Monday, November 21, 2011
Haqqani on “slippery ground”
From The Hindu
Ambassador Husain Haqqani, has always been a man walking a tightrope and now he may be reaching the end of the line.
While he has still not packed his bags and returned to Islamabad, sources here indicated that he might well be on “slippery ground,” especially since he was “considered close to Washington but GHQ dislikes him”.
Dissatisfaction with his actions were said to echo past trends, where he was seen as not lobbying sufficiently for the interests of the military and intelligence apparatus on Capitol Hill, preferring to promote the civilian leadership. Indicating that l'affaire Haqqani may be high on the discussion agenda and the topmost levels of the Pakistani state it was noted that General Kayani called upon President Asif Ali Zardari on two consecutive days this week “and every time it was said security issues were discussed”.
Reportedly the word in the Pakistani embassy here is he “would like to do Washington's bidding more readily then Islamabad's.” In the past few days rumours added grist to this mill when some media alleged that Mr. Haqqani holds a U.S. passport and that he had sought asylum in the U.S. — both charges that he has denied.
Nevertheless long-time observers of the establishment added that the Mr. Haqqani “is said to be a master at manoeuvring minds in his favour... a feature that is said to help him secure high offices,” suggesting there may be a sliver of a chance that he could survive this episode.
Regardless of the outcome, Mr. Haqqani's past role as a journalist and his colourful presence on micro-blogging website Twitter may presage an opportunity for the eloquent diplomat. Even if he loses his job he may well be able to spin this into an opportunity by chronicling his adventures as the martyr for democracy who stood up against the mighty Pakistani military.
Labels: Husain Haqqani, Kayani, Mike Mullen, Pakistan Ambassador, Pasha, Washington DC, Zardari
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Scepticism and wariness in U.S. on al-Zawahiri's appointment
From The Hindu
A day after a militant website confirmed that al-Qaeda had chosen Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahiri to succeed Osama bin Laden as its chief, United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen vowed that the U.S. would seek to capture and kill al-Zawahiri as it had bin Laden.
Commenting on the elevation of al-Zawahiri, Admiral Mullen said al-Qaeda “still threaten us,” despite having suffered a “huge loss” with the killing of bin Laden and others.
At the same briefing, when asked why he thought it had taken al-Qaeda seven weeks to pick a new chief, Defence Secretary Robert Gates quipped, “It's probably tough to count votes when you're in a cave.”
Mr. Gates argued that unlike bin Laden, who was the leader of al-Qaeda since its inception, al- Zawahiri lacked a “peculiar charisma” and was operationally less engaged than bin Laden had been. Yet others cautioned that under al-Zawahiri, for whose arrest the FBI is offering $25 million, al-Qaeda would continue to be a serious threat to U.S. national security.
Bill Roggio, military affairs analyst and Managing Editor of The Long War Journal, told CNN, “[Al-Zawahiri] has been a very public official. He's very well known in the rank and file. There [are] a lot of questions on how he's perceived in the ranks, but even bin Laden had his detractors.” In an earlier video message, al-Zawahiri himself had indicated that al- Qaeda would continue with bin Laden's mission, saying, “Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group, but a rebelling nation, which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance.”
Secretary Gates did admit that al-Qaeda sought to perpetuate itself, “seeks to find replacements for those who have been killed and remains committed to the agenda that bin Laden put before them.”
He also alluded to possible suspicions in al-Qaeda that Pakistan’s may have had a role in the killing of bin Laden, saying, “There is some indication that al-Qaeda is worried that – because of the way we went after bin Laden, their suspicion is that the Pakistanis may have been involved in it and are worried that the Pakistanis may betray them as well.”
Labels: al-Qaeda chief, Ayman al-Zawahri, Defence Secretary, Mike Mullen, Osama bin Laden, Robert Gates
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mullen predicts more violence in Afghanistan in 2011
From The Hindu
The United States needs to prepare itself for “more violence and more casualties in coming months,” in Afghanistan, according to Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also predicted that “The violence will be worse in 2011 than it was in 2010.”
Speaking to journalists at the State Department’s Foreign Press Centre on Wednesday Admiral Mullen said that while the prognosis for even more bloodshed in Afghanistan may be difficult to accept, the longer-term solution would require the U.S. to support an Afghan political process that would include reconciliation with those Taliban fighters who broke off with al Qaeda, renounced violence and accepted the Afghan constitution.
Emphasising a political solution over a military one to the region’s problems, the Admiral argued that U.S. forces remained committed to beginning a “conditions-based withdrawal of American forces in July of 2011 with a goal endorsed by NATO in the Lisbon Summit of being able to fully transition security responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014.”
He reaffirmed public statements made by Obama administration officials earlier, suggesting that the U.S.’ military presence would diminish in the country from that point onwards even though the task of ensuring that it was supplanted by sufficient Afghan governance capacity continued to remain “severe.”
The Admiral further underscored the importance of action by Pakistan to shut down terrorist safe havens along the Durand Line, saying, “It is absolutely critical that the safe havens in Pakistan get shut down. We cannot succeed in Afghanistan without that.”
Touching upon recent meetings with his counterpart in Pakistan General Ashfaq Kayani, Admiral Mullen said, “He has evolved his military against this threat. This threat is evolving as well, because it’s not just Haqqani Network anymore, or al Qaeda, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban, or Lashkar-e-Taiba, it is all of them working together in ways that two years ago they absolutely did not.”
Pressing the point that “Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism in the world right now,” he said that neighbouring countries in the region, including Russia, Iran and India, “all have responsibility and we all want to see this resolved as rapidly as possible.”
Labels: Afghanistan, Mike Mullen, violence
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