Pakistan

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Taliban Mentor Dies in Captivity

Sultan Amir Tarar was US ally against Soviets in Afghanistan

(Newser) - A former Pakistani spy who helped the Taliban rise to power in Afghanistan has died in militant captivity 10 months after he was seized in northwest Pakistan, a top official said today. Sultan Amir Tarar, who as an American ally against Soviet rule in Afghanistan in the 1980s trained at...

Report Airs New Details in Daniel Pearl's Murder

Mystery still surrounds his final days

(Newser) - Nearly nine years to the day since he was kidnapped, new details are coming out about the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The Pearl Project has worked for three years to answer the questions that surround his death, and an investigative journalism organization is publishing its report...

GOP Senators Take Secret Afghanistan Trip

Mitch McConnell and crew return with praise for Obama's strategy

(Newser) - Mitch McConnell and a handful of other Senate Republicans took a secret trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan this weekend, announcing the trip only today—just before their return flight. The group, which included Lindsey Graham, Richard Burr, and freshmen Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey, and Kelly Ayotte, met with...

Muslim Sex Ed Book Sparks Controversy

Pakistani doctor says nothing un-Islamic about discussing sex

(Newser) - Sexual ignorance in Pakistan is harming and even killing people, says an 81-year-old Pakistani doctor who just wrote a sex-ed book from a Muslim perspective for his countrymen. "Ignorance about sexual matters is causing a lot of our young people unnecessary psychological distress," including suicide, and "we...

Pakistani Assassin Told Other Officers of Plans

...yet Malik Qadri was assigned to Salman Taseer's detail anyway

(Newser) - The bodyguard-turned-assassin who pumped multiple rounds into Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer was fulfilling a plan that he hadn't kept too close to the vest: Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a member of an elite police force, told other officers of his plans but was assigned to Taseer's detail all the same, says...

Pakistan Assassination Gives Rise to Extremists

Salman Taseer fought to repeal blasphemy laws, was major PPP force

(Newser) - Yesterday’s assassination of Salman Taseer could deepen Pakistan’s political crisis, and seriously weaken the government’s ability to oppose Islamic extremists. Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, was maybe the country’s most prominent opponent of religious parties and extremism, and a major ally of the embattled secular...

Pakistani Governor Killed by Own Guard

Assassination likely to deepen country's turmoil

(Newser) - A key Pakistani governor was gunned down by his own bodyguard today in Islamabad, in the biggest assassination the violence-wracked country has endured since Benazir Bhutto's slaying three years ago. Salman Taseer, Punjab province's governor and a key ally of President Asif Ali Zardari, was gunned down as he got...

Key Party Pulls Out of Pakistan's Ruling Coalition

Muttahida Qaumi Movement to shift its 25 seats to the opposition

(Newser) - The second largest party in Pakistan's ruling coalition is quitting the government and joining the opposition, it said today, depriving the country's pro-US government of a parliamentary majority and throwing its future into doubt. It was not immediately clear whether the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's decision to shift its 25 seats...

Pakistan 'Disappearing' Thousands of Separatists

US fears some may have been tortured, killed

(Newser) - In Pakistan, thousands are missing—and the US fears the country may be using the war as an excuse to round up and disappear political separatists. For years, human rights groups have reported on Pakistan’s security forces holding prisoners incommunicado, without charges; there are also concerns that some have...

On Afghan-Pakistani Border, Insurgents Team Up

American officials say new trend is proof militants are feeling pressure

(Newser) - A disturbing new trend on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border: Rival insurgent groups are laying aside their feuds and joining forces to fight American and allied forces. “This is actually a syndicate of related and associated militant groups and networks,” an American officer tells the New York Times . “They...

First Female Bomber Kills 43 in Pakistan

'Blood and human flesh everywhere,' says survivor

(Newser) - A female suicide bomber detonated her explosives-laden vest, killing at least 43 people at an aid distribution center in northwestern Pakistan today, while army helicopter gunships and artillery killed a similar number of Islamic militants in neighboring tribal regions near the Afghan border, officials said. The bombing appeared to be...

Militants' Coordinated Attacks Kill 11 Soldiers in Pakistan

150 militants hit five security posts

(Newser) - Some 150 Islamist militants attacked five security posts today in an unusually large and coordinated assault close to the Afghan border, sparking hours of fighting that killed 11 soldiers and wounded 12, officials said; 24 insurgents died. Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants often stage attacks in northwest Pakistan, but the overnight...

2 Top Cops Busted in Benazir Bhutto Assassination

Police officials 'failed to protect' former prime minister

(Newser) - Two top Pakistani police officials have been arrested in connection with the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. She was killed three years ago by a 15-year-old suicide bomber as she campaigned for reelection after an eight-year exile."No one believes this boy acted alone," a recent...

Pentagon Presses for Special-Ops Raids in Pakistan

But some in administration fear political fallout will be too great

(Newser) - Frustrated US military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for a series of Special Ops ground raids in Pakistan, sources tell the New York Times , in essence opening up a new front in the war. The raids would likely need approval from President Obama himself, and the wary administration fears political...

Pakistan: We Didn't Blow CIA Spy's Cover

Calls accusation that it did so 'totally unsubstantiated'

(Newser) - Pakistan is none too pleased with the finger pointing that began after the cover of the top CIA spy in the country was blown . Pakistan's own top spy organization angrily denied today that it was behind the release of the spy's name. “We absolutely deny this accusation, which is...

New Wave of Drone Attacks Scorch Khyber

Almost 60 killed in Pakistan

(Newser) - Nearly 60 people have been killed in Pakistan’s Khyber district in a sudden onslaught from CIA drones. Three strikes in the Tirah Valley killed at least 50, while another nearby killed seven more, the BBC reports. Security officials say all those killed were militants, but that hasn’t been...

CIA's Top Spy in Pakistan Forced to Flee

Terrorist threat leads to decision that could complicate war effort

(Newser) - The CIA’s top spy in Pakistan left the country yesterday, after a lawsuit blew his cover and terrorists threatened to kill him. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, accused the Islamabad station chief by name of ordering missile strikes that killed civilians. That name has been oft-repeated by Pakistani...

New Hygiene Ad: 'WikiLeaks, Butterfly Doesn't'

Pakistani agency makes a viral splash with topical ad

(Newser) - Images of a new sanitary pad billboard have been flying around the Internet, with bloggers smirking at its topical slogan. “WikiLeaks,” it reads, “Butterfly Doesn’t.” It’s the type of edgy, funny campaign you’d expect out of Madison Avenue, but the ad is actually...

Troops on Course to Leave Afghanistan in July: Report

White House cites 'fragile' gains in region

(Newser) - The US is “setting conditions” to begin an Afghanistan troop withdrawal in July as planned, says a White House report. While President Obama’s strategy in the region is “showing progress,” the document says, “the challenge remains to make our gains durable and sustainable,” the...

Afghan Intelligence Report: We're Screwed

Reports contradict military's more upbeat view

(Newser) - The US is faring poorly in the Afghan war, with large areas of the country on the verge of falling to the Taliban, according to the latest National Intelligence Estimates on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The classified reports, which represent the collective wisdom of a dozen intelligence agencies, also say that...

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