Pakistan Army ‘Not Impressed’ With US Offered Drones

“Too Little, Too Late, We Already Have Superior UAVs”

Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military sources say they are not impressed by the offer of the United States to supply RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as they already have superior quality UAVs, which they have upgraded, and which are in use.

The disappointment is understandable since unlike the drones that fly and take out targets inside Pakistan’s Fata region, the ones being offered to Pakistan are unarmed and commonly used for intelligence gathering.

Later, when DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas was asked about the overall weapons being provided to Pakistan for counterinsurgency and other military supplies, he remarked, “Too little, too late”.

It was US Defence Secretary Robert Gates who, in a meeting with the media at the residence of the US ambassador, said the US was enhancing Pakistan’s intelligence capabilities. He said the offer comes because Islamabad had requested for them. “We have a lot of information on the Afghan side that we share … we also help Pakistan build its own capacity. We will be providing them with UAVs (Shadow) together with equipment and training,” he said.

To a question whether the US was attaching any conditions to these UAVs, he replied, “I do not know”. In the past, the US was wary of passing on the drone technology to Pakistan as Islamabad could use it in areas other than it had specifically been given for.

One American journalist accompanying him asked about the possibility of stopping arms sale to India and Pakistan altogether. “We have to judge each country’s requirement on its own. We sell Pakistan F-16s and we sell India transport aircraft. We make a decision judiciously,” Gates replied.

Gates appeared relaxed with the questions being thrown at him by the local and US media but it was the ‘D’ word that he refused to entertain. Though several questions relating to US drones were asked, he shrugged them off and would not even give an answer as to whom in the US this question could be put.

When he said that there were no US bases inside Pakistan. he refused a reply when asked from where these US drones flew. Amongst the defence secretary’s aides in uniform that greeted the media before he arrived were those who offered their greetings in chaste Urdu and one of them also spoke excellent Pashto!

As if on cue, the Pakistan military’s announcement that it could not overstretch itself in fresh areas of operation also saw Gates admitting to a query that a ‘trust deficit’ existed. “There is responsibility on both sides. From the US side, we turned away from Afghanistan in 1989. We could have remained engaged but we did not even try. Then the Pressler Amendment brought an end to military-to-military conversation for 12 years when we had no contacts. We cannot rebuild trust through rhetoric,” he said.

Turning to the present moment, Gates said that the US was deeply impressed with Pakistan’s military operations and the level of activity and clearing of areas. “Very impressive. Pakistan is a sovereign state and makes its own decisions on future operations. The past year has been extraordinary. Let me put it this way. If we are in a car together, it is Pakistan in the driving seat with its foot on the accelerator. We are prepared to help and also express our condolences to the 3,000 Pakistani soldiers killed. General Kayani gave me a detailed briefing,” explained the defence secretary.

To a query about the Coalition Support Fund that has been held up and which Pakistan needs on an emergency basis, Gates replied, “It will come and we are also reviving $500 million deferred payment.”

He explained instances in the past where Pakistan’s procedures lacked proper documentation. “We are working with Pakistan on the documentation and will give it to Congress. We are working on it now and some people we are seeking to add to the US Embassy will help,” he said.

When a question of opening up dialogue with the Taliban inside Afghanistan was put to him, he replied, “Afghanistan has its own reconciliation and reintegration plan. It is how low-level Taliban can work in their own community. These are Taliban foot soldiers who work for money. As economic development proceeds and there is greater security, more and more foot soldiers will come back,” he pointed out. But he did not agree that there were any chances of the Taliban forming the next government in Kabul. However, he did say that there were conditions if they wanted a future political role.

“If the adversaries are willing to become part of the political fabric of Afghanistan and they are prepared to play a legitimate role, abide by the Constitution and recognise the Kabul government. What do the Taliban make of Afghanistan? It was a desert (during their last government). “Are they ready to rebuild?”

To several queries regarding the role of India in the region, Gates said that the last thing he wanted to avoid was another Mumbai-like attack. “We all have common enemies and in the past year they tried to destabilise Pakistan itself. We have regional problems that need regional cooperation,” he said.

He said the US was ready to play a constructive role between India and Pakistan and was well prepared. “In 1990 then President Bush sent me to the region and we made suggestions. Both parties do not want intervention and we are comfortable with that,” he said.

When told that with Kashmir unresolved, now more issues, like India’s role in Afghanistan, were leading to confrontation, Gates replied, “Al-Qaeda does not care about Kashmir. Kashmir is an issue for both sides.”

He said he was unaware that at the forthcoming London conference, a formal role would be offered to India. But he acknowledged that India had significant development programmes. Calling al-Qaeda a cancer, Gates did not mince his words when he said: “They are all bad”. Refusing to distinguish between the Pakistani Taliban, Afghan Taliban, al-Qaeda, Haqqani network and the various Lashkars, he said it would be a mistake to look at them individually.

Pakistan to US: Are You With Us Or Against Us?

The tide has shifted dramatically in recent years. Resurgent Afghan Taliban, better armed, trained, and deadly effective, now have control over 80% of Afghan territory. There has been a significant increase in offensive targetting of US and NATO bases and Afghan government officials and buildings in the last couple of years, with even Kabul coming under increasing pressure.

On the other side of the border, the CIA and Indian supported TTP has been getting a hiding at the hands of Pakistan’s armed forces with even the US and NATO stunned at the efficiency and success of the army operations against TTP militants in Swat and South Waziristan. For the first time in 8 years, Pakistan now has the upper hand and has started to dictate terms to the US, starting last week with the rejection of US request to extend the operation to North Waziristan where Jalaluddin Haqqani’s faction allegedly operates from. Anticipating an imminent turnaround in Pakistan’s Afghan policy and fearing the US supply lines into Afghanistan may come under pressure, the US immediately sought to pacify the Pakistan Armed Forces with promises to deliver 12 ‘unarmed’ shadow drones – which hasn’t worked.

The White House and Pentagon are in shock, as this turnaround by the Pakistan Army couldn’t have come at a worse time for them – with the recent attacks on CIA’s Chapman outpost in Khost, a failed civilian government incharge, an incompetent Afghan army, and with 30,000 US troops on their way to what many now realise is a lost cause.

And now the New York Times reveals an interesting conversation between Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and an unnamed senior Pakistan Army official that took place last week. The biggest sign yet of the reversal of fortunes comes with a simple but symbolic ‘Are you with us or against us?’ from the Pakistan Army to the United States. The NYT article follows:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Nobody else in the Obama administration has been mired in Pakistan for as long as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. So on a trip here this past week to try to soothe the country’s growing rancor toward the United States, he served as a punching bag tested over a quarter-century.

“Are you with us or against us?” a senior military officer demanded of Mr. Gates at Pakistan’s National Defense University, according to a Pentagon official who recounted the remark made during a closed-door session after Mr. Gates gave a speech at the school on Friday. Mr. Gates, who could hardly miss that the officer was mimicking former President George W. Bush’s warning to nations harboring militants, simply replied, “Of course we’re with you.”

That was the essence of Mr. Gates’s message over two days to the Pakistanis, who are angry about the Central Intelligence Agency’s surge in missile strikes from drone aircraft on militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, among other grievances, and showed no signs of feeling any love.

The trip, Mr. Gates’s first to Pakistan in three years, proved that dysfunctional relationships span multiple administrations and that the history of American foreign policy is full of unintended consequences.

As the No. 2 official at the C.I.A. in the 1980s, Mr. Gates helped channel Reagan-era covert aid and weapons through Pakistan’s spy agency to the American allies at the time: Islamic fundamentalists fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. Many of those fundamentalists regrouped as the Taliban, who gave sanctuary to Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and now threaten Pakistan.

In meetings on Thursday, Pakistani leaders repeatedly asked Mr. Gates to give them their own armed drones to go after the militants, not just a dozen smaller, unarmed ones that Mr. Gates announced as gifts meant to placate Pakistan and induce its cooperation.

Pakistani journalists asked Mr. Gates if the United States had plans to take over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons (Mr. Gates said no) and whether the United States would expand the drone strikes farther south into Baluchistan, as is under discussion. Mr. Gates did not answer.

At the same time, the Pakistani Army’s chief spokesman told American reporters at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Thursday that the military had no immediate plans to launch an offensive against extremists in the tribal region of North Waziristan, as American officials have repeatedly urged.

And the spokesman, Maj. Gen Athar Abbas, rejected Mr. Gates’s assertion that Al Qaeda had links to militant groups on Pakistan’s border. Asked why the United States would have such a view, the spokesman, General Abbas, curtly replied, “Ask the United States.”

General Abbas’s comments, made only hours after Mr. Gates arrived in Islamabad, were an affront to an American ally that gave Pakistan $3 billion in military aid last year. But American officials, trying to put a positive face on the general’s remarks and laying out what they described as military reality, said that the Pakistani Army was stretched thin from offensives against militants in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan and probably did not have the troops.

“They don’t have the ability to go into North Waziristan at the moment,” an American military official in Pakistan told reporters. “Now, they may be able to generate the ability. They could certainly accept risk in certain places and relocate some of their forces, but obviously that then creates a potential hole elsewhere that could suffer from Taliban re-encroachment.”

Mr. Gates’s advisers cast him as a good cop on a mission to encourage the Pakistanis rather than berate them. And he was characteristically low-key during most his visit here, including during a session with Pakistani journalists on Friday morning at the home of the American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson.

But Mr. Gates perked up when he was brought some coffee, and he soon began to push back against General Abbas. American officials say that the real reason Pakistanis distinguish between the groups is that they are reluctant to go after those that they see as a future proxy against Indian interests in Afghanistan when the Americans leave. India is Pakistan’s archrival in the region.

“Dividing these individual extremist groups into individual pockets if you will is in my view a mistaken way to look at the challenge we all face,” Mr. Gates said, then ticked off the collection on the border.

“Al Qaeda, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Tariki Taliban in Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Haqqani network – this is a syndicate of terrorists that work together,” he said. “And when one succeeds they all benefit, and they share ideas, they share planning. They don’t operationally coordinate their activities, as best I can tell. But they are in very close contact. They take inspiration from one another, they take ideas from one another.”

Mr. Gates, who repeatedly told the Pakistanis that he regretted their country’s “trust deficit” with the United States and that Americans had made a grave mistake in abandoning Pakistan after the Russians left Afghanistan, promised the military officers that the United States would do better.

His final message delivered, he relaxed on the 14-hour trip home by watching “Seven Days in May,” the cold war-era film about an attempted military coup in the United States.

Pakistan Reaches Out To Afghan Taliban

A US chopper shot down by the Afghan Taliban - who now control over 80% of Afghan territory

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is reaching out to “all levels” of the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage reconciliation in its war-torn neighbour, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.

US President Barack Obama has said a political solution is needed to stabilise Afghanistan and emphasised that success would not be possible without the support of Pakistan.

“We are trying to reach out to them (Taliban) at all levels and all of us would like that our efforts should bring some results, but at this point in time it is very difficult to say,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said of Pakistan’s efforts.

The Afghan government is preparing a reintegration plan with the Taliban that targets lower to mid-level Taliban fighters, but has not focused on more senior leaders of the insurgency.

International donors are meeting in London on Jan 28 when Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to seek their support for his reintegration plan.

Mr Basit said it was important that there should be reconciliation at all levels and that Pakistan was helping in this regard. He declined to give details.

“Whether or not our efforts will yield results, we will see,” he told Reuters in an interview. “We don’t want to discuss the specifics. There are efforts being made and we are trying to win over those Taliban or forces who are ‘reconcilable’. Let’s see.”
Asked specifically whether Pakistan was targeting top-level leaders, Mr Basit said: “We are trying at all levels but where we succeed is another matter.”

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited Pakistan this week and urged it to root out Afghan Taliban based in its north-western border enclaves, from where they have been orchestrating an intensified insurgency in Afghanistan.

UNDER PRESSURE: Pakistan has repeatedly told Washington that it is already fighting a home-grown Taliban and does not have the resources to open up new fronts against Afghan militant groups based in its northwest. Such groups include the Haqqani network which, the US military says, is the biggest threat in Afghanistan.

The United States has intensified drone attacks in Pakistan’s northwest after a deadly attack on US intelligence agents in Afghanistan’s Khost province on Dec 30. Pakistan complains the attacks are an affront to its sovereignty and has asked the United States for drone technology as well as armed drones to do the job itself.

“We do need drones — unmanned vehicles — which are capable also of firing missiles,” the FO spokesman said. “Pakistan is capable of handling these drone attacks militarily, but we would not like to unnecessarily ratchet up problems with the US,” he added. During his visit, Mr Gates offered a dozen unarmed surveillance drones.

Mr Basit said his government was considering the offer, but reiterated that Pakistan wanted armed drones.

Mr Gates also urged Pakistani to expand military operations to North Waziristan, but was told it could take six months to a year before this happened, Mr Basit said. “If we expand our operations then that will require us to pull out from the eastern border which under the circumstances is not possible,” he said, referring to the border with India.

“That is a serious issue for us and we hope that at the end of the day our friends, the Americans, will be cognisant of our security perceptions.”

Mr Basit complained the United States was behind on delivering funds promised to pay for anti-militant efforts.

The United States says Pakistan has denied visas for auditors and other US officials needed to ensure the money is spent properly.

Mr Gates annoyed Pakistan when he said on Wednesday in New Delhi that India might lose its patience with Pakistan after any repeat of a Mumbai-style attack and militants in the region might use this to provoke the two rivals to war.

“Such a statement was very unhelpful and un-diplomatic …These can be exploited by India,” Mr Basit said.—Reuters

MPA apologises for remarks against female members

LAHORE: Almost all female members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) forced MPA Dr Ashraf Chohan to tender an unconditional apology to the House for his remarks against female parliamentarians. During question hour on Thursday, the female MPAs from the opposition strongly objected to remarks made by Chohan, in which he said female MPAs were wasting the House’s time and they had no say in the assembly’s proceedings as they had been elected on special seats. Chohan specifically mentioned Amna Ulfat in his statement. In response, the femaleMPAs from the opposition protested against Chohan’s remarks, demanding he apologise to all female parliamentarians, but Chohan refused, saying he did not say anything wrong. The assembly speaker intervened and asked Chohan to apologise. Other female parliamentarians in the House, including those from the treasury, chanted slogans against Chohan. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah also tried to calm down the females MPAs, but the furore continued until Chohan finally apologised. staff report

University of Punjab Students Protest Against Administration

Punjab University students in Lahore blocked the both side of the road along the canal while protesting against the Punjab University administration over increasing incidents of thefts. So far 136 motorcycles have been reportedly stolen from the campus in one year. The blockade of Canal Road from campus side by the protesters played havoc with the traffic, causing a traffic mess on Canal Road, Johar Town, Faisal Town, Shah Di Khoi and Thokar Niaz Baig.

Six students from University of the Punjab suspended

THE Punjab University has initiated an inquiry into the incident in which two rival student groups clashed with each other in front of the HaileyCollege of Commerce, resulting in injuries to some students.

According to a press release on Wednesday, the PU spokesman said the PU Students Affairs officials immediately provided first aid to the injured students on the spot and shifted them to the Jinnah Hospital for further medical treatment. He said Hailey College of Commerce Principal Prof Dr Liaquat Ali chaired an emergent meeting of the senior faculty on Wednesday and unanimously decided to suspend Rehan Khan, Mamoonur Rehman, Umar Farooq, Hafiz Wajid Ali, Zubair Sabir, students of BCom (Hons), and Hafiz Farhat Abbas, a student of MCom, with immediate effect for being involved in the clash.

The suspended students had also been directed to appear before the college disciplinary committee on February 2. The meeting also decided to call the suspended students’ parents and seek written undertakings from them to the effect that if they would be involved in any such illegal activities in future, they would be expelled from the college without any intimation to their parents. He said as far as students belonging to other departments were concerned, the Hailey College administration would make recommendations to the University Disciplinary Committee for appropriate legal action against them.

The spokesman further said that on the basis of a medico-legal report, an FIR had already been registered with the New Muslim Town Police Station. Terming the students’ clash hooliganism, the spokesman said that a handful of students were bent upon disturbing the peaceful environment of the university by indulging in illegal and negative activities. He said that such an attitude towards the oldest and largest seat of learning on the part of certain activists was regrettable.

Referring to the manhandling of a student from Gilgit in Hostel No 16, the spokesman said the administration was still awaiting a formal written complaint from the aggrieved party on the basis of which the University Disciplinary Committee, comprising senior most teachers, would be asked to confirm the culprits involved in the incident for their expulsion from the university without any further delay.

The PU spokesman urged the students to devote their precious time and energies to leaning knowledge instead of wasting them in negative activities, jeopardising their future.

Dr Aafia testifies at US trail

NEW YORK: Dr Aafis Siddiqui has recorded her statement before a US court for the first time on Thursday.

According to sources, Dr Aafia said she was tortured in a secret jail, and her hands were being tightened with bed.

“I could not sleep the whole night due to the presence of FBI agents in the room, who never allowed me to sleep,” she added.

Aafia said she never met with any Pakistani national since her detention.

Speaking to the judge she said, “I consider you a good human being.”

Ufone & Pepsi announced the winner of Grand Prize “Mazda RX 8″

Islamabad – January 28, 2010: Ufone & Pepsi concluded ‘Badal do Qismat’, a joint promotion and finally announced the winner of the Grand Prize of this campaign.

Usman Pathan, a resident of Sukkur was declared winner of the Grand Prize “Mazda RX 8” at an event held at Pepsi Head Office Lahore and the key was handed over at Ufone Head office in Islamabad.

This offer was the first of its kind between one of Pakistan’s leading cellular service provider and leading carbonated soft drink brand in Pakistan received overwhelming response from the market. Consumers from around the country won exciting prizes including Free Talk Time, SMS’s, Cricket Bats, X Box’s, T-shirts and Free Pepsi.

Senior management of Ufone’s & Pepsi Cola International was present at the occasion which included Mr. Akbar Khan, Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Moazzam Ali Khan, Head of Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility & Mr. Khurram Mahboob, Manager Marketing from Ufone. While Mr. Adnan Abbasi, Franchise Manager & Mr. Mukarram Ali Khan, GM Sales Haidri Beverages and Northern Bottlers represented PepsiCola International.

Mr. Akbar Khan Chief Marketing Officer Ufone speaking at the occasion said “The results of this promo have been overwhelming and has shown great belief of our valued customers in us. Ufone has yet again reinforced its promise that “it’s all about U”. Ufone has always strived to give our valued customers the best value for their money and I believe this promo has delivered above all expectations”

Mr. Khurram Koraishy Director Marketing Pepsi said “This was our first promo with Ufone and we are glad that it had very encouraging results. Pepsi International believes that Pakistani youth has both the courage and the desire to change their destiny and that’s why we say “Badal Do Zamana’. We want to provide the youth with the opportunity to bring a positive change in their lives and we look forward to deliver that promise”

About Ufone: Ufone is an Etisalat Group Company with its presence in all the major cities of Pakistan along with a comprehensive coverage across all major towns, villages and tehsil headquarters of the country. The company employs more than 3,850 people and operates with a network of more than 375 franchises and 26 company-owned customer service centers along with a distribution network of 150,000 outlets nationwide.