CIA director, national security adviser to meet with officials in Pakistan

[t-birds]

CIA director, national security adviser to meet with officials in Pakistan



By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

President Obama's national security adviser, James L. Jones, and CIA Director Leon Panetta were set to travel to Pakistan on Monday night for meetings with top government, military and intelligence officials on progress in the Times Square car bomb investigation and concerns about future terrorist attacks.

Officials say the administration has been pleased so far with Pakistani cooperation in the investigation, which has focused on any role insurgent groups there might have played in helping to train and otherwise assist bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad.

But officials said that Jones and Panetta intend to reiterate to the Pakistanis the importance that the administration places on more aggressive military action against groups allied with al-Qaeda in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA. Shahzad, a Pakistani American, has said he traveled to the region to train with elements of the Pakistani Taliban, officials say.

The bombing attempt has already given rise to questions from Congress about Pakistan's zeal in confronting radical groups; a successful attack in the United States would severely undermine a bilateral relationship that is a crucial part of the administration's Afghanistan war strategy.

"It's important they hear our latest thinking on the danger to all of us from the tribal areas. That's very, very real," said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the ongoing investigation and the intelligence relationship with Pakistan.

Shahzad was arrested May 3, two days after the bombing attempt; he waived a court appearance and is said to be cooperating with law enforcement officials. Last week, two men in Boston and a third in Maine were arrested in connection with the case and are being held on immigration charges.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has said that, based on the questioning of Shahzad and other information obtained in Pakistan, the administration thinks that the attempt was facilitated and directed by the Pakistani Taliban. The organization, known in Pakistan by the acronym TTP, is one of several groups based in the FATA -- including al-Qaeda and portions of the Afghan Taliban -- that the administration thinks increasingly share objectives and coordinate activities.

Until recently, the Pakistani Taliban was believed to be interested exclusively in domestic targets, and it is responsible for numerous attacks inside Pakistan. The Pakistani military has waged a fierce offensive against the group over the past year, including last fall in South Waziristan, the FATA region that was its base of operations.

But many Pakistani Taliban fighters have dispersed to other areas of the FATA, including North Waziristan, where the administration would like Pakistan to expand its operations against the Afghan Taliban network of Jalaluddin Haqqani and al-Qaeda. Although the Pakistanis have begun targeted operations there, they have said their military forces are stretched too thin for an all-out offensive.

"In light of the failed Times Square terrorist attack and other terrorist attacks that trace to the border region, we believe that it is time to redouble our efforts with our allies in Pakistan to close this safe haven and create an environment where we and the Pakistani people can lead safe and productive lives," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement.

Jones and Panetta are scheduled to meet Wednesday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari; Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani; the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani; and Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan's main spy agency.

Staff writer Greg Miller contributed to this report.

 

[t-birds]

"With Asif Zardari now placed in office, it appears that “Blackwater” (that now does business under the name Xe Services LLC), and not primarily U.S. troops will be the American forces that occupy Pakistan. The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan may therefore be technically correct that no “U.S. Marines” are intended to be housed in its proposed fortress (“Embassy”) in Islamabad. Also by occupying the capital the Americans would be in a good position to both protect their puppet civilian regime and promote their plans for the Balkanisation of Pakistan. Meanwhile, real estate agents report massive buying and renting of properties in Islamabad by Blackwater."

Look for a greatly expanded "Xe" presence after this little visit in Pakistan from Panetta and Jones.

And the question which has to arise from this is, how much longer before we see US troops on the ground in Pakistan?!?

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Bullying Trip to Pakistan.. hope no1 gets scared and take a u turn on North Waziristan scenario..!

 

[Musafar]

I read this visit as cheque-signing and arm-twisting time. I imagine N.waziristan is going to be top of their agenda.

It's going to basically go along the lines of how much can we pay you to spare the lives of your troops to go in? throw in some thinly-vieled threats about how they'll start a media campaign against pakistan, IMF, conditions for kerry-lugar not being met etc.

They are basically trying to get us over a barrel as usual.

 

[TATA]

US to tell Pak: Shun 'India-centric' policies

US to tell Pak: Shun 'India-centric' policies


From Pakistani newspaper Daily Times:


Top Obama aides arrive to push Pakistan over NY plot

By Saeed Minhas
ISLAMABAD: In the wake of the failed bombing attempt at New York’s Times Square, two top national security lieutenants of US President Barrack Obama have arrived in Islamabad to drum up Washington’s “do more” mantra.

The two officials will also deliver Obama’s message to the Pakistani government to do away with its India-centric policies and concentrate more on the war on terror.

US National Security Advisor General James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday evening to engage in meetings with high-ranking military and civilian leadership today (Wednesday), US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire confirmed. Calling the visit “pretty routine” and “in the line of duty”, the embassy spokesperson said Gen Jones and Panetta would be discussing the progress on recently held strategic dialogue, defence issues, security cooperation and the impact of the failed bombing attempt at New York’s Times Square bombing. A Pakistani official seeking anonymity confirmed that top of the agenda of the US delegation would remain the Times Square bombing attempt, however, he said demands to end Islamabad’s India-centric approach might also be taken up strongly by the US officials.

Recently, the US administration has been emanating mixed signals, including warnings of “severe repercussions”, which have befuddled many a strategist in Pakistan in recent weeks. Following the tirades from the Obama administration, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted in the media as saying that the relationship between the two countries stood severed because of the Times Square attempt.

Statements by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US demand of a full scale operation in North Waziristan, ending peace accords with tribes have forced the president, prime minister and the army chief to mull a course of action in the last two weeks.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[T-Faz]

India should shun 'Pakistan Centric' policies, USA should shun 'Afghanistan Centric'; 'Iran Centric'; and 'China Centric' policies.

Who are they to tell us what to do, cannot win a damned war against farmers and peasants. What a joke.

 

[Indian_Idol]

India should shun 'Pakistan Centric' policies, USA should shun 'Afghanistan Centric'; 'Iran Centric'; and 'China Centric' policies.

Who are they to tell us what to do, cannot win a damned war against farmers and peasants. What a joke.

because they are funding your armed forces and supplying their goods...

 

[T-Faz]

because they are funding your armed forces and supplying their goods...

Yes and we have done for them what could have been done, otherwise the Taliban would be running circles around them.

Lets face the facts, the afghan war is turning out to be a disaster just like it did for USSR, they threatened us a lot too you know.

USSR ASKS THAT UN MONITOR PAKISTAN'S AFGHAN ROLE TIGHTLY - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA) | Encyclopedia.com

USSR ASKS THAT UN MONITOR PAKISTAN'S AFGHAN ROLE TIGHTLY

UNITED NATIONS - On the day that UN forces were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a Soviet official said failure to take seriously Pakistan's alleged violations of the UN-mediated Afghan accords could cause "difficulties" for future peace-keeping.

Gennady I. Gerasimov, spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry, said yesterday that UN peace-keeping forces in Afghanistan are "not doing their job properly" and the secretary general should investigate their role if future peace-keeping forces are to be approved.

The Soviet Union, one of the five permanent members of the …

The flight from Kabul. (Afghanistan-USSR relations ) - The Economist (US) | HighBeam Research - FREE trial

Article: The flight from Kabul. (Afghanistan-USSR relations )

IF THIS is brinkmanship, Mikhail Gorbachev has one foot reaching out into space. He has now fixed a date-May 15th-for Soviet troops to start withdrawing from Afghanistan. He sets only one condition: the signing by March 15th of a United Nations-sponsored peace agreement guaranteeing "non-interference" in Afghanistan's affairs. This means that the West would have to stop arming the Afghan guerrillas. Fair enough; they won't need the arms if the Russians go. The odds must now be that Mr Gorbachev really means to take the plunge and call his men home.

The Soviet leader's characteristically blunt words, read out over Russian television on February 8th, brought Russia closer than ever before to meeting the West's conditions for an Afghan settlement. Mr Gorbachev said the withdrawal would be completed ten months after it began (Pakistan has been arguing for eight). The evacuation would, as America has been insisting, be "front-loaded" (more

 

[TaimiKhan]

because they are funding your armed forces and supplying their goods...

You should have and get a better understanding what is being done and given by them and for what reason.

 

[Imran Khan]

usa should remove his nose between us

 

[TaimiKhan]

No matter what they say, the recent Exercise Azm-e-Nau was the perfect answer to them and to the world that what is our main objective.

Taliban or these militants are no match for the Army, if Army becomes serious enough, which we have seen in the last 2 years or so.

In the end, the real enemy would be India.

America tried to gave the same message last time, they got a reply, let them try it again, won't have any affect.

 

[T-Faz]

Barking dogs seldom bite. Bring on the media campaign and the false flag attacks or propaganda arrests like they did with the man in Chile.

Those who are on the right side of the whole situation will emerge as the clear victors.

 

[Indian_Idol]

You should have and get a better understanding what is being done and given by them and for what reason.

in my POV Pak is doing a great job in suppressing Taliban's but the process is slow not because you don't want to kill them but you can fill the inventory which would challenge the Indians. as long as the WOT exists, Pak will get hi-tech weapons from USA. and most of the weapons that Pak acquired from US are mostly India Centric like f-16's,etc. so that is the reason why Obama make such a statement.

correct me if i am wrong...

 

[samika]

Barking dogs seldom bite. Bring on the media campaign and the false flag attacks or propaganda arrests like they did with the man in Chile.

Those who are on the right side of the whole situation will emerge as the clear victors.

I beg to differ. USA is not a barking dog and it does bite... May be India is a barking dog//

 

[Indian_Idol]

No matter what they say, the recent Exercise Azm-e-Nau was the perfect answer to them and to the world that what is our main objective.

Taliban or these militants are no match for the Army, if Army becomes serious enough, which we have seen in the last 2 years or so.

In the end, the real enemy would be India.

America tried to gave the same message last time, they got a reply, let them try it again, won't have any affect.

why you make such a statement????