gazoomartian
Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
Note: These two officials are holding a Boston Tea party in Islamabad this year LOL
Amazing what power and $ will do for you :banghead:
WASHINGTON: The United States is now urging Pakistan to strike at the groups that hunt for disgruntled Pakistanis living abroad and then use them for plotting terrorist activities in Europe and North America.
This is the message that two senior aides of US President Barack Obama, who arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, are believed to have brought with them.
Media reports earlier claimed that US National Security Adviser Gen James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta had come to Islamabad to investigate the May 1 bomb plot, which has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.
Before flying out of Washington on Monday night, Gen Jones spoke with Pakistans Ambassador Husain Haqqani and is believed to have discussed with him the outlines of Mr Obamas informal message with him as well.
Official sources familiar with the Obama administrations approach to this issue, meanwhile, rejected the suggestion that Mr Obama had sent two senior aides to explore the links between the TTP and Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect in the May 1 bombing plot.
This is not such a sophisticated or complicated case that the White House should send its national security adviser and the CIA chief all the way to Islamabad, said one such source. They are there to look at the bigger picture and to discuss with Pakistani officials the greater context of this issue.
According to sources familiar with US investigations into recent terrorist activities in Europe and North America, what has really alarmed Washington is the determination that all those involved in these acts have had some links to Pakistan.
Either they are from there, have travelled to Pakistan, have friends in that country or have been trained by those living there, said one official source.
Whether these were the Sept 11 attacks in the US or those in London, Mumbai or the recent attempt to bomb New Yorks Times Square, they all have a Pakistan link.
In the message sent to Pakistan, the Obama administration is also believed to have conveyed its concern over how easily people like Faisal Shahzad are able to connect to Al Qaeda and its offshoots.
The Americans also have pointed out how such groups are able to send these recruits to their training camps in Fata, bring them back and send them out to their destinations without ever being detected by the Pakistani authorities, said a source.
The basic concept of the message that Gen Jones and Mr Panetta are believed to have brought with them is the same as that of US Secretary of State Hillary Clintons.
In a recent television interview, she warned that Pakistan would have to face very severe consequences if an attack on the US, planned on the Pakistani soil, was to succeed.
But the tone of the new message is different. Instead of threatening Pakistanis with severe consequences, the two senior officials are telling their Pakistani interlocutors that if an attack planned in Pakistan succeeded, no US administration will be able to control the American public opinion.
To avoid such a situation, they are offering to work with the Pakistanis for stamping out the groups that recruit overseas Pakistanis and other Muslims for carrying out terrorist attacks.
Theres no threat, no do-mores or if-nots, said an official familiar with the new US approach. The message is: Lets take our cooperation to the next level and work together to obliterate this threat.
The official said that the Americans were not asking for a military offensive in North Waziristan either. Instead, they were offering to enhance Pakistans ability to deal with such groups and are willing to work with them for stamping out terrorism from this region, the official said.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Haqqani told Dawn that he had conveyed to the Americans that the Faisal Shahzad case should not become a basis for bashing Pakistan or Pakistani Americans.
He said that three Pakistani men arrested in New England last week as part of the investigation into the attempted Times Square bombing did not appear to have any involvement in terrorism.
Mr Haqqani said that US law-enforcement agencies cast a wide net during the investigation and that the three men were only taken into custody because alleged immigration violations were discovered during interrogation.
Im a little critical of law-enforcement personnel who ran to the press first, because you can actually destroy peoples lives. So far, there is nothing that implies anything of a terrorist nature, he said.
On Monday, Pakistans consul general in Boston, Barry Hoffman, visited one of the men, 27-year-old Aftab Ali Khan, at the Suffolk County House of Correction for about an hour and said, Hes proclaiming his innocence.
Source: DAWN
Amazing what power and $ will do for you :banghead:
WASHINGTON: The United States is now urging Pakistan to strike at the groups that hunt for disgruntled Pakistanis living abroad and then use them for plotting terrorist activities in Europe and North America.
This is the message that two senior aides of US President Barack Obama, who arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, are believed to have brought with them.
Media reports earlier claimed that US National Security Adviser Gen James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta had come to Islamabad to investigate the May 1 bomb plot, which has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.
Before flying out of Washington on Monday night, Gen Jones spoke with Pakistans Ambassador Husain Haqqani and is believed to have discussed with him the outlines of Mr Obamas informal message with him as well.
Official sources familiar with the Obama administrations approach to this issue, meanwhile, rejected the suggestion that Mr Obama had sent two senior aides to explore the links between the TTP and Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect in the May 1 bombing plot.
This is not such a sophisticated or complicated case that the White House should send its national security adviser and the CIA chief all the way to Islamabad, said one such source. They are there to look at the bigger picture and to discuss with Pakistani officials the greater context of this issue.
According to sources familiar with US investigations into recent terrorist activities in Europe and North America, what has really alarmed Washington is the determination that all those involved in these acts have had some links to Pakistan.
Either they are from there, have travelled to Pakistan, have friends in that country or have been trained by those living there, said one official source.
Whether these were the Sept 11 attacks in the US or those in London, Mumbai or the recent attempt to bomb New Yorks Times Square, they all have a Pakistan link.
In the message sent to Pakistan, the Obama administration is also believed to have conveyed its concern over how easily people like Faisal Shahzad are able to connect to Al Qaeda and its offshoots.
The Americans also have pointed out how such groups are able to send these recruits to their training camps in Fata, bring them back and send them out to their destinations without ever being detected by the Pakistani authorities, said a source.
The basic concept of the message that Gen Jones and Mr Panetta are believed to have brought with them is the same as that of US Secretary of State Hillary Clintons.
In a recent television interview, she warned that Pakistan would have to face very severe consequences if an attack on the US, planned on the Pakistani soil, was to succeed.
But the tone of the new message is different. Instead of threatening Pakistanis with severe consequences, the two senior officials are telling their Pakistani interlocutors that if an attack planned in Pakistan succeeded, no US administration will be able to control the American public opinion.
To avoid such a situation, they are offering to work with the Pakistanis for stamping out the groups that recruit overseas Pakistanis and other Muslims for carrying out terrorist attacks.
Theres no threat, no do-mores or if-nots, said an official familiar with the new US approach. The message is: Lets take our cooperation to the next level and work together to obliterate this threat.
The official said that the Americans were not asking for a military offensive in North Waziristan either. Instead, they were offering to enhance Pakistans ability to deal with such groups and are willing to work with them for stamping out terrorism from this region, the official said.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Haqqani told Dawn that he had conveyed to the Americans that the Faisal Shahzad case should not become a basis for bashing Pakistan or Pakistani Americans.
He said that three Pakistani men arrested in New England last week as part of the investigation into the attempted Times Square bombing did not appear to have any involvement in terrorism.
Mr Haqqani said that US law-enforcement agencies cast a wide net during the investigation and that the three men were only taken into custody because alleged immigration violations were discovered during interrogation.
Im a little critical of law-enforcement personnel who ran to the press first, because you can actually destroy peoples lives. So far, there is nothing that implies anything of a terrorist nature, he said.
On Monday, Pakistans consul general in Boston, Barry Hoffman, visited one of the men, 27-year-old Aftab Ali Khan, at the Suffolk County House of Correction for about an hour and said, Hes proclaiming his innocence.
Source: DAWN