Pakistan Connection Seen in Taliban's New Tactics -LAT

[Rose Siding]

ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Telephone and power lines haven't reached the villages clinging to the craggy mountainsides of Kunar province. Digital phones and computer chips are even further beyond the shepherds' imaginations.

So when sophisticated bombs detonated by long-range cordless phones began blowing up under U.S. and Afghan military vehicles on mountain tracks, investigators knew they had to search elsewhere for the masterminds.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf joined the Bush administration's war on terrorism and publicly turned against the Taliban immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. But Afghan officials allege that Taliban and allied fighters who fled to Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 are learning new, more lethal tactics from the Pakistani military at numerous training bases.

"Pakistan is lying," said Lt. Sayed Anwar, acting head of Afghanistan's counter-terrorism department. "We have very correct reports from their areas. We have our intelligence agents inside Pakistan's border as well.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakban28jul28,0,1838806.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Barrett808]

1. Can you say ISI?

I knew you could.

[Monkie]

5. can you say ISI is the CIA's state within a state,a UK mp can and does

· Michael Meacher is Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton. He was environment minister 1997-2003 (he has 30+ years in parliament)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1266520,00.html

"For years the CIA used the ISI as a conduit to pump billions of dollars into militant Islamist groups in Afghanistan, both before and after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

With CIA backing, the ISI has developed, since the early 1980s, into a parallel structure, a state within a state, with staff and informers estimated by some at 150,000. It wields enormous power over all aspects of government. The case of Ahmed confirms that parts of the ISI directly supported and financed al-Qaida, and it has long been established that the ISI has acted as go-between in intelligence operations on behalf of the CIA."

to me the LA times piece has one part of the CIA machine pretending to argue with another part of the machine.
Maybe thats too obvious but why look for conspiracies when you have other facts that point directly back at the USA the worlds only unchallenged superpower?

[Barrett808]

7. Thanks for the link! n/t

[htuttle]

2. Why should they change?

They got let off the hook for overthrowing a democratically elected government for a military dictatorship. Then they got let off the hook for partly financing (and probably a lot more) the attacks on 9/11 (cf. Mohammed Atta/Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad). Then they got let off the hook for selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya, and anyone else who'd pay.

So I ask again: Why should Pakistan change? Seems as though what they've been doing is working...for Pakistan's military leadership (I bet they LIKE those spiffy new planes we basically gave them recently, too).

[Rose Siding]

3. And we're arming them!- calling it a "token of friendship" and a "reward"

snip>
Second, Bush (pending near-certain congressional approval) is lifting a ban on arms transfers to Pakistan that has been in effect since 1989. The restriction was imposed after intelligence clearly revealed that Pakistan was turning its stockpile of enriched uranium into nuclear bombs. The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act forbade the supply of any weapons to countries that crossed this line. So, President George H.W. Bush issued a stop order, halting production of 43 F-16s earmarked for Pakistan (in addition to 40 already delivered), 17 of them paid for in advance. It is this transaction that Bush's son now seeks to resume—even though Pakistan has not only pushed ahead with nuclear weapons but sold the resulting technology to several tinhorn dictators.

Worse still, the latest version of the plane, the F-16C/D—which is the model Pakistan will receive—can carry atomic bombs under its wings. The plane's wiring would have to be modified in order for the bombs to be fused and dropped, but German intelligence agencies reported long ago that the Pakistanis have figured out how to do this. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have said Pakistan needs the F-16s to combat terrorists in the mountains on the Afghan border. But really it wants them to drop bombs on India in case of another India-Pakistan war. (Pakistan already has two types of missiles that can do this; India has nuclear-capable planes and missiles, as well.)

On a broader level, Rice has justified the sale as a token of U.S. friendship and commitment to Pakistan's security, a reward for its cooperation in the war on terrorism, and an inducement to further progress toward democratic rule. If we ignore Pakistan's request for the planes, Rice has said in interviews, these trends could collapse.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2115965/

[varun]

4. Ah...Pakistan

where the AAA (Allah, Army, Amerika) hold the reigns of power.

De"mock"racy? what is that?

[StrafingMoose]

6. There...

the CIA's at it again. Fomenting a false crisis... They will never learn. *sigh*