Tag Archives : Afghanistan-Pakistan border

A high-ranking member of the Taliban insurgent group who is now detained in Pakistan says that he was offered a chance to have a meeting with Osama bin Laden in January or February of this year, and ‘that the al-Qaeda leader is in eastern Afghanistan, not northern Pakistan as widely believed.’ This inmate had met with bin Laden ‘numerous times [...]

Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan has less to do with military action than ‘turning the war over to the Afghans.’ ‘The challenge lies in leveling the playing field by inserting operatives into the Taliban. Since the Afghan intelligence services are inherently insecure, they can’t carry out such missions. American personnel bring technical intelligence [...]

U.S. President Barack Obama’s new strategy in Afghanistan, and consequently in Pakistan, has three core elements: ‘maintain pressure on al Qaeda on the Afghan-Pakistani border and in other regions of the world;’ ‘blunt the Taliban offensive by sending an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan, along with an unspecified number of [...]

While the terrain is, indeed, extremely rugged, the area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is heavily populated, contrary to popular belief. The area of the FATA has millions of Pakistani residents, and most of them are ‘extremely conservative and hostile toward the Pakistani government.’ In 1998, South Waziristan had a population of nearly [...]

US President Barack Obama is dissatisfied with the administration of Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The United States and its European allies want to appoint a prime minister to dilute some of Karzai’s singular power. They also believe that resources devoted to this country in the future should be channeled through [...]