Pakistan

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As Pakistan Shells Taliban, 500K Flee Swat

Military bombards densely populated areas; UN warns of crisis

(Newser) - Refugees continue to flee the Swat Valley in Pakistan, reports the Guardian, where government forces battling resurgent Taliban militants have been conducting airstrikes in heavily populated areas. The government is preparing for up to 500,000 refugees in what the UN warns is becoming a humanitarian crisis. The Washington Post...

Obama Praises Afghan, Pakistan Commitments

Delicate diplomacy ends with unified resolve to fight militants

(Newser) - President Obama said he got the commitments he wanted today from the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to more aggressively fight militants gaining power and sowing violence inside their countries' borders. The high-stakes diplomacy had Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari meeting with officials separately and together. Looming...

Mumbai Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Says he's 21 years old; co-defendants also plead not guilty

(Newser) - The only surviving suspected gunman in last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai pleaded not guilty today to all charges against him, including waging war against India and murder. The presiding judge read out all the charges against Mohammed Ajmal Kasab in a Mumbai courtroom; Kasab responded with a plea of...

Stakes Massive Ahead of Obama Af-Pak Summit

Zardari, Karzai in DC as Taliban surge in crumbling Pakistan

(Newser) - Barack Obama begins two days of talks with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan today as his administration faces what may be its first foreign policy crisis: rising militancy in the Swat Valley that threatens to spread across the nuclear-armed nation. Obama and his team are expected to pressure Asif...

Fighting Erupts as Pakistan-Taliban Truce Folds

(Newser) - Pakistan's government abandoned its rapidly decaying truce with the Taliban today, al-Jazeera reports, with government forces openly battling militants in several parts of the Swat Valley following a Taliban attack on an army convoy yesterday. Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the area, and the government said it...

Pakistanis Flee Swat Ahead of Taliban Clash

Militants take control of main city in strategic valley

(Newser) - Pakistani authorities have warned residents of the country's troubled Swat Valley to leave their homes ahead of an expected military operation in the Taliban-controlled area. The February peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban, which included the introduction of Sharia law, has effectively collapsed, reports Reuters. Militants have infiltrated several...

Islamic Schools Fill Pakistani Gaps—and Breed Militants

(Newser) - Pakistan’s education system is so dysfunctional that for many rural children, Islamic schools are the only option, the New York Times reports. The growth of madrasas, which teach little besides Koran memorization, is especially pronounced in places like southern Punjab, home to half of the country's at least 12,...

US Worries Grow Over Weakened Pakistan's Nukes

But Pakistani officials call concerns 'overblown rhetoric'

(Newser) - The growing insurgency in Pakistan has heightened US worries about the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reports. Some fear militants could steal weapons in transport or get access to nuclear facilities. President Obama says he’s “confident” that the stock is “secure,...

Taliban Uses Human Shields in Pakistan Fight

90K refugees flee terror campaign as battles continue

(Newser) - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's attempt to reclaim control of Taliban-seized districts—perhaps his last shot at maintaining power—ran into new terror tactics today, the Times of London reports. In the Buner district, Taliban are using 2,000 villagers as human shields, while elsewhere they are waging an aggressive...

US Reaches Out to Pakistani Opposition

Administration presses bitter rivals to unite against Taliban threat

(Newser) - The Obama administration is seeking closer ties with the Pakistani president's biggest—and most bitter—rival, the New York Times reports. The US previously shunned Nawaz Sharif because of his links to Islamists, but diplomats now believe Sharif's popularity among that group could help bolster Asif Ali Zardari's embattled government...

Pakistan Retakes Key Town From Taliban: Military

Will redeploy 6K troops from Indian to Afghan border

(Newser) - After deploying jets and helicopters yesterday in response to a Taliban incursion into the Buner district, Pakistan has taken back a key town, the military says. The country will also shift 6,000 troops from the Indian border to face militants along the Afghan border, said an official, a move...

Pakistan Launches Strikes Against Taliban

Militant presence in Buner violates peace agreement, says military

(Newser) - Pakistan has deployed troops and begun airstrikes against suspected Taliban sites in the Buner district, uncomfortably close to the capital. A military spokesman said some 500 militants are in the district, just over 60 miles from Islamabad, violating a peace agreement, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled...

Pakistan President: Bin Laden 'May Be Dead'

(Newser) - Pakistan’s president suggested today that Osama bin Laden could be dead, an assertion the US strenuously objects to, the New York Daily News reports. “He may be dead. But that’s been said before,” Asif Ali Zardari said. “It’s still between fiction and fact.”...

Brown Talks Terrorism With Pakistani PM

Snubbed by Zardari, British PM focuses on tackling extremism

(Newser) - British PM Gordon Brown held talks with Pakistani leaders today, appearing at a joint press conference with his counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, after President Asif Ali Zardari dropped out at the last minute. The BBC attributes the snub to unhappiness with the recent British arrest of 11 Pakistani nationals on...

Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off
Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off
OPINION
Apr 27, 2009 11:28 AM CDT

Fatima Bhutto: US Should Cut Pakistan Off

Don't give cash to corrupt government, says Zardari's niece

(Newser) - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is going to Washington next week to seek billions more to combat terrorism and keep the troubled nation afloat—and the Obama administration should swat away his outstretched hand, says Fatima Bhutto, estranged niece of Zardari's slain wife, Benazir Bhutto. "No amount of money,...

Taliban Are Filmed Killing Pakistani Lovers

Film captured on cell phone in mountain village

(Newser) - Taliban enforcers in Pakistan have been filmed in a chilling video shooting down two lovers charged with committing adultery, reports the BBC. The man and woman are seen talking to members of the Taliban, and then move away as they appear to sense the danger they're in. Both are shot...

Taliban Leaves Key Pakistan District

Move comes amid peace deal in some areas

(Newser) - A Taliban commander withdrew his troops today from a Pakistani district where their activity was fueling US concern, Reuters reports. “Our leader has ordered that Taliban should immediately be called back from Buner,” a spokesman said of the area, which lies just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad....

Pakistan Sends Troops to Halt Taliban Advance

Militants attack forces sent to retake district overrun by Taliban

(Newser) - Pakistan has rushed  hundreds of  troops to an area overrun by Taliban militants, AFP reports. The extremists have seized control of Buner district—just 60 miles west of the capital—and witnesses say they are patrolling the streets, barring women from public places, and warning residents not to engage in...

Taliban Just 70 Miles From Islamabad

Advances pose 'mortal threat' to US security, says Clinton

(Newser) - The Taliban are expanding their reach in Pakistan and are now perched about 70 miles from the capital of Islamabad. The militants, recently given control of the Swat Valley by the government, took over the neighboring Buner district last night. Hillary Clinton told a House panel today that the "...

Emboldened Taliban Gear Up for Pakistan Takeover

Taliban move closer to capital after peace deal allows Islamic law in northwest

(Newser) - Pakistan's deal to allow the Taliban to impose Sharia law in the Swat valley in return for peace has inspired the extremists to seek further gains, the Washington Post reports. Taliban fighters are spreading deeper into the region—a mere 100 miles east of the capital—and leaders say they...

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