Maybe its related to the release of 4 Americans kidnapped by the Taliban! News item below
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Kidnapped US citizens: US seeks Pakistan’s help to secure citizens’ release
ISLAMABAD:
US authorities have formally sought the Pakistan government’s aid in negotiating the release of four Americans abducted by elements associated with al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, The Express Tribune has learnt. The request has been sent in light of the American policy which bars Washington from negotiating with terrorists.
According to sources familiar with the development, the office of the legal attaché at the US embassy in Islamabad has dispatched a memorandum on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the government of Pakistan, via the Ministry of Interior.
The memorandum requests Islamabad to act as mediator between Washington and the militants responsible for abducting the US nationals in order to secure their freedom, they added.
The sources further informed The Express Tribune that the memorandum reveals those involved in the abductions have been involved in the killings of other US citizens. As such, US authorities are barred from negotiating with the abductors directly.
After receiving the memorandum, the interior ministry has issued a circular among all provincial home departments, police chiefs and law enforcement departments directing them to take all possible steps to recover the US citizens, the sources added.
When contacted, US embassy spokesperson Rian Harris did not deny the development, but declined to offer any comment.
“I am afraid I cannot comment on the ongoing investigations,” she maintained.
The four US citizens – namely Bowe Bergdahl, Dr Warren Weinstein, Caitlan Coleman and Naeem Khan – were kidnapped between 2009 and 2012 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Bergdahl, a soldier in the US army, went missing on June 30, 2009 near the town of Yahya Khel in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, right next to the border with Pakistan. In July the same year, the Afghan Taliban released a video showing they had captured Bergdahl. Since then, four more videos have been released. The Taliban have demanded $1 billion and the release of 21 Afghan prisoners and Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for his release.
Dr Weinstein was kidnapped in Lahore on August 13, 2011, just 48 hours before ending a four-year foreign assignment and returning home to Washington DC. In videos released subsequently, al Qaeda confirmed they held Weinstein.
The group’s current leader Ayman al Zawahiri has demanded an end to US airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and the release of all al Qaeda and Taliban suspects worldwide in exchange for Weinstein’s freedom.
Coleman was kidnapped near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border along with her husband, a Canadian citizen. US authorities suspect al Qaeda to be behind their abduction as well. The couple last contacted their family on October 8, 2012.
Coleman was five-months pregnant at the time of abduction and requires urgent medical attention due to liver ailment, further increasing the need for her release as soon as possible. She was due to give birth sometime in January this year. Her family made a fresh appeal for her safe return on December 31, 2012.
The fourth US national, Naeem Khan, was abducted in Pakistan’s tribal areas on November 3, 2012.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2013.
post no.3.
