|
|
| A year on, risks
seen in US Afghan strategy KABUL, Oct 6: The United States can look back on a year-long military campaign in Afghanistan tomorrow and see it as a job well done. At a cost of minimal casualties the Taliban is overthrown, what remains of Osama bin ....more ISI
tasked to engineer ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Pakistan’s former Premier Benazir Bhutto has accused the Musharraf regime of assigning ISI the task of enginering a hung Parliament and said her party would align with deposed Prime Minister .....more Nepal
king to hand KATHMANDU, Oct 6: Mepal’s King Gyanendra will relinquish power to an interim Government within five days of his shock sacking of the Prime Minister and has no . ....more |
|
Nepal political party KATHMANDU, Oct 6: Nepal’s mainstream political parties today condemned dismissal of the Government of caretaker Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and asked the regent to form a consensus Government ......more Parties
with hidden ISTANBUL, Oct 6: Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was quoted today as saying he feared parties with a "hidden agenda". .......more UK’s straw to tour Mideast to seek support on Iraq LONDON, Oct 6: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will make a whistlestop trip to Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt this week to try to gather support for possible action against Iraq, officials said today. ..........more |
 |
|
A year on, risks seen in US Afghan strategy KABUL, Oct 6: The United States can look back on a year-long military campaign in Afghanistan tomorrow and see it as a job well done. At a cost of minimal casualties the Taliban is overthrown, what remains of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network is scattered and a Government has been installed in Kabul that, if not representative of the people’s will, appears to have broad backing. However, none of this has been achieved without compromise. Analysts say that without a significant shift in focus of the US campaign, there is a risk of the achievements unravelling and Afghanistan slipping back into the chaos and bloodshed that marked much of its last tragic quarter century. Hamid Karzai’s administration remains fragile, a fact starkly underlined by the President’s narrow escape from assassination in early September, and US military operations have been reliant on unholy alliances with notorious regional warlords. Some of them appear more interested in battling each other to bolster their personal power bases and wealth than ensuring a long-term future for their country. Analysts say that unless central authority can be established nationwide, there is a danger of a new descent into factional rivalry and regionalism that would provide a breeding ground for the very extremism washington has been trying to eradicate since the September 11 attacks last year. With the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leader bin Laden and the Taliban’s Mullah Omar still unknown and renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar lurking in the wings, they remain potential focal points for the discontented. Karzai’s Government, with the support of the international community, is under pressure to make a tangible improvement, quickly, in the lives of ordinary people. "It’s been a military success in that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have been defeated," Pakistan-based Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid said of the past year. "But US strategy has not changed significantly since last year. What is needed now is a greater implementation of a political and economic strategy to strengthen the central government in Kabul and the economy. The real battle now needs to be fought on a different front." He added: "There is a very blatant contradiction in the US policy of trying to build a new national army at a time when they are continuing to support and pay salaries of warlord armies to support the war against Al Qaeda, and due to this policy the warlord armies are getting stronger and more defiant." Afghanistan, its economy and infrastructure shattered by 23 years of continuous warfare or internal division, was pledged 4.5 billion dollar in reconstruction aid earlier this year, but the cash has been slow in coming, frustrating ordinary Afghans. "The real, necessary and sympathetic help has not been seen so far," said Ustad Jalal, a professor of political science at Kabul University. He pointed to the dangers of using the forces of regional warlords to pursue Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants, while appearing to pay scant attention to the process of democratisation needed ahead of elections supposed to be held at the end of 2003. "The only hope for peace and security is if the people have the right to choose their own leaders," Jalal said. "The situation will deteriorate if we do not have a sound Government. If the situation stays as it is, there is the risk of history repeating itself." Analysts say US Afghan policy remains ill-defined, adding policymakers in Washington appear to have become distracted by possible military action against Iraq. Last week, US Undersecretary of Defence Douglas Feith visited Kabul and said Washington would soon place more emphasis on what he called "stability operations" as opposed to military ones, but did not spell out his meaning. The commander of the US-led military coalition, Lieutenant-General Dan Mcneill, told media on Friday that feith had not shared this with him either. "I am a good soldier and I follow my last order first and my last order so far is to continue tactical operations to continue to capture or kill what’s left of the terrorists and to train the Afghan national army," he said. But Mcneill did add that he thought, given the "reasonable degree of security" now seen in Afghanistan, there were many in Washington and elsewhere debating a policy shift. (AGENCIES) |
|
ISI tasked to engineer hung Parliament: Bhutto ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Pakistan’s former Premier Benazir Bhutto has accused the Musharraf regime of assigning ISI the task of enginering a hung Parliament and said her party would align with deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League to form a Government if the two managed to win substantial seats in Parliament. Observing that the October 10 general polls had already become "controversial and farcical" as the military regime had tasked the ISI to work to bring in a hung Parliament with the Government-backed "king’s party" playing a leading role, she alleged that Pakistan Muslim League (Qaide Azam), a breakaway faction of PML(N), itself was the creation of ISI. "Intelligence agencies were not supposed to involve themselves in such things... They were meant for infiltrating terrorist networks and to thwart their plans," Bhutto said in a teleconference with journalists from Lahore - her first interaction with Pakistani media since she left the country in April 1999. When asked if her Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) would form a coalition Government with PML(N) burying their past differences, Bhutto said, "yes, if the two parties together get a majority in the 342-member National Assembly." Referring to Pervez Musharraf’s decision to continue as President, Bhutto said the general was in power because "he had a gun in his hands". "In case parties in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) got two thirds majority in parliament, he has to quit," she was quoted as saying by the local daily "dawn." Alleging that the military regime would not like PPPP, PML-N or any party from the ARD conglomerate to come to power as the Army would have to return to the barracksin such a case she said the general, who was also the chief of the Army "should be in the field to defend the country as situation at the borders was tense." Referring to a pre-poll survey conducted by BBC urdu service that predicted a narrow victory for her party, she said in case the final results were not in conformity with that assessment, "it would mean that polls have been rigged," The Dawn quoted her as saying. Bhutto who has been barred from contesting the polls said the elections would not lead to the restoration of democratic process or the transfer of power in Pakistan. Instead they would mark only the first step towards the goals set by ard, she said adding the second phase of ARD’s struggle would begin after the electoral process was over. "In case the military regime manipulated results," which she "believed" it would, the ard would have to launch a mass struggle, she said. She said her party had decided to contest the polls even though many people were of the opinion of boycotting them as it wanted to use every platform to take the nation closer to democracy. Asked about her plans to return to Pakistan, Bhutto said if the ARD managed to get sufficient seats "doors would open for her as well as Sharif to return." (PTI) |
|
Nepal king to hand over power this week KATHMANDU, Oct 6: Mepal’s King Gyanendra will relinquish power to an interim Government within five days of his shock sacking of the Prime Minister and has no plans to rule the world’s only Hindu Kingdom himself, a palace official said today. Friday’s dismissal of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba triggered political turmoil in the impoverished himalayan nation which is already battling a Maoist insurgency and trying to heal the scars of last year’s palace massacre which brought Gyanendra to the throne. "His majesty has to form a new Government. He has no intention of keeping executive power with himself. It is not a coup," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Nepal’s main political parties were wrangling over ways out of the crisis but the capital was calm, with traffic normal and shops and businesses reopening after Saturday’s weekly holiday. The king’s move came after Deuba said threats by Maoist rebels to sabotage elections set for November were too grave for voting to be held and asked for a year’s delay. The rebels’ revolt has claimed at least 5,000 lives since 1996. The king, seen by political analysts as a hardliner against the rebels, said Deuba’s inability to hold elections as scheduled meant he should be removed from office. "The timeframe for the new Government has been clearly set," the palace official said. "The ball is now in the court of the political parties. They have to decide if they want to cooperate and take the train on the right track." "If they don’t his majesty will anyway go ahead and appoint an interim Government. "Anyway a situation where we don’t have a Government is only for five days and after that there will be a Government. It will be in charge of executive power and security as well," the official said. The king has given no new schedule for elections to be held. A palace spokesman said he had no information on the king’s plans beyond Friday’s announcement. "What his majesty has said in his announcement is quite clear," he said. Efforts to agree on a common political stand were in disarray as the centrist Nepali Congress Party, which has ruled for most of the time since the country’s 1990 transition to multi-party democracy, weighed whether to join an all-party meeting. Analysts say the latest crisis, if not rapidly resolved, could further ravage the economy. The Maoist revolt has scared off tourists, hit growth and wrecked infrastructure. "We will discuss the strategy to be adopted by political parties after the royal move," said Yuvraj Karki, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), the second-largest party in the dissolved Parliament. He said all seven parties in the dissolved Parliament had been invited to the meeting. All the parties — and the maoists — have condemned Gyanendra’s step as unconstitutional and undemocratic. But there is a measure of public support for Gyanendra, with 2,000 people turning out yesterday for a rally near the royal palace to back his decision. It was the first time that the monarch, believed by nepalis to be an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, had assumed direct power since absolute rule was abolished in 1990 and the country became a multi-party democracy. (AGENCIES) |
|
Nepal political party leaders meet king KATHMANDU, Oct 6: Nepal’s mainstream political parties today condemned dismissal of the Government of caretaker Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and asked the regent to form a consensus Government and make efforts to hold deferred parliamentary elections as soon as possible. In a meeting with the regent, Nepali Congress (Koirala) president Girija Prasad Koirala expressed his dissatisfaction over sacking of caretaker Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba and postponement of elections as some of the clauses of the country’s constitution were violated while making the royal proclaimation. The party also asked for reinstatement of the dissolved Parliament. Koirala told Gyanendra that the only way out of the present political crisis was to form a Government of consensus by including representatives from the dissolved house under Article 128 of the Constitution with the view to hold elections, party spokesman Arjun Narsingh K C said here. The Article 128 refers to formation of the Council of Ministers by the king consisting of representatives from the main political parties under transitional provisions in case the Council is dissolved. Nepal Communist Party (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and president of the National Democratic Party Surya Bahadur Thapa also held separate discussions with the king over the politicial situation arising after Deuba’s dismissal as acting premier. (PTI) |
|
Parties with hidden agenda may win election: Turkish PM ISTANBUL, Oct 6: Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was quoted today as saying he feared parties with a "hidden agenda" might win the November election and raise tensions with the country’s military establishment. Most opinion polls show the frontrunner in the November 3 election to be the Justice and Development Party (AKP), founded by moderate members of a party banned last year as a centre of radical Islam. The party insists it is a mainstream conservative party. "I have warned them (voters) to keep in mind the possibility that these parties may have a hidden agenda but it seems most of these warnings are being ignored. That worries me," Ecevit said in remarks carried by the state-run Anatolian news agency. "Whether it is the AK Party or HADEP, both of these parties could cause problems for turkey," he added. Ecevit’s Democratic Left Party might struggle to be represented in Parliament after presiding over Turkey’s worst economic crisis since 1945. Hadep, the main Legal Kurdish Party in Turkey, said in September it will not stand in the election but will campaign under a new banner alongside other leftists. It has been accused of maintaining links with armed separatists fighting for a Kurdish homeland in the southeast of the country. HADEP denies any links with the guerrillas. (AGENCIES) |
|
UK’s straw to tour Mideast to seek support on Iraq LONDON, Oct 6: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will make a whistlestop trip to Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt this week to try to gather support for possible action against Iraq, officials said today. The Iran leg of the trip had been previously made public but only today were Straw’s other destinations confirmed by the British Government. Britain has refused to rule out acting with the United States against Iraq without explicit backing from the United Nations if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not respond to UN demands to disarm. Straw has backed Washington’s lobbying of members of the UN Security Council to support a tougher UN resolution to allow for military action against Iraq if it does not give up weapons of mass destruction that Washington suspects Iraq has. Jordanian officials in Amman said Straw was expected to speak with King Abdullah and senior officials on Tuesday before heading to Kuwait on his four-nation tour to lobby for a new UN resolution. "The discussions will mainly touch on Iraq but will also discuss the Palestinian-Israeli issue," a Jordanian official told newsmen. (AGENCIES) |
|
|
|
|
