President Asif Ali Zardari has rejected the Obama administration’s strategy of linking policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to end the Taliban insurgency and bring stability to the region.

US President Barack Obama earlier this year appointed senior diplomat Richard Holbrooke as his special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a move intended to address these two states as a single area of conflict.

Zardari’s comments reflect Pakistan’s unwillingness to be aligned in a joint policy framework with the neighbouring Afghanistan, an approach referred to as “Af-Pak”.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan are distinctly different countries and cannot be lumped together for any reason,” Zardari said in an interview with the Financial Times on the anniversary of his first year in office.

The Pakistani leader and his senior officials draw a distinction between a Pakistan with functioning institutions, diversified economy and a powerful national army, and Afghanistan, a state shattered by decades of conflict and ethnic divisions. Ending the Taliban insurgency raging on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is only likely to be achieved by concerted military action by Nato forces fighting in Helmand and Kandahar and Pakistan Army in Waziristan and other tribal areas along the border. Military experts say Taliban leaders travel across the Durand Line, the colonial-era border, to avoid military pursuit.

Holbrooke’s two-country mandate was also a recognition of Pakistan’s historic role in supporting the Taliban regime ousted from Kabul in 2001, and Islamabad’s former doctrine of “strategic depth” into Afghanistan in case of a conflict with archrival India.

Zardari said Holbrooke had brought a “unique focus on relations with Pakistan” and acknowledged the emphasis President Obama had put on Pakistan’s economic and energy needs. His statement comes ahead of a high-profile meeting with President Obama and Gordon Brown, the UK’s Prime Minister, in New York later this month and a visit next month to Islamabad by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.

Washington, September 11
Voicing India’s disappointment over Pakistan not prosecuting perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram today made it known to to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it expects tangible action on the terror issue.

Wrapping up his four-day visit, Chidambaram who met Clinton and other top officials, said he had told them about Hafeez Sayeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and mastermind of the 26/11 attacks, roaming free despite evidence provided by India which has handed over six dossiers.

“I think, the US understands the difference between the way India’s approach to post 26/11 situation and the way Pakistan approached post 26/11 situation. It is enough to draw attention to the difference and leave it there,” he said when asked if the US is exerting enough pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists targeting India from its soil.

The Home Minister said he had not asked specifically to “push for this and to push for that” during his interaction with the Indian media here to a question if he had sought the US assistance to ensure that Pakistan takes action against perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.

“I did brief them on the State of the trial of Ajmal Kasab in India and I also did mention about no progress in Pakistan in respect of the five or six persons they have arrested. And Hafeez Sayeed is still a free man,” he said.

Chidambaram said the next level of Indo-US relationship does not mean “leaning on” Pakistan. “Next level means many things. The next level means working together on security related matters.”

The Obama Administration has come out in support of India’s stand on pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said the progress made by Pakistan in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice and stopping cross border infiltration would lay the basis of resumption of talks between the two south Asian neighbours. — PTI

Eight years ago 19 young men flew hijacked commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

Family members of 9/11 attack victms pay their respects at the Ground Zero on Friday. — AFP

The terrorist attacks that left more than 3,000 people dead marked the beginning of America's “war on terror”. On Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of those attacks, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency said the agency had inflicted major losses on “a dangerous enemy”.

In a message to CIA employees, Leon E. Panetta said places that Al-Qaida once counted as safe havens have become less safe. “People on whom Al-Qaida once relied, “planners, commanders, facilitators, and trainers,” have been taken off the battlefield,” he said. The Director’s comments come even as Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, his Egyptian second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar continue to elude the might of the US.

The Taliban, however, suffered a major setback in Pakistan last month when its leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US air strike. US officials credit ground intelligence with providing solid information that led to Mehsud’s death. However, intelligence officials are also quick to point out that Pakistani intelligence has only served to eliminate threats to the Pakistani state and done little to diminish the terrorist threat in Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama has committed thousands more US troops.

Pakistani officials including, most recently, former President Pervez Musharraf, have implored Washington to hand over command and control of the unmanned Predator drones that are used to take out terrorist suspects. US officials are hesitant to do so fearing these will be misused. In an interview with Fox News this week, Musharraf acknowledged that the drones, which have often resulted in civilian casualties prompting a backlash from the local population, “should be given to Pakistan because the sensitivity is American troops or any foreign troops coming into Pakistan”.

Noting that the CIA had no higher priority than fighting Al-Qaida and its violent sympathisers, Panetta said the information the CIA gathers and the actions it takes are not enough to defeat terrorists determined to strike again. “Al-Qaida’s own vicious ideology, founded on the murder of innocent people, has proven to be a major weakness,” he said.

Houston, September 11
Thunderstorms and high winds forced NASA to abandon its first two attempts to land the space shuttle Discovery, with the next bid for a descent to Earth set for later today.

"We know everyone worked it as hard as they could," shuttle commander Rick Sturckow told mission control yesterday when informed of the decision. "We will look forward to trying again tomorrow." With stormy conditions again forecast for Florida's Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base in California was ready to become an alternative landing site if required, the US space agency said.

NASA said it had four landing opportunities today - the first two in Florida and two more later in California.Favourable conditions at Edwards tonight were forecast to worsen the following day due to winds kicked up by Hurricane Linda in the Pacific Ocean.

The shuttle has enough provisions to remain in orbit through Sunday.

Discovery's return will wind up a successful mission to the International Space Station during which the crew installed new scientific equipment, overhauled the orbiter's cooling system and gathered up external experiments to be returned to Earth for analysis. — AFP