Abdus Sattar Ghazali, "Pakistan Resists Capitulating To New US Demands," CounterCurrents, March 18, 2008.

If there is truly a place where the war on terror is being fought and probably lost, it is in what passes for diplomacy between the US and Pakistan concerning especially the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas of the NorthWest Frontier Province. This article begins by describing seven non-negotiable demands that Richard Armitage handed to Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, head of ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service, shortly after 911 with the warning that the US would "bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age" if it did not accept them. (Musharraf In the Line of Fire 06)

Now the US has issued a new list of eleven demands to Pakistan's defense ministry leaked by The News. Ghazali cites editorials by The Nation, The News, and the Frontier Post.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, the port city through which the lion's share of NATO's supplies for Afghanistan must pass, six lawyers have been burnt to death, their offices set ablaze, and 50 vehicles torched during what has been described as "a protest against the beating up of former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan by lawyers a day earlier." But the only torch you will read about in Canada is on its embattled way to the Olympics.

Former Indian diplomat M K Bhadrakumar comments on Putin's new role at the recent NATO meeting. He sees portayal of Russia's "defeat" as a smokescreen. By agreeing to the transit of food and non- military cargo and "some types of non-lethal military equipment" across Russia to Afghanistan, Moscow now has a vital role in NATO's operations. (ATol Apr 7 08)

For their part, "The Taliban have identified the town of Torkham, at the Afghanistan end of the fabled Khyber Pass, as a crucial weak point in the supply lines that maintain the international military presence in Afghanistan. Significantly, the first in a planned series of six joint intelligence centers along the border has been opened at Torkham, in what the US describes as "a giant step forward". If only Pakistan would play along. (ATol Apr 10 08)


Read Ghazali's article =>

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective.

–Photo by Naziruddin. Flame and smoke rise from vehicles set on fire in Karachi.Recommend this Post

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