The Associated Press WASHINGTON — After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, a persistent lack of trust between the U.S. and Pakistan still complicates operations along the critical Afghanistan border and was a key factor in the errant American airstrikes late last month that killed 24 Pakistani troops. U.S. officials on Thursday accepted some blame […]
Pentagon: U.S. concedes mistakes in Pakistani deaths
December 22, 2011
The Associated Press WASHINGTON — After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, a persistent lack of trust between the U.S. and Pakistan still complicates operations along the critical Afghanistan border and was a key factor in the errant American airstrikes late last month that killed 24 Pakistani troops. U.S. officials on Thursday accepted some blame […]
Ex-Cannon commander leading investigation into Pakistani deaths
December 1, 2011
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has withdrawn from an international conference on stabilizing Afghanistan to protest the deadly attack by American forces on its troops, widening a fresh rupture in ties with a nominal ally that is endangering the U.S. plan for gradually ending the war. In an unusually hostile comment, a top Pakistani army general […]
U.S. should shift focus to al-Qaida
November 30, 2011
Freedom New Mexico What a tragedy. Last weekend, NATO helicopter attacks against suspected insurgents in Pakistan inadvertently killed 28 troops of the Pakistani military. Although the two nations’ relations are strained, Pakistan is a key ally in America’s military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan itself. Pakistani Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said that […]
New questions arise in world without Osama
May 3, 2011
Freedom New Mexico It is, of course, a U.S. victory that Navy SEALs, acting on CIA intelligence in a Muslim nation, killed al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. The lethal firefight inside a fortified compound in Abbottabad, about 35 miles north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, ended nearly 10 years of pursuit of the man viewed […]
U.S. should rethink stance on Pakistan
January 10, 2011
Freedom New Mexico The assassination of Salman Taseer, governor of populous Punjab Province, close friend of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and an outspoken opponent of religious extremism and Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, highlights and deepens an ongoing crisis afflicting the country’s governing party and the country itself. Unfortunately, the prominent presence of the United […]
Best U.S. stance on Pakistan politics: Silence
February 23, 2009
Freedom New Mexico The Pakistani government has said it will allow the imposition of Sharia or Islamic law in the picturesque Swat Valley, a lush mountainous region that has long been a prized tourist destination but recently has been home to violent insurrectionary activity. Whether it is a shrewd move with the potential to divide […]
U.S. relations with Pakistan for long haul
December 10, 2008
Freedom New Mexico To be sure, many of the Pakistani government’s troubles are of their own making. Even so, it is possible to have a mild empathy for the Pakistanis, whose situation has become markedly less stable since the terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) in late November. The Pakistanis have been […]
U.S. puppet in Pakistan suffers major defeat
February 20, 2008
Freedom Newspapers Although full results are not yet in, Pakistani voters, as expected, have roundly repudiated President Pervez Musharraf, who took control of the country in a military coup in 1999 and whose popularity has been on a serious dive for about a year. In parliamentary elections Monday, the party that supports him, Pakistan Muslim […]
Terrorist case needs to be handled with care
June 11, 2005
Freedom Newspapers If it all pans out, it looks as if federal authorities are doing it right in Lodi, Calif. FBI agents arrested Hamid Hayat, 22, and his father Umer Hayat, and detained three other Pakistani-Americans suspected of having a link to al-Qaida or some terrorist organization. On the basis of preliminary news reports, the […]
U.S. – Pakistan affiliation based on compromise
February 23, 2004
Freedom Newspapers Perhaps the most important lesson to be drawn from the revelation — or belated admission — that the “father” of Pakistan’s atomic bomb program has been an active nuclear proliferator is that making foreign policy on the basis of moralistic judgments is dubious business. The United States thought it needed Pakistan after 9/11 […]
U.S. should act as India/Pakistan mediator if asked
December 1, 2003
Freedom Newspapers India and Pakistan agreed early last week on the first truce in 14 years between their troops deployed along the disputed border between the two countries in the beautiful mountainous region of Kashmir. While the official military forces of the two countries refrained from gunfire, however, on Thursday alone violence flared that left […]
