Pakistan Army Soldiers Carry Coffin NATO Attack Victims For Funeral In Peshawar, Pakistan.

Pakistani officials say the country will boycott an upcoming meeting in Germany on the future of Afghanistan to protest a deadly attack by U.S.-led forces on its troops.The officials say the decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday in the city of Lahore. The decision reflects Pakistan's anger over the incident on Saturday that killed 24 soldiers along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The decision comes after a U.S. military account of the strike suggested the deaths resulted from a case of mistaken identity.

U.S. officials are working on the assumption the Taliban chose the location for the first attack, to create just such confusion, and draw U.S. and Pakistani forces into firing on each other, according to U.S. officials briefed on the operation.

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Analysis: U.S. forces face new challenges after drawdown

WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies have made dramatic progress in Afghanistan over the past year, seizing the initiative from the Taliban and driving insurgents from key strongholds in the south.

The challenge for military commanders now will be to consolidate those gains and shift the military main effort to tackle insurgent strongholds in the east — all with fewer troops.

The plan is a "compromise that will be problematic to many of the players," warned David Barno, a retired three-star general who commanded coalition forces in Afghanistan and is now a senior adviser at the Center for a New American Security.

Several commanders in Afghanistan had said reductions should be made so as to not jeopardize gains.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-06-22-analysis-drawdown-afghanistan-obama_n.htm?csp=34news

Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for Pakistan naval base attack

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a deadly weekend attack on a naval base in Karachi.

The group's spokesman, Ihsan Ullah, told CNN on Monday that the attack at the naval air station in the coastal city was to avenge the killing of innocent civilians. The group said Pakistani security forces are carrying out the killings on the instruction of the United States in the name of a "war on terror."

At least 10 militants attacked the base with guns and grenades about 11 p.m. Sunday, leading to several explosions and an hours-long gun battle with Pakistani forces that killed four naval officials, authorities said.

Besides the four dead, nine navy personnel were injured in the attack on the grounds of the Mehran base, said Pakistani navy spokesman Irfan Ul Haq early Monday. He did not have the number of militants who died or were injured.

Two witnesses -- Amjad Bashir and Talha Hashmi -- reported at least 10 explosions in the subsequent hours.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/23/pakistan.base.attack/

Hundreds of Taliban in tunnel jail escape

Some 540 Taliban officers and commanders have escaped from Kandahar prison via a 320 metre-long tunnel, Afghan government officials have confirmed to Al Jazeera.

A Taliban official on Monday also confirmed the overnight escape, boasting that the prison break had been "very well-planned" and that it was five months in the making, Al Jazeera's Qais Azimy, reporting from Kabul, said.

According to a Taliban statement the tunnel was not dug by the inmates but by fighters outside the prison.

"Mujahideen started digging a 320 metre-long to the prison from the south side, which was completed after a five month period, bypassing check posts and the Kandahar-Herat main highway leading directly to the political prison," the statement read.

"The tunnel reached its target last night, from where the prisoner Mujahideen were led away through the escape route by three previously informed inmates in a period of four and a half hours, starting from 11:00 pm last night and ending at 3:30 am this morning. Mujahideen later on sent vehicles to the inmates who were led away to secure destinations."

"They all have made it safe to our centres and there was no fighting," Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said.

Ahmadi said that 106 were Taliban commanders while the rest were foot soldiers. Kandahar police said they have re-captured eight commanders so far.

The Taliban claim that the prison guards did not notice the escape until four hours after the operation was completed.

The prison in Kandahar typically holds drug dealers as well as Taliban commanders captured by NATO forces, our correspondent said.

If the officials have the correct number for those who have escaped - 540 Taliban commanders and senior officers on the run - then this break will constitute a "big success" for the Taliban.

It is also sure to "have a dramatic effect on the fight against the Taliban in the region," said Azimy.

Security concerns

There have been previous escapes from this prison. In June 2008, Taliban fighters attacked the facility in southern Afghanistan, blasting through its entrance and engaging in a gun battle with police.

Nearly all of the estimated 1,150 prisoners, including some 400 Taliban, escaped, according to Afghan officials.

A Taliban spokesperson said that two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the entrance of the gate to the prison before 30 Taliban fighters attacked and killed 16 policemen.

Kandahar prison was the scene of a mass hunger strike by hundreds of inmates in May, 2008 during which 47 of the prisoners sewed their lips shut after complaining they had been tortured and denied fair trials.

Kandahar is seen as the birthplace of the Taliban movement and the city and surrounding area is scene of some of the worst fighting in Afghanistan.

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http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/news/india/sathya-sai-baba-passes-away/articleshow/8077610.cms

Militants kill sole Christian minister in Pakistan

A supporter of Pakistan's government minister for religious minorities Shahbaz Bhatti mourns over his death outside a local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, March 2, 2011. Gunmen shot and killed Bhatti, the latest attack on a high-profile Pakistani figure threatened by Islamist militants for urging reform of harsh blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.


ISLAMABAD (AP) — Militants gunned down the only Christian in Pakistan's government outside his widowed mother's home, the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.

Shahbaz Bhatti was aware of the danger he faced, saying in a videotaped message that he had received death threats from al-Qaida and the Taliban. In it, the 42-year-old Roman Catholic said he was "ready to die" for the country's often persecuted Christian and other non-Muslim minorities.

Wednesday's slaying in Islamabad followed the killing of Salman Taseer, a liberal politician who was gunned down in the capital by one of his guards. Both men had campaigned to change blasphemy laws in Pakistan that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam and have been loudly defended by Islamist political parties.

The Taseer slaying triggered fears the country was buckling under the weight of extremism, especially since the government, fearful of militants and the political parties that champion their causes, did not loudly condemn the killing or those who publicly celebrated it.

The slaying will only reinforce those concerns and further undermine confidence in the government, which appears paralyzed by political rivalries and unable to fix a stagnant economy or provide basic services for the country's 180 million mostly poor people.

The turmoil comes despite attempts by the Obama administration to support Pakistan, which it sees as key to ending the war in neighboring Afghanistan and defeating al-Qaida, whose leadership is believed to reside in the mountainous northwestern regions.

Pakistani government ministers usually travel with police escorts, but Bhatti was without such protection when he was killed as he and a driver left his mother's home. Bhatti, who was minister for religious minorities, had been given police and paramilitary guards but had asked them not to accompany him while he stayed with his mother, said Wajid Durrani, a senior police official.

A friend of the politician, Wasif Ali Khan, said Bhatti was nervous about using guards after the Taseer killing and had requested a bulletproof car, but had not received one.

Bhatti had just pulled out of the driveway when three men opened fire, said Gulam Rahim, a witness. Two opened the door of the car and tried to pull Bhatti out, Rahim said, while a third fired a Kalashnikov rifle repeatedly into the dark-colored Toyota, shattering the windows.

The gunmen then sped away in a white car, said Rahim, who took shelter behind a tree.

Bhatti was hit with at least eight bullets and was dead on arrival at hospital.

In leaflets left at the scene, al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban Movement in Punjab province claimed responsibility. They blamed the government for putting Bhatti, an "infidel Christian," in charge of an unspecified committee, apparently in reference to his support for changing the blasphemy laws.

"With the blessing of Allah, the mujahedeen will send each of you to hell," said the note, which did not name any other targets.

Government officials and political party workers condemned the killing, but made no reference to the blasphemy law controversy. Muslim clerics contacted by The Associated Press or interviewed on Pakistani TV either offered a tepid condemnation or claimed the assassination was part of an American-led conspiracy to drive a wedge between Muslims and Christians.

Bhatti, a soft-spoken minister who rose to prominence defending a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, often spoke of the threats against him from extremists. Very few Pakistani politicians were willing to talk about changing the blasphemy law because of the danger.

"They (the Taliban) want to impose their radical philosophy in Pakistan. And whoever stands against their radical philosophy, they threaten them," he said in the video message, which was posted on the website of the First Step Forum, a Finland-based group that promotes religious harmony, rule of law and democracy.

"These threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles. I'm living for my community and suffering people," said Bhatti, who was an adviser to the group and had asked that his message be released in the event of his death.

The slaying robbed Pakistani Christians of their most prominent advocate.

"We have been orphaned today!" wailed Rehman Masih, a Christian resident of Islamabad. "Now who will fight for our rights? Who will raise a voice for us? Who will help us?"

Christians are the largest religious minority in Pakistan, whose population is 95 percent Muslim. They have very little political power and tend to work in lower-level jobs, such as street sweeping.

As Christians took to the streets Wednesday to protest in several cities, relatives and friends went to Bhatti's home to pay their respects. "Tell the mullahs that the man who was the voice of the Christians is silent. Where are they now?" mourner Samuel David shouted to a television crew.

The assassination drew condemnation from Christian and government leaders.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, called the slaying a "new episode of violence of terrible gravity," saying it "demonstrates just how justified are the insistent statements by the pope regarding violence against Christians and religious freedom."

Lombardi noted that Pope Benedict XVI had met with Bhatti in September.

President Barack Obama condemned the slaying, saying Bhatti "fought for and sacrificed his life for the universal values that Pakistanis, Americans and people around the world hold dear" — including rights to free speech and religious freedom.

In Britain, leaders of the Anglican Church expressed shock and sorrow and urged Pakistan's government to do more to protect Christians.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the attack was "not only on one man but on the values of tolerance and respect of all faiths and backgrounds."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the "tragic assassination," calling Bhatti "a prominent advocate for minority rights and a promoter of inter-faith understanding." The U.N. chief encourages the Pakistani government "to continue its efforts to combat terrorism, protect the rights of minorities and promote tolerance," his spokesman said.

Pakistan's blasphemy laws were originally framed by the Asian subcontinent's British colonial rulers but were toughened in the 1980s during the military rule of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who pushed a politicized, austere brand of Islam.

Human rights groups have long warned that the laws are vaguely worded and open to abuse because people often use them to settle rivalries or persecute religious minorities.

Right-wing Islamist parties, looking for an issue to rally their supporters, have campaigned against any change to the laws, accusing those who seek to amend them of blasphemy — and creating an environment that led to the latest killings.

"Bhatti's murder is the bitter fruit of appeasement of extremist and militant groups both prior to and after the killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer," said Human Right Watch. "An urgent and meaningful policy shift on the appeasement of extremists that is supported by the military, the judiciary and the political class needs to replace the political cowardice and institutional myopia that encourages such continued appeasement despite its unrelenting bloody consequences."

Another prominent opponent of the blasphemy laws, ruling party member Sherry Rehman, recently dropped her bid to get them changed. Rehman, who has said she had to abide by party leaders' decisions, faces death threats and has been living with heavy security.

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More Than 1,000 Extra Marines To Be Deployed in Afghanistan

The United States will send more than 1,000 additional Marines to Afghanistan this month to try to solidify progress in the south before troop reductions begin in July, American military officials said Thursday.

The majority of the forces will be sent to Helmand Province, where 20,000 Marines have made gains against the Taliban but where fighting remains intense in insurgent strongholds like Sangin. American commanders are under pressure to quell the violence and sustain their gains in the first six months of 2011, when the White House will assess whether a troop increase for the nearly decade-old war is working.

Officials at the Florida-based United States Central Command, which has responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that the Marines were being sent to take advantage of what is traditionally a winter hiatus for the Taliban and to try to set conditions for the fighting season that begins in the spring.

Maj. Gen. Richard P. Mills, the commander of the 20,000 Marines in Helmand, said in a statement that the intent was to overwhelm the enemy “with an increased operational tempo that he’ll be unable to match.”

The 1,000-plus Marines are part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a reserve force currently deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Central Command officials said the Marines would go to Afghanistan for about three months. The rest of the expeditionary unit will remain aboard ship for other contingencies, military officials said.

Currently there are about 100,000 United States troops in Afghanistan. In December 2009, President Obama announced that he was sending 30,000 additional troops there and at the same time said the United States would begin to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in July 2011.

Since then, the Obama administration has tried to shift focus away from the July 2011 date — military commanders said the deadline was encouraging insurgents to bide their time until the United States withdrew — to a new date of 2014 as the end of American combat operations in Afghanistan.

It is unclear what effect, if any, the additional Marines will have on the debate on the number of forces to be withdrawn in July.

“The coming debate is bigger than this,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, a military analyst and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “The issue will be, do we reduce in the second half of the year by 1,000, 5,000 or 20,000?”

During a visit to Afghanistan last month, Mr. Obama told American troops that they were “making important progress” and breaking the Taliban’s momentum, but others in Washington and Kabul have been more skeptical about the gains and whether they can be sustained once the Americans leave.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/world/asia/07troops.html?src=twrhp

US drone attack kills five 'militants' in Pakistan

Five suspected militants have died in a US drone strike in north-western Pakistan, Pakistani officials say.

They say the missiles, fired from a pilotless US aircraft, struck a vehicle and a building in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.

The lawless region, a haven for members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, has been repeatedly targeted by US drones.

There have been more than 100 such attacks throughout 2010, nearly all of which have hit North Waziristan.

Muslim extremists are believed to run a virtual mini-state in the area, outside the Pakistani government's control.

Monday's drone attack happened in the Khysor area of North Waziristan, reports said.

Pakistan publicly criticises drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants. But observers say officials privately condone the strikes.

The US military and the CIA do not routinely confirm that they have launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have deployed such aircraft in the region.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11933649

Taliban attacks Karachi CID office; 18 killed

Karachi : The office of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) here became a target to a massive terror strike on Thursday, Nov 11. At least 18 people were killed and over 115 others injured, when a group of Taliban militants, heavily armed with bombs and guns, launched a daring attack in the high security zone.

The CID became the target of the attack as it is spearheading the drive against terrorists in Karachi. The Tehrik-e-Taliban, the Pakistan-arm of the banned militant group, not only claimed responsibility for the strike but also warned of more terror attacks saying that the next target would be the Presidential Palace in Islamabad.

After detonating an explosives-laden truck at the office at around 8:17 pm (local time), the attackers exchanged fire with guards outside the CID office.

The office is located in high security area with the Chief Minister's official residence and several five-star hotels and consulates in the vicinity.

Most of those killed in the attack were policemen and security personnel. The area around the CID office was cordoned off after the attack and an emergency was declared in hospitals.

The local media gave varying accounts on the number of attackers. It is also unclear if the militants were also among the dead.

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http://news.oneindia.in/2010/11/12/taliban-attacks-karachi-cid-office-18-killed.html