Pakistan does not have enough troops to deploy to Baluchistan to take on the Taliban without denuding its border with its archenemy, India, the officials said. Dialogue with the Taliban, not more fighting, is in Pakistan’s national interest, they said.
The Pakistani account made clear that even as the United States recommits troops and other resources to take on a growing Taliban threat, Pakistani officials still consider India their top priority and the Taliban militants a problem that can be negotiated. In the long term, the Taliban in Afghanistan may even remain potential allies for Pakistan, as they were in the past, once the United States leaves.
The Pakistani officials gave views starkly different from those of American officials regarding the threat presented by top Taliban commanders, some of whom the Americans say have long taken refuge on the Pakistani side of the border.
Recent Pakistani military operations against Taliban in the Swat Valley and parts of the tribal areas have done little to close the gap in perceptions.
Even as Obama administration officials praise the operations, they express frustration that Pakistan is failing to act against the full array of Islamic militants using the country as a base.
Instead, they say, Pakistani authorities have chosen to fight Pakistani Taliban who threaten their government, while ignoring Taliban and other militants fighting Americans in Afghanistan or terrorizing India. ...<cont>
Senior ministers and commanders on the ground believe they have created the right conditions to open up a dialogue with "second-tier" local leaders now the Taliban have been forced back in a swath of Helmand province.
They are hoping that Britain's continuing military presence in Helmand, strengthened by the arrival of thousands of US troops, will encourage Taliban commanders to end the insurgency. There is even talk in London and Washington of a military "exit strategy". ....<cont>
In early April, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown joined an international chorus of condemnation when the Guardian revealed that the earlier version of the law legalised rape within marriage, according to the UN.
Although Karzai appeared to back down, activists say the revised version of the law still contains repressive measures and contradicts the Afghan constitution and international treaties signed by the country.
Islamic law experts and human rights activists say that although the language of the original law has been changed, many of the provisions that alarmed women's rights groups remain, including this one: "Tamkeen is the readiness of the wife to submit to her husband's reasonable sexual enjoyment, and her prohibition from going out of the house, except in extreme circumstances, without her husband's permission. If any of the above provisions are not followed by the wife she is considered disobedient."
The law has been backed by the hardline Shia cleric Ayatollah Mohseni, who is thought to have influence over the voting intentions of some of the country's Shias, which make up around 20% of the population. Karzai has assiduously courted such minority leaders in the run up to next Thursday's election, which is likely to be a close run thing, according to a poll released yesterday.
Human Rights Watch, which has obtained a copy of the final law, called on all candidates to pledge to repeal the law, which it says contradicts Afghanistan's own constitution.
The group said that Karzai had "made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in the support of fundamentalists in the August 20 election".
Brad Adams, the organisation's Asia director, said: "The rights of Afghan women are being ripped up by powerful men who are using women as pawns in manoeuvres to gain power.
"These kinds of barbaric laws were supposed to have been relegated to the past with the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, yet Karzai has revived them and given them his official stamp of approval."
The latest opinion poll by US democracy group the International Republican Institute showed that although Karzai was up 13 points to 44% since the last survey in May, his closest rival, Abdullah Abdullah, had soared from 7% to 26%.
If those numbers prove accurate, it would mean the contest would have to go to a second round run-off vote in early October. In that scenario, 50% of voters said they would vote for Karzai and 29% for Abdullah.
The survey was conducted in mid to late July, so it is not known whether Abdullah has made further gains on Karzai.
He could further increase his chance of victory by joining forces with Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister who is also running on a platform fiercely critical of Karzai.
Fifty-eight per cent of the 2,400 people polled by IRI said they would like to see an alliance between Abdullah and Ghani, who is polling in fourth place.
And Karzai's "our" preferred leader?
God (should there be one!) help the women of Afghanistan. How much worse can things get for them?
I foresee lots more refugees fleeing the place, with men like this in charge of affairs. This is "back to the future" stuff!
Thousands of voting cards have been offered for sale and thousands of dollars offered in bribes to buy votes.
The findings come as campaigning closes ahead of Thursday's election in which incumbent President Hamid Karzai faces more than 30 challengers.
Early on Tuesday, two rockets hit targets in central Kabul, without causing injuries, Reuters reports.
One rocket caused some damage inside the presidential palace compound, and a second hit the city's police headquarters.
Militants have said they will disrupt the elections, and have already targeted the capital twice this month.
A Taliban spokesman quoted by Reuters claimed that four rockets had been fired in the latest attack.
Multiple voting cards
An Afghan working for the BBC went undercover in Kabul to investigate reports that voting cards were being sold.
He was offered 1,000 cards, each costing around £6 ($10). Other vendors made similar offers.
It is impossible to know how many voting cards have been sold in such a manner, says the BBC's Ian Pannell in Kabul, but there have been a number of arrests.
Multiple voting cards are reported to have been issued to some individuals, while government workers have actively and illegally campaigned for candidates, says our correspondent.
An influential tribal leader in the north of the country said he had been offered thousands of pounds by campaign teams in exchange for delivering large blocks of votes.
Final rallies
An independent monitoring group said it had shown evidence of corruption to election officials but they had not acted on the information.
Preparations in Afghanistan for Thursday's election
But Western officials have said that, while the election will be flawed, Afghanistan should not be held to the same standards as elsewhere and that a flawed election is still better than no vote at all.
Mr Karzai is seen as the frontrunner in the race.
On Monday, a notorious ex-warlord and key ally of Mr Karzai, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, flew in from Turkey to endorse the president at his final campaign rally.
"We need to go with Hamid Karzai into the future," Gen Dostum told cheering supporters in Shiberghan, his home city.
Gen Dostum arrives at Kabul airport, Aug 16
The return of ex-warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum has alarmed the US
Two of Mr Karzai's main rivals, who formerly served under him as ministers, also held their final rallies on Monday.
In Kabul, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah addressed a crowd of 10,000 supporters, many wearing blue shifts or waving blue flags.
The ex-Finance Minister, Ashraf Ghani, addressed a rally of 5,000 in the eastern Nangarhar province.
Mr Ghani, who is running on a campaign of economic development, vowed to replace the "corrupt government with a legitimate one", according to French news agency, AFP.
The UN and the US both expressed concern at the timing of Gen Dostum's return and any prospective role he may have in government.
In a live televised election debate on Sunday, Mr Karzai defended his alliances with several Afghan warlords, saying they served the interests of national unity.
Taliban threat
The election is taking place amid mounting violence in the country, with Taliban militants threatening to harm anyone who takes part. There are fears that the turnout could be low as a result.
Afghan women and children at a rally in Kabul (17 August 2009)
A survey by the BBC's Afghan service suggests the government has limited or no control in 30% of the country.
The survey is based on assessments by reporters in the field who found that in 4% of Afghanistan's districts, the government provides no security or services.
The majority of them are in the south, where most Taliban attacks have taken place.
A spokesman for President Karzai said the government did not agree with the findings and there were security problems in just a few districts.
Our correspondent says that, while there is evidence of corruption, above all it is the ongoing war with the Taliban - in at least a third of the country - that makes this election far from normal.
But having invested so heavily in terms of time, money and even lives, Western officials are likely to declare the vote a success - whatever the flaws and challenges, he adds.
Seventeen million voters go to the polls on Thursday (local time) to elect a president for the second time in Afghanistan's history.
They will also elect 420 councillors in 34 provinces, in a huge logistical operation handicapped by insecurity and amid threats from the Taliban to attack polling stations.
President Hamid Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since the US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001, is the frontrunner but a strong campaign by former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah could force a run-off.
In Kabul, more than 10,000 people poured into a stadium - a once notorious Taliban execution ground - wearing blue baseball hats, waving blue flags, carrying pictures of Mr Abdullah and chanting his name over and over again.
In a vote stunt rare for Afghanistan, a helicopter circled overhead, dropping hundreds of leaflets with Mr Abdullah's photo, election sign and number as marked on the ballot paper to help even the illiterate majority vote.
Afghan police later arrested the pilots of two helicopters and campaign staff for allegedly violating Kabul airspace by dropping the leaflets.
"Hey compatriots, wake up, it is time for a big change," said the leaflets written in the three most common Afghan languages, Dari, Pashtu and Uzbeki.
Mr Karzai, whose office said eight candidates had now abdicated in his favour, leaving about 30 contenders in the fray, came under fire for alliances with warlords during a first television debate attended by an Afghan head of state.
In a 90-minute head-to-head broadcast Sunday, he was criticised by outspoken anti-corruption campaigners, ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani, and eccentric but popular Kabul lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost, over the alleged deals.
The US embassy in Kabul expressed serious concern to the Afghan government on Monday following the homecoming of key Karzai ally, infamous warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, "particularly during these historic elections". ...<cont>
