Hundreds of Afghans demonstrated in support of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to send troops against Taliban militant leaders in Pakistan. Across the border, Pakistan summoned the Afghan ambassador and said it would “defend its territorial sovereignty.”
Afghan tribesmen, elders and clerics gathered in at least four cities in eastern Afghanistan — where Karzai’s support is strongest — with many saying they were ready to respond to their president’s call and take up arms.
“We are ready to defend our homeland,” said Malik Majid, an elder from Afghanistan’s Urgan district in Paktika Province, near the border.
“We strongly condemn Pakistan’s interference in our country ... It’s our responsibility to protect the territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” he said.
US President George W. Bush, speaking in London, said the US can help calm the “testy situation.” He did not endorse Karzai’s threat to send Afghan troops into Pakistan.
Bush said the mission for the US remains to deny safe haven to extremists who want to kill innocent people.
Karzai on Sunday threatened to send Afghan troops to target Taliban leaders Mullah Omar and Baitullah Mehsud in Pakistan.
The threat — the first time Karzai has said he would send forces into Pakistan — comes only days after a sophisticated Taliban assault on Kandahar’s prison freed 870 prisoners, including hundreds of Taliban militants.
In response to Karzai’s statement, Pakistan yesterday called in Afghan Ambassador Mohammed Anwar Anwarzai to lodge a protest.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi described Karzai’s statement as “threatening” and “regrettable.”
Qureshi said he would make “it absolutely clear that Pakistan shall defend its territorial sovereignty.”
Although Kabul appeared unlikely to follow through on the threat, the spat marked a new low in relations between the two countries.
Karzai has long pleaded with Pakistan and the international community to confront Taliban safe havens in tribal areas, and US officials have increased their warnings in recent weeks that such sanctuaries must be dealt with.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s Taliban movement has warned of an escalation in Taliban attacks against NATO and Afghan forces if Karzai sends forces across the border. He also said the Afghan army would face defeat at the hands of thousands of tribal fighters.
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS