Pakistan

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Al-Qaeda No. 2: 'Hey Pakistanis, Spare a Dime?'

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader warns the Pakistani people in a new audio message that the US poses a grave danger for Pakistan's future, and asks if they could help financially. "It is the individual duty of every Muslim in Pakistan to join the mujahedeen, or at the very least,...

Bin Laden Rips Pakistani Leaders as 'Satan's Allies'

He blames Obama for fighting

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden's most recent rant slams Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistani soldiers as "allies of Satan," and he calls on Paiistanis to join the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces fighting in the Swat Valley, reports the NY Daily News. Bid Laden blamed Barak Obama for...

Refugee Crisis Opens Doors for Pakistan's Secluded Women

Women uprooted by fighting gain new access to health care, education

(Newser) - Women's leaders in Pakistan have found an unexpected silver lining in the country's refugee crisis, the Globe & Mail reports. A million women have been forced from their homes by the fighting, upending the Pashtun code of honor that forces women to spend almost all their time secluded in family...

Taliban Buys Kids for Suicide Bombings

(Newser) - The Taliban is buying children as young as 7 and turning them into suicide bombers, the Washington Times reports. The going rate is $7,000 to $14,000, a huge amount in Pakistan, where where the average income is $2,600. Pakistani and US officials lay blame for the practice...

Forget Pakistan's Claims: Taliban Is Only Hiding Out

Military's paltry victory gives fighters opening to reclaim stronghold

(Newser) - Pakistan is crowing over its victories against militants in the Swat Valley, but the Taliban has simply retreated to fight another day, Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah write in the New York Times. Pakistan, which only controls roads and urban centers, hasn't even killed one Taliban leader. "Most...

US Drone Kills 60 in Pakistan; May Be Deadliest Ever

(Newser) - The American hunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—implicated, among other things, in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto—took two major twists today in Pakistan. Early reports suggest that a US military drone killed about 60 suspected militants after the funeral of an insurgent commander in South Waziristan near the...

Times Reporter Planned Escape for Weeks

Newspaper was prepared to pay $5M ransom to Taliban

(Newser) - David Rohde escaped from the Taliban only after weeks of planning, taking advantage of a length of rope to aid his descent down a 20-foot wall, the New York Times reports. The journalist and his Afghan colleague waited until a night when the city had electrical power, so the sound...

NYT Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months

(Newser) - A reporter for the New York Times held by the Taliban for 7 months in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan has escaped, the paper says. The Times kept David Rohde’s abduction secret out of concern for his safety and had been in sporadic contact with him and...

Brangelina Donate $1M to Aid Pakistan Refugees

Couple give cash to UN refugee fund, Missouri hospital

(Newser) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been keeping busy with charity work between film shoots, People reports. The Pitt-Jolie Foundation yesterday gave $1 million to help refugees displaced by fighting in Pakistan, and a $1 million donation from "the Brad Pitt family" was made to the newly christened Jane...

With US Help, India-Pakistan Tension Eases

(Newser) - Revamped leadership in India and Pakistan and some behind-the-scenes encouragement from the US could lead to negotiations over the disputed Kashmir region, the New York Times reports. But while there are shimmers of hope, the relationship is still strained. “I am happy to meet you,” India’s PM...

Pakistan Launches Operation to Kill Taliban Leader

Baitullah Mehsud blamed for several recent attacks

(Newser) - Pakistan is launching a manhunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—branded "the root cause of all evils," by one official—in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan officials blame Mehsud's group for a string of recent attacks, the BBC reports. The heavy military offensive is expected to please...

Pakistan Suicide Bombing Kills Moderate Cleric

(Newser) - One of Pakistan’s most prominent anti-Taliban clerics was killed today in a suicide bomb attack, the Times of London reports. Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, who supported the Pakistan army’s campaign in the Swat Valley, died on the way to the hospital after an explosion at his Islamic college in...

Al-Qaeda Militants Leaving Pakistan for Yemen, Somalia

Dozens have left, US officials say

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda fighters from Pakistan have started leaving isolated tribal areas and moving far afield to Somalia and Yemen, the New York Times reports. Some US officials point to stepped up drone attacks against militants in Pakistan for the development, which involves relatively small numbers so far. But the growth of...

Youngest Gitmo Detainee, Captured at 14, Goes Free

(Newser) - The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been freed to his native Chad, Reuters reports. Mohammed El Gharani was seized in Pakistan in 2001 at 14, and accused variously of being an al-Qaeda operative, messenger, and combatant. Five months ago a judge found the evidence against him insufficient. “That...

Bin Laden in Pakistan: CIA Head

Finding leader remains 'major priority,' he says

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden is still in Pakistan and his arrest remains a top priority for the US, CIA Director Leon Panetta said today, adding that joint operations with Pakistani forces could finally net al-Qaeda’s top leader. The CIA has Pakistani informants that keep it abreast of terrorist targets there,...

Death Toll Rises to 11 In Pakistani Hotel Blast

(Newser) - The death toll in the suicide attack on a luxury hotel in Pakistan rose to 11 with at least 70 injured, reports the Times of London. At least two foreigners were among the dead at the five-star Pearl Oriental in Peshawar, though no more specific IDs were available. Still no...

Pakistan Hotel Bombing Kills at Least 5

No responsibility claimed; attack matches Taliban threats

(Newser) - Gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Peshawar, then set off a huge blast that killed at least five people and wounded dozens more today in the latest of a string of suicide attacks in Pakistani cities, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it fit with...

Bin Laden Short on Hiding Spots: Officials

Pakistan offensive, troops in Afghanistan, drone attacks cut space

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden has fewer and fewer places to hide these days, officials tell NPR. And “the administration smells blood,” says a former counterterror official who cites three reasons for the shrinking space: Pakistan’s Swat Valley offensive against the Taliban, "along with US activities from the...

Pakistan Bombing Kills 40 as Holbrooke Visits

(Newser) - A bombing at a mosque in northwest Pakistan killed about 40 people today, Reuters reports. The attack, which occurred near the troubled Swat Valley, took place as Pakistani leaders urged visiting US envoy Richard Holbrooke to ramp up US aid, notes the AP. Such attacks won't "deter the government...

Pakistanis Finally Turning Against the Taliban

Swat Valley battles push citizens away from Islamic extremism

(Newser) - Only a year ago the Taliban had growing support in Pakistan, and many citizens regarded them as fellow Muslims opposed to the American government and military. But as the New York Times reports, public sentiment has shifted in recent months. Following violence in the Swat Valley and months of televised...

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