Pak Army must end India-driven strategy to avoid becoming al Qaeda, Taliban caliphate

October 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Pakistani leadership and its spy agency ISI still consider India as its greatest threat, even greater than the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists, a stance that affects US strategy in the region, says a top US military commander "It is important to note that India is still seen as the greatest threat, greater than the Taliban, greater than even Al Qaeda," Gen David Petraeus, commander of the US Central Command said at the Association of the US Army annual meeting here Tuesday. "So there are still some dynamics there that are challenging," he said.

October 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said that the US and Pakistan both lost track of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden five years ago, The Dawn reports. Musharraf, who is on a lecture tour of the US currently, told students and delegates at a college in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that both Pakistani and US intelligence have failed to collect any details regarding Laden's whereabouts, and now they are even unable to ascertain whether he was dead or alive.

October 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said a multifaceted strategy is needed to deal with the Taliban effectively. Musharraf, who is on a lecture tour of the US currently, said that while the Al-Qaeda should be eliminated from Pakistan by force, dealing with the Taliban would require a military, political and socio-economic approach.

September 1st, 2009 LAHORE - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Bajaur Agency chief Maulvi Faqir has said that Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban had no role in the appointment of new Pakistan Taliban chief. He said the Tehreek-e-Taliban council had independently chosen and appointed Hakimullah Mehsud as Baitullah's successor.

August 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said that even though the allied forces have challenged Al-Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan for eight years, the Taliban- Al-Qaeda alliance has now become stronger than ever before. In an interview to The Boston Globe, Admiral Mullen said the Taliban's alliance with Osama bin Laden and other top leaders of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network has become stronger than ever, highlighting that public support to the 'war on terror' in Afghanistan was 'waning'.

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - : Expressing concern over Al-Qaeda's expanding activities in the region, US President Barack Obama has said the outlawed outfit and its allies have moved their bases to Pakistan's remote tribal areas. Obama said Washington's decision to revamp its AFPAK strategy was based on credible information that the Al-Qaeda has shifted its base to Pakistan's lawless tribal region.

July 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States would not allow the Taliban to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan and is working out a strategy for it, US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said before leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan after a two-day visit. Holbrooke said the US would not repeat its mistakes that it did in 2001 when hundreds of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters slipped into Pakistan's border region following the US led surge after 9/11.

July 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has once again highlighted that Pakistan is a terror safe haven and said that Al-Qaeda's leadership is based in that country. Clinton's comments came a day before her significant visit to India, where she will be meeting the country's leadership.

July 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has ruled out any negotiations with the Taliban until it lays down arms and severe all its ties with Al-Qaeda. When enquired about the statement of the Pakistan Army's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, that the Pakistan military can bring the Taliban to the discussion table with the United States, the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said such a possibility can only occur when the Taliban 'repudiates al-Qaeda publicly'.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - An Islamic militant group based in Britain plans to overthrow the Pakistani government, a British media report said Sunday. Followers of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called for a bloodless military coup in Islamabad and the creation of a caliphate in which strict Islamic laws would be rigorously enforced, The Sunday Times reported.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - The writ of the Pakistan government is not only under threat from the ever expanding Taliban, but fears are also rife that British extremists may try to topple the democratic set-up of the country, as an Islamic fundamentalist group, Hizb- ut-Tahrir (HuT) is pushing for a "bloodless military coup" to establish an orthodox Islamic rule in the troubled nation. A report in The Times has revealed that the members of the HuT, who call themselves as the Liberation party in Britain, is working overtime to establish a caliphate in Pakistan, under which strict Islamic laws would rigorously be enforced.

June 4th, 2009 LONDON - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's latest audio tape, in which he has threatened the United States for supporting the Pakistan military's Swat offensive against the Taliban, suggests that both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are closely associated. The tape, which went on-air almost simultaneously with Barack Obama's arrival in Saudi Arabia, accused the United States of sowing 'new seeds of hatred against America' for supporting Pakistan's fight against the Taliban.

May 19th, 2009 LAHORE - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said the Pakistan Army is capable of neutralising the Taliban, but is maintaining contacts with the terror outfit as they are not sure who is going to win in Afghanistan. He said it was up to Pakistan to clear the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists out.

April 24th, 2009 LONDON - One of the most wanted al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, has been arrested by security forces even as his suicide bombers killed more than 70 people in attacks in and around Baghdad. Baghdadi, a leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, was held in the capital after a tip-off, said Major General Qasim Atta, Baghdad's security spokesman.

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan must make peace with India so that its army can deploy sufficient numbers of troops against the Taliban, an editorial in a leading English daily said Thursday, while another maintained that the militants were 'no longer a threat but a grotesque reality'. 'The army must end its India-driven strategy and try to save Pakistan from becoming the caliphate of Al Qaeda.