US stepping up unilateral attacks in Pakistan: report

WASHINGTON  ( 2008-03-27 21:50:06 ) : 

The United States has stepped up unilateral strikes against al Qaeda and foreign fighters in tribal areas, partly because of fears the country's new leaders will insist they be scaled back, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the substance of the report, which said US-controlled Predator aircraft have struck at least three sites used by al Qaeda operatives over the past two months.
"Our operations with Pakistan are closely coordinated," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "Pakistan recognizes that we fight a common enemy when it comes to terrorists."
Musharraf's allies lost elections last month, and new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told US President George W. Bush this week that a broader approach to the "war on terror" is necessary, including political solutions.
The strikes followed a "tacit understanding" with Musharraf and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani that permits US strikes on foreign militants in Pakistan, but not against Pakistanis, the Post quoted officials as saying.
It quoted one senior official as describing the strikes as a "shake the tree" strategy designed to force al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and key lieutenants to move in ways that US intelligence can detect.
There was no immediate response from Pakistani officials on the report.
Pakistan has never formally admitted to allowing such missile strikes and Musharraf earlier this year said that unauthorized military actions on Pakistani soil would be treated as an invasion.
The report came as two senior US diplomats, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs Richard Boucher, continued a visit to Pakistan apparently aimed at wooing the new government.
A senior partner in the new coalition government, former premier Nawaz Sharif, warned the envoys earlier this week that parliament would review Musharraf's "one-man" strategy against extremism.
Sharif said he told them that it was unacceptable for Pakistan -- which has suffered a recent wave of suicide bombings blamed on militants -- to become a "murder-house" for the sake of US policies.

No single solution to tribal unrest: Negroponte

KARACHI  ( 2008-03-27 20:55:44 ) : 

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Thursday there were no single solution to militancy in the tribal areas and stressed that the problem would require a combination of measures.
Negroponte however opposed talks with militants who could not be persuaded to renounce violence in the region bordering Afghanistan.
"Security measures obviously are necessary when one is dealing with irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our very way of life," he told reporters in Karachi.
"You cannot talk with those kinds of people. On the other hand there are reconcilable elements in any of these situations who hopefully can be persuaded to participate in the democratic political process," he said.
"The common ground that we have in discussing the issue of how to deal with violent extremism in this country or elsewhere where it occurs in the world is that it calls for a multi-faceted approach, there is no single solution."
Asked if the purpose of his visit is to rescue President Pervez Musharraf, Negroponte said it was for the political process in Pakistan to decide the future of Musharraf.
"As far as Musharraf's status, he is the President of the country. We met with him in that capacity and any debate or disposition with regard to his status is of course something that is to be addressed by (the) Pakistani political process."
He said the US would "certainly respect what is decided in that regard."
Negroponte reaffirmed the United States' commitment to the people and stressed there was no hidden agenda behind his visit to Pakistan.
Political observers say the US visit was designed to woo the new government and smooth its relations with Musharraf amid fears that instability in the nation will hurt efforts to tackle militancy.

Baghdad security plan spokesman kidnapped--police

BAGHDAD: A spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, designed to make the Iraqi capital safer, was kidnapped from his home by armed gunmen on Thursday, police said.
Armed men stormed the home of Tahseen al-Sheikhli in theal-Amin neighbourhood of southwestern Baghdad, set the building on fire, disarmed his bodyguards and took him away, a police source said.
No one was reported hurt in the raid.
Sheikhli, a university professor, is one of two main spokesmen for the security plan, launched by the government more than a year ago to reduce bombings and ethnic attacks by flooding the streets with U.S. and Iraqi troops.