Taliban’s ’safe havens’ in Pak’s heart a “doomsday scenario for India, Afghanistan and West

October 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - France has expressed concerns over Pakistan's anti-terror efforts, saying all the western countries are skeptical regarding Islamabad's actions. Chairman of the French Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces, Josselin de Rohan said the presence of Al-Qaeda's top leadership in Pakistan undermines its efforts against the terror groups based on its soil.

July 26th, 2009 LONDON - Saturday's suicide attack on government buildings in Afghanistan's southeastern city of Khost has raised fears in Pakistan about more such strikes and blood shed by the Taliban in the near future. With elections in Afghanistan less than a month away, the increased extremist activities has raised the pressure bar on Pakistan to help ensure a peaceful election.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - While the United States is planning a massive surge in Afghanistan, what may be seen as a final assault against Al-Qaeda, theTaliban and other extremist groups, Pakistan is not supportive of any such US move. Pakistan intelligence officials say Islamabad is apprehensive about the expanding US offensive, as it feels that it could create further problems in already troubled Balochistan.

June 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's nominee to head the US-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal, has said that effective military operations are the key to dismantling the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan's restive tribal areas. "Effective military operations in the Pakistani tribal areas are a key to disrupt and eventually deny safe havens to Al Qaeda and the Taliban from which they launch these incursions," The Dawn quoted General McChrystal, as saying.

May 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has said that disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al Qaeda and their safe havens in Pakistan, and preventing their return to Pakistan or Afghanistan is top priority on its foreign policy. Robert O. Blake, who has replaced Richard Boucher as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, said the South and Central Asia poses the toughest challenge to the Obama administration currently.

May 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban and al-Qaeda have shifted their base from Afghanistan to the mountainous tribal region of Pakistan and have successfully turned the region into their safe havens post 9/11, a top US official has said. Talking to reporters at the State Department, the acting US Coordinator of Counter-terrorism, Ronald Schlicher, said the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan are proving a perfect base for Al-Qaeda.

April 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States has reiterated that there is an immediate need to dismantle the Taliban and Al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan for the safety of the US and the world. Addressing the Senate, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee for Middle-east and South Asia, Senator Tom Casey expressed concerns about the expanding writ of the Taliban in Pakistan.

April 20th, 2009 KABUL - The United States has once again urged Pakistan to do more to dismantle the terror safe havens operating on its soil. Addressing a joint press conference with Afghan Defense Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak, top commander of U.S.

April 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, has said that the western tribal areas of Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were the root cause of Afghanistan's instability. Holbrooke said the region was a safe haven for extremists, and if destroyed, peace could return to Afghanistan in a relatively short period of time.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama Friday announced his long-awaited new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying the situation in Afghanistan has become 'increasingly perilous'. Obama said that Afghanistan could not be allowed to come under the control of the Taliban or the Al Qaeda, which he said, was plotting new attacks on the United States from safe havens in Pakistan.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said Al-Qaeda is 'actively planning' attacks on US from safe havens in Pakistan.

March 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The havens carved out by the Taliban and other insurgents in Pakistan have become the 'most worrisome' part of the US-led war in Afghanistan, says US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. Washington had a similar perch in Pakistan when US and Pakistani officials supported Afghanistan's mujahideen rebels against the Soviet Union in the 1980s - 'and let me tell you, it made a big difference', he said Sunday.

February 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Warning Pakistan that US would not tolerate terrorist safe havens in its tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has advocated a regional approach to root them out. 'There is no doubt that, in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Area) region of Pakistan, in the mountainous regions along the border of Afghanistan, that there are safe havens where terrorists are operating,' he said at his first White House press conference Monday night.

January 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US president-elect Barack Obama vowed Wednesday to go after Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and prevent the terrorist organization from using safe havens along the Afghan-Pakistani border to carry out attacks. 'Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are our number one threat when it comes to American security,' Obama said.

December 23rd, 2008 WASHINGTON - The Mumbai terror attacks jeopardised operations against the Taliban in the remote parts of Pakistan, according to the US defence chief. The attacks were a tactical operation that had strategic effects, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told reporters on the flight home after a visit to Pakistan.