Pakistani Taliban commander to give up violence

TIMERGARA: Maulana Shahid alias Qari Shahid, a key commander of Miadan Taliban, announced on Tuesday that his group would lay down arms, leave the area and start a new life.
Talking to local journalists by phone from an undisclosed location, Qari Shahid, tehsil amir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, said that he was leaving the violence-hit area of Maidan along with his comrades. He didn’t disclose the number of Taliban under his command.
He said that Taliban leadership had promised the former Malakand commissioner Syed Mohammad Javid that they would not fight against government.
‘Security forces violated the peace deal and started sending troops to Maidan in April this year. The targeted local Taliban and in response they (Taliban) decided to fight only a defensive war,’ Qari Shahid alleged.
He said that Maidan Taliban didn’t want to fight against the state army. ‘I have tried my best to save Maidan from becoming a battlefield but I failed,’ he added.
To a query, he refused to tell about his destination and said he would continue jihad only against the infidels not the countrymen. To another question, he said that he was responsible only for himself and could do nothing about the rest of Taliban fighters in Maidan.
‘I have decided in my own capacity and some of my comrades accompany me,’ he added.
Qari Shahid, who led Taliban in Maidan for more than two years, was believed to have offered surrender to the government during the present military operation however the authorities concerned had turned down his offer

Govt map shows dire Afghan security picture

KABUL: Almost half of Afghanistan is at a high risk of attack by the Taliban and other insurgents or is under ‘enemy control,’ a secret Afghan government map shows, painting a dire security picture before presidential elections.



The threat assessment map, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, shows 133 of Afghanistan’s 356 districts are regarded as high-risk areas with at least 13 under ‘enemy control.’
The map, which bears the logos of Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry and the army as well as the United Nations Department of Safety and Security, was produced in April 2009, before a dramatic escalation of violence ahead of the Aug. 20 ballot.
The Interior Ministry was not immediately available for comment despite several telephone calls and emails on Wednesday.
The map shows virtually the entire south of the country under extreme risk of attack, a vast swathe stretching from Farah in the west through Helmand province in the south and east towards provinces such as Paktia and Nangarhar near the Pakistan border.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the poll and have called on Afghans to boycott the vote. Their traditional strongholds have been in the south and east but their influence has steadily spread to the west and north, even to the outskirts of Kabul. It shows at-risk areas on three sides of the capital.
In a dramatic attack demonstrating their new reach, Islamist insurgents fired up to nine rockets into the capital early on Tuesday, the first attack of its kind in several years.
Attacks across the country this year had already reached their worst level since the Taliban were toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001 and escalated further after thousands of US Marines launched a new offensive in Helmand last month.
The offensive, and a similar British thrust in Helmand, were the first under US President Barack Obama’s new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its Islamist allies and stabilise Afghanistan.


Crucial test

Escalating violence threatens to overshadow the ballot, which in turn is seen as a crucial test of Obama’s new strategy and of Kabul’s ability to stage a credible and legitimate ballot.
‘The Afghan National Security Forces and the International Security Assistance Force are ready to secure the upcoming elections and we expect that no major security incident will take place during the elections,’ said Ministry of Defence spokesman General Zaher Azimy.
The United Nations confirmed the map’s authenticity but said it had merely played an oversight role, helping with graphics.
‘The map is an Afghan government map,’ said UN spokesman Aleem Siddique in Kabul. ‘It’s certainly not for us to speak publicly on it or comment on it or define it,’ he said.
The map, entitled ANSF Provincial/District Threat Assessment, 23 April 2009, provides some of the first concrete evidence of poor security that may threaten voter turnout in Afghanistan’s southern Pashtun belt, President Hamid Karzai’s power base.
Potentially poor turnout in the south is one of the biggest threats to Karzai’s chances of re-election. He is the clear front-runner in a slowly diminishing field of 35 challengers.
A poor turnout in the south would increase the likelihood of a second round run-off if no candidate gets more than 50 per cent in the first round of voting, election observers say.
That would in turn open the chance for one of Karzai’s main rivals, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah or ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani, to build a coalition to take on Karzai, who has ruled since 2001 and won the first direct vote in 2004.
The ANSF threat map also appears to back up fears first expressed by think-tank the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) that much more of Afghanistan was under threat than the government and foreign forces had acknowledged.
It said last December the Taliban held a significant presence in 72 per cent of Afghanistan by the end of 2008, a dramatic increase on the previous year. Their research was based on one or more reported attacks in an area a week.
NATO and the Afghan government, however, rejected the ICOS report, formerly known as the Senlis Council, saying the Taliban were only present in the south and east. — Reuters

US strike kills Baitullah wife and father-in-law

The wife and father-in-law of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban have reportedly been killed in an air raid in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.

A missile, suspected to have been fired from a US drone, reportedly hit the home of Akramud Din, the father-in-law of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, early on Wednesday.


“I confirm that the female that was killed in the strike was the wife of Baitullah Mehsud,” a relative told the reposters.

Two missiles were fired, according to a senior government official in South Waziristan. Mehsud’s whereabouts were not known at the time of the attack.
Pakistan’s military has repeatedly targeted Mehsud in recent months, saying it is preparing to launch an offensive against his fighters in the tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan
The US has also apparently carried out a number of missile attacks in North and South Waziristan, which officials say have killed a number of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives
Washington does not confirm such attacks, but the US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are the only people operating the unmanned aircraft in the region.

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Russia increases troops' alert in S Ossetia after Georgia's provocations

Russia has deployed its troops and border guards in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on increased alert following provocations from Georgia, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.
"The situation is really worrisome, provocations from the Georgian side on the eve of the anniversary of the August events last year are continuing," Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman for Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
"In this regard, combat readiness of Russian military and border guards in South Ossetia has been enhanced," he said.
Nesterenko also said Russia will do everything possible to prevent escalation of tensions.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to South Ossetia Dmitry Medoyev said that regional law enforcement agencies have also been put on high alert.
"South Ossetia's law enforcement agencies and services have been put on high alert before the mourning events, which will take place on August 7-10," the Interfax news agency quoted Medoyev as telling reporters.
Tensions in the border area between Georgia and South Ossetia were heightened days before the first anniversary of Georgia's brief war with Russia in August last year.

While Georgia accused South Ossetia of shooting at Georgian villages, South Ossetian authorities said the suburbs of its capital of Tskhinvali were attacked by Georgian mortars. No one was hurt in the shootings.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday warned of using military force to defend South Ossetia "in case of further provocations threatening the republic's population and the Russian military contingent stationed in South Ossetia."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin also said on Tuesday that the ministry is concerned over actions by Georgia's leadership to remilitarize the country.
"We are deeply concerned by the actions of Georgia's leadership to remilitarize the country, which have met a surprisingly calm and even a positive response in some countries," Karasin said.
Russia would "continue to oppose the (Georgian President Mikhail) Saakashvili regime's rearmament" and was taking "concrete measures to prevent it," he added.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Tbilisi's rule during a war in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last summer, when Georgia attacked South Ossetia to retake the renegade region that borders Russia. In response, Moscow sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of the region.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states two weeks after the conflict ended.

Fatah general assembly kicks off in West Bank

The Palestinian Fatah movement kicked off its sixth congress in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday morning to renew its leadership.
The first conference of Fatah in 20 years started with a member reading phrases from Quran before members standing for national anthem.
About 2,267 Fatah members were initially expected to attend the conference, but more than 400 Gaza-based invitees are absent since the Islamic Hamas movement, Fatah's bitter rival which controls the Gaza Strip, barred the conferees from traveling to the West Bank
Ahmed Qurei, a peace negotiator who is presiding the conference, accused Hamas of trying to foil the conference by preventing Fatah activists from leaving Gaza.
Several Arab and international delegations and parties are attending the opening session of the three-day conference, which is being held in a hall of a school near the Church of Nativity. Security measures have been tightened as hundreds of policemen have been deployed on the streets leading to the school.

DPRK top leader Kim Jong-il meets Bill Clinton

Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) top leader Kim Jong-il has met with visiting former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Pyongyang on Tuesday and received a verbal message from U.S. President Barack Obama, Pyongyang's state media reported, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
Kim and Clinton exchanged "a broad range of opinion" in their talks, the report added.
The former U.S. president arrived in Pyongyang earlier Tuesday, a trip apparently aimed at seeking the release of two American journalists detained in DPRK since March. Clinton's surprise visit also raised hopes for a breakthrough in the long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks and a momentum for dialogue.

Parliamentary body urges inquiry into claimed British torture role

An independent inquiry is needed into claims UK security services were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects, say MPs and peers.
The Joint Human Rights Committee said it was unable to establish whether British officers were involved in mistreatment of suspects.
It also criticised ministers and the head of MI5 for refusing to testify at parliamentary hearings on the claims.
Minister Ivan Lewis said torture was "unacceptable and abhorrent".
"We neither engage in, collude with or condone torture," the foreign affairs minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Asked whether Britain was complicit in torture, he said: "I don't believe that that's the case.
"We stand very firmly in saying that torture is not acceptable. We make it clear to those countries that we work with.
It is unacceptable both for Ministers to refuse to answer policy questions about the Security Services, and for the Director General of MI5 to answer questions from the press but not from a Parliamentary committee
Andrew Dismore, committee chairman
"What we can't do is simply turn away from our responsibilities to the security of the British people."
In a highly critical report, the joint parliamentary committee said there was now a "disturbing number of credible allegations" of British complicity in torture.
These allegations include the rendition and alleged abuse of British resident Binyam Mohammed from Pakistan to Morocco, prior to being taken to Guantanamo Bay.
The Metropolitan Police are investigating the role of one MI5 officer in Mr Mohamed's case.
Last week the High Court revealed that the same officer visited Morocco three times during the period that Mr Mohamed says he was being secretly tortured there.
Binyam Mohamed: Claims to have been tortured in Morocco by interrogators who asked him questions about his life which he says could only have come from British authorities
Salauddin Amin: Claims Britain was complicit in alleged torture suffered following his arrest in Pakistan
Rangzieb Ahmed: Claims his fingernails were pulled by a Pakistani torturer and MI5 supplied Pakistani interrogators with questions
The committee also looked at other cases where British men, two of whom have been convicted of terror offences, say they were visited by British intelligence officers while they were detained and allegedly mistreated by Pakistani authorities.
But in all the cases, the parliamentary committee said it could not get to the facts because too many questions were not being properly answered.
It said that both the foreign secretary and home secretary, as well as the director general of MI5, had declined to give evidence on what was known about torture or mistreatment.
The ministers appeared "determined to avoid parliamentary scrutiny", said the report, and had batted away important questions with standardised answers.
Committee chairman Andrew Dismore MP said: "The allegations we have heard about UK complicity in torture are extremely serious.
"It is unacceptable both for ministers to refuse to answer policy questions about the security services, and for the director general of MI5 to answer questions from the press but not from a Parliamentary committee."