Wiki revenge: MasterCard site crippled
LONDON: The websites of the international credit card MasterCard and the Swedish prosecution authority have been taken offline in the latest development over WikiLeaks, The Guardian reported Wednesday.Co-ordinated attacks by online activists who support the site and its founder Julian Assange – who is in UK custody accused of raping two Swedish women – have seen the websites of the alleged victims' Swedish lawyer disabled, while commercial and political targets have also been subject to attack by a loose coalition of global hackers.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistle blower site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks reveals Karzi's dual standards towards Pakistan
KARACHI: WikiLeaks has disclosed the dual standards of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai towards Pakistan.
According to the leaks, Karzai held a meeting with the then British prime minister Gordon Brown on 21st August 2008 in which both the leaders discussed the situation in Pakistan and the presidential election.
During the meeting, Karzai was reportedly 'warm' on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari but encouraged the US and UK to 'open channels' to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
Karzai blamed that the al Qaeda training activity on the Pakistan side of border has increased and termed Pakistan as more violent country than Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks in its previous cable disclosed that a very important member of the Karzai's cabinet termed Nawaz Sharif as a 'bad news', while Hamid Karzai favoured Zardari in presidential election. Halloween Party in Jeddah, reveals WikiLeaks
JEDDAH: US diplomat in Saudi Arab described in the cable that he attended the underground Halloween party in Jeddah in 2009 where Saudi Princes among more than 150 Saudi men and women were present, most in their 20s and 30s.
The cable also revealed that the Halloween party broke all the country's Islamic taboos.
A US company also put up some of the finance, cable added.
US diplomat also told that the party was held under strict security.
Commenting on Halloween Party, US diplomat said that such parties are held only behind closed doors and for the very rich.Libya business monopolized by Gaddafi-related gentry
KARACHI: Col. Gaddafi often speaks out publicly against government corruption, but WikiLeaks revealed that the politically-connected elite have direct access to lucrative business deals.
This commercial access can easily be cut off when individuals fall out of favour. The Gaddafi family and other Jamahiriya political favourites profit from being able to manipulate the multi-layered and regularly shifting dynamics of governance mechanisms in Libya.
According to the leaks, the Gaddafi's family and other political favourites have strong interests in the oil and gas sector, telecommunications, infrastructure development, hotels, media distribution, and consumer goods distribution.
The financial interests of Gaddafi and his key allies present both opportunities and challenges for reform efforts in Libya. Any reform is likely to be cyclical over the long-term. Australia blames U.S. over Leaked cables
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
SYDNEY: Australia said Monday it would support the United States in any legal action against WikiLeaks, as the whistleblower site founded by Australian Julian Assange released thousands of sensitive US cables.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said WikiLeak's publication of diplomatic US memos could harm the national security interests of the US and its allies, including Australia, as well as "prejudice the safety" of those they discussed.
"Australia will support any law enforcement action that may be taken, the US will be the lead government in that respect, but certainly Australian agencies will assist," McClelland told reporters in Canberra.
Asked whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was Australia's most wanted man, McClelland said: "The United States authorities are looking at law enforcement actions as the lead country, and we are providing every assistance and could be expected to provide every assistance."
McClelland said he received no request to cancel the passport of Assange, who has said that more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables relating to "every major issue" in the world will be released in the latest data dump.
But the attorney-general said he had asked Australian Federal Police to investigate whether the publication of the documents -- one of which describes Australia as a "rock solid" but unimposing ally -- broke any local laws.
"From Australia's point of view we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by ... the release of this information," McClelland said.
"The Australian Federal Police are looking at that, clearly I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of that advice."
McClelland said the latest WikiLeaks release, which follows that of tens of thousands of US military files relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would also be examined by a government taskforce.
The diplomatic cables will include hundreds sent by US officials in Australia, but their full content is as yet unknown.
Assange to fight extradition: lawyer
TONY EASTLEY: Lawyers for WikiLeak's editor and founder, Julian Assange, say he could have a meeting with British authorities to discuss sexual assault charges laid against him by Swedish police, within 24 hours.
Scotland Yard has received a European arrest warrant for Assange. Sweden wants him extradited but that's something he and his lawyers are fighting. They fear he will be handed over to US authorities.
Since WikiLeaks published thousands of confidential American diplomatic cables, Assange has become one of the world's most publicised and wanted men. In the US his actions have been described as akin to terrorism.
One of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, says her client's ability to fight the charges have been hampered by the freezing of his bank account.
She told AM that Assange will approach Australia's High Commission in London for consular assistance.
I asked Jennifer Robinson whether the arrest warrant had been officially issued.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: The arrest warrant has been communicated today and I can confirm that we were contacted by the police this afternoon and are in the process of arranging, negotiating for a meeting with Assange to deal with this matter.
They, Sweden is obviously seeking extradition but again we say it is completely disproportionate because we are offering testimony that they seek. The Swedish prosecutor was on national television just last night saying that all she wants to hear is his side of the story.
We find that incredible considering we have offered his side of the story on numerous occasions and she has rejected those offers.
Assange 'based himself at London journalists club'
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange based himself for much of the past few months at a journalists club in London, the founder of the club said on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Australian was remanded in custody on Tuesday in Britain after being refused bail at a London court over claims of sex crimes in Sweden.
He was widely thought to have been in the British capital in recent months and that was confirmed by Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club in central London.
"He based himself at the Frontline Club for most of the period," Smith told media, referring to the past few months but saying he could not give an exact timeframe. Smith also said he had offered Assange an address for bail.
Assange denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden and has said he will fight an extradition request.
His detention came as his website continued to release tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables, causing embarrassment for governments worldwide.
Over the past several months, apart from trips abroad, Assange was staying at the club, Smith said.
Assange was given facilities to carry out his work at the club, where he also took part in several public debates on his whistleblower website WikiLeaks and the state of the modern media, said Smith.
"He came to us," explained the club founder. "Essentially because we are independent... he felt it would be a reasonably safe place for him to operate out of.
"It was also somewhere he could access journalists and speak to them."
Smith said that he had attended Assange's court appearance on Tuesday to offer his support.
"I am suspicious of the personal charges that have been made against Mr Assange and hope that this will be properly resolved by the courts," he added in a statement.
Video journalist Smith, 47, set up the Frontline Club seven years ago in honour of colleagues at the Frontline Television News agency who died pursuing their work, according to the club's website.
It regularly hosts talks by journalists and debates on the media, as well as documentary and film screenings.
From Today's Newspaper
WikiLeaks founder denied bail despite public offers
LONDON/SYDNEY/WASHINGTON: Despite many people’s offer to give surety for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a British court refused to bail him out on Tuesday after he was arrested over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website is at the centre of a row over the release of secret US diplomatic cables, was arrested under a European arrest warrant earlier on Tuesday after handing himself in to London police.
Assange, who denies the allegations, was refused bail and faces a fresh hearing on December 14. He has spent much of his time in Sweden and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers.
A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the allegations. At a court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: “There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail”. He also said the allegations were of a serious nature, and Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
The judge refused bail for 39-year-old Assange despite an offer by personalities including film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan to put up bail for him. WikiLeaks vowed it wouldcontinue making public details of the 250,000 secret US documents it had obtained.
“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” WikiLeaks said, according to its Twitter page.
London police said Assange was arrested by officers from its extradition unit at about 9:30am (09:30 GMT) after he appeared by appointment at a police station. His whereabouts had been previously undisclosed.
“He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010,” a London police spokeswoman said.
Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations. The crime he is suspected of is the least severe of three categories of rape, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
WikiLeaks said it would be operating as normal using people in London and other locations, and argued the pressure it faced was becoming a fundamental question of civil liberties. “Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today (Tuesday) and in the coming days,” said spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.
“The attacks that we are under from companies who are bowing to pressure from the US government are outrageous and I see it a clear confrontation against the freedom of speech and press freedom.”
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Gates, who was visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday, welcomed news that British police had arrested Assange.
“I hadn’t heard that but it sounds like good news to me,” Gates told reporters while visiting American troops at Forward Operating Base Connolly in eastern Afghanistan when asked for reaction to Assange’s arrest.
Renowned American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky signed an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard urging her to make a “strong statement” in support of Julian Assange.
Chomsky, a professor of linguistics at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a prominent critic of US foreign policy, joined scores of high-profile Australian lawyers, authors and journalists in signing the letter.
Noting the “increasingly violent rhetoric” directed towards Australian-born Assange, the signatories said there were “grave concerns” for his safety.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regretted the “deeply distressing” release of a secret list of key infrastructure sites that could threaten US security if hit by terror strikes.
“I will underscore that this theft of US government information and its publication without regard for the consequences is deeply distressing,” Clinton said as she briefed reporters with Japan and South Korea’s top diplomats.
“The illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners” worldwide, she warned.
China again said Tuesday it hoped that the ongoing revelations from secret US diplomatic cables would not affect Beijing’s relations with the United States.
“The absurd content is not worth commenting on and we hope that it will not disturb bilateral ties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
Leaks from whistleblower website WikiLeaks have created “misunderstandings” and “cannot be taken seriously,” the head of the grouping of the six Gulf states, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said on Tuesday.
“These links... created a kind of misunderstanding about the information,” Attiyah said, adding that “these kind of sites cannot be reliable or credible sources.”
“We cannot take seriously the things in what was said,” Attiyah said in response to a question on WikiLeaks at a news conference after the 31st annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit held in Abu Dhabi.
Big secrets not exposed by WikiLeaks
By Hamid Mir
ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks have not unmasked all the political secrets. Many secrets are still confined only to a few individuals and to some top-secret files and these secrets will come out only when these individuals will themselves speak.
WikiLeaks has revealed that President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup in 2009 and considered the US as his ultimate saviour. US Ambassador in Pakistan Anne W Patterson sent cables to Washington in support of Zardari. But WikiLeaks did not expose the storm created in the White House and Pentagon by her cables, which warned Washington about a possible military coup in 2009.
President Obama asked one of his top military commanders many times to speak with General Kayani and get the truth. US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen inquired from his Pakistani counterpart General Kayani not once but more than three times about the possibility of any military coup and every time Kayani said that he was not planning any coup.
At one stage, Mullen spoke to Kayani from Washington and said that “the US administration thinks that I am too close to you and I know everything about you, please let me know in advance if you have any political plans.” This time, Kayani responded back in a lighter way and said that “Don’t worry, you will be the first person to know if anything unusual happens in Pakistan”.
The situation changed in just one year. In 2010, the Zardari-led government started suspecting US diplomats as the “mastermind” behind all the anti-government moves.
Then President Asif Ali Zardari asked his Interior Minister Rehman Malik in September 2010 to monitor the activities of a second tier US diplomat, who was meeting different politicians frequently those days. The Intelligence Bureau and ISI informed the government that the diplomat had completed his tenure and went back to the US but suddenly came back and again started meeting politicians and journalists, raising some red flags.
The IB and ISI informed the government that the diplomat was discussing the possibility of mid-term elections with opposition parties as well as some government allies. This created so much alarm in the Zardari camp that one fine morning, Rehman Malik wrote a letter to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson about the “un-diplomatic” activities of the US diplomat.
Within 48 hours, Patterson arranged a meeting between Rehman Malik and the diplomat. Interestingly, Rehman Malik produced documentary evidence in front of the US ambassador and claimed that the diplomat was instigating not only the opposition leaders but also some govt allies against the government.
Malik claimed that the diplomat had discussed the possibility of some top political changes in the government, which was not his diplomatic mandate. The diplomat tried to defend himself by saying that he had only discussed the reasons of differences within the coalition partners with some MQM leaders and he had never hatched any conspiracy against the government. Rehman Malik was not satisfied with this answer. He got satisfied only when the diplomat was sent packing to Washington.
Highly reliable sources say that President Zardari and Army chief Kayani developed some misunderstandings in March 2009 and relations between the two were tense but it was Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who seriously tried to remove this tension.
Ultimately, the president informed the PM that everything was all right and one day the PM surprised the nation by announcing a new three-year tenure for Army chief Kayani. This new tenure was the proof that the situation in 2010 had changed from 2009.
It was also learnt that Prime Minister Gilani used the recent floods as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Presidency and the Army House.
Subsequently, the president and the Army chief were on board when the government decided to cut off the Nato supply lines after the US attack on Pakistani troops in the tribal areas. Admiral Mullen tried his level best to use his “personal relations” with Kayani to cool down the situation.
It is worth mentioning that Mullen had visited Pakistan more than 20 times since November 2007 and during this period, he had 12 one-on-one meetings with Kayani. Most of the time they met alone with no note takers.
Mullen spoke to Kayani again and again during the Nato supply lines crisis but Kayani demanded an apology.
The unity in the power troika in Pakistan ultimately forced Ambassador Patterson to make a public apology. It was the same Patterson who sent dispatches to Washington in 2009 that the Army and the civilian government did not enjoy good relations but now she was apologising to all of them in 2010.
It has been learnt that Prime Minister Gilani is planning to discuss a grand plan for national reconciliation with President Zardari and General Kayani but again the new US Ambassador Munter is now becoming a problem for him.
Cameron Munter is openly making statements in support of the RGST and creating problems because he does not realise that the opposition parties are not in a position to support any new tax supported by the US.
The power troika has decided to formulate a strategy for minimising the undue political role of US diplomats in Pakistan and this strategy will bring some big surprises in 2011.
Profile of Gen Kayani and talking points sent by US envoy
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: A secret US diplomatic cable says Pakistan’s strategic assets are under the control of the secular military, which has implemented extensive physical, personnel and command and control safeguards.
“Our major concern has not been that an Islamic militant could steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in GOP facilities could gradually smuggle enough fissile material out to eventually make a weapon and the vulnerability of weapons in transit. Despite a court decision to ‘free’ nuclear proliferator AQ Khan, the GOP continues to assure us he remains under significant travel and media restrictions,” a February 19, 2009 cable of US Ambassador Anne Patterson, which was the scenesetter of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s February 20-27, 2009 visit to Washington, said.
The message featured comprehensive points to stress, exploit, praise, acknowledge and talk about during Kayani’s visit. It also detailed his CV. It said Ashfaq Kayani was born in the Punjab in 1952, grew up in a working-class family and is the son of a former junior officer. “He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after graduating from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1971. His long career has included command at every level from Company to Corps. He has served in key staff positions, to include Military Assistant to the Prime Minister under Benazir Bhutto from 1988-1990, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), 2000-2003, Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 2004-2007, and Vice Chief of Army Staff in 2007. In November 2007, he became Chief of Army Staff (COAS). He is the only officer ever to have served as both DG-ISI and COAS. His term as DGMO coincided with the intense military standoff with India of 2001-2002.”
Continuing, the cable said, in interactions Kayani is often direct, frank, and thoughtful. “He has fond memories of his IMET training at Fort Leavenworth and values his personal relationships, particularly with US military leaders. Kayani is married and the father of two children, a son and a daughter. An avid golfer, he is President of the Pakistan Golf Association. He smokes heavily and can be difficult to understand as he tends to mumble.”
Although, the cable said, he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Zardari’s statement last year to the Indian press that Pakistan would adopt a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons. Despite increasing financial constraints, we believe that the military is proceeding with an expansion of both its growing strategic weapons and missile programmes, it added.
“We should recognise growing Pakistani casualties in the fight against militants, praise Kayani’s support for the civilian democratic government in Islamabad, re-iterate the long-term US commitment to support Pakistan, and thank him for agreeing to send his intelligence chief and director of military operations to the Holbrooke/Riedel US-Pakistan strategic review meeting in Washington. We should also thank Kayani for the GOP’s effort to ensure that US/Nato continues to deliver fuel and dry goods through Pakistan for our forces in Afghanistan.”
“But” the cable said, “we need to lay down a clear marker that Pakistan’s Army/ISI must stop overt or tacit support for militant proxies (Haqqani network, Commander Nazir, Lashkar-e-Taiba). We should preface that conversation with an agreement to open a new page in relations; Kayani, who was ISI chief from 2004-2007, does not want a reckoning with the past. Given the GOP surrender of Swat to local Taliban, we need to press Kayani to commit his now reluctant army to retake the area after the peace deal inevitably fails.”
“We,” the message said, “should press for Pakistani prosecution of the Mumbai suspects, encourage expanded USG training of army and Frontier Corps forces, raise the prospect of embedding US military observers/advisers with the Frontier Corps, support a prioritised needs-based FMF request that builds COIN capability, ask Kayani to explain how Pakistan plans to back US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, and probe for what Indian action would allow him to redeploy troops from his eastern front to support increased combat in the Pak-Afghan border area.”
The cable said that President Asif Zardari was cementing leadership alliances, so he can avoid another election until he receives international assistance to address food and fuel inflation, electricity blackouts and high unemployment. Pakistan has met its first-quarter targets under a $6.7 billion IMF Standby Agreement but the economy remains too weak to support the Pakistani military’s appetite for expensive weapons systems (particular F-16s).
It said that Zardari and Kayani are the key decision-makers in Pakistan; they have developed a respectful if not entirely trusting working relationship. “Kayani has gone out of his way to publicly defer to Zardari because he needs political support to wage successful military operations. After eight years of military rule under Musharraf, Zardari is re-shaping civilian-military relations in the shadow of Pakistan’s history of repeated military coups. It is in USG interests for the Zardari/Gilani government to complete its full five-year term, and we should praise Kayani’s efforts to support civilian democracy.”
The cable said that Kayani may advocate for pending legislation (Kerry-Lugar) in the US Congress to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan and robust USG support for an IMF/World Bank Donors’ Conference to provide $4 billion in social safety net programmes to compensate for IMF-imposed budget cuts. “We anticipate that Special Representative Holbrooke will attend a donors’ conference in April. Kayani may request additional US support for civilian law enforcement; in addition to the over $40 million of equipment and training delivered to the Frontier Corps, we are providing $15 million in additional equipment for NWFP police and are working to re-programme another $55 million in FY2009. There is a FY2009 supplemental request pending for another $95 million for the police.”
According to the leaked message, Zardari and Gilani agree that Pakistan’s biggest threat comes from a growing militant insurgency on the Pak-Afghan border. The military and ISI have not yet made that leap; they still view India as their principal threat and Afghanistan as strategic depth in a possible conflict with India. They continue to provide overt or tacit support for proxy forces (including the Haqqani group, Commander Nazir, Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, and Lashkar-e-Taiba) as a foreign policy tool, it charged.
“The single biggest message Kayani should hear in Washington is that this support must end. It is now counterproductive to Pakistan’s own interests and directly conflicts with USG objectives in Afghanistan — where Haqqani is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians — and the region — where Mumbai exposed the fruits of previous ISI policy to create Lashkar-e-Taiba and still threatens potential conflict between nuclear powers.”
Now, the cable said, absorbing combat losses against formidable militants, the FC and military finally have begun to accept more USG training and assistance in support of counter-insurgency (COIN). “Kayani will appreciate US recognition of the casualties his men have suffered, and this is an opening we should exploit to press for expanded FC and special forces (SSG) training. Kayani remains leery of too large a USG military footprint in Pakistan, but to win he must be able to fight without creating the level of civilian casualties his forces’ blind artillery and F-16 bombardments are now producing. We are responding to Pakistan Air Force requests for Close Air Support training to improve the precision of F-16s they are using in Fata. We should probe for the possible introduction of US military observers/advisers to improve the COIN capability of this 1940’s force.”
The cable said that Kayani may request additional US support for Pakistan’s F-16 programme, the flagship symbol of post-9/11 re-engagement. “We are about to send to Congress notification for an additional $142 million in FMF support for one part of this complex programme. But we do not believe Pakistan can afford to complete a $2 billion plus programme to buy 18 new F-16s, upgrade 35 older aircraft, upgrade a new base, and fund a munitions package. Given the funding and production line implications of either bailing out the GOP or cancelling the programme, US agencies are reviewing our options.”
“We could not agree more with Kayani on the need to modernise Pakistan’s helicopter fleet; on any given day, they have perhaps 2-3 attack helos flying in support of COIN operations. We now are delivering spare parts for their Cobra and Bell 412s, overhauling and upgrading their MI-17s, and assessing ways to improve overall helicopter maintenance.”
The cable said that the drone attacks have put increasing political pressure on the Pakistani government, which has struggled to explain why it is allowing an ally to violate its sovereignty. The Pakistan government, it said, so far has denied recent media reports alleging that the US is launching the strikes from bases in Pakistan.
“Kayani knows full well that the strikes have been precise (creating few civilian casualties) and targeted primarily at foreign fighters in the Waziristans. He will argue, however, that they undermine his campaign plan, which is to keep the Waziristans quiet until the army is capable of attacking Baitullah Mahsud and other militants entrenched there. In recent meetings with Special Representative Holbrooke, a variety of Pakistani interlocutors (and now the press) suggested that the US work jointly with Pakistan and target Mahsud or other militants who are killing Pakistanis.”
Patterson penned the following talking points:
- What is in the past is behind us. What we seek going forward is an all-encompassing bilateral relationship based on what we can accomplish for the future. We recognise your sacrifices and are well-aware of the trust-deficit that exists on each side. We must both work to overcome it.
- We appreciate your efforts to support stable civilian democracy in Pakistan and are working to provide a democracy dividend that improves both economic conditions and the law and order situation.
- We must succeed in Afghanistan. What is your vision for what constitutes an acceptable outcome?
- We want more Pakistani forces deployed to the western border to fight the militants. What conditions are necessary for you to reposition forces from the eastern to the western border?
- It is time to cut your ties to extremist groups/proxy forces and urge the permanent severing of ties. Such ties hinder trust and our ability to move forward together.
- Our security relationship must move beyond the provision of equipment, and we seek opportunities to expand training throughout the military.
- Our ability to deliver sustained security assistance also depends on the administration securing Congressional approval. Congress is likely to prioritise assistance to counterinsurgency-related equipment and training, as well as align its support with Pakistani performance in the field.
- Strikes in Fata are succeeding in eliminating the enemy senior leadership and collateral damage has been minimal. We are working to provide you with tactical battlefield intelligence to support your operations in Fata.
What the US diplomats think about Zardari
By Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: “Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” a top US Embassy official wrote to Washington on February 25, 2009, the day Dogar’s Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif brothers.
The same day a top Zardari confidant informed the US Embassy that the reason to get this verdict from the Dogar court was that Prime Minister Gilani was acting against the “ways” of President Zardari.
Gilani had started discussions with Shahbaz Sharif against the will of Zardari at a time when the latter was in China, according to the cable.
This top Zardari confidant, who met the US Embassy high official after announcement of the verdict of the Dogar court the same day, discussed President Asif Ali Zardari’s strategies to oust Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, according to the cable classified and sent to Washington by Charge d’Affaires Gerald Feierstein.
The most shocking revelation of the cable is that this top confidant of Zardari also ‘assured’ the US Embassy that her boss President Zardari, beside this verdict, would take ‘more actions’ to ensure that the planned March 12-16 lawyers’ long march would not create any problems.
In this Feb 25, 09 cable, Charge d’affaires informed Washington that according to media interaction of Sharifs, Zardari was against the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as he feared that Justice Chaudhry, after being restored, would term the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) ‘invalid’ and this would reopen the corruption cases against Zardari.
This Feb 25, 09 cable also talks of Zardari’s plan to increase the retirement age of Abdul Hameed Dogar and his repeated messages to the US Embassy that Dogar Court was going to disqualify the Sharif brothers. The same cable also shows how Zardari tried to befool the Americans by telling Patterson one thing and her staff the other thing.
In an unbelievable disclosure this Wikileak cable shows that an important member of the Zardari-camp reached the US Embassy to complain against none other than Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
This Zardari-camp member described by the US Embassy as a “Zardari’s confidant”, Farah Naz Ispahani’s report to US Embassy, their questions and her replies are reproduced below as given in para-11 of the cable: “Ispahani confided that Zardari would take further actions to ensure the March 12-16 lawyers’ march/sit-in would not cause problems.” She hinted at proposals affecting former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Shahbaz Sharif. Asked why Zardari chose now to move on this long-stalled decision, Ispahani said the PPP-led GOP “had no choice” because Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani had entered into discussions with Shahbaz on February 23.
“We are very unhappy with the way Gilani has gone off the reservation” while Zardari was in China, she said. According to unconfirmed press reports, Gilani had assured Shahbaz that the PPP would not try to remove the Sharifs from power in the Punjab and suggested the Chaudhrys might lead a new “Constitutional Court,” proposed by the 2006 PPP/PML-N Charter of Democracy. US Embassy official wrote to Washington that US diplomats noted divisions between Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
The diplomat reported to Washington that the Sharifs told the Principal Officer of the embassy in Lahore that Zardari had offered them to agree on a constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of the PCO Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and in return, he (Zardari) would close the Supreme Court cases against them.
The diplomat further wrote to his capital that Zardari after the Supreme Court verdict told him that he did not expect significant political fallout from the court’s decision. The street reaction would be “in the hundreds, not the millions,” claimed Zardari while talking to the diplomat, according to the cable. According to the cable, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had told the diplomat the same thing regarding the expected reaction.
The Charge d’affaires, Gerald Feierstein, wrote that Dogar court’s verdict was not a surprise for him. He gave the reason in the following words: “The decision comes as no surprise; Zardari has been telling us for weeks that it was coming and that he felt he could control the reaction.”
The diplomat even reported that the Zardari’s move to get this verdict from Supreme Court did not have the agreement of the PPP loyalists. He described alienation of these PPP loyalists in the following words: “Many in the PPP disagreed with the decision to challenge Nawaz, so Zardari has further alienated the party faithful.”
The cable says that PM Gilani’s attempt to subside political temperature and negotiate with Shahbaz Sharif was apparently not blessed by Zardari. The cable further says that before moving (against Sharifs), Zardari expanded the coalition’s seats in the National Assembly and worked out deals in three of the four provinces to ensure the PPP would increase its seats in the upcoming Senate elections. “It also demonstrates, disappointingly, that Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” the cable says.
According to another revelation of this cable, Zardari told Charge D’Affaires on phone that he would launch his candidate for the chief ministership of the Punjab who would contest with the help of the PML-Q. The diplomat described his conversation with Zardari by saying: “He expected the PPP would have a candidate and thought the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party would also be interested in running a candidate.”
The cable says that US diplomats by seeing the Zardari’s actions were already aware of the fact that PML-N would charge Zardari with “assuming the mantle of Musharraf”.
The cable dubs senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashari as a long-time PPP supporter. Lashari was appointed Chief Secretary Punjab by Taseer after sacking of Shahbaz on Feb 25, 09.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the US diplomat that the Punjab Inspector General of the Police technically was not fired but since he was so close to the Sharifs, he had voluntarily vacated the office. Cable further writes that both the chief secretary and IG Police are federal appointees.
The cable also disclosed what PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat said about the Dogar court’s verdict that he respected the decision.
The cable disclosed that following the Dogar court’s verdict, Zardari reached back the country and the diplomat contacted him on phone and told about the Lahore Principal officer’s meeting with the Sharifs. At this, Zardari asked the diplomat for readout of PO Lahore’s meeting with Nawaz.
However, the diplomat replied to Zardari that PO Lahore had already conveyed the US position that it was an internal matter for the Pakistani government and thus refused to give inside information of the PO-Nawaz meeting to Zardari.
The cable also commented that after Supreme Court’s decision of disqualifying Sharifs it became imminent that PML-N would participate in the lawyers’ long march in any case.
However, in a phone call, Zardari, just back from his latest trip to China, told the Charge d’affaires on February 25 that he had “nothing to do with the decision” and had been surprised by Shahbaz’s disqualification.
While Zardari was telling Patterson that Dogar Supreme Court was going to disqualify Sharifs and he was ready to move against the Sharifs, he was telling a different tale to other US Embassy officials.
Interestingly, the information given to Patterson was known to all top officials of the embassy. So the diplomat while sending this cable to Washington, along with giving Zardari’s conversation with Patterson, gave accounts of his conversation with Zardari, which were entirely different.
Charge D’affaires wrote his account with Zardari as follows: “He noted that the court had ruled against the government, which had been representing the Sharifs (Federal government was representing the Sharifs in SC). He said he had ordered PPP Punjab Governor Taseer to temporarily take over the Punjab government until new elections for a chief minister could be held. Asked about any further legal steps, Zardari indicated the government might consider going back to the Lahore High Court to appeal the decision.”
The Charge d’affaires concluded the cable in the words: “This decision and promises of additional deals for the former Chief Justice or Shahbaz demonstrate, disappointingly, that Zardari remains focused on political machinations rather than the militant threat in Swat and the tribal areas.”
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
Zardari repented making anti-Mush statements
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told the visiting US Congressmen that he wanted to privately discuss with Pervez Musharraf the latter’s ‘honourable exit’ while keeping away the Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani from such political discussion, revealed a diplomatic cable of May 2008, a few months before the dictator resigned.
He also repented making anti-Musharraf statements, simultaneously declaring the military dictator’s exit is inevitable for improving US image in Pakistan and expressed resolve of making Pakistanis a pro-US nation, saying “anti-US feelings will go away when the old faces go away.”
Zardari also shared his apprehension with the ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s decision of supporting the restoration of judges has won Sharif tremendous public support, nevertheless he insisted on just throwing Musharraf out without bringing back the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Portraying himself as a statesman, Zardari said Nawaz Sharif had ‘walked into the vacuum’ after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and it was PPP that brought him back for the sake of stability of democratic system.
Zardari also said his party would be kicked out of power if it failed in changing “the face of Pakistan” but assured the ambassador “we won’t act without consulting you.” He blamed Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the war against terrorism in Pakistan, resulting in leaving the public disillusioned who tended to believe as if Pakistanis were being killed for the US.
The cable is about a meeting of the US Congressmen, Adam Schiff and Allyson Schwartz, who met with Zardari, then co-chairman of the PPP, during their visit to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the then National Security Advisor Maj. Gen. Mehmood Durrani and Pakistan ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani were also in attendance.
Zardari admitted that his public statements had been more anti-Musharraf, the cable said. He was afraid that he and his party were losing popular support, while Nawaz was able to pretend to be populist by supporting restoration of the pre-November 3 judges. “But he doesn’t want the Chief Justice (Iftikhar Chaudhry) back in, just Musharraf out.”
Zardari revealed that he hoped to discuss privately with Musharraf the possibility of an “honourable exit” and believed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Kayani would stay out of such political discussions, noted the cable.
Zardari feared, however, that Musharraf was misguided by “smooth-talking advisors,” who were protecting their own personal interests. The public was against the president, the institution and the man, adding the PPP needed to “change the face of Pakistan” or it too would be kicked out of power. “We won’t act without consulting with you,” Zardari concluded.
Zardari blamed President Pervez Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Pakistan; the public, instead, believed Pakistanis were dying for the U.S. Zardari then said, “Anti-U.S. feelings will go away when the old faces go away,” adding that the US should no longer rely on just Musharraf in fighting radicalism.
Zardari stressed that the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was “Pakistan’s war.” The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists.
But counter-terrorism initiatives lacked popular Pakistani support, Zardari lamented, and terrorism fostered profiteers who had an interest in the struggle continuing.
Zardari argued that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif had “walked into the vacuum” as opposition leader when Bhutto was assassinated just weeks before national elections. For stability, however, the PPP continued to cooperate with the PML-N at the federal and Punjab provincial levels.
The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists, the cable said.
250,000 leaks: how many belong to whom News Desk
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
Saudi Arabia wants US to secure Pakistan’s eastern border
By Dilshad Azeem
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia told the US to ensure more safety at Pak-India borders to get absolute results in the war on terror while letting Islamabad authorities fully concentrate on its Afghan boundaries to combat al-Qaeda.
A latest US Embassy (Riyadh) cable, released by WikiLeaks, quoting Saudi authorities, provides that Pakistan would feel more comfortable and focused on checking terrorists when its Indian side is in a safer position.
“If we want one hundred percent from them (Pakistan), we should make them feel more secure on their border with India,” Riyadh cautioned a visiting US general early this year in a detailed meeting.
The Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Naif and US General Jones had a half an hour meeting on January 12, 2010 minutes of which were dispatched to Washington by its Riyadh-based Ambassador James B Smith on January 19, 2010.
As both discussed US and Saudi efforts to combat al-Qaeda extremists in the region besides Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iran, the Saudi minister is quoted by Smith saying “Pakistan must let people know that it is fighting a war to keep Pakistan united and its people safe.”
Prince Mohammed told the US militaryman that King Abdullah “has concerns about the Pakistani government; the biggest problem is the army.” General Kayani is a good man; I asked him, Prince Mohammed recounted, whether or not his soldiers, when they visit their villages, wear their uniforms, or if they changed into civilian clothes. “He told me that they change to civilian clothes.”
US Ambassador Smith wrote in the communication with General Jones noting that the Obama administration’s approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan reflects many of the same lessons that the Saudis have learned. “That is why the US is working with a new emphasis on national reunification in Afghanistan.”
“The approach includes reducing the emphasis on military operations while exerting new efforts to encourage reconciliation. In order for this strategy to succeed, Gen Jones cautioned, it will be essential that Pakistani territory no longer be available as a safe haven to terrorists.”
General Jones, the US Embassy Riyadh cable provides, assured Prince Mohammed that the US is working to reduce Pakistani-Indian tensions, and emphasised that what is most needed at this moment is for Pakistan to choose which path it wants to take.
Ambassador Smith further quoted General Jones in the cable that the first step is to dislodge the terrorists; if Pakistan resolves to do this, they will find that the US will help them for some time to come. “The Pakistani ISI also needs to act with greater consistency.”
In the meeting, General Jones also noted Riyadh’s influence with Pakistan and emphasised that the US is looking for Saudi Arabia’s support.
Fazlur Rehman getting isolated after WikiLeaks exposure By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
Australia blames U.S. over Leaked cables
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
SYDNEY: Australia said Monday it would support the United States in any legal action against WikiLeaks, as the whistleblower site founded by Australian Julian Assange released thousands of sensitive US cables.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said WikiLeak's publication of diplomatic US memos could harm the national security interests of the US and its allies, including Australia, as well as "prejudice the safety" of those they discussed.
"Australia will support any law enforcement action that may be taken, the US will be the lead government in that respect, but certainly Australian agencies will assist," McClelland told reporters in Canberra.
Asked whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was Australia's most wanted man, McClelland said: "The United States authorities are looking at law enforcement actions as the lead country, and we are providing every assistance and could be expected to provide every assistance."
McClelland said he received no request to cancel the passport of Assange, who has said that more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables relating to "every major issue" in the world will be released in the latest data dump.
But the attorney-general said he had asked Australian Federal Police to investigate whether the publication of the documents -- one of which describes Australia as a "rock solid" but unimposing ally -- broke any local laws.
"From Australia's point of view we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by ... the release of this information," McClelland said.
"The Australian Federal Police are looking at that, clearly I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of that advice."
McClelland said the latest WikiLeaks release, which follows that of tens of thousands of US military files relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would also be examined by a government taskforce.
The diplomatic cables will include hundreds sent by US officials in Australia, but their full content is as yet unknown.
Assange to fight extradition: lawyer
TONY EASTLEY: Lawyers for WikiLeak's editor and founder, Julian Assange, say he could have a meeting with British authorities to discuss sexual assault charges laid against him by Swedish police, within 24 hours.
Scotland Yard has received a European arrest warrant for Assange. Sweden wants him extradited but that's something he and his lawyers are fighting. They fear he will be handed over to US authorities.
Since WikiLeaks published thousands of confidential American diplomatic cables, Assange has become one of the world's most publicised and wanted men. In the US his actions have been described as akin to terrorism.
One of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, says her client's ability to fight the charges have been hampered by the freezing of his bank account.
She told AM that Assange will approach Australia's High Commission in London for consular assistance.
I asked Jennifer Robinson whether the arrest warrant had been officially issued.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: The arrest warrant has been communicated today and I can confirm that we were contacted by the police this afternoon and are in the process of arranging, negotiating for a meeting with Assange to deal with this matter.
They, Sweden is obviously seeking extradition but again we say it is completely disproportionate because we are offering testimony that they seek. The Swedish prosecutor was on national television just last night saying that all she wants to hear is his side of the story.
We find that incredible considering we have offered his side of the story on numerous occasions and she has rejected those offers.
Assange 'based himself at London journalists club'
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange based himself for much of the past few months at a journalists club in London, the founder of the club said on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Australian was remanded in custody on Tuesday in Britain after being refused bail at a London court over claims of sex crimes in Sweden.
He was widely thought to have been in the British capital in recent months and that was confirmed by Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club in central London.
"He based himself at the Frontline Club for most of the period," Smith told media, referring to the past few months but saying he could not give an exact timeframe. Smith also said he had offered Assange an address for bail.
Assange denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden and has said he will fight an extradition request.
His detention came as his website continued to release tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables, causing embarrassment for governments worldwide.
Over the past several months, apart from trips abroad, Assange was staying at the club, Smith said.
Assange was given facilities to carry out his work at the club, where he also took part in several public debates on his whistleblower website WikiLeaks and the state of the modern media, said Smith.
"He came to us," explained the club founder. "Essentially because we are independent... he felt it would be a reasonably safe place for him to operate out of.
"It was also somewhere he could access journalists and speak to them."
Smith said that he had attended Assange's court appearance on Tuesday to offer his support.
"I am suspicious of the personal charges that have been made against Mr Assange and hope that this will be properly resolved by the courts," he added in a statement.
Video journalist Smith, 47, set up the Frontline Club seven years ago in honour of colleagues at the Frontline Television News agency who died pursuing their work, according to the club's website.
It regularly hosts talks by journalists and debates on the media, as well as documentary and film screenings.
From Today's Newspaper
WikiLeaks founder denied bail despite public offers
LONDON/SYDNEY/WASHINGTON: Despite many people’s offer to give surety for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a British court refused to bail him out on Tuesday after he was arrested over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website is at the centre of a row over the release of secret US diplomatic cables, was arrested under a European arrest warrant earlier on Tuesday after handing himself in to London police.
Assange, who denies the allegations, was refused bail and faces a fresh hearing on December 14. He has spent much of his time in Sweden and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers.
A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the allegations. At a court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: “There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail”. He also said the allegations were of a serious nature, and Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
The judge refused bail for 39-year-old Assange despite an offer by personalities including film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan to put up bail for him. WikiLeaks vowed it wouldcontinue making public details of the 250,000 secret US documents it had obtained.
“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” WikiLeaks said, according to its Twitter page.
London police said Assange was arrested by officers from its extradition unit at about 9:30am (09:30 GMT) after he appeared by appointment at a police station. His whereabouts had been previously undisclosed.
“He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010,” a London police spokeswoman said.
Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations. The crime he is suspected of is the least severe of three categories of rape, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
WikiLeaks said it would be operating as normal using people in London and other locations, and argued the pressure it faced was becoming a fundamental question of civil liberties. “Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today (Tuesday) and in the coming days,” said spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.
“The attacks that we are under from companies who are bowing to pressure from the US government are outrageous and I see it a clear confrontation against the freedom of speech and press freedom.”
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Gates, who was visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday, welcomed news that British police had arrested Assange.
“I hadn’t heard that but it sounds like good news to me,” Gates told reporters while visiting American troops at Forward Operating Base Connolly in eastern Afghanistan when asked for reaction to Assange’s arrest.
Renowned American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky signed an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard urging her to make a “strong statement” in support of Julian Assange.
Chomsky, a professor of linguistics at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a prominent critic of US foreign policy, joined scores of high-profile Australian lawyers, authors and journalists in signing the letter.
Noting the “increasingly violent rhetoric” directed towards Australian-born Assange, the signatories said there were “grave concerns” for his safety.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regretted the “deeply distressing” release of a secret list of key infrastructure sites that could threaten US security if hit by terror strikes.
“I will underscore that this theft of US government information and its publication without regard for the consequences is deeply distressing,” Clinton said as she briefed reporters with Japan and South Korea’s top diplomats.
“The illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners” worldwide, she warned.
China again said Tuesday it hoped that the ongoing revelations from secret US diplomatic cables would not affect Beijing’s relations with the United States.
“The absurd content is not worth commenting on and we hope that it will not disturb bilateral ties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
Leaks from whistleblower website WikiLeaks have created “misunderstandings” and “cannot be taken seriously,” the head of the grouping of the six Gulf states, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said on Tuesday.
“These links... created a kind of misunderstanding about the information,” Attiyah said, adding that “these kind of sites cannot be reliable or credible sources.”
“We cannot take seriously the things in what was said,” Attiyah said in response to a question on WikiLeaks at a news conference after the 31st annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit held in Abu Dhabi.
Big secrets not exposed by WikiLeaks
By Hamid Mir
ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks have not unmasked all the political secrets. Many secrets are still confined only to a few individuals and to some top-secret files and these secrets will come out only when these individuals will themselves speak.
WikiLeaks has revealed that President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup in 2009 and considered the US as his ultimate saviour. US Ambassador in Pakistan Anne W Patterson sent cables to Washington in support of Zardari. But WikiLeaks did not expose the storm created in the White House and Pentagon by her cables, which warned Washington about a possible military coup in 2009.
President Obama asked one of his top military commanders many times to speak with General Kayani and get the truth. US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen inquired from his Pakistani counterpart General Kayani not once but more than three times about the possibility of any military coup and every time Kayani said that he was not planning any coup.
At one stage, Mullen spoke to Kayani from Washington and said that “the US administration thinks that I am too close to you and I know everything about you, please let me know in advance if you have any political plans.” This time, Kayani responded back in a lighter way and said that “Don’t worry, you will be the first person to know if anything unusual happens in Pakistan”.
The situation changed in just one year. In 2010, the Zardari-led government started suspecting US diplomats as the “mastermind” behind all the anti-government moves.
Then President Asif Ali Zardari asked his Interior Minister Rehman Malik in September 2010 to monitor the activities of a second tier US diplomat, who was meeting different politicians frequently those days. The Intelligence Bureau and ISI informed the government that the diplomat had completed his tenure and went back to the US but suddenly came back and again started meeting politicians and journalists, raising some red flags.
The IB and ISI informed the government that the diplomat was discussing the possibility of mid-term elections with opposition parties as well as some government allies. This created so much alarm in the Zardari camp that one fine morning, Rehman Malik wrote a letter to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson about the “un-diplomatic” activities of the US diplomat.
Within 48 hours, Patterson arranged a meeting between Rehman Malik and the diplomat. Interestingly, Rehman Malik produced documentary evidence in front of the US ambassador and claimed that the diplomat was instigating not only the opposition leaders but also some govt allies against the government.
Malik claimed that the diplomat had discussed the possibility of some top political changes in the government, which was not his diplomatic mandate. The diplomat tried to defend himself by saying that he had only discussed the reasons of differences within the coalition partners with some MQM leaders and he had never hatched any conspiracy against the government. Rehman Malik was not satisfied with this answer. He got satisfied only when the diplomat was sent packing to Washington.
Highly reliable sources say that President Zardari and Army chief Kayani developed some misunderstandings in March 2009 and relations between the two were tense but it was Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who seriously tried to remove this tension.
Ultimately, the president informed the PM that everything was all right and one day the PM surprised the nation by announcing a new three-year tenure for Army chief Kayani. This new tenure was the proof that the situation in 2010 had changed from 2009.
It was also learnt that Prime Minister Gilani used the recent floods as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Presidency and the Army House.
Subsequently, the president and the Army chief were on board when the government decided to cut off the Nato supply lines after the US attack on Pakistani troops in the tribal areas. Admiral Mullen tried his level best to use his “personal relations” with Kayani to cool down the situation.
It is worth mentioning that Mullen had visited Pakistan more than 20 times since November 2007 and during this period, he had 12 one-on-one meetings with Kayani. Most of the time they met alone with no note takers.
Mullen spoke to Kayani again and again during the Nato supply lines crisis but Kayani demanded an apology.
The unity in the power troika in Pakistan ultimately forced Ambassador Patterson to make a public apology. It was the same Patterson who sent dispatches to Washington in 2009 that the Army and the civilian government did not enjoy good relations but now she was apologising to all of them in 2010.
It has been learnt that Prime Minister Gilani is planning to discuss a grand plan for national reconciliation with President Zardari and General Kayani but again the new US Ambassador Munter is now becoming a problem for him.
Cameron Munter is openly making statements in support of the RGST and creating problems because he does not realise that the opposition parties are not in a position to support any new tax supported by the US.
The power troika has decided to formulate a strategy for minimising the undue political role of US diplomats in Pakistan and this strategy will bring some big surprises in 2011.
Profile of Gen Kayani and talking points sent by US envoy
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: A secret US diplomatic cable says Pakistan’s strategic assets are under the control of the secular military, which has implemented extensive physical, personnel and command and control safeguards.
“Our major concern has not been that an Islamic militant could steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in GOP facilities could gradually smuggle enough fissile material out to eventually make a weapon and the vulnerability of weapons in transit. Despite a court decision to ‘free’ nuclear proliferator AQ Khan, the GOP continues to assure us he remains under significant travel and media restrictions,” a February 19, 2009 cable of US Ambassador Anne Patterson, which was the scenesetter of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s February 20-27, 2009 visit to Washington, said.
The message featured comprehensive points to stress, exploit, praise, acknowledge and talk about during Kayani’s visit. It also detailed his CV. It said Ashfaq Kayani was born in the Punjab in 1952, grew up in a working-class family and is the son of a former junior officer. “He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after graduating from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1971. His long career has included command at every level from Company to Corps. He has served in key staff positions, to include Military Assistant to the Prime Minister under Benazir Bhutto from 1988-1990, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), 2000-2003, Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 2004-2007, and Vice Chief of Army Staff in 2007. In November 2007, he became Chief of Army Staff (COAS). He is the only officer ever to have served as both DG-ISI and COAS. His term as DGMO coincided with the intense military standoff with India of 2001-2002.”
Continuing, the cable said, in interactions Kayani is often direct, frank, and thoughtful. “He has fond memories of his IMET training at Fort Leavenworth and values his personal relationships, particularly with US military leaders. Kayani is married and the father of two children, a son and a daughter. An avid golfer, he is President of the Pakistan Golf Association. He smokes heavily and can be difficult to understand as he tends to mumble.”
Although, the cable said, he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Zardari’s statement last year to the Indian press that Pakistan would adopt a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons. Despite increasing financial constraints, we believe that the military is proceeding with an expansion of both its growing strategic weapons and missile programmes, it added.
“We should recognise growing Pakistani casualties in the fight against militants, praise Kayani’s support for the civilian democratic government in Islamabad, re-iterate the long-term US commitment to support Pakistan, and thank him for agreeing to send his intelligence chief and director of military operations to the Holbrooke/Riedel US-Pakistan strategic review meeting in Washington. We should also thank Kayani for the GOP’s effort to ensure that US/Nato continues to deliver fuel and dry goods through Pakistan for our forces in Afghanistan.”
“But” the cable said, “we need to lay down a clear marker that Pakistan’s Army/ISI must stop overt or tacit support for militant proxies (Haqqani network, Commander Nazir, Lashkar-e-Taiba). We should preface that conversation with an agreement to open a new page in relations; Kayani, who was ISI chief from 2004-2007, does not want a reckoning with the past. Given the GOP surrender of Swat to local Taliban, we need to press Kayani to commit his now reluctant army to retake the area after the peace deal inevitably fails.”
“We,” the message said, “should press for Pakistani prosecution of the Mumbai suspects, encourage expanded USG training of army and Frontier Corps forces, raise the prospect of embedding US military observers/advisers with the Frontier Corps, support a prioritised needs-based FMF request that builds COIN capability, ask Kayani to explain how Pakistan plans to back US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, and probe for what Indian action would allow him to redeploy troops from his eastern front to support increased combat in the Pak-Afghan border area.”
The cable said that President Asif Zardari was cementing leadership alliances, so he can avoid another election until he receives international assistance to address food and fuel inflation, electricity blackouts and high unemployment. Pakistan has met its first-quarter targets under a $6.7 billion IMF Standby Agreement but the economy remains too weak to support the Pakistani military’s appetite for expensive weapons systems (particular F-16s).
It said that Zardari and Kayani are the key decision-makers in Pakistan; they have developed a respectful if not entirely trusting working relationship. “Kayani has gone out of his way to publicly defer to Zardari because he needs political support to wage successful military operations. After eight years of military rule under Musharraf, Zardari is re-shaping civilian-military relations in the shadow of Pakistan’s history of repeated military coups. It is in USG interests for the Zardari/Gilani government to complete its full five-year term, and we should praise Kayani’s efforts to support civilian democracy.”
The cable said that Kayani may advocate for pending legislation (Kerry-Lugar) in the US Congress to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan and robust USG support for an IMF/World Bank Donors’ Conference to provide $4 billion in social safety net programmes to compensate for IMF-imposed budget cuts. “We anticipate that Special Representative Holbrooke will attend a donors’ conference in April. Kayani may request additional US support for civilian law enforcement; in addition to the over $40 million of equipment and training delivered to the Frontier Corps, we are providing $15 million in additional equipment for NWFP police and are working to re-programme another $55 million in FY2009. There is a FY2009 supplemental request pending for another $95 million for the police.”
According to the leaked message, Zardari and Gilani agree that Pakistan’s biggest threat comes from a growing militant insurgency on the Pak-Afghan border. The military and ISI have not yet made that leap; they still view India as their principal threat and Afghanistan as strategic depth in a possible conflict with India. They continue to provide overt or tacit support for proxy forces (including the Haqqani group, Commander Nazir, Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, and Lashkar-e-Taiba) as a foreign policy tool, it charged.
“The single biggest message Kayani should hear in Washington is that this support must end. It is now counterproductive to Pakistan’s own interests and directly conflicts with USG objectives in Afghanistan — where Haqqani is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians — and the region — where Mumbai exposed the fruits of previous ISI policy to create Lashkar-e-Taiba and still threatens potential conflict between nuclear powers.”
Now, the cable said, absorbing combat losses against formidable militants, the FC and military finally have begun to accept more USG training and assistance in support of counter-insurgency (COIN). “Kayani will appreciate US recognition of the casualties his men have suffered, and this is an opening we should exploit to press for expanded FC and special forces (SSG) training. Kayani remains leery of too large a USG military footprint in Pakistan, but to win he must be able to fight without creating the level of civilian casualties his forces’ blind artillery and F-16 bombardments are now producing. We are responding to Pakistan Air Force requests for Close Air Support training to improve the precision of F-16s they are using in Fata. We should probe for the possible introduction of US military observers/advisers to improve the COIN capability of this 1940’s force.”
The cable said that Kayani may request additional US support for Pakistan’s F-16 programme, the flagship symbol of post-9/11 re-engagement. “We are about to send to Congress notification for an additional $142 million in FMF support for one part of this complex programme. But we do not believe Pakistan can afford to complete a $2 billion plus programme to buy 18 new F-16s, upgrade 35 older aircraft, upgrade a new base, and fund a munitions package. Given the funding and production line implications of either bailing out the GOP or cancelling the programme, US agencies are reviewing our options.”
“We could not agree more with Kayani on the need to modernise Pakistan’s helicopter fleet; on any given day, they have perhaps 2-3 attack helos flying in support of COIN operations. We now are delivering spare parts for their Cobra and Bell 412s, overhauling and upgrading their MI-17s, and assessing ways to improve overall helicopter maintenance.”
The cable said that the drone attacks have put increasing political pressure on the Pakistani government, which has struggled to explain why it is allowing an ally to violate its sovereignty. The Pakistan government, it said, so far has denied recent media reports alleging that the US is launching the strikes from bases in Pakistan.
“Kayani knows full well that the strikes have been precise (creating few civilian casualties) and targeted primarily at foreign fighters in the Waziristans. He will argue, however, that they undermine his campaign plan, which is to keep the Waziristans quiet until the army is capable of attacking Baitullah Mahsud and other militants entrenched there. In recent meetings with Special Representative Holbrooke, a variety of Pakistani interlocutors (and now the press) suggested that the US work jointly with Pakistan and target Mahsud or other militants who are killing Pakistanis.”
Patterson penned the following talking points:
- What is in the past is behind us. What we seek going forward is an all-encompassing bilateral relationship based on what we can accomplish for the future. We recognise your sacrifices and are well-aware of the trust-deficit that exists on each side. We must both work to overcome it.
- We appreciate your efforts to support stable civilian democracy in Pakistan and are working to provide a democracy dividend that improves both economic conditions and the law and order situation.
- We must succeed in Afghanistan. What is your vision for what constitutes an acceptable outcome?
- We want more Pakistani forces deployed to the western border to fight the militants. What conditions are necessary for you to reposition forces from the eastern to the western border?
- It is time to cut your ties to extremist groups/proxy forces and urge the permanent severing of ties. Such ties hinder trust and our ability to move forward together.
- Our security relationship must move beyond the provision of equipment, and we seek opportunities to expand training throughout the military.
- Our ability to deliver sustained security assistance also depends on the administration securing Congressional approval. Congress is likely to prioritise assistance to counterinsurgency-related equipment and training, as well as align its support with Pakistani performance in the field.
- Strikes in Fata are succeeding in eliminating the enemy senior leadership and collateral damage has been minimal. We are working to provide you with tactical battlefield intelligence to support your operations in Fata.
What the US diplomats think about Zardari
By Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: “Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” a top US Embassy official wrote to Washington on February 25, 2009, the day Dogar’s Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif brothers.
The same day a top Zardari confidant informed the US Embassy that the reason to get this verdict from the Dogar court was that Prime Minister Gilani was acting against the “ways” of President Zardari.
Gilani had started discussions with Shahbaz Sharif against the will of Zardari at a time when the latter was in China, according to the cable.
This top Zardari confidant, who met the US Embassy high official after announcement of the verdict of the Dogar court the same day, discussed President Asif Ali Zardari’s strategies to oust Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, according to the cable classified and sent to Washington by Charge d’Affaires Gerald Feierstein.
The most shocking revelation of the cable is that this top confidant of Zardari also ‘assured’ the US Embassy that her boss President Zardari, beside this verdict, would take ‘more actions’ to ensure that the planned March 12-16 lawyers’ long march would not create any problems.
In this Feb 25, 09 cable, Charge d’affaires informed Washington that according to media interaction of Sharifs, Zardari was against the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as he feared that Justice Chaudhry, after being restored, would term the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) ‘invalid’ and this would reopen the corruption cases against Zardari.
This Feb 25, 09 cable also talks of Zardari’s plan to increase the retirement age of Abdul Hameed Dogar and his repeated messages to the US Embassy that Dogar Court was going to disqualify the Sharif brothers. The same cable also shows how Zardari tried to befool the Americans by telling Patterson one thing and her staff the other thing.
In an unbelievable disclosure this Wikileak cable shows that an important member of the Zardari-camp reached the US Embassy to complain against none other than Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
This Zardari-camp member described by the US Embassy as a “Zardari’s confidant”, Farah Naz Ispahani’s report to US Embassy, their questions and her replies are reproduced below as given in para-11 of the cable: “Ispahani confided that Zardari would take further actions to ensure the March 12-16 lawyers’ march/sit-in would not cause problems.” She hinted at proposals affecting former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Shahbaz Sharif. Asked why Zardari chose now to move on this long-stalled decision, Ispahani said the PPP-led GOP “had no choice” because Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani had entered into discussions with Shahbaz on February 23.
“We are very unhappy with the way Gilani has gone off the reservation” while Zardari was in China, she said. According to unconfirmed press reports, Gilani had assured Shahbaz that the PPP would not try to remove the Sharifs from power in the Punjab and suggested the Chaudhrys might lead a new “Constitutional Court,” proposed by the 2006 PPP/PML-N Charter of Democracy. US Embassy official wrote to Washington that US diplomats noted divisions between Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
The diplomat reported to Washington that the Sharifs told the Principal Officer of the embassy in Lahore that Zardari had offered them to agree on a constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of the PCO Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and in return, he (Zardari) would close the Supreme Court cases against them.
The diplomat further wrote to his capital that Zardari after the Supreme Court verdict told him that he did not expect significant political fallout from the court’s decision. The street reaction would be “in the hundreds, not the millions,” claimed Zardari while talking to the diplomat, according to the cable. According to the cable, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had told the diplomat the same thing regarding the expected reaction.
The Charge d’affaires, Gerald Feierstein, wrote that Dogar court’s verdict was not a surprise for him. He gave the reason in the following words: “The decision comes as no surprise; Zardari has been telling us for weeks that it was coming and that he felt he could control the reaction.”
The diplomat even reported that the Zardari’s move to get this verdict from Supreme Court did not have the agreement of the PPP loyalists. He described alienation of these PPP loyalists in the following words: “Many in the PPP disagreed with the decision to challenge Nawaz, so Zardari has further alienated the party faithful.”
The cable says that PM Gilani’s attempt to subside political temperature and negotiate with Shahbaz Sharif was apparently not blessed by Zardari. The cable further says that before moving (against Sharifs), Zardari expanded the coalition’s seats in the National Assembly and worked out deals in three of the four provinces to ensure the PPP would increase its seats in the upcoming Senate elections. “It also demonstrates, disappointingly, that Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” the cable says.
According to another revelation of this cable, Zardari told Charge D’Affaires on phone that he would launch his candidate for the chief ministership of the Punjab who would contest with the help of the PML-Q. The diplomat described his conversation with Zardari by saying: “He expected the PPP would have a candidate and thought the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party would also be interested in running a candidate.”
The cable says that US diplomats by seeing the Zardari’s actions were already aware of the fact that PML-N would charge Zardari with “assuming the mantle of Musharraf”.
The cable dubs senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashari as a long-time PPP supporter. Lashari was appointed Chief Secretary Punjab by Taseer after sacking of Shahbaz on Feb 25, 09.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the US diplomat that the Punjab Inspector General of the Police technically was not fired but since he was so close to the Sharifs, he had voluntarily vacated the office. Cable further writes that both the chief secretary and IG Police are federal appointees.
The cable also disclosed what PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat said about the Dogar court’s verdict that he respected the decision.
The cable disclosed that following the Dogar court’s verdict, Zardari reached back the country and the diplomat contacted him on phone and told about the Lahore Principal officer’s meeting with the Sharifs. At this, Zardari asked the diplomat for readout of PO Lahore’s meeting with Nawaz.
However, the diplomat replied to Zardari that PO Lahore had already conveyed the US position that it was an internal matter for the Pakistani government and thus refused to give inside information of the PO-Nawaz meeting to Zardari.
The cable also commented that after Supreme Court’s decision of disqualifying Sharifs it became imminent that PML-N would participate in the lawyers’ long march in any case.
However, in a phone call, Zardari, just back from his latest trip to China, told the Charge d’affaires on February 25 that he had “nothing to do with the decision” and had been surprised by Shahbaz’s disqualification.
While Zardari was telling Patterson that Dogar Supreme Court was going to disqualify Sharifs and he was ready to move against the Sharifs, he was telling a different tale to other US Embassy officials.
Interestingly, the information given to Patterson was known to all top officials of the embassy. So the diplomat while sending this cable to Washington, along with giving Zardari’s conversation with Patterson, gave accounts of his conversation with Zardari, which were entirely different.
Charge D’affaires wrote his account with Zardari as follows: “He noted that the court had ruled against the government, which had been representing the Sharifs (Federal government was representing the Sharifs in SC). He said he had ordered PPP Punjab Governor Taseer to temporarily take over the Punjab government until new elections for a chief minister could be held. Asked about any further legal steps, Zardari indicated the government might consider going back to the Lahore High Court to appeal the decision.”
The Charge d’affaires concluded the cable in the words: “This decision and promises of additional deals for the former Chief Justice or Shahbaz demonstrate, disappointingly, that Zardari remains focused on political machinations rather than the militant threat in Swat and the tribal areas.”
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
Zardari repented making anti-Mush statements
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told the visiting US Congressmen that he wanted to privately discuss with Pervez Musharraf the latter’s ‘honourable exit’ while keeping away the Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani from such political discussion, revealed a diplomatic cable of May 2008, a few months before the dictator resigned.
He also repented making anti-Musharraf statements, simultaneously declaring the military dictator’s exit is inevitable for improving US image in Pakistan and expressed resolve of making Pakistanis a pro-US nation, saying “anti-US feelings will go away when the old faces go away.”
Zardari also shared his apprehension with the ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s decision of supporting the restoration of judges has won Sharif tremendous public support, nevertheless he insisted on just throwing Musharraf out without bringing back the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Portraying himself as a statesman, Zardari said Nawaz Sharif had ‘walked into the vacuum’ after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and it was PPP that brought him back for the sake of stability of democratic system.
Zardari also said his party would be kicked out of power if it failed in changing “the face of Pakistan” but assured the ambassador “we won’t act without consulting you.” He blamed Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the war against terrorism in Pakistan, resulting in leaving the public disillusioned who tended to believe as if Pakistanis were being killed for the US.
The cable is about a meeting of the US Congressmen, Adam Schiff and Allyson Schwartz, who met with Zardari, then co-chairman of the PPP, during their visit to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the then National Security Advisor Maj. Gen. Mehmood Durrani and Pakistan ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani were also in attendance.
Zardari admitted that his public statements had been more anti-Musharraf, the cable said. He was afraid that he and his party were losing popular support, while Nawaz was able to pretend to be populist by supporting restoration of the pre-November 3 judges. “But he doesn’t want the Chief Justice (Iftikhar Chaudhry) back in, just Musharraf out.”
Zardari revealed that he hoped to discuss privately with Musharraf the possibility of an “honourable exit” and believed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Kayani would stay out of such political discussions, noted the cable.
Zardari feared, however, that Musharraf was misguided by “smooth-talking advisors,” who were protecting their own personal interests. The public was against the president, the institution and the man, adding the PPP needed to “change the face of Pakistan” or it too would be kicked out of power. “We won’t act without consulting with you,” Zardari concluded.
Zardari blamed President Pervez Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Pakistan; the public, instead, believed Pakistanis were dying for the U.S. Zardari then said, “Anti-U.S. feelings will go away when the old faces go away,” adding that the US should no longer rely on just Musharraf in fighting radicalism.
Zardari stressed that the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was “Pakistan’s war.” The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists.
But counter-terrorism initiatives lacked popular Pakistani support, Zardari lamented, and terrorism fostered profiteers who had an interest in the struggle continuing.
Zardari argued that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif had “walked into the vacuum” as opposition leader when Bhutto was assassinated just weeks before national elections. For stability, however, the PPP continued to cooperate with the PML-N at the federal and Punjab provincial levels.
The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists, the cable said.
250,000 leaks: how many belong to whom News Desk
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
Saudi Arabia wants US to secure Pakistan’s eastern border
By Dilshad Azeem
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia told the US to ensure more safety at Pak-India borders to get absolute results in the war on terror while letting Islamabad authorities fully concentrate on its Afghan boundaries to combat al-Qaeda.
A latest US Embassy (Riyadh) cable, released by WikiLeaks, quoting Saudi authorities, provides that Pakistan would feel more comfortable and focused on checking terrorists when its Indian side is in a safer position.
“If we want one hundred percent from them (Pakistan), we should make them feel more secure on their border with India,” Riyadh cautioned a visiting US general early this year in a detailed meeting.
The Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Naif and US General Jones had a half an hour meeting on January 12, 2010 minutes of which were dispatched to Washington by its Riyadh-based Ambassador James B Smith on January 19, 2010.
As both discussed US and Saudi efforts to combat al-Qaeda extremists in the region besides Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iran, the Saudi minister is quoted by Smith saying “Pakistan must let people know that it is fighting a war to keep Pakistan united and its people safe.”
Prince Mohammed told the US militaryman that King Abdullah “has concerns about the Pakistani government; the biggest problem is the army.” General Kayani is a good man; I asked him, Prince Mohammed recounted, whether or not his soldiers, when they visit their villages, wear their uniforms, or if they changed into civilian clothes. “He told me that they change to civilian clothes.”
US Ambassador Smith wrote in the communication with General Jones noting that the Obama administration’s approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan reflects many of the same lessons that the Saudis have learned. “That is why the US is working with a new emphasis on national reunification in Afghanistan.”
“The approach includes reducing the emphasis on military operations while exerting new efforts to encourage reconciliation. In order for this strategy to succeed, Gen Jones cautioned, it will be essential that Pakistani territory no longer be available as a safe haven to terrorists.”
General Jones, the US Embassy Riyadh cable provides, assured Prince Mohammed that the US is working to reduce Pakistani-Indian tensions, and emphasised that what is most needed at this moment is for Pakistan to choose which path it wants to take.
Ambassador Smith further quoted General Jones in the cable that the first step is to dislodge the terrorists; if Pakistan resolves to do this, they will find that the US will help them for some time to come. “The Pakistani ISI also needs to act with greater consistency.”
In the meeting, General Jones also noted Riyadh’s influence with Pakistan and emphasised that the US is looking for Saudi Arabia’s support.
Fazlur Rehman getting isolated after WikiLeaks exposure By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
Zardari wanted judiciary of his choice: Leaks
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari wanted judiciary of his own choice, and believed that the Supreme Court will declare PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif disqualified, according to one of the cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
GENEVA: The Swiss Post Office's banking arm said on Monday that it had closed an account set up by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he gave false information.
GENEVA: WikiLeaks received a boost when Switzerland rejected growing international calls to force the site off the internet.
MADRID: President Barack Obama should resign if it can be shown that he approved spying by US diplomatic figures on UN officials, the founder of WikiLeaks said in an interview published Sunday.
ISLAMABAD: In a cable sent on Saturday, 20 June 2009 by US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson wrote; 'although he (President Zardari) is not a popular leader and admits himself that he came to high office without previous direct experience as an elected politician.
ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sunday staged a peaceful rally and sit-in on the Constitutional Avenue in protest against the price-hike, sentence of Dr. Afia, drone attacks, target killing in Karachi and Balochistan, RGST bill and recovery of missing persons.
LONDON: The US had established a joint task force with UAE government composed of interagency elements on both sides to combat illicit financial flows to and from Afghanistan, specifically bulk cash smuggling, said a US Embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks on the website of The Guardian on Sunday.
GENEVA: A Swiss group that supports WikiLeaks says the website's main server in France has gone offline.
LONDON: The pursuit of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange appears to have "political motivations", his lawyer told BBC television on Sunday.
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has finally admitted the presence of Baloch leader Brahmdagh Bugti in his country, according to WikiLeaks cables.