Bush-"US has no intention to strike inside Pakistan"

your easily pleased lol and we both know you wouldn't

Step up - you run and I'll campaign for you.

sorry too disappoint you ian,i would expect someone more intelligent than myself,to be the president of the most powerful,country in the world,maybe my standards are a lot higher than your's,you being a bush suppoorter.

You could run for some local office in your town - I could be your internet campaign manager.

Don't take this personal, but get hit by bus please. Fcuk Hitlery, and Obagman. America needs either Ron Paul, or one of the semi war candidates that aren't complete neocon douchebags, not a socialist.

And stop derailing my thread about a weak ass middle east terrorist supporter with distractions.

you think clinton/obama are socialists lol you americans,think anyone,left of centre is a socialist ! and who is this "weak ass middle east terrorist supporter" ?

Did you read the original post? Or did you just see that Pino posted here so you had to go make post about him? Send him a PM and you two can go back and forth all day. I am sick of getting a thousand emails about post here, and checking them only to see that it's just you two going back forth calling each other names, posting the same **** is twenty threads to each. ******* stop it.

YES SIR

BACK ON TOPIC:

Pakistan: Concern over nukes as al Qaeda camps empty

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat.



US intelligence investigates Pakistan's nuclear security and the military?s loyalty to Musharraf as the Northwest Frontier Province spins further out of control

As the security situation in the Northwest Frontier Province continues to deteriorate and President Pervez Musharraf's political stock continues to drop, the US military intelligence community is "urgently assessing how secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons would be in the event President Gen. Pervez Musharraf were replaced." Meanwhile, the Taliban and al Qaeda have dispersed operatives from the training camps in the Northwest Frontier Province and are preparing to fight on their own terms.

With the Pakistani government facing a robust Taliban insurgency in the Northwest Frontier Province, a significant al Qaeda presence inside the country and a violent cadre of homegrown Islamist extremists, the security of Pakistan?s nuclear arsenal has taken on an elevated importance. The US intelligence community believes it has a handle on the location of Pakistan?s nuclear warhead, but there are questions over who controls the launch codes in the event of Musharraf?s passing.

The US is also looking past the issue of the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. The loyalty of the conventional Pakistani military to President Musharraf is in question, according to CNN. "Musharraf controls the loyalty of the commanders and senior officials in charge of the nuclear program, but those loyalties could shift at any point," CNN reported on August 10. "There is also a growing understanding according to the U.S. analysis that Musharraf's control over the military remains limited to certain top commanders and units, raising worries about whether he can maintain control over the long term."

On the same day of the release of news on concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and the loyalty of the Pakistani military, the Asia Times' Syed Saleem Shahzad reported al Qaeda and Taliban camps in North and South Waziristan have emptied, the Taliban and al Qaeda are expanding into the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province, and are reorganizing in both Afghanistan and Pakistan for a major fight.

The Fourth Rail interviewed a senior US military intelligence official and a US military officer, both of whom are familiar with the situation in the Northwest Frontier Province and wish to remain anonymous. The sources confirmed Mr. Shahzad's information concerning the al Qaeda and Taliban camps in North Waziristan and the Taliban?s reorganization is accurate. Both sources are particularly concerned about the implications of the emptying of the camps.

Mr. Shahzad reported there were 29 al Qaeda and Taliban camps in North and South Waziristan, and all but one "have been dismantled, apart from one run by hardline Islamist Mullah Abdul Khaliq." [Note: on October 4, 2006, The Fourth Rail reported "there are over 20 al Qaeda and Taliban run training camps currently in operation in North and South Waziristan."] While The Fourth Rail sources verify the camps' existence, they noted the camps have not been dismantled and the infrastructure is still in place. "The physical infrastructure (camps and the like) still exist, they haven't been dismantled. They've just been abandoned or are being operated by skeleton crews," the senior military intelligence source said, while noting "the Khaliq camp is only churning out Taliban, not al Qaeda."

The al Qaeda and Taliban personnel abandoned the 28 camps after "the US had presented Islamabad with a dossier detailing the location of the bases as advance information on likely US targets," Mr. Shahzad reported. "All other leading Taliban commanders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Gul Bahadur, Baitullah Mehsud and Haji Omar, have disappeared,? said Mr. Shahzad.

"Similarly, the top echelons of the Arab community that was holed up in North Waziristan has also gone," reported Mr. Shahzad. Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies are believed to have leaked information to the Taliban and al Qaeda in the past, and appears to have done so again.

The emptying of the camps is a cause for great concern in the military and intelligence communities. "We don't know where they went to or who was in the camps," the military officer told The Fourth Rail. "They are well trained, these aren't your entry level jihadis. They are dangerous."

"This is one of the reasons that we are worried about a major CONUS [Continental United States] attack," the senior military intelligence source told The Fourth Rail, noting the recent influx of news of terror cells attempting to penetrate the US. "If they evacuated their bases, they almost certainly did so out of fear of more than just the Pakistani army."

Mr. Shahzad also reported Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, along with the Shura Majlis, is currently based out of the village of Jani Khel village in the settled district of Bannu. Sirajuddin Haqqani and the Taliban Shura are operating in the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost and Gardez.

A spillover of al-Qaeda's presence in Jani Khel is likely to spread to Karak, Kohat, Tank, Laki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan. Kohat in NWFP is tipped to become a central city in the upcoming battle, as the office of the Pakistani Garrison commanding officer is there and all operations will be directed through this area. In addition, Kohat is directly linked with a US airfield in Khost for supplies and logistics.
A second war corridor is expected to be in the Waziristans, the Khyber Agency, the Kurram Agency, Bajaur Agency, Dir, Mohmand Agency and Chitral in Pakistan and Nanagarhar, Kunar and Nooristan in Afghanistan.


The Fourth Rail has repeatedly identified Bannu, Kohat, Tank, Laki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber, Kurram, Dir and Mohmand as Taliban controlled or influenced territory over the course of the past two years.


Quetta. Satellite Town is in the southwest corner.

According to Mr. Shahzad, the Afghan Taliban has reorganized its leadership and devolved its command structure away from senior, regional leaders to local leaders after the death of senior Taliban commanders Mullah Akhtar Usmani and Mullah Dadullah Akhund. The Taliban leadership has been decimated by NATO and Afghan strikes in southern Afghanistan over the past year, and have regrouped in Satellite Town in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan. Quetta has long been identified as a Taliban command hub. Pakistani security forces captured Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, a former Defense Minister and member of the Shura Majlis, in a hotel in Quetta.

According to the senior US military intelligence source, senior Taliban leaders are hesitant to enter southern Afghanistan due to NATO successes against the Taliban command structure, and have devolved control to the regional commanders out of necessity.

Mr. Shahzad postulates the Pakistani military will move in force into the Northwest Frontier Province after the Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal jirga concludes. But the existing evidence does not support this theory at this time. While the Pakistani government claims it has moved additional forces into the tribal areas, these troops have been subjected to brutal suicide attacks, roadside bombs, ambushes, and mortar and rocket attacks. Over 200 military personnel have been killed since mid-July, while the Pakistani military?s previous foray into North and South Waziristan from 2004 to 2006 resulted in upward of 3,000 soldiers killed. The Pakistani military has done little other than press for more negotiations with the Taliban while conducting retaliatory strikes, largely using artillery and air power.

On August 10, 16 Pakistani troops were kidnapped in South Waziristan. Yet Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad confirmed the military is still in a defensive posture, reacting to attacks. "There is no planned operation going on in North Waziristan but we are responding with greater force against militant attacks on security forces now," said Arshad.

Also, the end of the summer is approaching and the Pakistani military has yet to launch the purported campaign. Winter is fast approaching in some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet, where al Qaeda and the Taliban are dug in and have deep ties with the local residents. The ideal time for the military to launch operations would have been the spring, leaving the summer open to conduct a campaign that will be difficult and bloody enough without battling the terrain and elements.

And I'll be Scooby's Corrections Officer. He'd hate living in my cellblock.

Accord to deny sanctuaries to terrorists: Joint jirga in Kabul agrees to push for reconciliation with Taliban

KABUL, Aug 12: Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged on Sunday to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in their respective tribal regions and fight the opium trade financing militants.

President Pervez Musharraf, addressing 700 tribal delegates at the end of a landmark ?peace jirga? aimed at defeating the common threat of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, called for an urgent ?rescue? from extremism.

A statement at the close of the four-day jirga also agreed to push for reconciliation with the ?opposition? ? a reference to the Taliban who agree to accept the rule of law.

Participants pledged they would ?not allow sanctuaries/ training centres for terrorists in their respective countries?, according to the declaration text.

They acknowledged the ?nexus between narcotics and terrorism? and called upon the two governments to wage an ?all-out war against this menace?. They agreed to establish a council, comprising 25 delegates from each country, to promote reconciliation with the ?opposition? and cooperation between the neighbours.

President Musharraf said both Afghanistan and Pakistan had to get away from what he called the backwardness and violence of Islamic extremism.

?These forces are disrupting peace and harmony, impeding our progress and development,? he said. ?We must rescue our societies from this danger and work together until we defeat the forces of extremism and terrorism.?

The president conceded that there was support from Pakistani tribal areas for the insurgency in Afghanistan, extremism and ?Talibanisation?.

Pakistan understood it had a ?solemn responsibility? to fight against such influences, he said.

Gen Musharraf?s presence and speech lent weight to the conference, after he reversed an earlier decision to withdraw from the jirga.

However, tribal leaders from lawless Waziristan boycotted the meeting on the grounds that it did not include the Taliban.

Musharraf had been expected to open the talks on Thursday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but pulled out at the last minute citing security concerns.

He had reconsidered only after phone calls from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr Karzai, with whom he has bickered over efforts to defeat a resurgence of the Taliban movement backed by Al Qaeda.

The jirga brought together about 700 tribal leaders, parliamentarians, clerics and other influential figures from both sides of the border to debate ways to root out extremists.

A Pakistan delegate told AFP as the talks ended that he believed the violence would end if the western troops shoring up the Afghan government were replaced by Islamic forces.

?I think the best way to help root out the problem is if the Nato/US forces withdraw from Afghanistan,? said the cleric, Hanifullah, echoing an earlier call from another Pakistani delegate.

Taliban representatives should have been invited, he added.

President Karzai said at a luncheon on Saturday with Pakistani officials that the jirga would cement relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a report said.

?Assembling leaders and public opinion makers from both the countries to discuss and share their views on core issues is a good omen for peace and harmony in the region,? a news agency quoted him as saying.

In Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: ?Pakistan is very hopeful that this jirga will contribute to establishing peace in these areas.??AFP



Leave and it will get better, HA, riiiight.

according to news reports over here,there is a possibility,of musharraf having democratic elections,he is under severe pressure in pakistan,would the US government want free elections ?

WAR ON TERROR???
Oh where, oh where have Taliban gone?
28 of 29 militant bases ID'd by U.S. intelligence 'dismantled' after information given to Pakistan

Information regarding the location of 29 Taliban bases, ID'd by U.S. intelligence and shared with Pakistan, has lost its targeting value for Islamabad's promised offensive against the militant group with the apparent evacuation of 28 of the training camps along the country's northern border with Afghanistan.

The U.S. presented Pakistan with a dossier meticulously detailing the bases' locations in the tribal areas of North Waziristan and South Waziristan, but, according to a report by Asia Times, the camps 'have simply fallen off the radar.' Neither the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led coalition in Afghanistan nor Pakistan intelligence have detected any movement in the camps since early this month.
On-the-ground intelligence from both sides of the national border indicate all camps but one, operated by a hardline Islamist mullah, have been dismantled and all Taliban commanders, as well as leaders of Arab insurgent groups in the country, have disappeared.
The development comes as tribal leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan are meeting in Kabul for a four-day "jirga," or peace conference and for discussions on how to best fight the Taliban. Tribal leaders from North Waziristan and South Waziristan refused to attend the summit because the Taliban was excluded from the talks.

The evacuation of the camps also coincides with the release of a videotape earlier this week featuring Adam Gadahn, the "American al-Qaida," threatening new attacks on U.S. cities. New York City authorities responded to the unspecified threat earlier today with checkpoints and radiation monitoring of vehicles entering Manhattan.


Pervez Musharraf

According to Asia Times, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who has been invited to address the closing session of this weekend's peace summit, was expected to begin military strikes against the Taliban bases in his country after the jirga ends. Indeed, Pakistani helicopter gunships launched assaults today on al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts in North Waziristan. Three militants were reported killed, however, with the high-value targets now evacuated, the effectiveness of any military initiative is in question, particularly since summer is passing and winter's heavy snows makes military operations difficult or impossible.

According to Asia Times, the Taliban has redefined its command structure following the death in May of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah in Afghanistan during a coalition raid. Dadullah enjoyed almost cult-like status and his death was a demoralizing blow to the group.

Much of the Taliban leadership left the field in June and was headquartered in Quetta, Pakistan, Asia Times reports. As WND reported, the Pakistan enclave has long served as a safe haven for the Taliban seeking respite from fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan, despite Musharraf's promises to crack down on them.

Musharraf, whose five-year term in office ends this fall, threatened earlier this week to declare emergency rule, but has since told Washington he will not. Many of his top commanders are sympathetic to the Taliban, a fact that the evacuation of the training camps following the transfer of U.S. intelligence may indicate.

WorldNetDaily: Oh where, oh where have Taliban gone?

Heck no. Our man might get voted out of power. We can't have that. And don't give me any more of that 'bastion of democracy' crap. Those have always been your words, not mine. :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

Actually, the have been the governments, and everyone that supports the chess game we have been playing in the middle easts words.

you just love military dictators,don't you pino ! have you not thought,that if they hold democratic elections,you would marginilise the islamists,that was the thoughts of imran khan,a sporting legend in pakistan,now a politician.

Scoob, I only care about American interests. I'd also like to include those of Europe, but Europe's just AFU right now. In terms of geo-politics, I gave up my leftie idealism decades ago. I lived for years in foreign countries, and saw the nightmare of their worlds up close. No thanks. I'll stick with the good old UNITED STATES, each and every time. There's really no place like home. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

im sure the 150,000 troops in iraq,would love to be back home in the USA,well done MR PRESIDENT :thumbdown:

Actually, morale in the US military is high. It's weird.......the whole time I was in the Army, almost everybody I knew actually fought like hell to get assigned to wherever the action was. I knew guys who pulled strings, big time, to get deployed to Persian Gulf War I, for example. There I was, a silent chicken chit, in a crowd of war-mongers. That's what soldiers do -- fight. It's my belief that a lot of Americans really want to go someplace to blow up stuff and shoot people. :dunno:

We were highly disappointed to go to Iraq. I was sitting around in Kosovo during the first wave of the invasion with a colonel, and a couple captians, the colonel was pissed because he knew we would go there instead of Afghanistan, or other terrorist hotspot, something along the lines of "Great, there goes my war command, off to police another third world **** hole"