed Forces to put an immediate halt to US airspace violations and missile attacks inside Pakistani territory. Relations between the two ‘allies’ appear to have taken a nose-dive in recent days.

“Too Little, Too Late, We Already Have Superior UAVs”

Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military sources say they are not impressed by the offer of the United States to supply RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as they already have superior quality UAVs, which they have upgraded, and which are in use.

The disappointment is understandable since unlike the drones that fly and take out targets inside Pakistan’s Fata region, the ones being offered to Pakistan are unarmed and commonly used for intelligence gathering.

Later, when DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas was asked about the overall weapons being provided to Pakistan for counterinsurgency and other military supplies, he remarked, “Too little, too late”.

It was US Defence Secretary Robert Gates who, in a meeting with the media at the residence of the US ambassador, said the US was enhancing Pakistan’s intelligence capabilities. He said the offer comes because Islamabad had requested for them. “We have a lot of information on the Afghan side that we share … we also help Pakistan build its own capacity. We will be providing them with UAVs (Shadow) together with equipment and training,” he said.

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PKKH Editorial

The tide has shifted dramatically in recent years. Resurgent Afghan Taliban, better armed, trained, and deadly effective, now have control over 80% of Afghan territory. There has been a significant increase in offensive targetting of US and NATO bases and Afghan government officials and buildings in the last couple of years, with even Kabul coming under increasing pressure.

On the other side of the border, the CIA and Indian supported TTP has been getting a hiding at the hands of Pakistan’s armed forces with even the US and NATO stunned at the efficiency and success of the army operations against TTP militants in Swat and South Waziristan. For the first time in 8 years, Pakistan now has the upper hand and has started to dictate terms to the US, starting last week with the rejection of US request to extend the operation to North Waziristan where Jalaluddin Haqqani’s faction allegedly operates from. Anticipating an imminent turnaround in Pakistan’s Afghan policy and fearing the US supply lines into Afghanistan may come under pressure, the US immediately sought to pacify the Pakistan Armed Forces with promises to deliver 12 ‘unarmed’ shadow drones – which hasn’t worked.

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A US chopper shot down by the Afghan Taliban – who now control over 80% of Afghan territory

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is reaching out to “all levels” of the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage reconciliation in its war-torn neighbour, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.

US President Barack Obama has said a political solution is needed to stabilise Afghanistan and emphasised that success would not be possible without the support of Pakistan.

“We are trying to reach out to them (Taliban) at all levels and all of us would like that our efforts should bring some results, but at this point in time it is very difficult to say,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said of Pakistan’s efforts.

The Afghan government is preparing a reintegration plan with the Taliban that targets lower to mid-level Taliban fighters, but has not focused on more senior leaders of the insurgency.

International donors are meeting in London on Jan 28 when Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to seek their support for his reintegration plan.

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Times of India Reports:

WASHINGTON: There’s nothing secret or subtle about it. Uncle Sam is seeking spies, informers, linguists, and analysts from immigrant communities in the US to diversify its intelligence work force and tackle national security challenges.

Undeterred by the Headley-Gilani episode, Washington is sounding out Pakistani-Americans in the first round of recruitment, ostensibly because its intelligence agencies see Pakistan as the epicenter of international terrorism and a clear and present danger to the world community.

In an extraordinarily open and transparent recruitment drive, Dennis Blair, who as director of National Intelligence is the country’s top intelligence czar, held a round-table discussion last week with the Pakistani-American community in Washington to seek their cooperation and offer jobs in US agencies.

What was remarkable about the outreach meeting was the presence there of Pakistani ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, amid strong resentment in Pakistan about the activities of the US intelligence agencies there and the uneasy relationship between the CIA and the ISI in the Af-Pak theatre.

This is the latest in the long list of Anti-state activities Hussain Haqqani has been found guilty in. His role adding the controversial clauses in the Kerry-Lugar bill has already put him on the warpath with Pakistan’s armed forces and Intelligence Agencies – which have been on Hussain Haqqani’s case for some time and are working towards his removal for his role in facilitating anti-state actors, alongwith that of Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Dawn

The US embassy on Saturday tried to paper over Defence Secretary Robert Gates’s diplomatic faux pas of confirming Blackwater presence in Pakistan by putting the blame on the media, but it found few takers. Secretary Gates’s impromptu comments in a television interview have renewed the focus on seething rage among Pakistanis about the involvement of private US security companies, particularly Blackwater, in the country.

The embassy, in a statement on Secretary Gates’s remarks, accused the television station and newspapers of inaccurate and dishonest reporting. “The television station and many newspapers chose to inaccurately portray his answer as tacit confirmation on the use of Blackwater in Pakistan instead of as a commentary on use of security contractors in general. At no time did Secretary Gates say that Blackwater is operating in Pakistan,” the statement said.

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