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Pak-Taliban Talks Under Question
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Pakistani alleged Taliban supporters chant anti-US slogans as they gathered at the site of a US missile strike in Damadola village in the northwestern Bajaur tribal district, which borders AfghanistanÕs volatile Kunar province.
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Peace talks between the Pakistani government and Taliban militants have already led to an increase in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, NATO said on Sunday.
Faced with a wave of suicide attacks, Pakistan has begun negotiations with Taliban militants who control much of the mountainous region on its side of the border with Afghanistan and thinned out the number of its troops in the area, Reuters reported.
Whatever the results of the talks, Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday vowed to carry on fighting Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan.
British Defense Minister Des Browne, on a visit to Afghanistan, said he understood the agreement between Pakistan and the Taliban included an undertaking that the militants would not export violence to Afghanistan.
Afghans Concerned
Afghanistan was sending a high-level delegation to Pakistan in the coming days to voice their concerns over peace deals, said Afghan Defense Ministry Spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi.
Previous peace deals between the Pakistani government and the Taliban all broke down in violence and merely gave the militants time to regroup, he said.
Afghan forces, backed by more than 60,000 foreign troops, are engaged in daily battles with Taliban militants, mostly in the south and east, the areas closest to the border with Pakistan.
Afghan officials have often accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to use Pakistani territory as a safe haven from which to direct and launch attacks and also rest and regroup.
Pak Interests
This is while on the other side, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday that Pakistan has been fighting terrorism in its own interests.
According to the “Daily Star“, the government is talking to only those militants who are ready to lay down their weapons, Zardari told United States senators Carl Levin and Robert Casey.
PPP sources said Zardari told the US senators that the government was committed to strengthening the democratic system in Pakistan, and that the new constitutional package would bring about “real parliamentary democracy“.
The PPP central executive committee on Saturday unanimously approved a 62-point constitutional package seeking transfer of executive powers from the president to the prime minister.
The two senators were on a day visit to Pakistan to discuss issues of mutual interest with Pakistani leaders. They also met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
2 Policemen Killed
Two Afghan policemen, a foreign soldier and a dozen Taliban fighters were killed in clashes in a key opium-producing region in Afghanistan.
The soldier with the US-led coalition was killed “while conducting operations“ on Sunday in the southwestern province of Farah, AFP reported.
A dozen Taliban operatives were also killed in the clashes, said police spokesman for western Afghanistan, Abdul Mutalib Rad.
The operation appeared to be the same as the one in the Bala Baluk district, in which Afghan police said two police officers were killed.
According to a UN drugs survey, there has been a spike in Bala Baluk opium production in recent months.
Afghanistan’s production of opium and heroin, the largest in the world, is closely tied to a deadly Taliban insurgency that feeds off the drugs trade, Afghan officials say.
Forty-four troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, a spokesman said, compared to 42 in the first five months of last year.
The number of ISAF troops in Afghanistan has risen from 33,400 in January 2007 to 50,838 now, the spokesman said.
More than 12,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago.
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Ex-Chief Justice Threatens Musharraf Allies
Officials who bowed to President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule and ouster of judges last year will be “punished“, sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Sunday.
He was addressing a convention in Faisalabad, where thousands of lawyers and other activists gathered to whip up support for a new round of protests aimed at pressuring the coalition government into restoring the sacked judiciary, according to “Daily Star“.
Chaudhry told lawyers in Faisalabad that the Supreme Court had passed an order aimed at countering the president’s actions on November 3, the same day the emergency was declared.
Chaudhry promised that anyone who violated the order “will be punished no matter how big he is and whatever position he is attaining“.
The state-run APP news agency quoted him as saying that the judges who had taken oath under Musharraf’s Provisional Constitution Order had violated the Constitution and would be held accountable. He did not specify what he meant by ’punishment’.
He said dictators were relics of the past who had abused the judiciary to legitimize their illegal decisions. But the judiciary and the civil society had now rejected the dictatorship, he added. “In future, no one will dare violate the Constitution,“ the sacked chief justice said.
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Israel Committing Major Human Rights Crimes
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Former US president Jimmy Carter addresses the media during a session of Israel Council on Foreign Relations at King David Hotel in Beit-ul-Moqaddas on April 21.
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Former US president Jimmy Carter on Sunday described Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip as “one of the greatest human rights crimes now existing on Earth.“
In a speech at a literary festival in Hay-on-Wye, in Wales, the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said “there is no reason to treat these people this way,“ referring to the blockade, in place since Hamas movement took control of Gaza in June 2007, AFP reported. While president from 1977 to 1981, Carter was the architect of the landmark 1979 peace deal between Israel and Egypt, the first such treaty between the Israel and an Arab country.
According to Carter, the failure of the European Union to support the Palestinian cause was “embarrassing.“
He said European countries should be “encouraging the formation of a unity government,“ including Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah movement.
“They should be encouraging Hamas to have a ceasefire in Gaza alone, as a first step,“ he told the invited guests.
“They should be encouraging Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement in prisoner exchange and, as a second step, Israel should agree to a ceasefire in the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory.“
Arab Mediation
Meanwhile, Hamas on Monday confirmed it held contacts with the Arab League and Qatar to achieve reconciliation with rival Fatah.
“The contacts Hamas holds with the Arab League and Qatar regarding the reconciliation with Fatah are not new,“ said Ahmed Yousef, an advisor to Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyah, Xinhua reported.
Haniyah and Hamas’ politburo chief Khaled Mashaal asked Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the Qatari prince to arrange for the reconciliation, Yousef said, adding the recent calls were made after the Arab League and Qatar’s success in helping settling Lebanon crisis.
“The responses were positives and they promised to look into the request after consultations with all parties, including the Palestinian Presidency,“ Yousef added.
Yousef also said Hamas did not receive an official Israeli rejection of an Egyptian offer for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Egypt proposed the lull to halt the increasing Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip and lift the siege that Israel imposed on the impoverished enclave when Hamas took it over in June 2007.
Yousef added that Hamas can not accept any deal without ensuring the opening of crossing points into Gaza.
Israel’s Nuclear Warheads
Carter also said the Zionist regime possesses 150 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. His statement appeared to be the first time a former US president states publicly the amount of nuclear warheads Israel supposedly has in its possession, DPA reported.
Since his presidency, Carter has over the years become known as a fierce critic of Israel’s policies.
The southern town of Dimona is home to a reactor that is the centerpiece of Israel’s illegal nuclear weapons program. The regime began developing a nuclear reactor in Dimona in the 1950s.
The Zionist regime is the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East which has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The regime is said to have 200 nuclear warheads.
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US-Allied Iraqi Group Targeted
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police and US-allied Sunni fighters Monday north of Baghdad, killing four people, officials said.
The blast occurred about 200 yards away from the house of the head of the local awakening group, which has joined forces with the Americans against Al-Qaeda in Iraq in Tarmiyah, according to AFP.
Those killed included a policeman, two awakening council guards and a civilian, according to the police.
A US soldier also was killed and two others wounded Monday in a roadside bombing in Salahuddin province, raising to at least 4,082 the number of American service members who have died in Iraq since the war started in March 2003.
Another roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint on the road that leads to the Baghdad International Airport, wounding five people, including one Iraqi soldier and four civilians, police said.
The blast sent up a huge plume of black smoke and caused vendors at nearby kiosks selling soft drinks to run for cover. The attacks came a day after the US military said violence in Iraq had reached its lowest levels in four years.
In other news, an Iraqi commander said Sunday Al-Qaeda fighters and other insurgents have largely scattered from the northern city of Mosul, fleeing to desert areas further south.
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Saudi Hunger Strike
A leading Saudi human rights activist, Matrook Al-Falehhas, has been on a hunger strike since being arrested last week and his health is
deteriorating, his wife said Sunday.
Afghan Blast
A British soldier and three Afghan security personnel were killed in a string of explosions and ambushes, security officials said Monday.
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A New Middle East But Not Condi’s
By Rami G. Khouri
The Doha agreement that resolved the immediate political crisis in Lebanon is the latest example of the new political power equation that is redefining the Middle East. It reflects both local and global forces and, 18 years after the Cold War ended, provides a glimpse of what a post-Cold War world will look like, at least in the Middle East.
Several dynamics seem to be at play, but one is paramount: the clear limits of the projection of American global power, combined with the assertion and coexistence of multiple regional powers -Turkey, Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, Saudi Arabia and others.
These regional actors tend to fight and negotiate at the same time, and ultimately prefer to make compromises rather than perpetually wage absolutist battles.
The Doha accord for Lebanon was much more than simply a victory for Hezbollah over the American-backed March 14 alliance. It was the first concrete example in the Arab world of a negotiated, formal political agreement by local adversaries to share power and make big national decisions collectively, while maintaining close strategic relationships with diverse external patrons in the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Lebanese agreement (unlike the failed Fatah-Hamas unity government agreement) is likely to succeed because all the parties know that to live together peacefully they must make mutual compromises.
This accord has been forged in the furnace of Middle Eastern demographic and political realism, in contrast to the hallucinatory absolutism that often drives US-Israeli policy in the region.
The US was not fully defeated, but it was fought to a draw. Recent events put into concrete political form the most powerful force that has defined the Middle East in recent decades: the willingness of individuals, political movements and some governments to openly defy, challenge, resist and occasionally fight the United States, Israel and their Arab and other allies.
The US since 2004 has explicitly, repeatedly and passionately singled out Lebanon as an arena where Hezbollah and other regional forces would be faced down and defeated.
Next week, the US, through its Lebanese allies, will face these forces from across the same Cabinet room table, not as bludgeoned and defeated foes, but rather as partners and colleagues in the national-unity government that is to be formed.
When Hezbollah and Hariri exchange kisses, befuddled Condoleezza Rice should take care not to fall off her exercise bicycle.
The US is a slow learner in the Middle East, where the terrain is strange to it, the body language bizarre, the fierce power of historical memory incomprehensible, and the negotiating techniques other-worldly. But the US is not stupid. It learns over time that if you retread a flat tire over and over again, and it keeps going flat on you, perhaps it’s time to buy a new tire if you hope to move forward.
Now that we have a draw in the broad ideological confrontation throughout the Middle East that pits Israeli-Americanism against Arab Islamo-nationalism, we should expect the players to reconsider their policies if they wish to make new gains.
This, however, is not the most significant development this week that reflects the limits of American power in the Middle East.
The remarkable manifestation of how the US has marginalized itself is the conduct of the Israeli government. The US has pushed the Israelis hard to do two things in the past two years: to not negotiate with Syria and to not engage Hamas. What has Israel done? It has been wisely negotiating with Syria via Turkey and engaging Hamas on a truce deal through the mediation of Egypt. Hold on, Condi, this gets even worse.
It is no big deal in Washington when nearly 500 million Arabs, Iranians and Turks ignore and defy the US. But when Israel ignores the United States, that is newsworthy.
So we now have a rare moment in the Middle East: Iran, Turkey, all the Arabs, Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel all share one and only one common trait: They routinely ignore the advice, and the occasional threats, they get from Washington. Condoleezza Rice was correct in summer 2006 when she said we are witnessing the birth pangs of a new Middle East.
But the new regional configuration is very different from what she had in mind and tried to bring into being with multiple wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia and Lebanon, and threats against Iran and Syria.
The new rules of the political game in the Middle East are now being written by the key players in the Middle East, which should be welcomed.
The Daily Star
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Suleiman Calls for Unity
Lebanon’s new President Michel Suleiman prepared for his first full day in office Monday after hearing his appeal for unity in the violence-hit country endorsed on all sides by the international community.
“Let us unite... and work towards a solid reconciliation,“ the 59-year-old former army chief said after being sworn in following his election by parliament on Sunday, AFP reported.
“We have paid dearly for our national unity. Let us preserve it hand-in-hand.“
With his election hailed as the start of a new era , nations on different sides of the political divide seemed united in wishing Suleiman well in his mission.
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Michel Suleiman
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The celebrations came just days after a bitter political feud had threatened to plunge the nation into civil war.
On Sunday, celebratory shots were fired into the air and fireworks lit up the sky as crowds of people, cheering and waving Lebanese flags, poured into streets across Lebanon, including Beirut and Suleiman ’s home town of Amsheet.
Suleiman was elected by 118 votes in a much-delayed parliament session attended by dignitaries that followed a deal hammered out Wednesday in Qatar between the rival Lebanese politicians.
Swipe at US Policy
Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri took a swipe at the United States on Sunday following the election of a new president, saying that Lebanon was not a playground for Washington’s policy in the region.
Berri, thanked various countries, including Russia, France, Italy, Spain as well as the Arab League for their help in bringing an end to the long-running crisis between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition,“ Peninsula On-line“ reported.
“I thank the United States nonetheless, seeing that it seems to have been convinced that Lebanon is not the appropriate place for its plan for the greater Middle East region,“ he said.
Berri also said that the election is a historic moment. “I ask God to help you (Suleiman) succeed in steering the Lebanese ship to a safe haven... today no-one in the world can turn Lebanon into a killing field.“
Suleiman said he would seek friendly relations with Syria, Lebanon’s former powerbroker which has been accused by Washington of stoking the crisis.
Olmert: No Promises to Syria
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he has made no promises to Syria about a future peace agreement.
Israel and Syria announced last week that they had resumed peace talks. Syria has demanded that Israel give up the Golan Heights as part of any future deal. Israel captured the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.
According to AFP, many Israelis are wary of ceding the Golan, which overlooks northern Israel and is next to a key source of the country’s drinking water.
Olmert appeared before a closed parliamentary hearing Monday to update lawmakers on the talks. Participants said he told the committee that he has made no commitments to Syria. However, he said it’s clear what Syria wants as part of any peace deal.
Netanyahu Against Withdrawal
In other news, Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the renewed Israeli-Syrian peace talks, blasting the notion of a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Hawkish Israeli politician Netanyahu on Sunday evening issued another condemnation of the renewed peace talks between Israel and Syria, Israel radio reported.
“We must not leave the Golan Heights because of its strategic height. We must not make peace with a dictatorial regime - because this will be a peace that we will not be able to protect,“ Haaretz quoted Netanyahu as saying.
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 28
YOKAHAMA, Japan - Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (to May 30). African heads of state expected to attend.
GENEVA - 97th International Labor Conference (to Jun. 13).
LEIPZIG, Germany - International Transport Forum 2008, organized by the OECD International Transport Forum (to May 30).
CAMP PENDLETON, California - Trial begins of First Lt. Andrew Grayson, accused of destroying evidence in the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
VILNIUS - 37th Interpol European Regional Conference (to May 30)
LONDON - Amnesty International annual report.
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