HAMID GUL ON WIKILEAKS

Hamid Gul, a former Pakistan general accused of helping the Taliban, says United States orchestrated the mass leak of war files to scapegoat him for its imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan.

GARETH PORTER: LEAKS MAKE WAR POLICY VULNERABLE

WikiLeaks offer no major revelations as did the Pentagon Papers

they increase the political pressure on a war policy by highlighting contradictions between the official assumptions of the strategy and the realities shown in the documents - especially in regard to Pakistan's role in the war.

Pentagon Papers chronicle the policymaking process leading up to the Vietnam War

WikiLeaks documents thousands of incidents that illustrate severe problems Among the themes
casual killing of civilians
night raids by special forces based on bad intelligence
absence of legal constraints on Afghan police
deeply rooted corruption among Afghan officials.
Pakistan's political and material support for the Taliban insurgency

There are many intelligence reports about Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, director of
(ISI) during the 1980s, and he is continuing to work with the Taliban commanders loyal to Mullah Omar as well as the Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar insurgent networks

reports reflect anti-Pakistan bias of the Afghan intelligence service under former Northern Alliance intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh. Nevertheless the impression is credible.

New York Times led with Pakistani-Taliban issue. It said the documents reflect "deep suspicions among American officials that Pakistan's military spy service has for years guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than US$1 billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants."

Pakistani "double-dealing" is administration's greatest political vulnerabilities, national security elite are worried about any hope for success.

Senator Russ Feingold, "highlight a fundamental strategic problem, which is that elements of the Pakistani security services have been complicit in the insurgency"

Hamid Karzai pointing to Pakistani sanctuaries as the primary problem

Last February, then director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said: Disrupting the "safe havens" "won't be sufficient but it is a "necessary condition"

White House issued a compilation of statements showing that they had been tough with Pakistan But none admitted the reality: Pakistan's policy of supporting the Taliban insurgency firmly fixed and is not going to change

Admitting that Pakistan's fundamental interests in Afghanistan conflict with US war strategy would be a serious - and possibly fatal - blow to the credibility of the Obama administration's strategy of using force to "reverse the momentum" of the Taliban. this contradiction and others could accelerate the process that political support among the foreign policy and political elite continues to diminish. loss of this support has accelerated. prominent national security elite have signaled war strategy cannot succeed, paralleling 2006 in regard to the Iraq War

ATOL: SAYED SALEEM SHAHZAD

Taliban leader Mullah Omar

Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani with close ties to the US

lines are clearly drawn between the militants and the military

Afghan Senator Arsala Rahmani is the main communication link to the Taliban. (ISI) had ask Rahmani to move to Peshawar, denounced Mullah Omar and formation of Jamiatul Khudamul Koran. This is the moderate Taliban, Pakistan sought to regain its influence in Afghanistan. The US came to accept the idea of "good" Taliban who could join President Hamid Karzai

earlier, Pakistan summoned Jalaluddin Haqqani and asked him to leave Mullah Omar. He was promised that with American support he would be appointed chief executive of Afghanistan. Haqqani's network has become one of the main drivers of the Taliban-led Afghan insurgency. Haqqani understood he would lose any authority and apologized saying that he could not leave Mullah Omar. ISI understood and never abandoned Haqqani.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), gathered by the ISI and asked to open offices in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. They were urged to go to Kabul and become involved. a few years ago HIA leader Qutubuddin Hilal went to Kabul to see President Hamid Karzai. Karzai welcomed the HIA delegation with respect, but American officials humiliated them and insisted that they should be condemned as terrorists.

Pakistan wanted a Pashtun-dominated, pro-Pakistan government in Kabul. US agreed to moderate Taliban. Rahmani, former Taliban foreign minister Abdul Wakeel Mutawakil welcomed in Kabul. HIA members were allowed to contest elections.

ISI launched the Jaishul Muslim, a militant organization aimed at fighting foreign occupation, but one that condemned Mullah Omar's support for al-Qaeda. This was a ploy to divide the Taliban. Several Taliban joined. At the same time, al-Qaeda was active. plans were undermined, Jaishul Muslim soon joined the Taliban.

Western agencies took this as a betrayal. By 2007, al-Qaeda had taken the insurgency
to Pakistan's cities and took over ISI's jihadi assets As a result, a battle was orchestrated between state forces and jihadi elements.

A key, in 2005 Kashmiri militants joined with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In 2007, Ilyas Kashmiri and Sirajuddin Haqqani (Jalaluddin Haqqani's son) changed the dynamics of Taliban-led attacks. This opened a gap between Haqqani and Pakistan.

For instance, in 2009, Naseeruddin Haqqani, a brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, was arrested by the Pakistan. Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud (now killed) secured his release by swapping some Pakistan army prisoners. Similarly, Sirajuddin Haqqani provided shelter to fleeing members of the Pakistani Taliban when the military began operations in the South Waziristan tribal area.

Pakistan has long-standing ties to the Taliban and militants, the country is on the brink of an unprecedented showdown with militants and their organizations.

In response, streams of militants are believed to be grouping in North Waziristan; Pakistan is at a critical juncture and a false move by it - or by its ally the US - could place it in the lap of extremist forces.

Mullah Omar
General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani

Senator Arsala Rahmani
Jamiatul Khudamul Koran

Jalaluddin Haqqani

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA)
Qutubuddin Hilal

Abdul Wakeel Mutawakil

Jaishul Muslim

Ilyas Kashmiri
Sirajuddin Haqqani

Naseeruddin Haqqani
Baitullah Mehsud

INDIA AND CHABAHAR PORT

clipped from: indiatoday.intoday.in

India is keen to expedite the development of Iran's Chabahar port, which will give the country direct access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, without needing to go through Pakistan.

---

The port's strategic significance also lies in the fact that it is barely 72 km away from Pakistan's deep-sea Gwadar port, which has been built with Chinese assistance.

---

India has already built the Zaranj-Delaram road in Afghanistan's Nimroz province, which will connect to the Chabahar port via Milak.

---

Sources said the Chabahar-Milak-Zaranj-Delaram highway will open up the Indian market to Afghan agricultural products and other exports.

AFGANISTAN OPIUM

Afghanistan’s major product is opium and opium production has increased remarkably during the present war. the real agenda of the Afghan war has been control of the opium trade. the opium trade has tracked across Southern Asia for the past five decades from east to west, following US wars, and always under the control of US assets

1960s, secret war in Laos using the Hmong opium army of Vang Pao as its proxy, Southeast Asia produced 70% of the world’s illicit opium

Since 2002, Afghan opium production has reached 93% of world illicit production, an unparalleled performance. In the 1980s the US supported the Mujahideen against the Soviets. peasants to grow opium as a revolutionary tax and in Pakistan, under the protection of Pakistani Intelligence, operated hundreds of heroin labs.

Golden Crescent eclipsed the Golden Triangle To hide US complicity the DEA were required to look away from US allies such as the ISI and the Pakistani banks

CIA’s mission was to destabilise the Soviet Union by promotion of militant Islam inside the Central Asian Republics. CIA facilitated anti-Soviet rebels in Uzbekistan, Chechnya and Georgia. Drugs were used to finance terrorism.



Soviet withdrew in 1989 leaving a civil war until 1992. Afghan lapsed into warlordism. opium thrived. Then the Taliban emerged to remove war lords and apply
Sharia law. The captured Kandahar in 1994, capturing Kabul in 1996. opium was curbed. September 1999, a decree was issued to reduce output by one-third. A second decree in July 2000 to completely stop. 2001 was the worst year. Through the nineties the global average was 4000 tonnes, during the Taliban, it fell to less than half.

11 September 2001, the northern alliance, led by US Special Forces, supported by daisy cutters, cluster bombs and bunker-busting missiles, shattered the Taliban. The opium ban was lifted and Afghanistan became the major producer. Hillary Mann Leverett confirmed that the US knew. Thomas Schweich from the State accused Hamid Karzai and accused the Pentagon. He wrote in the New York Times.

The most prominent was Ahmed Wali Karzai. During the last election he created phony ballots, “mafia-like” control, bought the election.

Douglas Valentine shows in The Strength of the Pack, never-ending war UK) and Japan used the opium to subjugate China.

In the Twenty-First century, opium is used against Iran, Russia and former Soviet republics. They all face spiralling rate of addiction and covert US penetration as the Afghan War fuels central Asia’s heroin plague.

Dr John Jiggens is the author of “The killer cop and the murder of Donald Mackay”.

TALIBAN WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

Strategic stability and Strategic Anarchy

all anti american forces, have a grand strategic opporrtunity to humble USA at a nominal cost in the entire region bettween Casaablanca to Dakhalin. american interests and Amercicna installations are located in such a widespread area that USA a with its entire might cannot defend all of its many assets at all times.

Final phase: a periof of exploitation of USA's exhaustion by other major players like Russia, China, EU. The USA may be unable to initiate a policy of disengagement. The USA is in position of a man holding a wolf by the ears. It may be difficult to kill this wolf, but it is fatal to leave it. all that the anti US forces, open or covert need to do it is to assist the owlf, create new breeding areas for the wolves.

The stakes are high, the battle field vaster than any other battlefield in human history and the shades too many for the strategists eye to perceive or comprehend. The present third world war which started with 09/11 has no cenbter of gravity, no fixed battle lines, it is hundred dimensional, no rules, no morality, no boudaries aqnd no tangible end in sight. One thing is clear. USA' cheap sonsumerists society has a great deal of military muscle but a pathetic strategic vidsion. We salute the new age of Strategic anarchy.

TALIBAN WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

Pakistan, Afghanistan begin talks about dealing with insurgents

By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung
Saturday, June 19, 2010

Afghanistan and Pakistan are talking about how to make peace, there could be a more abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops than is now anticipated. But one element ofthe effort -- outreach by Pakistan to the militia headed by the young commander Sirajuddin Haqqani -- faces opposition from U.S. officials.

Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the chief of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, made an unprecedented trip last month to Kabul. United States, gradually warming to the idea of reconciliation But Obama will not support talks with Haqqani's militia, "we expect to be treated as full partners and not to be surprised."

Haqqani, based in North Waziristan is a top threat. The CIA and U.S. military think that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency retains links. In a recent meeting Petraeus, Mike Mullen and McChrystal presented evidence that attacks on a NATO convoy and the main coalition air base were by Haqqani from Miram Shah.

Karzai's firing of his intelligence chief and interior minister, who were negative on Pakistan, is seen as positive.

U.S. troops focus counterinsurgency efforts on the Taliban's southern hub, Haqqani, who is in his 30s, is expanding the southeastern front through attacks on American forces and through ruthless intimidation of locals, embodies the Taliban's vanguard: younger commanders driven more by anti-Western zeal. suicide bombers come from this class, his is the single largest insurgent force and a bridge between the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Beyond the Haqqani group, Pakistan maintains ties with the dominant Afghan Taliban, headed by Mohammad Omar, and an allied group headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Karzai have met with Afghan Taliban Quetta Shura. The group founded by his father, Jalaluddin. the organization has swelled in lethality and in size, to as many as 10,000 fighters. Haqqani holds a seat on al-Qaeda's leadership council receives ample funding from Arab backers, it include foreign fighters drawn frommadrassas, they rely on assassinations, shakedowns and kidnappings-for-ransom little interest in politics

DeYoung reported from Washington. Staff writer Joby Warrick and special correspondents Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan contributed to this report.

General Frank Kitson: Trail Blazing Fake Terrorism

General Frank Kitson, “who first thought up the concept that was later used in the formation of Al Qaeda. He called it the ‘pseudo gang’—a state sponsored group used to advance an agenda, while discrediting the real opposition

used in Kenya and Northern Ireland. most of the violence attributed to ‘Loyalists was the result of British secret state death squads

in Malaya (against the Malayan Peoples Anti British army led by the Communist leader Chin Peng) and Kenya (against the Mau Mau) and also General Edward Geary Lansdale’s use of psychological warfare in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Rhodesians “pseudo gang” used to bomb churches and blame on “communist atheists” or Patriotic Front guerrillas fighting for national determination.

writes Stan Winer, South Africa staged “black-on-black”. death-squad commander admitted clandestine attacks on white people, to provoke a right-wing backlash.”

this sort of “backlash” fake terror to provoke against Muslims and Arabs, as per the neocon

the “clash of civilizations” crew of the Straussian-Machiavellian stripe) currently in control of the Anglo-American globalist empire desire to preserve and expand and a faux schism or conflict between western and eastern civilization fits the ticket

Kitson simply paved the way. covert tricks under the guise of Islamic terrorism. Islam is a near perfect manufactured enemy

WASHINGTON AND THE KYRGYZ FUTURE - SECURING THE PIVOT

Washington and the Kyrgyz future—Securing the Pivot
by F. William Engdahl*

Long-term Pentagon Plan for Central Asia
Spreading a cancer across Central Asia
Spreading War via NDN
Low Intensity Warfare and PKO
Training the police…
A dubious Community Defense Initiative
NDN is the Key
NDN and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken ‘Anti-Terror’ center
Opium in the Central Asian War
US Military as Opium Exporter?
Conclusion

To this end, the U.S. is employing the time-tested tactics of Low Intensity Warfare to generate the pretext for NATO’s permanent expansion under guise of the ‘war on terror’, with opium gainfully fueling the operations. If successful in Central Asia, Washington will have achieved a ‘checkmate’ by effectively blocking any combination of nations on earth from opposing its agenda of Full Spectrum Dominance.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 a prime strategic objective of the Pentagon and of US intelligence has been to deeply penetrate the former Soviet states of Central Asia.

HOW TO PREDICT THE FUTURE

For days the Israeli government prepared the Israeli society for the massacre at sea. It said that the Flotilla carried weapons, it had ‘terrorists’ on board. Only yesterday evening it occurred to me that this Israeli malicious media spin was there to prepare the Israeli public for a full scale Israeli deadly military operation in international waters. Make no mistake. If I knew exactly where Israel was heading and the possible consequences, the Israeli cabinet and military elite were fully aware of it all the way along. What happened yesterday wasn’t just a pirate terrorist attack. It was actually murder in broad day light even though it happened in the dark.

Tariq Ali - Obama, Pakistan and the US empire

Marxsite 2010
"Excellent and extremely useful" - Tariq Ali.

ENRON INDIA DABHOL

The Dabhol power project, located on the Maharashtra coast approximately 180 kilometers south of Mumbai, is Enron's flagship project in India. Dabhol Phase I, generating 740 MW of power, began operating in May 1999. When Phase II is completed at the end of 2001, Dabhol will generate 2,450 MW of power to become the world's largest independent natural gas-fired power plant.

The Dabhol Power Corporation (DPC). The DPC started as a 100 percent foreign-owned private limited liability company incorporated in India by Enron, Bechtel Enterprises Holdings and General Electric Capital Structured Finance Group. The three partners controlled DPC through a chain of companies based in Mauritius, a tax haven. Enron held 80 percent of the shares of DPC, while Bechtel and GE each hold 10 percent.

See Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline

See Enron Blog

See Coalition of the Obvious

MERCENARIES IN AFPAK

covert mercenary networks in "Afpak"), and Iraq to murder tribal militants. former senior Pentagon official Mike Furlong, International Media Ventures (IMV), to provide the US military with "cultural information" about Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes.

Codename: Operation Capstone. "the Cultural Engineering Group" of Florida, and "Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program" of Virginia funded Furlong with $24.6 million.

Furlong hired former special forces to assassinate Pashtun leaders and target tribal compounds for strikes by US Predator drones. free enterprise known as "Murder Inc."

Dewey Clarridge from the 1980’s Afghan war, were involved. IMV’s CEO came from major defense contractor L-3



huge ruckus. Pentagon has cut Furlong adrift. Shades of CIA agent Ed Wilson set up as a deniable "independent" arms and explosives to Libya and Angola. this intrigue blew, Wilson was buried alive in federal prison

This latest recalls 1980’s guerilla war in El Salvador government death squads and
1968–1972 Operation Phoenix in South Vietnam, killed from 26,000 to 44,000 suspected Communists

growing criticism of 275,000 mercenaries (AKA "private contractors") in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, operate without any accountability, legal structure, or oversight



US mercenaries are likely behind bombings of civilian targets in Peshawar. Indian intelligence spreading mayhem to destabilize Pakistan

Xe (formerly Blackwater) and DynCorp have raked in fortunes running private armies for the US. They are major donors to the far right of the Republican Party



private armies are goose-steps away from Nazi Brownshirts of late 1920’s Germany

US Special Forces in Afpak not until this month under control of McChrystal. They reported to Petraeus in Tampa. McChrystal rose leading US Joint Special Operations Command who were on campaigns of liquidation and intimidation in Iraq, and
Afghanistan

To the Pentagon’s fury, CIA runs its own. paramilitary drone assassination ops. 90%
are civilians. "wet affairs" undermine the agency. CIA’s paramilitaries report to Langley. Pakistan is not informed

How many of the 15 other US intelligence agencies are running private armies. special forces from NATO whose operations are deep secret

Australia criticism for attacks on civilians by SAS units

Britain’s renowned SAS and SBS commandos are very active

US brands all as "illegal combatants, denying them due process and Geneva Convention

HAMID GUL

Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul was a military commander in the Pakistani Army in the 1980s, and served as the head of the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from 1987 to 1989
During
Bush
sought to put Gul on a UN list of international terrorists
blocked by the Chinese
Domestically
opponent of Asif Ali Zardari
Supreme Court to be reinstated
Americans are defeated
their own people are sick and tired
Karzai is no more
They have
end of this year
shoulder the responsibility
civilian casualties
made the Taliban a popular
80 per cent
support
fed up with corruption
sick of
warlords
drug barons
occupation
they stayed on betrays their real intentions
want to prop up and build the Afghan Army
they don't give the money to build
just $140mn
US to
one soldier
$1mn dollars
Americans can't take casualties
started employing security contractors
whoever has more money
employ
mercenaries
latest
offensive
not going to work
political purpose back home
dislodging the civilians
very harsh weather
fields abandoned
Pakistani Taliban

sponsored by the Indian intelligence and the Mossad
Mossad is very active in Pakistan
providing
guidance
to the Indian intelligence
The Americans fear the return of the Supreme Court
could rule that the US drone attacks are violations
US officials have accused you
close ties with
Taliban and al-Qaeda
wrong
al-Qaeda
come up with the evidence for 911
You haven't
charged Osama bin Laden
you don't have hard evidence
full story is yet to come out.
a gimmick, an inside job
Taliban
national spirit of resistance
Americans talk of freedom of speech
my speech hurts them
jihad is our right when a nation is oppressed
national resistance for liberation is a right. We call this a jihad.

Fear is no policy, Surrender is no option
Clash between moral and material, whenever it takes place moral always always win.

ROGUE AGENT

NEW DELHI: After being denied access to interrogate American national David Coleman Headley with regards to the Mumbai attacks by US authorities, Indian intelligence sources now suspect that the alleged terrorist could be a CIA agent turned rogue.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\16\story_16-12-2009_pg7_39

ON THE OTHER HAND

United States President Barack Obama scored a convincing "A" in the tortuous test that he was put to on the structuring of a new Afghan strategy.

he grasped the essence of the problem

that the Afghan people are starting to view the Americans as
occupiers and it is time to consider an exit strategy.

to attribute centrality in his strategy to the government led by President Hamid Karzai

Obama's new strategy emphasizes the strengthening of Karzai's government as quickly as possible. It acknowledges that only Afghans themselves can solve their problem

Everything in the Hindu Kush has worked from time immemorial on the basis of trust and loyalty and kinships. All that claptrap about merit, etc falls by the wayside.

never once decried "warlordism"

assigns a major role for the so-called "warlords" for stabilizing Afghanistan
additional cos

US$30 billion to $40 billion per year, already stood at $65 billion

However, the most profound part of the new Obama strategy is that it signals a conclusive farewell to the neo-conservative agenda for US foreign policy.

As Obama put it, the nation-building project in Afghanistan "sets goals that are beyond what can be achieved at a reasonable cost, and what we need to achieve to secure our interests". He was brutally frank in admitting that America "can't simply afford to ignore the price of these wars".

instead tried to "rebuild our strength here at home

On Tuesday, the president formally brought the curtain down on Pax Americana.
that America had forgotten to "appreciate the connection between our national security and our economy ... So we can't simply afford to ignore the price of these wars."

jettisons the counter-insurgency strategy in favor of a forceful counter-terrorism strategy.

to degrade the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the shortest possible time within the coming 18 months or so

Obama didn't quite reveal his mind on a political settlement in Afghanistan

All the same
In carefully chosen words, he said, "We have no interest in occupying your country. We will support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens."

But, here again, the current approach to engage the Taliban via the good offices of the Saudi or Pakistani intelligence is extremely short-sighted and dangerous

the attempt should be to "liberate" the Taliban from the Pakistani clutches.

the success of any Afghan strategy crucially depends on the US's capacity to compel Pakistan from supporting militant groups.

India and Pakistan must be firmly dissuaded from turning Afghanistan into an arena of rivalry

the dynamics of the US-India strategic partnership will be keenly watched by Islamabad.

The Obama administration has done well to "demilitarize" the US-India strategic partnership

Without doubt, unless Pakistan's threat perceptions of a "hegemonistic" India are squarely addressed, Islamabad will continue to resort to asymmetrical warfare.

Will Obama's emphasis on an exit strategy have the unexpected result of encouraging Pakistan's military to estimate that all that is needed is to counsel the Taliban to lie low during the forthcoming buildup of US troops and simply wait until the troops go home?

HINDUS VERSUS MUSLIMS

BATTLE OF THE PORTS: CHABAHAR VS GWADAR: INDIA VERSUS CHINA: US VERSUS?

clipped from: acorn.nationalinterest.in

The 218-km road connecting Delaram (on the Kandahar-Herat highway) to Zaranj, on the border with Iran has been completed.
It will provide landlocked Afghanistan an alternative access to the sea, the Iranian port of Chahbahar, allowing it to break free from Pakistan’s traditional stranglehold.

it remains to be seen if Iran will prove to be a better neighbour than Pakistan.
For Afghanistan, this is an opportunity to regain better access to the Indian market that it lost in 1947. For India, it is an opportunity to regain better access to Central Asia that it too lost in 1947.

US MILITARY SUPPLY ROUTE TO AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban has all but shut down the Pakistan supply route to Afghanistan. Russian routes are an option. The other option is to use the Iranian port of Chahbahar. The Indian government has spent over $1 billion to construct a multi-lane highway from the western Afghan city of Heart to the Iranian border to meet up with the road from Chahbahar. Some form of political deal with the regime in Tehran would enable the US and NATO to redirect most, if not all, the traffic that currently goes to Karachi—providing they retain control over Herat.



CHINA ALSO HAS A PLAN

clipped from: http://gawadarinnltd.com/page_1161468194468.html

In fact, Gwadar enjoys the status of a third Deep Sea Port of Pakistan which has a special significance with reference to trade links with Central Asian Countries, Persian Gulf, East Africa, United Arab Emirates and North Western India.

The Gwadar project came about as a result of a Sino-Pakistan agreement in March 2002, under which China Harbor Construction Corporation will build the port.

Beijing has provided $198 million for the first phase of the project and Islamabad's contribution has been $ 50 million. The scope of phase-1 includes construction of three multi-purpose berths each 200 meters long and capable of handling vessels up to 30,000 DWT.

By virtue of its excellent location, Gwadar port is also visualized to become a regional hub serving incoming and outgoing commercial traffic of the Middle Eastern and Gulf countries, the Xinjiang province of China, Iran in the west and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the south and east.



According to some sources, Beijing also intends to take advantage of Gwadar's accessible international trade routes to Central Asian republics and Xinjiang. The plan envisages extending China's east-west railway from the border city of Kashi to Peshawar.

The incoming and outgoing cargo from Gwadar can then be delivered to China through the shortest route from Karachi to Peshawar. The same road and rail network can also be used for the supply of oil from the Gulf to the western provinces of China.

Additionally, China could also gain rail and road access to Iran through Pakistan's internal road and rail network. Use of Gwadar port by China should accelerate the growth and development of the port and the hinterland and enhance its overall commercial and strategic value.

India is helping develop the Chabahar port and that would give it access to the oil and gas resources in Iran and the Central Asian states, in this it is competing with the Chinese which is building the Gwadar port, in Pakistani Baluchistan.

Iran plans to use Chabahar for transhipment to Afghanistan and Central Asia while reserving the port of Bandar Abbas as a major hub mainly for trade with Russia and Europe.



India, Iran and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to give Indian goods, heading for Central Asia and Afghanistan, preferential treatment and tariff reductions at Chabahar

Work on the Chabahar-Melak-Zaranj-Dilaram route from Iran to Afghanistan is in progress. Iran is with Indian aid upgrading the Chabahar-Melak road and constructing a bridge on the route to Zaranj. India's BRO is laying the 213-kilometer Zaranj-Dilaram road. It is a part of its USD 750 million aid package to Afghanistan.

The advantages that Chabahar has compared to Gwadar are the greater political stability and security of the Iranian hinterland and the hositlity and mistrust that the Pakistani Baluchis hold against the Punjabi dominated Pakistani Federal government. The Baluchis consider Sino-Pak initiative at Gwadar as a strategy from Islamabad to deny the province its deserved share of development pie. They also look with suspicion on the settlement of more and more non-Baluchis in the port area.

The Chabahar port project is Iran's chance to end its US sponsored economic isolation and benefit form the resurgent Indian economy. Along with Bandar Abbas, Chabahar is the Iranian entrepot on the North - South corridor. A strategic partnership between India, Iran and Russia to establish a multi-modal transport link connecting Mumbai with St. Petersburg. Providing Europe and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia access to Asia and vice-versa.

WHERE HAVE WE SMELLED THIS BULLSHIT BEFORE?

clipped from: www.wsws.org

Condoleezza Rice to the two countries in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks has only added more fuel to the fire

Rice publicly backed India's demands on Pakistan for tough measures against the alleged perpetrators of the atrocity.

reinforced the message that the Pakistani government had to provide "unequivocal assistance" to India.

rash of leaks in the Indian and US media blaming
Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba

Citing unnamed Indian officials
India had identified Yusuf Muzammil as the man who orchestrated the plan

captured gunmen, Ajmal Amir Kasab, who, it is said, admitted to being a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and training in Pakistan.

in today's Hindu went one step further to claim that India had "proof" that the Pakistani military intelligence—the Inter-Services Intelligence agency—was involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks

Significantly, the New York Times yesterday cited an unnamed former US Defence Department official as saying that "American intelligence agencies had determined that former officers from Pakistan's Army and its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped to train the Mumbai attackers".

No evidence

Several articles have cast doubt on even the basic claims made about the detained gunman
British-based Times noted that Pakistani officials had been unable to trace Kasab to the village of Faridkot in Punjab

contradictory stories in the Indian press variously described Kasab as a small-time pickpocket, an impoverished villager and a well-educated youth fluent in English
President Zardari cast doubt over the identity of the arrested gunman, saying: "We have not been given any tangible proof to say that he is definitely a Pakistani

He blamed "stateless actors" operating throughout the region, and reiterated that Pakistan "itself has been a victim of terrorism and [is] fighting the menace resolutely".

The media leaks, particularly those by US officials, are aimed at undercutting Pakistani disclaimers and reinforcing American demands that Islamabad take action against elements of the military and the ISI who in the past have backed various Islamist militias

In pressuring Pakistan to bow to Indian demands,
The unstable Pakistani government is widely regarded as a puppet of Washington
accusations against the ISI will only compound the tense relationship between the Pakistani government and the military.

concessions by Pakistan
may well be used by opposition politicians to whip up nationalist sentiment.

There is growing outrage that the US and India are exploiting the Mumbai attacks for their own political purposes.

anger over deteriorating living standards as the Pakistani government implements IMF austerity measures as part of an economic bailout package.

the Indian government to take a more belligerent stand against Pakistan.
a growing clamour in the Indian media and from opposition Hindu supremacist parties for tough action

a list of Indian demands, including for Islamabad to arrest and hand over 20 terrorist suspects, most of whom have not even been mentioned in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

President Zardari
New Delhi has provided no evidence against the twenty men
He also insisted that anyone involved in the Mumbai attacks would be dealt with in Pakistani courts

There are growing demands for military action against "terrorist training camps" in Pakistan.

Right-wing Hindu extremist groups are whipping up communal tensions inside India. The fascistic Shiv Sena based in Mumbai has called in its newspaper for the dismantling of "mini-Pakistans" inside India, before teaching "Pakistan a lesson by launching an attack on it". The reference to mini-Pakistanis is a provocative incitement to pogroms against India's large Muslim minority.

the ruling Congress Party, which faces national elections next year, has repeatedly bowed to pressure from the Hindu right in the past.

Completely incapable of addressing the elementary social needs and democratic aspirations of working people, they are again stirring up communal divisions as a means of shoring up their political bases.

The intrusion of the US into this explosive political mixture in pursuit of its own strategic interests—in the first place to consolidate its occupation of Afghanistan—only heightens the danger of war.

MOON OF ALABAMA DRAWS A MAP

At least 75% of all NATO/U.S. supply in Afghanistan comes through the Pakistani port of Karachi (1). Most of it goes up to Peshawar (2) and then through the Khyber pass to Kabul (3). A second route is from Karachi (1) through Quetta (5) to Kandahar (4). A part of the Afghan ring road connects Kabul (3) and Kandahar (4).It is constantly under attack.

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 7, 1:12 pm ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Militants torched 160 vehicles, including dozens of Humvees destined for U.S. and allied forces fighting in Afghanistan, in the boldest attack so far on the critical military supply line through Pakistan.


To celebrate the arrival of these two asswipes


Humvees are thought to cost about $100,000 each, though the price varies widely depending on armor and other equipment, meaning Sunday's losses may exceed $10 million. "It's militarily insignificant," U.S. spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rumi Nielsen-Green said. "You can't imagine the volume of supplies that come through there and elsewhere and other ways."

100,000 Americans lost their homes today and another 100,000 lost their jobs and its insignificant to Lt. Col Rumi Nielsen-Green.

Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green-another fucking asswipe