RSS Feed     Twitter     Facebook
Blog > Archive by tag 'President Hamid Karzai'

Posts Tagged ‘President Hamid Karzai’

Balochistan proof given to Singh: PM

July 18th, 2009 | No Comments


ISLAMABAD – Terming his visit to Sharm el Sheikh and meeting with his Indian counterpart a complete success, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that both India and Pakistan agreed to continue the dialogue process as it was considered the only way to resolve all the outstanding issues between the two nuclear power neighbours.
Briefing media persons on his four-day visit to Egypt where he attended NAM Summit and had a meeting with his Indian counterpart, the Prime Minister said that evidence was given to Prime Minister Singh about India’s involvement in Balochistan. “This was made part of the joint statement,” Prime Minister Gilani said.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that a whole gambut of issues, including Indian interference in Balochistan was raised during his meeting with Dr Manmohan Singh.
He said that Manmohan Singh was a statesman and there was a realization on both sides that one single issue should not make hostage the rest of the issues like poverty, hunger and disease confronting over 1.5 billion people of South Asia.
He said the Indian Prime Minister feared more Mumbai-like terrorists attacks on his country and he was asked that if India had some credible information in this regard it should be shared with PakistanÂ’s intelligence agencies and full cooperation would be extended.
He once again reiterated that the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks would be brought to justice and in this connection they had asked for some more information from India.
Prime Minister Gilani said the two sides agreed at the meeting that dialogue was the only way forward.
Replying to a question, he categorically stated that no foreign country was involved in arranging his meeting with the Indian Premier. “Whatever we are doing, we are doing in our own interest. It was Pakistan’s initiative.
Terrorism is a problem of Pakistan and we will fight it. If some country gets happy or angry, it’s their problem,”he added.
Prime Minister Gilani said that Manmohan Singh was ‘quite clear’ in the meeting and stated, “He was not scared and was ready to discuss any issue.”
“At present we have some trust deficit. If we have more interactions like these, then it will be taken care of,” the Prime Minister said.
He said, “Pak-India relations have remained shaky for the last 60 years and there is a lack of trust between the two neighbours”.
“When trust building starts, then we can say that we are not threatened,” he added.
Replying to a question about Afghan interference in Balochistan from Helmund, he said PakistanÂ’s concerns were conveyed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his meeting with him and he assured that the province will not be destabilized.
To a question that the Kashmir issue was left out, he said that the joint statement clearly stated that India and Pakistan would discuss all issues, including outstanding issues.
When asked if sending IDPs back to their homes was premature and to gain publicity, he said they were allowed to return only after the law enforcement agencies had cleared the areas of militants.
“It is our responsibility to give them protection…if law enforcing agencies feel the place is safe, only then we are sending them back.”
To a question if Taliban have been defeated, Prime Minister Gilani said that Pakistan was determined to root out terrorism, which was also badly affecting countryÂ’s economy.
“It is our resolve not to allow them to grow. They are destabilizing our economy.”
About the UN mission in Pakistan investigating Benazir BhuttoÂ’s assassination, he said they were here for fact-finding and he would meet the team soon.
The Prime Minister said that his party believed in politics of reconciliation, which was also the vision of late Benazir Bhutto.
He said that was why his party had supported Nawaz Sharif and they had reciprocated during the formation of the coalition government.
He said when he went to Egypt, he had the backing of the whole nation and all the political parties, whether inside or outside the Parliament.
Prior to leaving for Egypt, he added, he took all the political leadership into confidence and also discussed his visit with President Asif Ali Zardari and other state institutions.
He said that he would take the Parliament and the Federal Cabinet into confidence on his visit to Egypt.
Earlier in a written statement, the Prime Minister said during NAM Summit he called for reinforcing the normative framework for strict adherence to the principles of inter-state relations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Gilani said Pakistan believed that the core of NAMÂ’s efforts today should be the quest for sovereign equality. He said the Movement must renew its emphasis on giving full life and meaning to the immutable principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-intervention, mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence.
“We believe durable peace in South Asia is achievable. It will be facilitated by the resolution of all outstanding disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
“We were successful in reinforcing the commitment Pakistan attaches to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), its principles and objectives.”
He highlighted PakistanÂ’s perspective on issues of international peace and security as well as on global financial and economic crisis.
He garnered international support and solidarity for PakistanÂ’s efforts to address the challenges of extremism and terrorism and deepened PakistanÂ’s international reach, particularly in South Asia.
Gilani said he proposed ways for addressing the global financial and economic crisis – particularly emphasizing the need to avoid protectionism, increased market access, and comprehensively reform the international financial institutions.
The Prime Minister called for strengthening the multilateral system and for advancing interests of all states in an equitable manner.
He underlined the need for redesigning the global institutional architecture on the basis of democracy, accountability and transparency.
Gilani promoted the pacific settlement of disputes. Pakistan has already stressed the need for NAM to expeditiously evolve a mechanism for conflict resolution.
He suggested for developing a new global consensus covering arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation as well as access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Gilani said there was a need to pay urgent attention to the threat of climate change, including in South Asia, in view of prospects of the melting of glaciers. He also called for deepening South-South cooperation.
He highlighted the fact that PakistanÂ’s commitment to fight terrorism was in its own national interest and reaffirmed the resolve to realize Quaid-e-AzamÂ’s vision of a moderate, democratic and progressive Islamic Pakistan.
He said during the talks with his Indian counterpart, it was decided to delink action on terrorism from the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed.
Prime Minister Singh reiterated IndiaÂ’s interest in a stable and democratic Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
On the sidelines of the Summit, Gilani also held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Jordan and with the Secretary General of United Nations.
“We reiterated Pakistan’s strong desire to comprehensively upgrade our bilateral relations with South Asian countries and to deepen regional cooperation through SAARC,” he said adding, “we assured the South Asian partners that Pakistan would continue to play an important role in the advancement of peace, security and economic development.”

Read More »

Patricia DeGennaro: Afghanistan: The Real Exit Strategy – Free and Fair Elections

July 17th, 2009 | No Comments

Karzai’s approval rating has dropped 60% since he’s taken office. Afghans are tired of the corruption and lack of leadership. They loath the warlords who, quite frankly, belong in the Hague not in his cabinet.

Read More »

Helicopter shortage ‘risking troops’

July 15th, 2009 | No Comments

Ministers will come under intense pressure tomorrow over their handling of Britain’s military operations in Afghanistan when an influential committee of MPs challenges Gordon Brown’s insistence that a lack of helicopters has not cost lives.

With General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the army, openly calling for more “boots on the ground”, the Commons defence select committee is expected to rush out a damning report that is likely to say the shortage of helicopters has increased the danger to British soldiers

The report’s publication is being speeded up in time for a parliamentary debate on Afghanistan and the prime minister’s appearance in front of the liaison committee of MPs. The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, has been criticising Brown for cutting the helicopter budget by £1.4bn in 2004.

The committee will say that the lack of helicopters has restricted the ability of British forces to undertake potentially valuable operations. It will also reject claims that an increase in flying hours overcomes the problems, as a helicopter can only be in one place at one time. The report will also suggest that a larger helicopter fleet would allow forces to undertake operations by flight rather than on more dangerous operations by foot.

The committee will challenge the Whitehall decision to renovate old Puma and Sea King helicopters, arguing that it would have been better to buy new Merlin helicopters that would have cost little more and been available sooner. Overall the report will claim the government is planning to cut the number of helicopters by as many as 100 by 2020.

The MPs strongly criticised the lack of helicopters in hearings leading to tomorrow’s report. They said they had heard that on visits to Afghanistan “every brigade commander in Helmand has lamented the lack of sufficient helicopters”.

Today it emerged that Dannatt is being flown around Afghanistan in an American Black Hawk helicopter. “If I moved in an American helicopter, it’s because I haven’t got a British helicopter,” he said.

Challenged over the shortage of helicopters in the Commons today by David Cameron, the prime minister referred to the recent high death toll in a big offensive against Taliban fighters.

“I think that we should look at this particular operation, Operation Panther’s Claw, and be absolutely clear that it is not an absence of helicopters that has cost the loss of lives,” he said.

Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff, told the Guardian that it was disingenuous of the government to say British forces had enough helicopters in Afghanistan. He has said fewer British soldiers would have died if they had more helicopters.

Asked whether a shortage of helicopters was putting soldiers’ lives at risk, Gen Sir Mike Jackson, a former head of the army, told the BBC: “If a commander wanted to make a manoeuvre by air and couldn’t because there weren’t available helicopters and was forced therefore to do it on the ground against his own judgment, then yes, that would arguably be the case.”

Dannatt further increased pressure on the government by saying more “boots on the ground” were key to success in Helmand and that he would like to see “more energy” put into speeding up the supply of equipment to British troops.

Asked whether they have the equipment they need, he said: “It has probably not moved as fast as I would have liked … but we are increasing the numbers.”

He said: “We can have effect where we have boots on the ground. I don’t mind whether the feet in those boots are British, American or Afghan, but we need more to have the persistent effect to give the people confidence in us. That is the top line and the bottom line.”

Brown said at prime minister’s questions that President Hamid Karzai had acceeded to his request to send more Afghan troops to Helmand province to back up UK and US forces. The prime minister’s spokesman also indicated more strongly than before that the British troop presence is likely to remain at the current higher number of 9,000 troops after the Afghan preisdential elections, and that the extra troops will be detailed to train the growing Afghan army and police.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Read More »

PM demands more troops from Kabul in Helmand

July 13th, 2009 | No Comments

PM says Afghan soldiers must hold ground taken by British forces

Gordon Brown has told the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to put more Afghan troops into Helmand province immediately to make sure the costly territorial gains made by UK forces are not lost and British soldiers do not die in vain.

Amid mounting political pressure on the government over the sharp rise in British fatalities this month, Brown issued his demand to Karzai in a phone conversation on Sunday after talks with the US president, Barack Obama.

Less than 10% of the 80,000-strong Afghan army are stationed in Helmand even though 50% of the fighting is being conducted in the Taliban stronghold.

British forces have been repeatedly frustrated that they capture vital ground only for it to be ceded within months due to the lack of Afghan soldiers to move in and take control. There are only 500 Afghan troops involved in the British Operation Panther’s Claw in Helmand province.

Brown said bluntly he wanted to see “a very substantial increase” in Afghan troop numbers.

He also gave a strong indication that the British presence will remain at the current figure of just over 9,000 troops, or might even increase after the Afghan presidential elections in August and a US-led 60-day review of the entire Nato Afghan strategy. Britain is also temporarily sending an extra 140 soldiers from Cyprus.

The US-led review is likely to see General Stanley A McChrystal, the new senior commander in Afghanistan, recommend that the Afghan army will have to grow even faster than the planned expansion from 85,000 to 134,000, which was initially expected to take five years but now fast-tracked for completion by 2011.

US marines, currently deploying to Helmand, have been struck by the lack of support from the Afghan army.

The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch Brown recently highlighted the UK’s concern, saying: “We need to look at some slightly out-of-the-box solutions to supplement the numbers we have who are willing to protect communities from Taliban activity.”

There is also a growing worry that the presidential election in August will fall way short of a democratic poll, with some observers fearing ballot rigging that will make the recent Iranian elections look like a model of western democracy.

In a Commons statement today, Brown brushed aside Conservative and Liberal Democrat claims that British troops are dying due to insufficient troop numbers or resources. He said: “It has been a very difficult summer and it is not over yet but if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban in the long term, if we are to defeat this insurgency, and by doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, then we must persist with our operations in Afghanistan … I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan, that we have the strongest possible plan.”

But a Populus poll for ITV’s News at Ten found 75% of the population believe that the troops are inadequately supplied and equipped for the war.

The Tories claim there is a shortage of helicopters and blame Brown for cutting the helicopter budget by £1.4bn in 2004.

It was noticeable that the Tories reined back on some of their rhetoric today, but the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, said the government strategy was “over-ambitious and under-resourced”.

Brown said the British military had told him that they had sufficient troops for current operational requirements. He also denied that any helicopter shortfall had led to the recent British deaths.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, an army spokesman, offered Downing Street a measure of support, saying: “You could put as many helicopters as you wanted in here, but sadly at the end of the day troops have to go on the ground. You cannot defeat the enemy from a helicopter.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Read More »

Rethink Afghanistan: Debunking the Myths About Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

July 13th, 2009 | No Comments

Afghan women continue to face horrific violence, despite one of the oft-stated goals of this war. And yet proponents of the war continue to use…

Read More »

Obama Orders Review Of Alleged Deaths Of Taliban Prisoners In Afghanistan

July 13th, 2009 | No Comments

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has ordered his national security team to investigate reports that U.S. allies were responsible for the deaths of as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war during the opening days of the war in Afghani…

Read More »

US president sets Afghan target

July 12th, 2009 | No Comments

A US Marine helicopter delivers supplies in Helmand province, 11 July

The increasingly deadly conflict in Afghanistan is a "serious fight" but one essential for the future stability of the country, the US president says.

Insisting that US and allied troops have pushed back the Taliban, Barack Obama said the immediate target was to steer Afghanistan through elections.

The country is due to hold a presidential vote in August.

Mr Obama spoke to Sky News as concern grew in the UK at the rising British death toll in Afghanistan.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also forced on Saturday to justify British involvement in Afghanistan.

Mr Brown said the UK’s military deployment there was aimed at preventing terrorism in the UK.

Fifteen British troops have died in the past 10 days, pushing the country’s number of deaths in Afghanistan past the number killed in action in Iraq.

‘Extraordinary role’

Speaking during a day-long visit to Africa, Mr Obama also told Sky News that the battle in Afghanistan was a vital element in the battle against terrorism.

He said the continued involvement of British troops in the conflict was necessary, right and was a vital contribution to UK national security.

US President Barack Obama in Ghana, 11 July

"This is not an American mission," Mr Obama said.

"The mission in Afghanistan is one that the Europeans have as much if not more of a stake in than we do.

"The likelihood of a terrorist attack in London is at least as high, if not higher, than it is in the United States."

He praised the efforts of all troops currently fighting the Taleban in gruelling summer heat, singling out British forces for praise when asked if their role was still important.

"Great Britain has played an extraordinary role in this coalition, understanding that we can not allow either Afghanistan or Pakistan to be a safe haven for al-Qaeda, those who with impunity blow up train stations in London or buildings in New York.

"We knew that this summer was going to be tough fighting. They [the Taliban] have, I think, been pushed back but we still have a long way to go. We’ve got to get through elections."

‘Core mission’

Since taking office in Washington in January of this year, Mr Obama has announced a troop "surge" in Afghanistan.

British soldiers carry the coffin of a comrade, 10 July

The US has said it is sending up to 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan this year to take on a resurgent Taleban. They will join 33,000 US and 32,000 other Nato troops already in the country.

He also replaced the incumbent US commander in the country, ousting Gen David McKiernan less than a year into his command.

The new US chief in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has a stellar reputation from his days commanding special forces operations in Iraq.

He has been tasked with the mission of outsmarting the Taliban, who continue to win support among ordinary Afghans often caught in the crossfire of the bitter fighting.

High numbers of Afghan civilian casualties have become an issue of major concern to the US. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has regularly called on the international forces to reduce the numbers of Afghans killed in its operations.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Obama said although forces were currently engaged in heavy fighting, new strategies for building bridges with Afghan society would be considered once the country had held its presidential election.

A young girl in Afghanistan, 10 July

Afghanistan needed its own army, its own police and the ability to control its own security, Mr Obama said – a strategy currently being implemented in Iraq, where security is being handed over to Iraqi forces.

"All of us are going to have to do an evaluation after the Afghan election to see what more we can do," the president said.

"It may not be on the military side, it might be on the development side providing Afghan farmers alternatives to poppy crops, making sure that we are effectively training a judiciary system and a rule of law in Afghanistan that people trust."

"We’ve got a core mission that we have to accomplish."</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Read More »

Obama Admin: No Grounds To Probe Afghan War Crimes

July 11th, 2009 | No Comments

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials said Friday they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who human rights groups allege were killed by U.S.-backed forces.

The mass deaths were brought up ane…

Read More »
Page 6 of 6« First...23456