Counter-terrorism summit: Karzai reaches Islamabad

Politics

Thursday, 16 February 2012 12:15

Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached Islamabad to attend two-day counter-terrorism summit.

Pakistan is due to host two-day counter-terrorism summit in Islamabad later on Thursday to be also participated by Afghanistan and Iran.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reached Islamabad to attend the summit while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in expected to arrive later today.

The summit is likely to be overshadowed by tensions between Tehran and Israel over a series of recent bombings.

Israel this week accused Iran of targeting its diplomats in Georgia, India and Thailand, against a backdrop of speculation that the Jewish state or the United States could be months from launching military strikes against Iran.

On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad unveiled new strides in its nuclear programme in a defiant blow to US and EU sanctions designed to rein in its atomic activities.

"I don t think so," a senior Pakistani government official told AFP when asked if mounting tensions between Iran and Israel, and the showdown over Iran s nuclear programme, would dominate the summit.

"The trilateral summit will discuss cooperation on counter-terrorism and transnational organised crime including drug and human trafficking and border management," the official said.

The talks also come with stepped up efforts to kickstart peace talks with the Taliban designed to end 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Kabul is reportedly concerned about being sidelined by contacts between the US and the Taliban.

On peace efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan says it will support an reconciliation attempt that is Afghan-owned and led.

Islamabad is moving towards a detente in its own relations with Washington, which took a drastic turn for the worse over last year s covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

But despite strong US objections, Pakistan says it is pressing ahead with a multi-billion-dollar project to build a gas pipeline to import fuel from Iran.

"There is no change or shift regarding the gas pipeline project and it is scheduled to be completed by 2014," said the official.

Pakistan calls for a "peaceful resolution" of all issues related to Iran s nuclear programme and official line on US and EU sanctions on Iran.

US and mistrust

Politics

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 08:58

The US State Department has issued an altered advisory for American citizens in Pakistan, modifying the guidelines it last set in place in April 2011. The more stringent warning is a reflection too on the change in the relationship between Washington and Islamabad, and the new tensions that have crept into it. The latest advisory stresses that since the November 2011 Nato air strike inside Pakistan animosity towards Americans has grown and they would be well advised to stay away from demonstrations and gatherings protesting this incident or others similar to it. This of course is a matter of common sense. It would obviously be unwise to venture into a situation where people are protesting the killing of citizens by the US forces or by the unmanned drones that hover over northern skies. But the advisory also cautions against other more insidious action directed against the US – such as the labelling of diplomats or others as intelligence agents, followed by possible action against them. Such events have of course occurred. Warren Weinstein, an aid expert, said to be close to 70 years in age, was abducted in August 2011 from his home in Lahore – soon before he was due to leave the country. Information surfacing in December last year indicates he may be in Al-Qaeda’s hands. Nationals of other western nations have disappeared from other places, presumably picked up by extremist forces, and have yet to be recovered.

The deepening distrust of the US in this country is hardly surprising, given its policies that are perceived to be consistently undermining Pakistan’s sovereignty. What is ironic, however, is that these should rank among the actions of a nation that is also regarded as a key ally. Pakistan’s dependence on the US is well established. Yet over the past year or so we have seen a swift decline in trust; it is hard to work together with a country which is held in such low esteem by our own people, and which in turn, as this advisory clearly states, feels threatened by them. The entire issue of relations with the US is one our government needs to very carefully assess, given the enormous implications it has and the fact that much that happens in our future is dependent on this matter and the manner in which it is handled over the coming months and years.

Attack on Iran ”would be disaster”, must talk: Turkey

Politics

Monday, 06 February 2012 07:02

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu speaks during the 48th Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich

MUNICH: Turkey and Qatar urged the West on Sunday not to attack Iran to solve a nuclear row, but to make greater efforts to negotiate an end to the dispute.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of security officials and diplomats, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said an attack would be a “disaster” and the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme could be ended very rapidly.

“If there is strong political will and mutual confidence being established, this issue could be resolved in a few days,” he said. “The technical disputes are not so big. The problem is mutual confidence and strong political will.“

Turkey was the venue of the last talks between Western powers and Iran a year ago which ended in stalemate because participants could not even agree on an agenda.

The West has since imposed much tougher sanctions on Iran, which it suspects of seeking nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its nuclear work is purely civilian and peaceful.

Davutoglu added: “A military option will create a disaster in our region. So before that disaster, everybody must be serious in negotiations. We hope soon both sides will meet again but this time there will be a complete result.”

In Tehran, the deputy head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran would attack any country whose territory is used by “enemies” of the Islamic state to launch a military strike against its soil.

Washington and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the standoff. Iran has warned of firm retaliation if attacked, including targeting Israel and US bases in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.

Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khalid Mohamed al-Attiyah, whose Gulf country is increasingly active in regional diplomacy, said an attack “is not a solution, and tightening the embargo on Iran will make the scenario worse. I believe we should have dialogue.”

“I believe that with our allies and friend in the West we should open a serious dialogue with the Iranians to get out of this dilemma. This is what we feel in our region.”

Tension between Iran and the West rose last month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Iran to try to force it to provide more information on its nuclear programme. The measures are aimed at shutting off the second-biggest OPEC oil exporters’ sales of crude.

Mullah Omar sent letter to Obama to end war

Politics

Saturday, 04 February 2012 21:26

WASHINGTON: Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar wrote to President Barack Obama last year indicating an interest in talks key to ending the war in Afghanistan, current and former US officials told The Associated Press.

The letter purportedly from Omar was unsigned.

It was passed through a Taliban intermediary in July and was intended for the White House.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the letter and its contents are part of sensitive diplomacy with a fighting force that still targets US troops.

The previously undisclosed communication was considered authentic by people who saw it, but skeptical administration officials said they cannot determine it actually came from Omar.

The Obama administration did not directly respond to the letter, two officials said, although it has broadened contacts with Omar’s emissaries since then.

Sources who described the letter did not disclose its precise contents, but one current and one former official said it addressed Taliban willingness to build trust with the United States.

One official said Omar complained that the United States had not done enough to establish good faith for negotiations, such as arranging the release of Taliban prisoners held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

An administration official would say only that the message represented views consistent with what Taliban emissaries had been telling US officials during the clandestine meetings.

Those preliminary sessions opened the way for more formal talks that the US officials now publicly welcome.

A direct message from Omar could be a strong signal that the Taliban movement is interested in negotiation at the highest levels.

The Obama administration is trying to foster talks among the Taliban and the US-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but remains wary of Taliban motives.

Omar is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement, and directs the organisation’s guerrilla military campaign.

He was the de facto head of state in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan prior to the US invasion that toppled the Taliban government in 2001.

He has not been seen in public in years, and his exact whereabouts are unknown.

He is wanted by the US government for harbouring Osama bin Laden and helping the al Qaeda terror network.

Republican critics, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have criticised the administration for opening talks with an enemy force, saying negotiation only allows the Taliban to run out the clock until most US forces leave Afghanistan in 2014.

Preliminary, clandestine meetings between US and Taliban representatives began last year, after the Obama administration shifted course and decided to explore peace talks while fighting was still fierce.

The message arrived when those early contacts had gone all but dormant, however, because of leaks to the press that sent the chief Taliban emissary briefly underground.

The Obama administration is now considering release of five top Taliban leaders from Guantanamo as a starting point for negotiations.

The five would be sent to custody in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the Taliban plan to establish a negotiating office. Republicans in Congress oppose the release of the prisoners.