Asia

Obama Sticks to his Guns Senator Obama still can’t see why it is controversial for him to threaten to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty to get at the Arab al-Qaeda in Waziristan. His comments of last week roiled US-Pakistani relations. What he should be saying is that if he had an opportunity to deploy a Predator against […]

Pakistani Protests against Obama; Clinton leaves Nukes on the Table; Tancredo an Inspiration to the Criminally Insane that They, Too, Could run for President I’m going to hear Senator Barack Obama on Saturday afternoon at the Yearly Kos convention. Will report back on Sunday about his remarks. On Thursday, he said he would not use […]

Pakistani Army Invades Red Mosque The Pakistani military invaded the Red Mosque and seminary complex early on Tuesday morning. As I write, Aljazeera is reporting that the army has 85% of the complex. Some 40 Muslim militants inside the mosque have been killed, as have 3 Pakistani soldiers. For the background of this crisis, see […]

Musharraf Warns Militants of Death See Manan Ahmed’s excellent analysis of the crisis in Pakistan at our group blog. He points out that the militant Red Mosque was an ally of the United States and the Pakistani government in the 1980s, when they were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. On Saturday and early Sunday, Pakistan’s […]

Pakistani Army Moves in Takes Faridia Seminary Standoff at Red Mosque Pakistani troops took the Faridia Seminary attached to the Red Mosque on Friday. On Saturday morning, the army continued to move in on the mosque itself, amid sounds of explosions. The clerical leader there, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, has been talking about fighting to the […]

Government Troops advance on Red Mosque Pakistani troops moved in on the Red Mosque complex early Friday morning, engaging in fierce gun battles with the remaining militants within On Thursday, the standoff between the militants within and the Pakistani government had continued. About 50 of the several hundred remaining hold-outs had surrendered, and the leader, […]

Red Mosque Leader Arrested in Burqa Dawn reports, ‘ Maulana Aziz was caught after a group of 50 burqa-clad women from the mosque started screaming as they were taken to a nearby school for security checks after giving themselves up, saying the procedure was un-Islamic. “Our officers spotted his (Aziz’s) unusual demeanour. The rest of […]

Massive Street Battle in Pakistan’s Capital Army versus Muslim Militants Dawn reports on the fierce fighting in the streets of Islamabad between radical fundamentalists and the army loyal to secular general Pervez Musharraf, which left 21 dead (including one soldier) and 150 injured. The government’s Interior Minister had recently warned of the spread of Taliban-type […]