Did President Bush Authorize Ground Assaults in Pakistan?
________
______
The global War on Terror is focused today lots of activity is taking place in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Pakistani troops today claimed that they killed up to 100 militants in the northwestern tribal area near the border of Afghanistan.
Now, this comes as we learn that President Bush reportedly approved orders allowing U.S. Special Operations to conduct ground attacks in Pakistan without the permission of that country's government.
So, how will this affect the war in the region?
We're joined by FOX News contributor, Colonel David Hunt. He's a former green beret and who spent a whole bunch of time in that region
Colonel Hunt, thanks for joining us tonight. How likely is it that Pakistan had no idea about this mission that was taking place?
COL. DAVID HUNT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think we told them, intelligence sources told them and CIA told them. We didn't ask permission. We told them we were coming.
This particular unit you're talking about was called "detachment one." It's a Marine Corps Special Operations Unit. And the operation has got some problems with it. There's allegations of civilian deaths. But overall, it's much more aggressive on our part, the U.S.'s part to finally go after the safe havens in Pakistan. You cannot solve what's going on in Afghanistan without solving the border region along the Pakistan-Afghani border.
NAUERT: OK. Now, some of our guys have been going into Pakistan for years, in fact, very quietly, but what is different about this? Are we are seeing it just on a larger scale?
HUNT: We're seeing — yes. We're seeing a more directed concentrated effort. The realization that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have grown in strength inside the Pakistan border, partly because we do not have the political will to go after them. Now, we seem to be — as we're winding down in Iraq — we seem to be putting what needs to be now pressure on the Afghanistan situation, which has gotten, for now, decidedly worse over the last two to three years.
NAUERT: OK. Now, Pakistan has a new president, apparently the U.S. supports this guy, but is he going to be any tougher, any more willing to cooperate with us than President Musharraf was, who we gave a whole bunch of money to but he didn't necessarily put it in the right place or the places we wanted him to?
HUNT: Yes. I want to say something like "lipstick on a pig" right now, but I'm sure I can fit that in. The truth is, that unless we put serious pressure on the new president of Pakistan, it will not work. What we thought we had with Musharraf, it didn't. There is active support inside the Pakistani military and intelligence services for the Taliban. And you add that to the lawlessness along the border in Pakistan, it's a recipe for disaster and it's causing our sector — the U.S. sector in Kabul a lot of trouble and the NATO sectors even more trouble in Afghanistan.
NAUERT: Yes, that's a whole another issue. We'll have to talk about that one another day. But Colonel David Hunt, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We'll talk to you again real soon.
HUNT: You're welcome.
*****************
Pakistan order to kill US invaders
--------------------------
KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.
The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington into deep crisis over how to deal with al-Qa'ida and the Taliban
What amounts to a dramatic order to "kill the invaders", as one senior officer put it last night, was disclosed after the commanders - who control the army's deployments at divisional level - met at their headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi under the chairmanship of army chief and former ISI spy agency boss Ashfaq Kayani.
Leading English-language newspaper The News warned in an editorial that the US determination to attack targets inside Pakistan was likely to be "the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had", with even "moderates" outraged by it.
The "retaliate and kill" order came amid reports of unprecedentedly fierce fighting in the Bajaur Agency of Pakistan's tribal areas, an al-Qa'ida stronghold frequently mentioned as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The order to retaliate against incursions by "foreign troops", directed specifically at the 120,000 Pakistani soldiers deployed along the border with Afghanistan, follows US President George W. Bush's authorisation of US attacks in Pakistan.
Washington's determination to launch such attacks has caused outrage across Pakistan, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last night strongly backing a warning by General Kayani that Pakistan would not allow its territorial integrity to be violated.
The "kill" order against invading forces, and the sharp deterioration in relations with the US, has far-reaching implications for the war on terror.
Anger at all levels in Pakistani society was summed up last night in The News, not normally sympathetic to the militants.
"There is an escalating sense of furious impotence among the ordinary people of Pakistan," the newspaper said.
"Many - perhaps most - of them are strongly opposed to the spread of Talibanisation and extremist influence across the country: people who might be described as 'moderates'.
"Many of them have no sympathy for the mullahs and their burning of girls' schools and their medieval mindset.
"But if you bomb a moderate sensibility often enough, it has a tendency to lose its sense of objectivity and to feel driven in the direction of extremism.
"If America bombs moderate sensibilities often enough, you may find that its actions are the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had.
*******************
Pakistan warns US against border incursions
Pakistan has rejected US claims that the rules of engagement gave the coalition forces in Afghanistan the right to enter its territory, saying the nation's sovereignty will be defended at all costs.
"The rules of engagement with the coalition forces are well defined and within that the right to conduct operations against the militants inside own territory is solely the responsibility of the respective armed forces," Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said in a statement in Islamabad on Wednesday.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," he added.
The statement "dispelled a perception that some of the air strikes carried out inside Pakistan by drones and warplanes of the US-led coalition had been authorised by Islamabad", Dawn said on Thursday.
Although this is not the first time NATO forces have attacked inside Pakistan, the increase in the frequency of attacks in days before last week's presidential election here was seen by many as a major shift in the US policy towards Pakistan.
*******************
Bush gave secret OK for Pakistan attacks
Order allows ground assaults for the first time
President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials.
The classified orders mark a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to confront the militants' increasingly secure base in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
U,.S. officials say they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but will not ask for its permission.
"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have been issued."
The CIA has for several years fired missiles at militants inside Pakistan from remotely piloted Predator aircraft. But the new orders for the military's Special Operations forces relax what have until now been firm restrictions on conducting ground raids on the soil of an important ally without its permission.
Pakistan's top army officer, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said on Wednesday that his forces would not tolerate U.S. incursions like the one that took place last week and that the army would defend the country's sovereignty "at all costs."
It was unclear precisely what legal authorities the United States has invoked to conduct even limited ground raids in a friendly country.
________
______The global War on Terror is focused today lots of activity is taking place in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Pakistani troops today claimed that they killed up to 100 militants in the northwestern tribal area near the border of Afghanistan.
Now, this comes as we learn that President Bush reportedly approved orders allowing U.S. Special Operations to conduct ground attacks in Pakistan without the permission of that country's government.
So, how will this affect the war in the region?
We're joined by FOX News contributor, Colonel David Hunt. He's a former green beret and who spent a whole bunch of time in that region
Colonel Hunt, thanks for joining us tonight. How likely is it that Pakistan had no idea about this mission that was taking place?
COL. DAVID HUNT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think we told them, intelligence sources told them and CIA told them. We didn't ask permission. We told them we were coming.
This particular unit you're talking about was called "detachment one." It's a Marine Corps Special Operations Unit. And the operation has got some problems with it. There's allegations of civilian deaths. But overall, it's much more aggressive on our part, the U.S.'s part to finally go after the safe havens in Pakistan. You cannot solve what's going on in Afghanistan without solving the border region along the Pakistan-Afghani border.
NAUERT: OK. Now, some of our guys have been going into Pakistan for years, in fact, very quietly, but what is different about this? Are we are seeing it just on a larger scale?
HUNT: We're seeing — yes. We're seeing a more directed concentrated effort. The realization that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have grown in strength inside the Pakistan border, partly because we do not have the political will to go after them. Now, we seem to be — as we're winding down in Iraq — we seem to be putting what needs to be now pressure on the Afghanistan situation, which has gotten, for now, decidedly worse over the last two to three years.
NAUERT: OK. Now, Pakistan has a new president, apparently the U.S. supports this guy, but is he going to be any tougher, any more willing to cooperate with us than President Musharraf was, who we gave a whole bunch of money to but he didn't necessarily put it in the right place or the places we wanted him to?
HUNT: Yes. I want to say something like "lipstick on a pig" right now, but I'm sure I can fit that in. The truth is, that unless we put serious pressure on the new president of Pakistan, it will not work. What we thought we had with Musharraf, it didn't. There is active support inside the Pakistani military and intelligence services for the Taliban. And you add that to the lawlessness along the border in Pakistan, it's a recipe for disaster and it's causing our sector — the U.S. sector in Kabul a lot of trouble and the NATO sectors even more trouble in Afghanistan.
NAUERT: Yes, that's a whole another issue. We'll have to talk about that one another day. But Colonel David Hunt, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We'll talk to you again real soon.
HUNT: You're welcome.
*****************
Pakistan order to kill US invaders
--------------------------
KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.
The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington into deep crisis over how to deal with al-Qa'ida and the Taliban
What amounts to a dramatic order to "kill the invaders", as one senior officer put it last night, was disclosed after the commanders - who control the army's deployments at divisional level - met at their headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi under the chairmanship of army chief and former ISI spy agency boss Ashfaq Kayani.
Leading English-language newspaper The News warned in an editorial that the US determination to attack targets inside Pakistan was likely to be "the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had", with even "moderates" outraged by it.
The "retaliate and kill" order came amid reports of unprecedentedly fierce fighting in the Bajaur Agency of Pakistan's tribal areas, an al-Qa'ida stronghold frequently mentioned as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The order to retaliate against incursions by "foreign troops", directed specifically at the 120,000 Pakistani soldiers deployed along the border with Afghanistan, follows US President George W. Bush's authorisation of US attacks in Pakistan.
Washington's determination to launch such attacks has caused outrage across Pakistan, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last night strongly backing a warning by General Kayani that Pakistan would not allow its territorial integrity to be violated.
The "kill" order against invading forces, and the sharp deterioration in relations with the US, has far-reaching implications for the war on terror.
Anger at all levels in Pakistani society was summed up last night in The News, not normally sympathetic to the militants.
"There is an escalating sense of furious impotence among the ordinary people of Pakistan," the newspaper said.
"Many - perhaps most - of them are strongly opposed to the spread of Talibanisation and extremist influence across the country: people who might be described as 'moderates'.
"Many of them have no sympathy for the mullahs and their burning of girls' schools and their medieval mindset.
"But if you bomb a moderate sensibility often enough, it has a tendency to lose its sense of objectivity and to feel driven in the direction of extremism.
"If America bombs moderate sensibilities often enough, you may find that its actions are the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had.
*******************
Pakistan warns US against border incursions
Pakistan has rejected US claims that the rules of engagement gave the coalition forces in Afghanistan the right to enter its territory, saying the nation's sovereignty will be defended at all costs.
"The rules of engagement with the coalition forces are well defined and within that the right to conduct operations against the militants inside own territory is solely the responsibility of the respective armed forces," Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said in a statement in Islamabad on Wednesday.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," he added.
The statement "dispelled a perception that some of the air strikes carried out inside Pakistan by drones and warplanes of the US-led coalition had been authorised by Islamabad", Dawn said on Thursday.
Although this is not the first time NATO forces have attacked inside Pakistan, the increase in the frequency of attacks in days before last week's presidential election here was seen by many as a major shift in the US policy towards Pakistan.
*******************
Bush gave secret OK for Pakistan attacks
Order allows ground assaults for the first time
President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials.
The classified orders mark a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to confront the militants' increasingly secure base in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
U,.S. officials say they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but will not ask for its permission.
"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have been issued."
The CIA has for several years fired missiles at militants inside Pakistan from remotely piloted Predator aircraft. But the new orders for the military's Special Operations forces relax what have until now been firm restrictions on conducting ground raids on the soil of an important ally without its permission.
Pakistan's top army officer, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said on Wednesday that his forces would not tolerate U.S. incursions like the one that took place last week and that the army would defend the country's sovereignty "at all costs."
It was unclear precisely what legal authorities the United States has invoked to conduct even limited ground raids in a friendly country.
No comments:
Post a Comment