http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/31/alqaeda.death/index.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Former_Pak_generals_slam_Mushs_Kashmir_policy/articleshow/2762307.cms
Al-Qaeda is now in virtual control of Pakistan's tribal areas. Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and those controlled by the Pakistan intelligence agency, ISI, are reported to be planning "maverick missions”. Waziristan, Swat and adjoining areas are virtually in the hands of the al-Qaeda which includes the Pakistan Taliban and other allied groups.the Pakistani army is fighting a four-front war against jehadis — "against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in South Waziristan, against the Tehrik and the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the sensitive Dara Adam Khel-Kohat area of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Shia-dominated Kurram Agency of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, against the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat-e-Mohammadi headed by Maulana Fazlullah and the Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Swat Valley of NWFP."
On 29 Jan 2008, A senior al Qaeda terrorist , Abu Laith al-Libi, 41, of Libyan descent , who was involved in the February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting and was on the military's most wanted list was killed in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The U.S. military had placed al-Libi on its most wanted list in 2006, behind bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In October 2007, the US announced a reward of $200,000 for al-Libi.Combined Joint Task Force-82 – the US’ anti-terror unit responsible for searching for al-Libi in Afghanistan had no information on al-Libi's death. Since al-Libi was killed in Pakistan, he likely wasn't killed by U.S. ground troops because they do not operate inside the Pakistani border.
The Pakistan army and al-Qaeda (the loose term encompassing all these groups) are involved in “a hot war where the divisions between the two sides are not very clear". "The very fact that Mullah Omar has supposedly dismissed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for working against the Pakistan army shows that there is some degree of collaboration/cooperation/control of these outfits by the ISI. The ISI continues to maintain its policy of "death by a thousand cuts" against India, and the availability of hardcore militants, terrorists and killers has now increased hugely inside Pakistan. The old policy of deflecting the attention on the internal situation by "heating up" Kashmir could well be activated. Already, former Pakistani Generals, including ex-army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen (retired) Hamid Gul, ex-Rawalpindi corps commander Lt Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani, Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, another former ISI chief have criticised President Pervez Musharraf's handling of the Kashmir problem and said the government should do more to "back" the Kashmiris. According to them there can be no long-term friendship with India unless the Kashmir issue is resolved.
India is gearing up for not only a vicious "spring offensive" in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area, but also inside India, with more terror infiltration from Pakistan. There has also been some concern about reports that the ISI has resurrected Dawood Ibrahim to launch high-profile attacks against Indian personalities.No matter what the outcome of Pakistan’s operations against Al Qaeda and who killed Abu Laith al-Libi and how, there is little doubt regarding the presence of top leadership of Al Qaeda and Taliban inside Pakistan. With time and additional casualties, the West may realize the sordid role of Pakistan in terror games and location of other fugitive terror leadership still holed up inside that country. During his recent eight-day trip through four European countries, Musharraf admitted that Bin Laden and Al-Zawahri are hiding somewhere in the lawless tribal areas along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. The West is slowly waking up to the fact that a terror strike anywhere in the world leads back to Pakistan.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Former_Pak_generals_slam_Mushs_Kashmir_policy/articleshow/2762307.cms
Al-Qaeda is now in virtual control of Pakistan's tribal areas. Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and those controlled by the Pakistan intelligence agency, ISI, are reported to be planning "maverick missions”. Waziristan, Swat and adjoining areas are virtually in the hands of the al-Qaeda which includes the Pakistan Taliban and other allied groups.the Pakistani army is fighting a four-front war against jehadis — "against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in South Waziristan, against the Tehrik and the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the sensitive Dara Adam Khel-Kohat area of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Shia-dominated Kurram Agency of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, against the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat-e-Mohammadi headed by Maulana Fazlullah and the Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Swat Valley of NWFP."
On 29 Jan 2008, A senior al Qaeda terrorist , Abu Laith al-Libi, 41, of Libyan descent , who was involved in the February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting and was on the military's most wanted list was killed in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The U.S. military had placed al-Libi on its most wanted list in 2006, behind bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In October 2007, the US announced a reward of $200,000 for al-Libi.Combined Joint Task Force-82 – the US’ anti-terror unit responsible for searching for al-Libi in Afghanistan had no information on al-Libi's death. Since al-Libi was killed in Pakistan, he likely wasn't killed by U.S. ground troops because they do not operate inside the Pakistani border.
The Pakistan army and al-Qaeda (the loose term encompassing all these groups) are involved in “a hot war where the divisions between the two sides are not very clear". "The very fact that Mullah Omar has supposedly dismissed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for working against the Pakistan army shows that there is some degree of collaboration/cooperation/control of these outfits by the ISI. The ISI continues to maintain its policy of "death by a thousand cuts" against India, and the availability of hardcore militants, terrorists and killers has now increased hugely inside Pakistan. The old policy of deflecting the attention on the internal situation by "heating up" Kashmir could well be activated. Already, former Pakistani Generals, including ex-army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen (retired) Hamid Gul, ex-Rawalpindi corps commander Lt Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani, Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, another former ISI chief have criticised President Pervez Musharraf's handling of the Kashmir problem and said the government should do more to "back" the Kashmiris. According to them there can be no long-term friendship with India unless the Kashmir issue is resolved.
India is gearing up for not only a vicious "spring offensive" in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area, but also inside India, with more terror infiltration from Pakistan. There has also been some concern about reports that the ISI has resurrected Dawood Ibrahim to launch high-profile attacks against Indian personalities.No matter what the outcome of Pakistan’s operations against Al Qaeda and who killed Abu Laith al-Libi and how, there is little doubt regarding the presence of top leadership of Al Qaeda and Taliban inside Pakistan. With time and additional casualties, the West may realize the sordid role of Pakistan in terror games and location of other fugitive terror leadership still holed up inside that country. During his recent eight-day trip through four European countries, Musharraf admitted that Bin Laden and Al-Zawahri are hiding somewhere in the lawless tribal areas along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. The West is slowly waking up to the fact that a terror strike anywhere in the world leads back to Pakistan.
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