Growing violence in Pakistan is being closely watched by US military officials who are concerned that the instability could strengthen al-Qaeda strongholds along the border with Afghanistan, a senior Defense Department official said.
Pakistani security forces, who have faced heavy opposition from insurgents in these tribal areas, have had their "ups and downs," said Michael Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.
"The level of violence is ramping up. It isn't Iraq, but it's getting worse," he said on Friday.
Yet there are no plans to involve US forces in military operations inside Pakistan.
Vickers said the fighting has not affected US operations in Afghanistan, where the US-led coalition has maintained a presence since October 2001 after routing the harsh Taliban-led Islamic government that had sheltered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's government is "a very important ally in the war in terror," Vickers said.
But the relationship has become strained since Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3, a move criticized by the US.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was scheduled to meet with Musharraf yesterday.
Despite the internal issues, Vickers said Pakistan can do more to stem terrorist activity.
"We would always like them to do more given the importance of the problem," he said. "They're certainly doing a lot."
Vickers, confirmed by the Senate in July as the Pentagon's top civilian official for special operations, has substantial experience in central Asia. As a CIA officer in the early 1980s, he led the US effort to arm the Afghan rebels who ultimately drove the Soviet army out of Afghanistan.
Vickers, affirming a belief held by US officials, said he believes bin Laden is hiding in western Pakistan, an area that operates autonomously from Musharraf's government.
The administration of US President George W. Bush has been trying to capture or kill bin Laden since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"If we knew, I think we'd kill or capture him. We're trying very hard to do that," Vickers said.
The remoteness of the area and the hostility of the population there to Pakistani forces compound the problem of finding the al-Qaeda leader, he said.
"The al-Qaeda senior leadership has had time to build relationships there with the locals," he said. "They tend to be rather circumspect about their movements."
Eric Rudolph, who committed a series of bombings across the US in the 1990s, avoided federal authorities for nearly five years in the Appalachian wilderness, he noted.
"This is that on steroids," Vickers said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS