UNITED STATES LAWMAKERS FREEZE $700 MILLION TO PAKISTAN

WASHINGTON: The leaders of a US House-Senate negotiating panel said on Monday they had agreed to freeze $700 million in US aid to Pakistan until it provides some assurances of assistance in the fight against improvised explosive devices in the region.

The explosive devices are among militants’ most effective weapons against US and coalition troops in Afghanistan. Many are made using ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer shipped across the border from Pakistan. The freeze on US aid was agreed as part of a defence bill that is expected to be passed this week. The United States wants “assurances that Pakistan is countering improvised explosive devices in their country that are targeting our coalition forces,” Representative Howard McKeon, a House Republican, told reporters.

The United States has allocated some $20 billion in security and economic aid to Pakistan since 2001, much of it in the form of reimbursements for assistance in fighting militants. But US lawmakers have expressed increasing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts in the war. There have been numerous proposals to make US aid to Pakistan conditional on more cooperation in fighting militants such as the Haqqani network Washington believes operate out of Pakistan and battle US troops in Afghanistan.

US lawmakers allege that many Afghan bombs are made with fertilizer smuggled by militants across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan. “The vast majority of the material used to make improvised explosive devices used against US forces in Afghanistan originates from two fertilizer factories inside Pakistan,” Senator John McCain, a Republican, said in the Senate last week. The provision freezing $700 million in aid to Pakistan was agreed upon by leaders of the armed services committees from both parties in the House and Senate, including McCain. It is part of compromise legislation authorising US defence programs expected to be approved this week, McKeon said. He said the bill would also require the Pentagon to deliver a strategy for improving the effectiveness of US aid to Pakistan.

US TOLD TO CONSIDER PAKISTAN’S CONSTRAINTS

ISLAMABAD: The Army on Wednesday asked US commanders to be mindful of its ‘concerns and constraints’ before publicly lashing out at its counter-militancy efforts.

“Our concerns and constraints must be taken into consideration before making any statement questioning our commitment to fighting militancy,” said ISPR chief Maj-Gen Athar Abbas in a rejoinder to statements made at their testimonies before US Senate’s Armed Services Committee by Lt-Gen John Allen, nominated as the next commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, and Admiral William McRaven, designated to lead Special Operations Command.

Gen Abbas said: “We reject the allegations leveled by senior US military officials… casting aspersions on the desire and capability of Pakistan Army to fight militancy.” Admiral McRaven, speaking on Pakistan’s reluctance to launch military offensive against the North Waziristan-based Haqqani network, had said it was “both a capacity issue and potentially a willingness issue”. He added: “I don’t think it (the mindset) is likely to change.”

Gen Allen had said Pakistan looked to be “hedging” against a possible US withdrawal by not acting against the Haqqanis. The statements by American commanders expressing doubts about intentions of Pakistani commanders in the fight against militants are indicative of the rapid deterioration in military ties between the US and Pakistan in the aftermath of May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

The army, Gen Abbas said, is engaged in active operations against militants in three of the seven agencies in the tribal belt, whereas in the other agencies it was intensely involved in consolidation and stabilization of the areas regained from militants. Separately, another senior military official criticized the US for pushing Pakistan for action against Haqqanis and other militant groups at a time when it was holding negotiations with the Afghan Taliban.

“Our plate is too full,” he cautioned, adding that if the troops were further thinned down to start new operations reversals of gains made against militants could begin. The official regretted that military strategists in Washington did not grasp the ground situation. “It is not just about kinetics (active military operations); in Pakistan’s case the army has to back the operations with consolidating and stabilization because the civilian infrastructure is virtually non-existent in those areas.” He said Pakistan Army cannot resort to indiscriminate use of force against its own people in tribal areas and would take tribes on board before acting against militants.

PAKISTAN KILLS 10 ALLEGED INSURGENTS: OFFICIAL SAYS

PARACHINAR:

A government administrator says Pakistani fighter jets have bombed suspected militant hideouts in a northwestern region near the Afghan border, killing at least 10 alleged insurgents.

Officials says the airstrikes Friday hit two areas of the Kurram tribal region based on intelligence reports about the presence of militants.

Pakistan’s army has waged multiple offensives in various parts of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt in order to force out al-Qaida and Pakistani Taliban fighters.

Three soldiers die in Taliban clash:

PESHAWAR: Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and at least 13 wounded when dozens of Taliban stormed a check post in a tribal town near the Afghan border, officials said Sunday.

Over 50 militants, armed with light and heavy weapons, launched an attack on Walidad Kor post on Sunday June 19, 2011, killing three soldiers and wounding 13 during a gunfight that lasted about an hour. The pre-dawn attack was mounted in Baizai village of Mohmand district facing the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, local administration chief Maqsood Hussain told AFP.

“The militants, believed to be more than 50 and armed with light and heavy weapons, launched an attack on Walidad Kor post, triggering a gunfight that lasted about an hour,” he said.

Three soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed and at least 13 wounded, he said adding that four militants were killed and an unspecified number wounded.

A military official confirmed the clash and the casualties. The post is about eight kilometres from the border.

Mohmand is one of seven districts in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt where Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks targeting police, government and security officials.

Washington has called the tribal zone the most dangerous place on Earth and the global headquarters of al Qaeda, where Taliban and other al Qaeda-linked networks have carved out strongholds.