U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden held talks in Pakistan as part of a regional tour expected to focus on terrorism and tensions between Pakistan and India following the Mumbai attacks.
Before he left the United States, Biden, travelling in his capacity as outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that “What I hope to accomplish is to get sort of a baseline. This will be my God knows how many trips, I guess my 10th or 11th trip into Iraq and I don’t know how many times in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Politico quoted him as saying.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said on its website that President Asif Ali Zardari “apprised Biden of Pakistan’s commitment and the measures being taken by the government in the war against militancy, extremism and terrorism”. Biden in turn described Pakistan as “an incredibly valued U.S. ally”, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
But what about those attacks by U.S. Predator drones on targets on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan which have fuelled anti-American anger and been condemned by Islamabad as a violation of its sovereignty? President-elect Barack Obama has been a strong advocate of unilateral U.S. attacks, saying during his election campaign that “If we have actionable intelligence about high-level al Qaeda targets in Pakistan’s border region, we must act if Pakistan will not or cannot.”
Not only did the controversy over drone missile strikes seem to be given little attention - at least in the Pakistani media - but shortly before Biden arrived in Pakistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official announced that al Qaeda’s operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide were believed to have been killed in South Waziristan. The official declined to discuss how or when the men died, but a suspected U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan killed three foreign fighters on New Year’s Day, intelligence agents in Pakistan said at the time. U.S. forces in Afghanistan carried out about 30 missile strikes in Pakistan in 2008, according to a Reuters tally, mostly since the beginning of September.
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Highly disgraceful,how a US VP who sends drones to kill our people gets an award. I hang my head in shame as a Pakistani…
- Posted by YousufTo get more information about developments in Pakistan and in the region, please visit
http://www.real-politique.blogspot.com
- Posted by Sikander HayatJUST TO OPEN YOUR EYES:Former British Foreign Secretary: Al Qaeda is Not a Real Group, Just a U.S. Propaganda Campaign.
Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says:The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US. Cook has previously written:Al-Qaida, literally “the database”, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Cook is merely confirming what others have said. Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Senate that the war on terror is “a mythical historical narrative”.
@Peace,
You sound just like the notorious Hamid Gul. Hamid Gul came on TV and claimed that all the Terrorism in Pakistan and around the world is all staged by the CIA, and that there is a conspiracy against muslim countries. It is funny how one sided this man is, then he claims that 911 and MUMBAI were “inside” jobs by MOSSAD, or the CIA or Indian Intelligence. This mans appetite for blaming others for this problems and blaming others for terrorist attacks on them astounds me. It is shocking how he, like you Peace is using plausible denial to explain away everything. He even goes to say that any terrorist attacks anywhere are staged by Western countries to create a reason to attack Islam, even after the perpetrators and all the evidence is given.
Al Qaeda, you can call it whatever you want, to be funny, you can even call this group “Mickey Mouse”, whatever you want, I don’t care. The fact is, you are ignoring the thousands killed in Terrorist attacks around the world, let me be quite frank here, the terrorist attacks were not caused by Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Bahai, Shinto (japan), Aboriginals (Aussie), First Nations(North America), Eskimos, Russians, Eastern Orthodox. If you guessed right, it was the “Mickey Mouse” group.
Let me start with, just to name a few antics of the “Mickey Mouse” Group: (most below with bodycounts over 100)
-1988-Lockerbie Scotland
-1993-World Trade Center - Ramzi Yousef and Friends
-8 Aug 1998: truck bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Saalam, Tanzania
-Sept 11, 2001 - 911
-2002 Bali Night Club Bombings (200 dead-tourists)
1-3 Sep 2004: hostage taking at school in Beslan, Russia (includes 30 terrorists killed) (366)
-11 Jul 2006: multiple bombings on commuter trains in Mumbai, India (200)
-11 Mar 2004: bombings of four trains in Madrid, Spain
-2007 just under 500 Pakistanis killed in suicide bombings
-2008 just under 2000 Pakistanis killed in suicide attacks
-2008 Mumbai 188 killed in Mumbai by Pakistani Gunmen
I think I should stop now. These were committed by the Mickey Mouse club. These men suffer from a collective mental illness, which has been imposed on them by brainwashing. They feel people not practicing the same ideals as the Mickey Mouse club are not worthy to live.
The question is, do you suffer from that same mental illness?
Did the rest of the world just imagine all this, did each of those countries just decide to self-inflict these wounds on themselves?
You get your information from on or two sources and deem it to be true. You ignore the mountain of evidence confiscated from all of the terrorism crime scences, there are telephone records, faxes, emails, laptops, recordings, written notes, wiretaps, books, peoples, names places connecting all the dots….yet you ignore all this and casually dismiss it.
Don’t insult those killed and their families by saying Al Qaeda does not exist.
You wear the hat of shame well.
- Posted by Global WatcherJUST TO OPEN YOUR EYES:Former British Foreign Secretary: Al Qaeda is Not a Real Group, Just a U.S. Propaganda Campaign.
- Posted by PeaceFormer British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says:The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US. Cook has previously written:Al-Qaida, literally “the database”, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Cook is merely confirming what others have said. Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Senate that the war on terror is “a mythical historical narrative”.
dear pakistanis
pak has conferred highest pakistan award to a vice president elect of a country which is attaking the pak with its drones. highly shame. for what the award. is it for money or is it for the support they render to fulfull your wishes of dismantaling india or for that matter all big south asian economies. this means you can do any thing for money
- Posted by venkatThe evidence is on the streets of Pakistan everyday, everytime you pass by the madrassas, just listen to the hate being manufactured there. Do I need to come over there and show you that too?
- Posted by Global Watcher@Peace,
It appears as though the media in Pakistan and even you suffer from an extreme case of selective amnesia, when it comes to historical facts and your understanding of events is many times quite contrary to what the rest of the civilized world deems to be true.
You still did not admit that your country is guilt of training terrorists. Your notorius and insidious General Hamid Gul is one of the grand master terrorist architects of the Pakistani Terrorism domestically and especially abroad.
I still don’t know how this man is walking free in Pakistan. It baffles me.
Your friends the Americans even have been handling you with kid gloves and the entire buzz in Washington with Barack Obama is faced at Pakistan’s terrorism factory problem, it is actually becoming the entire world’s problem.
- Posted by Global WatcherDear Global watcher, as someone commented that instead of watching the globe you should watch KASHMIR, GUJRAT etc. My suggestion to you is to open your eyes and mind if exised. Where exist the denial from PAKISTAN, give us evidences and then see what we’ll do. Further, let suppose, if india has provided its (fabricated) evidences then for what reason mukherji is going USA to beg its safety from PAKISTAN. Pakistan, if you know, is a great country. The miracle of Pakistan is that since independence india is trying to eleminate Pakistan, consider as being the biggest threat to them, but so far we have survived and survived well above india and even the country is small but it has defeated the country with 1/6th population of world.
- Posted by PeaceSo beat-it, start thinking positively and show your intelligence, if any
Om
- Posted by Anup—Obama threatened to stop aid(read alms) to Pakistan, & yes the blackmailing always works for Pakistan, they are Pros in the game…that’s precisely the reason why America is restraining India from retaliating.
Anup, I think the situations are different now when compared to time of soviets V/s afgan. then taliban/pakistan has steady funds and arms provided by US to run the show.. will not be the case if americans think they are being black mailed..
- Posted by OmOm
- Posted by Anup—because that is exactly the gameplan of Pakistani Army, to abandon their eastern border & give a free run to their Talibanese forces to recoup & if NATO forces decide a ground attack in that region as Obama suggested, then the Pak Army presence is not in that region & NATO forces will meet the same fate as the soviets, this is exactly what they did when they attacked our Parliament & Mumbai attacks are an attempt to repeat the same…it’s got more to do with blackmailing America than war with India.
@Peace,
You are so stubborn you will never believe any evidence that was produced by those poor 188 people mercilessly butchered by Extremist Pakistan.
There are many elements: the population at large, the army and ISI and the madrassa/terrorist infrastructure, which many agree is trained and supported by the ISI/Military. I have seen a few youtube clips where the Pak Military and its soldiers a rally somewhere in Pakistan was shouting death to India with huge crowds gathered and there were several dozen extremist religious men (madrassa men) and dozens of children. The little children as young as age 5 were screaming at the top of their lungs “Murdabad India”, or “Lakh Hindu Mahro!!!).
Your own military and ISI, and in your heart you know it, has been training terrorists in a proxy war against India. There is not a secret, as it is well known from the hundreds of Mindslave Jihadis we have caught and sitting in our jails.
People do not believe Pakistan anymore. With the internet, video cams, cell phones, satellites, you just can’t hide what you say anymore, anywhere. There is so much of an electronic trail, that it is hard almost to not drown in the information.
I am sorry you are so insulted and shamed. There is no elaborate conspiracy here my friend. Even friends of Pakistan, namely China agrees on all the evidence given to them by the US and India.
As far as Pakistan being peace loving, it depends on who you ask. Seeing most Paks talk in these forums, the seem to be in denial that Pakistan is suffering from a 911-Mumbai every other week. I don’t see any sort of peace in Pakistan, I just see it falling to “pieces”.
The madrassas there are training young men to wear suicide vests and kill their own Pakistani people in the markets.
It is funny how you casually dismiss evidence gathered by the FBI, Indian Intelligence and CIA, all very professional agencies, as “fabricated”, “so-called” and “supposed”. Your post is pretty much useless and baseless as you arguement is based on emotion.
There has been so many flip flops regarding Mumbai, that Pakistan has lost diplomatic integrity and suffering from a sense of national shame. I work with people from many countries and they do not have a good opinion of Pakistan.
I guarantee you this Peace. If you dismantle the terrorist training camps setup by the military in the late 1980’s to cause war on India, and dismantle the entire infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, we have something to talk about.
Until you admit that Pakistan is a cesspool of terror, jihadi/deoband/wahhabi extremism hate, we have nothing to talk to you about. You must cut out the cancer within Pakistan until you remove the madrasas, training camps and military support and training of Kashmiri terrorists (I am sorry, you might call them freedom fighters).
By the way, regarding Kashmir, we will give up Kashmir, a part of our country, as long as you are willing to giveup a province of your own….now which one will that be?…Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan, SWAT, NWFP…..you decide.
Oh…and by the way, also quit scaring your children regarding the Indian “Boogeyman”. In India, we do not have a pathological pre-occupation to teach our children to hate Pakistan. We don’t teach our children to hate muslims, we teach our children, mathematics, languages, art, music, friendship and progression to succeed at academics.
STOP the hate. There is an old saying in sanskrit, that “a man is not measured by his wealth or his power…but by the quality of children he creates”…
- Posted by Global WatcherHi Anup,
- Posted by Om@”the time is not ripe yet, so patience, further, no, Obama cannot afford not funding Pakistan, nor can America presently & also in the near future genuinely side India over Pakistan”
So India knows US or anybody will never support to strike in pakistan..India has given enough evidense to show the ISI hand in Kabul embassy blast and Mumbai..what better time than now when pakis army is divided in to western and eastern border ??
Since mumbai incident, india and its people start barking on Pakistan and providing false evidences about involvement of Pakistan, whether state or non-state actors. Yesterday indian news channel “NDTV” showed the items recovered from boats supposedly used by so-called terrorist, in all items there was mention that “Made in Pakistan”, to my amaze they showes one pistol where it is written “Daimond.Made in Peshawar” What a funny story and they want world to believe that. Let suppose that mumbai attack was not planned by india, then do you expect such highly trained, professional and killing machines to do such things that they bring things which were all marked as “Made in Pakistan”.
- Posted by PeaceWhat is really happening? - for india it is the right time to get away from Pakistan, the strongest and the only threat to india, not only in armed infrastructure but also in economic terms, Obama will soon start taking decision, so before he could learn about indian politics, india will go to him and beg for safety from Pakistan. Obama, being gentlemen, will have soft corner if india could prove that Pakistan is supporting terrorist activities. But india forgets that success lies only in truth and truth is that PAKISTAN is a peace loving, and a responsible country and it can safe-guard its asset without any help.
People who suggest us - One True nation, PAKISTAN - to stop commenting on idiots commentators, just tell what india is doing with us, the whole indian nation is disgracing, insulting and humiliating Pakistan, its politians, leaders and other citizen. I had never commented before my visit on this site, but after seeing abusive comments by idiots to my country, I stand up to defend my country, my nation and my fellow citizen. And as i commented two weeks ago me, umair and other Pakistani have succeeded in debate with idiots only because we said truth only and no false stories as idiots did and still doing.
Om
- Posted by AnupThe question is not whether we should strike Pakistan, but when we should strike to cripple the traitors, once & for all, this time— the time is not ripe yet, so patience, further, no, Obama cannot afford not funding Pakistan, nor can America presently & also in the near future genuinely side India over Pakistan, Pakistan is a terrorist state, so dismantling terrorism there is equivalent to dismantling Pakistan, India must have a broad & deep baseline,
I wanted to ask my Indian friends here..who think India is doing the right thing my using just diplomacy post mumbai..
- Posted by Om1.) Do you think Obama after assuming office will cut down all funds to pakistan since he is a thinking spender ??
2.) Do you think pakistan will ever dismantle its terror machine all by itself ? if India or US do not act on it by force ??
3.) where do you think is the base line for India ? after which it can think of military affensive on pakistan is unavoidable or only way to chain this mad dog ??
4.)Do you think pakistan is true this time when it says its army are really fighting the taliban ?? because all I get to read is pakistan army today takesover an village in NWFP and tomorrow the taliban re-captures it and loots all weapons and ammuniton stored in check posts and police station and also kidnaps police to get some other terrorrist out of pakistani jail. I see this as a game played by pakistan to supply taliban with weapons and ammunition to attack US forces in afganistan.
5.) Do you think US is/was ever willing to help Indian cause after mumbai ?? especially when US ambasidor Mulford and Biden seems to make statements like pakistan is the best US ally in the world ?? Dont say FBI support..because there is no significant action on ground in pakistan till date to contain terror.