Pak accused of distorting Bush comments

[Adux]

Pak accused of distorting Bush comments
5 Aug 2007, 1826 hrs IST,Chidanand Rajghatta,TNN
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WASHINGTON: The Pakistani foreign office distorted the contents of President Bush's phone call to Gen Musharraf on Friday, falsely claiming that he described remarks by presidential candidates about military strikes inside Pakistan as ''unsavory'' and made in the heat of electioneering, it has emerged.

White House officials have taken issue with the self-serving version of the call by Islamabad, even as it transpires that the US establishment is broadly on the same page about actions inside Pakistan (that they will respond with military strikes to actionable intelligence on terrorists if Pakistan does not act) except for minor differences in nuance and emphasis.

US officials confirmed that Bush phoned Musharraf, but said the president did not criticize comments made by Democrats and a Republican this week.

''He didn't say anything about unsavory or electioneering or anything like that,'' a White House official told news agencies. ''He said I know you've heard different things coming out of the system, basically, and you need to know we're going to work with you to defeat the terrorists.''

US military strikes inside Pakistan have been going on for several months now, but both Washington and Islamabad prefer to keep the fiction of Pakistan's sovereignty going to save Musharraf's face and prevent a domestic backlash.

Bush's 35-minute phone call to Musharraf came after days of clamor over remarks from U.S officials, presidential candidates, and law-makers suggesting more punitive military strikes against terrorist groups inside Pakistan since Islamabad seemed reluctant to act, and was possible coddling such groups.

The first mention of such possible strikes came not from presidential candidates, but from senior administration officials, including Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend. It followed a decision at the highest levels of the government to publicly turn the heat on Pakistan for faltering in the war on terror.

That cranking up is already showing results with Gen. Musharraf rushing additional troops to the areas he had previously ceded to militants under a peace deal he struck last year, US officials say. Renewed fighting in the region has taken the lives of militants and Pakistani soldiers, many through suicide bombings.

Bush's phone call to Musharraf also preceded visits to the US by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and exiled Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.

Karzai, who is scheduled to meet Bush at Camp David on Sunday, has often questioned Pakistan's bonafides in the war on terror and accused its military government of protecting the Taliban and using it to undermine Afghanistan's return to democracy.

On Saturday, the Afghan governor of the province where Taliban militants have taken 23 South Korean hostage (two have since been killed) accused ''Pakistani Taliban working with Pakistani intelligence agents'' of holding them captive.

''In the beginning it was the local Taliban, but after a few days, Pakistani Taliban and ISI officers disguised as Taliban arrived in the region and they took control of the situation,'' Ghazni Governor Merajuddin Pattan told Reuters.

Such reports of continued Pakistani backing for terrorism has riled sections of the US military and intelligence, which have been pressing the political side for a more muscular approach to the problem, including military strikes inside Pakistan based on actionable intelligence.

Some US Presidential candidates, notably Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, have plugged into this sentiment, unconstrained by the diplomatic niceties that the administration has to contend with.

Some US analysts go as far as to say the military government in Islamabad knows the precise coordinates of Taliban and Al-Qaida leaders inside Pakistan and it is protecting them so that it can regain its ''strategic depth'' in Afghanistan once Nato forces leave, and in the meantime milk the west for billions in military and economic aid.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak_accused_of_distorting_Bush_comments/articleshow/2257301.cms

Not exactly an unbaised story

 

[Cheetah786]

On Saturday, the Afghan governor of the province where Taliban militants have taken 23 South Korean hostage (two have since been killed) accused ''Pakistani Taliban working with Pakistani intelligence agents'' of holding them captive.

''In the beginning it was the local Taliban, but after a few days, Pakistani Taliban and ISI officers disguised as Taliban arrived in the region and they took control of the situation,'' Ghazni Governor Merajuddin Pattan told Reuters.

Wow he knew all that and he didnt do nothing.some governer just like his boss knows osama is in Quetta except when asked for the address he has no clue where.

Karzai, who is scheduled to meet Bush at Camp David on Sunday, has often questioned Pakistan's bonafides in the war on terror and accused its military government of protecting the Taliban and using it to undermine Afghanistan's return to democracy.

DId he also forget to mention he is also installed by a military and is a dic-tator.and he wasnt chosen by people of afghanistan by any means.but i guess in his case thats considered democarcy.


Hamid Karzai (born December 24, 1957) is the interim president of the Afghan Transitional Administration. He was named to the position during the Bonn Agreement, December 5, 2001. Official elections are scheduled to take place in Afghanistan in September 2004.

With the Loya Jirga of December 2003 approving the Constitution of Afghanistan, which will create a presidential system of government, Karzai said he would run for the position of President of Afghanistan.

Karzai was born in Kandahar. An ethnic Pashtun and a member of the powerful Populzai clan (from which many Afghan Kings have come), he came from a family that were among the strongest supporters of King Zahir Shah. Thus, he became involved in political landscape in Afghanistan early on. He took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India from 1979 to 1983,(this explains why indians are getting all they need in afghanistan) and then returned to financially support anti-Soviet uprisings in Afghanistan during the rest of the 1980s. After the expulsion of Soviet forces, he served as a minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Karzai speaks six languages; Pushtu, Dari, Urdu, English, French and Hindi. He is married to Zinat Karzai, a doctor by profession. They were married in 1998 and have no children.

When the Taliban emerged onto the political scene in the 1990s, Karzai was initially among their supporters. However, he later broke with the Taliban, citing distrust of their links to Pakistan. After the Taliban overthrew Rabbani in 1996, Karzai refused to serve as their U.N. ambassador. In 1997 Karzai joined many of his family members in Quetta,(he didnt trust pakistan but had no problem living in it ) from where he worked to reinstate Zahir Shah. His father was assassinated, presumably by Taliban agents, July 14, 1999, and Karzai swore revenge against the Taliban by working to help overthrow it.


President Karzai reviews the first soldiers of the Afghan National Army.In 2001, following the September 11 terrorist attack, Karzai worked with agents of the United States to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan and muster support for a new government. On December 5, 2001 Afghan political leaders gathered in Bonn, Germany, and named Karzai chairman of a 29-member governing committee and leader of an interim government. The ceremony for the transfer of power took place December 22. Soon critics emerged, because he worked for the american oil company Unocal, which soon after, on December 27 signed a pipeline contract with the country of Afghanistan.(i wonder why he was installed and now i no longer wonder)

On September 5, 2002, an assassination attempt was made on Hamid Karzai in Kandahar. A gunman wearing the uniform of the new Afghan National Army opened fire, wounding the Governor of Kandahar and an American Special Operations officer. The gunman and one of the President's bodyguards were killed.

He received an honorary doctorate in literature from Himachal University on March 7, 2003.

His brother Ahmed Wali Karzai helps coordinate humanitarian assistance in the southern province of Kandahar.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

There are many in Afghanistan who have been educated in India.

 

[Marathaman]

My,my,my Cheetah....is this another brilliant Indian Conspiracy??

the RAW people must be really enjoying this. Pakistani imaginations are doing all their dirty work for them!!

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

My,my,my....is this another brilliant Indian Conspiracy??

Well another Chidanand Rajghatta "conspiracy" at least. I have followed his "reports" about Pakistan for a few years now. To his credit, he has an excellent ability to use the right language, and piece together different events, even if they are not directly related, to convey an extremely negative view of Pakistan. While the difference of opinion on the comments Bush made to Musharraf is true, it is his use of language that really sets the Pakistan bashing tone.

Note how he says;

"White House officials have taken issue with the self-serving version of the call by Islamabad,

whereas AFP reports;

"Pakistan and the White House differed on the contents of a call between Bush and Musharraf"

Another one;

military strikes against terrorist groups inside Pakistan since Islamabad seemed reluctant to act, and was possible coddling such groups.

The "coddling" part is definitely "opinion", there has been no verifiable evidence to validate this claim and none of the mainstream candidates have suggested this, but the comment is nonetheless weaved in nicely to convey the impression CR wants.

Bush's phone call to Musharraf also preceded visits to the US by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and exiled Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.

And what is the relevance of this line, other than to bolster his continued tirade of "cranking up the pressure on Pakistan".

Of course he had to throw in the last little piece of the Governor of Ghazni, who "knew", without a shred of doubt, that it was "ISI officers" dressed as taliban. They must have forgotten to take off their name tags after leaving the office.

His "unbiased" reports are one reason why I stopped reading the Pakistan section of the Times of India.

 

[Cheetah786]

My,my,my....is this another brilliant Indian Conspiracy??

the RAW people must be really enjoying this. Pakistani imaginations are doing all their dirty work for them!!

Funny thing is any thing happens any where in india.pakistan is blamed before it even happens.but i do enjoy you taking the high grounds.
pay attention to the main post its written by indian against pakistan AKA=Propogenda

 

[Cheetah786]

There are many in Afghanistan who have been educated in India.

Yet india took no refugees from afghanistan.when they wanted a safe place they came to pakistan.

 

[bhangra12345]

Yet india took no refugees from afghanistan.when they wanted a safe place they came to pakistan.

Refugees cant fly sir(meaning no direct land border with afghanistan). We dont have refugees from africa, if that is what you want us to have. We have refugees from srilanka, tibet. We had refugees from bangladesh. Oh! and we have refugees from India itself, the kashmiri pandits who were sent out of their homes by "u know who".

and dont forget that they came when Pakistan used them against soviets in Afghanistan.

 

[Marathaman]

Funny thing is any thing happens any where in india.pakistan is blamed before it even happens.but i do enjoy you taking the high grounds.
pay attention to the main post its written by indian against pakistan AKA=Propogenda

Heh...this story has come up in many newspapers. Not just Indian ones. So its not propaganda.

As far as the ISI is concerned, its involvement in terrorism and other naughty stuff has been documented by most intelligence agencies in the world.
So don't compare ISI and RAW here.

Though I must admit...ISI does shame its Indian counterpart

 

[A.Rahman]

and dont forget that they came when Pakistan used them against soviets in Afghanistan.

Why didn't US granted them citizenships? they were the one who got most out of it.

 

[bhangra12345]

Why didn't US granted them citizenships? they were the one who got most out of it.

Again, the refugees dont have wings.

When they have Pakistan which was willing to do the dirty job for them, they didnt have to get their hands dirty. If any employee didnt clean their hands after the job, the owner is not involved in that.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

As far as the ISI is concerned, its involvement in terrorism and other naughty stuff has been documented by most intelligence agencies in the world.
So don't compare ISI and RAW here.

Could you please provide unbiased objective sources and evidence validating that claim, and links to this "documentation of ISI involvement in terrorism". There must be "evidence" considering how confidently you are making this claim. It goes without saying ofcourse, that Indian sources would not be considered "unbiased" or objective when it comes to Pakistan and vice versa.

Though I must admit...ISI does shame its Indian counterpart

Well. we did exact a very heavy toll, in conjunction with the CIA, upon the Soviets in Afghanistan. I suppose you could argue that RAW has not yet come close to accomplishing anything of the sort.

 

[Marathaman]

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2000/2441.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-5-2002_pg1_1
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1044850
http://www.cfr.org/publication/9514/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,722049,00.html

A few links from varied sources, stating that either Pakistan is involved in state sponsored terror, or that the ISI is involved in terrorism.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2000/2441.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-5-2002_pg1_1
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1044850
http://www.cfr.org/publication/9514/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,722049,00.html

A few links from varied sources, stating that either Pakistan is involved in state sponsored terror, or that the ISI is involved in terrorism.

From the State Dept.

In South Asia, the United States has been increasingly concerned about reports of Pakistani support to terrorist groups and elements active in Kashmir,

They are concerned about "reports", from whom? The Indians? Hardly qualifies as a substantive indictment of "Pakistani involvement in terror". Though Pakistan itself has admitted to "moral"/"logistical" support for the "freedom fighters" in Kashmir, which I concede.

Add to this the "fact" that U.S intelligence was "absolutely certain that Saddam had WMD's".

From Daily Times:

UK says Pakistan must stop infiltration across LoC

Kashmir issue again, and the argument can be raised that it is impossible to completely stop movement across such terrain. It can also be argued that the CIA helped the ISI "support terrorists" in Afghanistan, so the West can hardly claim its own hands are clean on this count.

From CFR:

It has, and experts say that Pakistan’s military and Interservices Intelligence (ISI) both include personnel who sympathize with—or even assist—Islamist militants.

But I thought that military personnel were rotated through the ISI on three year stints. How then is it possible for certain elements within the ISI to just continuously support "terrorism"? I love the "experts" comment. There were some on FOX news one time talking about how U.S special forces should just "raid Pakistani Nuclear weapons sites and secure them". Something more substantive than "experts say this or that" please.

From the guardian:

They are closely watched by their Islamist supporters in the ISI.

Is the ISI functioning like a club, where older members only issue passes to new ones that share their ideology? If all officers are rotated out every three years, how does this long term support from "ISI officers loyal to extremism" come to pass? Or is the ISI just a convenient whipping boy for "experts" who are either not well informed about how the agency runs, or choose to deliberately ignore this flaw in their analysis.

Then again, perhaps my understanding of the ISI structure is incorrect, in which case I would appreciate some of the other members correcting me.

The State Department link is from 2001, the guardian and Daily Times from 2002, the CFR seems the earliest from 2005, and that uses extremely vague language, more akin to opinion than fact, in its analysis, which seems to contradict the pattern upon which the ISI functions (unless I have the rotational policy wrong). The United States supported terrorists and insurgents in Latin America. Policies change with time.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The 2006 country report on Terrorism from the U.S Department of State:

Pakistan executed effective counterterrorism cooperation and captured or killed many terrorists. In August, close cooperation between Pakistani, British, and American law enforcement agencies exposed the London-Heathrow bomb plot, leading to the arrest in Pakistan of Rashid Rauf and other conspirators believed to be connected to the case. However, the United States remained concerned that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan are a safe haven for al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other militants.

Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan is a frontline partner in the War on Terror. Nevertheless, Pakistan remains a major source of Islamic extremism and a safe haven for some top terrorist leaders. Credible reports estimated that as many as 900 Pakistanis lost their lives in more than 650 terror attacks in 2006, with another 1,500 people seriously injured. Pakistan has experienced attacks from international terror networks such as AQ and its supporters, as well as violence stemming from Sunni-Shia sectarian strife and militant sub-nationalists. Attacks occurred with greatest frequency in the regions bordering Afghanistan: Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Al Qaida's continued calls for the overthrow of President Musharraf remained a threat to Pakistan, despite the government's efforts to eliminate AQ elements. Pakistan continued to pursue AQ and its allies aggressively through nationwide police action and military operations in the FATA. Despite having approximately 80,000 troops in the FATA, including Army and Frontier Corps (FC) units, the Government of Pakistan has been unable to exert control over the area.

Pakistan Army and FC units have targeted and raided AQ and other militant safe havens in the FATA. In November, a suicide bomber killed 43 Army recruits and injured more than 40 others at a Pakistani military training facility in Dargai, NWFP, in retaliation for raids on AQ installations.

Operations throughout the year against both AQ and Taliban command and control capabilities helped disrupt support for the anti-Coalition insurgency in Afghanistan and anti-militant activity in Pakistan. In the early part of the year, recognizing that military operations alone would not restore security and stability to the FATA, President Musharraf directed governmental agencies to devise a comprehensive strategy to accelerate economic and social development, strengthen political administration and enhance security in the region. By year's end, the FATA Sustainable Development Plan was undergoing a final review before being presented to the Pakistani public and international community.

Pakistani security services cooperated with the United States and other nations to attack terrorism both within Pakistan and abroad. Hundreds of suspected AQ operatives have been killed or captured by Pakistani authorities since September 2001. Close cooperation between Pakistani, British and American law enforcement agencies exposed the August London-Heathrow bomb plot, leading to the arrest in Pakistan of Rashid Rauf and other alleged conspirators connected to the case. Pakistani authorities arrested two suspects in the March bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, which killed American diplomat David Foy and two others and injured more than 50 bystanders.

Pakistan's leaders took steps to prevent support to the Kashmiri militancy and denounced acts of terrorism in India, including bombings in Varanasi in March and Mumbai in July. Meeting in September on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana, President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to establish an Anti-Terrorism Mechanism to coordinate bilateral exchange of information on terrorist threats.

Armed conflict between the national government and militant Baloch nationalists escalated, culminating in the August 26 death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti1 during a raid by security forces on his mountain hideout. The "Balochistan Liberation Army" (BLA) claimed responsibility for dozens of terror attacks on government offices and economic infrastructure in the province, as well as in neighboring Sindh and Punjab. The government declared the BLA a terrorist organization in April. In addition to violence related to the militant Baloch nationalists, a series of bomb attacks in the provincial capital of Quetta followed police actions against suspected Taliban fighters in the last quarter of the year.

Sectarian violence, a scourge in Pakistan for more than two decades, claimed hundreds of lives, although the total number of sectarian terror attacks continued to decline for the second year in a row. A suicide bomber killed over two dozen and injured approximately 50 people participating in a February 9 Shia religious procession in Hangu, NWFP. On April 11, at least 57 people were killed in a bombing of a gathering of Sunni (Barelvi) religious leaders in Nishtar Park, Karachi. Although media reports blamed intra-Sunni Muslim sectarian rivalry, the results of the government's investigation have not been made public.

President Musharraf remained a forceful advocate for his vision of "enlightened moderation," calling on Pakistanis to reject extremism and terrorist violence. The government's crackdown on banned organizations, hate material, and incitement by religious leaders continued unevenly. Madrassa registration, foreign student enrollment in madrassas, and financial disclosure requirements remained a source of friction between government and religious leaders.

Although Pakistan continued to work with the UNSCR 1267 Committee to freeze the assets of individuals and groups identified as terrorist entities linked to AQ and the Taliban, several UN-sanctioned entities continued to operate. An anti-money laundering bill introduced into the National Assembly in September 2005 remained under consideration in 2006. Adoption of anti-money laundering legislation consistent with international standards would significantly broaden Pakistan's ability to cooperate internationally on counterterrorism finance issues. Pakistani customs officials continued to enhance controls to interdict bulk cash couriers at key ports of entry to prevent unregulated cross-border cash flows, which are a potential source of terrorism funding.

Pakistan's courts, including the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), presided over several high-profile terror-related cases. Prosecuting terrorism cases presented considerable challenges for the government, which obtained convictions in some cases but suffered reversals in others. On May 22, the Rawalpindi ATC sentenced four men to death and ordered life imprisonment for three others for their part in a July 2004 plan to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. On May 30, a Multan ATC judge sentenced Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activist Qari Omar Hayat to death on 16 counts of murder for a 1999 attack on a Shia prayer gathering. On November 23, the Sindh High Court reversed the convictions of nine Harkat-ul Mujahideen members for killing three during the May 2004 bombing of the honorary Macedonian Consulate in Karachi.

The United States and Pakistan engaged in a broad range of counterterrorism cooperative efforts including border security and criminal investigations, as well as several long-term training projects. A Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement, established in 2002, convened in Washington, DC in April to assess ongoing efforts and discuss enhanced cooperation.

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82734.htm

Mostly positive report, and the only one that really counts, being the most recent and all.....