Army Chief Driving Pakistan’s Agenda for Talks

By JANE PERLEZ

KARACHI, Pakistan — In a sign of the mounting power of the army over the civilian government in Pakistan, the head of the military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, will be the dominant Pakistani participant in important meetings in Washington this week.

T. Mughal/European Pressphoto Agency

Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has met with cabinet officials at the military’s headquarters.

At home, much has been made of how General Kayani has driven the agenda for the talks. They have been billed as cabinet-level meetings, with the foreign minister as the nominal head of the Pakistani delegation. But it has been the general who has been calling the civilian heads of major government departments, including finance and foreign affairs, to his army headquarters to discuss final details, an unusual move in a democratic system.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been taking a public role in trying to set the tone, insisting that the United States needs to do more for Pakistan, as “we have already done too much.” And it was at his request that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed this fall to reopen talks between the countries at the ministerial level.

The talks are expected to help define the relationship between the United States and Pakistan as the war against the Taliban reaches its endgame phase in Afghanistan. It is in that context that General Kayani’s role in organizing the agenda has raised alarm here in Pakistan, a country with a long history of military juntas.

The leading financial newspaper, The Business Recorder, suggested in an editorial that the civilian government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should act more forcefully and “shun creating an environment conducive to military intervention.”

The editorial added, “The government needs to consolidate civilian rule instead of handing over its responsibilities, like coordination between different departments, to the military.”

“General Kayani is in the driver’s seat,” said Rifaat Hussain, a professor of international relations at Islamabad University. “It is unprecedented that an army chief of staff preside over a meeting of federal secretaries.”

General Kayani visited the headquarters of the United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., over the weekend, and will attend meetings at the Pentagon with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday. He is also to attend the opening ceremony of the talks between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Qureshi at the State Department on Wednesday, a spokesman at the American Embassy in Islamabad said.

The most pressing concerns in the talks, according to officials on both sides, will be trying to establish confidence after several years of a corrosive relationship between allies, which only in the past few months has started to gain some positive momentum.

But the complexity of the main topics at hand — the eventual American pullout from Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s concerns about India — is expected to make for a tough round of talks.

On the positive side for Pakistan, the Obama administration has been rethinking its policies toward the country, said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States.

“There is a realization that some of its assumptions over the past year were not correct: that Pakistan’s security paradigm could be changed, that its military could be pressured,” Ms. Lodhi said.

Meanwhile, concerned about efforts by the Afghan government to engage in talks with Taliban rebels, who have important bases and allies on Pakistani soil, the Pakistani government will offer itself as a mediator in any such negotiations, Professor Hussain said.

He said that the message would be, “If you want to talk to bring the Afghan Taliban into the mainstream, you should talk to us.”

Tensions with Afghanistan have been raised by some of Pakistan’s recent operations against the Taliban, most notably the recent capture in Pakistan of a senior Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The former head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said Friday that the arrest had jeopardized back-channel negotiations with Mr. Baradar’s faction of the Taliban.

But the spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Abdul Basit, said Saturday that Mr. Baradar’s arrest had nothing to do with reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.

India’s growing role in Afghanistan was also high on Pakistan’s agenda. The spokesman for the Pakistani military, Gen. Athar Abbas, said Pakistan would be “conveying very clearly” its displeasure with India’s offer to help train the Afghan Army at the behest of American and NATO forces. Pakistan has made a counteroffer to train the Afghans, an offer that Pakistan knows is unlikely to be accepted but that it made to pressure Washington to stop the Indian proposal, Pakistani analysts said.

General Kayani arrives in Washington after what the Pakistani military considers a stellar nine months in fighting the Pakistani Taliban, first in the region of Swat and most recently in South Waziristan.

The militants, according to the Pakistanis, have been weakened in their bases in the tribal areas, but at a high cost. According to Pakistani Army figures, 2,377 soldiers were killed in the two campaigns. About 1 in 10 of those killed were officers, a very high rate, Professor Hussain said.

With those sacrifices and the heavy toll on army equipment in mind, Pakistan is expecting quicker reimbursement from the United States of its expenses in fighting the militants, General Abbas said.

Pakistan has complained that the United States has unfairly held up payments of $1.2 billion for 2009 under an agreement to help finance the fight against insurgents. For its part, Washington says its auditors need to satisfy Congress that the Pakistani military has properly spent the money owed.

US amenable to providing Nuclear power plants to Pakistan

There seems to be sea change in US attitudes towards Islamabad. According to press releases, analyst reports, Islamabad’s demands, and positive signals from US officials, Pakistan will ask for Atomic energy, and the US Administration seems to be amenable to providing Civilian Nuclear Power plants to Pakistan.

Regional experts say Pakistan will be looking to Washington to recognize the threat it perceives from its eastern neighbor India, against whom it has fought and lost three wars. Pakistan is concerned that Indian economic and political involvement in Afghanistan could lead to unfriendly governments on both its eastern and western borders. Huffington Post. Pakistan to ask for more understanding at US talks. KATHY GANNON | March 19, 2010 10:43 AM EST |

• Current US Administration accepts Pakistan as Nuclear state
• US should do more: “We have already done too much … Pakistan has done its bit, we have delivered; now it’s your (the US) turn. Start delivering,” he said at a media briefing on the upcoming US-Pakistan strategic dialogue.Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
• Pakistani security concerns: “One is to implicitly accept Pakistan’s status as a declared nuclear weapons state and thereby counter conspiracy theories that the United States is secretly plotting to seize Pakistani nukes,” The Washington Post.
• Nuclear Power Plants for Pakistan: “We are beginning to have a discussion with the Pakistan government” on the country’s desire to tap nuclear energy. “We are going to have working level talks” Ambassador Patterson, the US envoy in Islamabad, Pakistan Link.
• Civilian Nuclear Energy for Pakistan: “We have a very broad and complex agenda in these talks, and this is the first strategic dialogue ever at this level, and the first of this administration. And we’re going to listen carefully to whatever the Pakistanis say.” Richard Holbrooke.
• Nuclear Deal: Civilian nuclear deal may be able to diminish Pakistani fears of US intentions while allowing Washington to leverage these gains for greater Pakistani cooperation on nuclear proliferation and terrorism”. C. Christine Fair, Assistant Professor at Georgetown University.
• Growing Energy Demand: “Civilian nuclear technology will help Pakistan meet its growing energy demand… the [transfer of] drone technology will… [lead to] wider public acceptability [of strikes]“. President Zardari.
• Reversing Anti-Americanism in Pakistan: Parity, Nuclear Plants

Empty promises will not work anymore. The US has to expeditiously deliver ROZ, FTA, nuke plants and Drone technology. This has to be resolved expeditiously. US Pakistani strategic partnership?–Here is a list

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s request for nuclear power plants may come up for discussion during the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, which begins in Washington on March 24.

The indications came from two senior US officials, ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Anne W. Patterson.

Ambassador Patterson, the US envoy in Islamabad, told a Los Angeles-based Pakistani newspaper: “We are beginning to have a discussion with the Pakistan government” on the country’s desire to tap nuclear energy. “We are going to have working level talks” on the issue in Washington this month.

She told the Pakistan Link newspaper that earlier America’s “non-proliferation concerns were quite severe” but attitudes in Washington were changing. “I think we are beginning to pass those and this is a scenario that we are going to explore,” she added.

• Can Pakistan trust French “offer” of Civilian Nuclear technology?
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• Eliminating Trust deficit in Pakistan: Reparations, Drone technology, Parit…

Mr Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was less categorical but what he said at a briefing on Friday on the US-Pakistan strategic talks conveyed a similar message.

“While addressing Pakistan’s energy needs, are you considering helping them establish nuclear power plants to meet their energy needs?” he was asked.

A transcript released by the State Department on Saturday quoted Mr Holbrooke as saying: “We have a very broad and complex agenda in these talks, and this is the first strategic dialogue ever at this level, and the first of this administration. And we’re going to listen carefully to whatever the Pakistanis say.”

• Obama’s South Asian policy: A Marshall Plan for AfPak
• Will Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) make a difference in Pakistan?

The response marks the first time a US official did not reject the Pakistani request outright. On all previous occasions, US officials insisted that their agreement for supplying nuclear power plants to India was exclusive to New Delhi and could not be offered to another country.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the Obama administration was taking several steps to address Pakistani security concerns. “One is to implicitly accept Pakistan’s status as a declared nuclear weapons state and thereby counter conspiracy theories that the United States is secretly plotting to seize Pakistani nukes,” the report said.

Last month, a US scholar wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal backing Pakistan’s demand that the US should negotiate a nuclear deal with Pakistan, as it did with India.

“More so than conventional weapons or large sums of cash, a conditions-based civilian nuclear deal may be able to diminish Pakistani fears of US intentions while allowing Washington to leverage these gains for greater Pakistani cooperation on nuclear proliferation and terrorism,” wrote C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University.

In her interview to the Link, Ambassador Patterson said the US was acutely conscious of the precarious energy situation in Pakistan, of people “sweating in 120 degree” without electricity, and would play its due role in raising installed generating capacity and making up for the present shortfall. US companies will be persuaded to invest in the power sector in Pakistan. N-plants to figure in talks, says Patterson By Anwar Iqbal ,Sunday, 21 Mar, 2010

• President tells National Intelligence Dennis C Blair civil nuclear, drone technologies will help bridge trust deficit
• Blair reiterates US commitment to work closely with Pakistan
• How can US help? A Pakistani American speaks
• Insidious Indian propoaganda against Pakistan

President Zardari has clearly informed the US Administration that if they want to reduce the trust deficit in Pakistan and reverse growing Anti-Americanism in the region–then President Obama has to accord Islamabad parity with Delhi and not hold back on critical technologies that Pakistan needs. The two areas identified are Nuclear and Drone Technology. Pakistan needs both of these in order to resolve the energy crisis and to deal with the terror groups that cross into Pakistan. Since the US is responsible for the spillover of the war into Pakistan, and because Pakistan has been a front line state, first against the USSR, and now against terror–it is Pakistan’s right to demand reparations for the losses incurred.

• Kerry-Lugar Peanuts: 50% of US Aid fills pockets of US consultants
• The resilience of Pakistan and the nation’s continuing collective refusal to do what the west would like it to do
• The pugnacious Pakistanis

Pakistan gas pipeline is Iran’s lifeline

http://pakistan.foreignpolicyblogs.com/files/2009/09/iran-pakistan-india-natural-gas-pipeline.gif

TEHRAN, March 19 (UPI) — As Iran braces for another broadside of economic sanctions over its nuclear program, Tehran moves closer to opening up a new lifeline — a natural gaspipeline to Pakistan and possibly India and China as well.

If everything goes as planned, this much-delayed, controversial project could wreck U.S. efforts to check Iran’s expansionist ambitions.

U.S. energy analyst Gal Luft said the pipeline could also “have profound implications for the geopolitics of energy in the 21st century and for the future of South Asia.”

Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of the 560-mile, $7.5 billion pipeline from the huge offshore South Pars gas field in the Gulf through Pakistan’s unruly Balochistan province to Sindh province.

The project is crucial for Pakistan’s growing energy requirements. Iran will supply 750 million-1 billion cubic feet of gas per day by mid-2015.

The project was first mooted in 1994. It was intended to carry gas through Pakistan to India in a 1,724-mile pipeline. But India, under intense pressure from the United States, withdrew in 2009, citing disputes over prices and transit fees. There was also deep misgivings in New Delhi about dealing with its longtime foe Pakistan.

India has invested instead in nuclear power to meet its ever-rising demand for energy in its burgeoning economy. It signed a landmark deal with the United States in 2008 for nuclear equipment.

There has been no official explanation about why the Americans would allow Pakistan to go ahead and sign a pipeline agreement with Iran at a time when Washington is striving to isolate the Islamic Republic and paralyze its economy.

But the Americans cannot afford to antagonize Pakistan at a time when Washington needs Islamabad’s support to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban. Pakistan is already suffering serious energy shortages with an electricity shortfall of 3,000 megawatts. These cause politically troublesome long and frequent blackouts.

The United States had been pressing for a pipeline to South Asia from gas-rich Turkmenistan in Central Asia via Afghanistan that would bypass Iran. But the security situation in Afghanistan made such a project unlikely.

India hasn’t closed all doors to the project and may still rejoin. It is expected to require 146 billion cubic meters of gas per year by 2025 and its options are limited.

China, ever hungry for energy to fuel its mushrooming economy, has indicated that it might sign on and run an extension of the pipeline from Pakistan.

It may provide financial assistance to Islamabad for the project, which would provide an overland energy corridor less vulnerable to interference by the United States — or others — than the long tanker route from the Gulf across the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

China is the main obstacle preventing the United States mustering the U.N. Security Council behind new sanctions on Iran. Sanctions would cut 10-12 percent of China’s oil imports and jeopardize oil contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Iran desperately needs this project. Its potential in the energy sector is enormous. It has the second largest gas reserves in the world after Russia, roughly 15 percent of the world’s gas supply.

But U.S.-led sanctions have prevented it from exploiting this through high-volume exports. The pipeline to Pakistan, and possibly the massive markets in India and China as well, could change all that and immunize Tehran from U.S. pressure.

The geopolitical implications of the Iran-Pakistan pipeline going through are immense. If the Americans relent, they may secure concessions from Iran and would certainly win influence in Pakistan by helping it out of a worsening energy crisis.

“By connecting itself with the world’s second largest gas reserves, Pakistan would guarantee reliable supply for decades to come,” says Luft, director of Washington’s Institute for Analysis of Global Security, which focuses on energy security.

“If the pipeline were to be extended to India it could also be an instrument of stability in often tense Pakistan-India relations as well as a source of revenue for Islamabad through transit fees.” One estimate puts that at around $600 million a year.

But, Luft concludes, “Should the worst happen and a Taliban-style regime takes over in Pakistan, the economies of the world’s most radical Shiite state and that of what could be the world’s most radical Sunni state would be connected to each other for decades to come, like conjoined twins.”

And there’s one other thing. Pakistan already has nuclear weapons and, under that scenario, Iran would, too.

US will ‘do more and announce more’ for Pakistan: Holbrooke

US will ‘do more and announce more’ for Pakistan: Holbrooke

LAHORE: US special representative Richard Holbrooke has indicated that the Obama administration would “do more and announce more” to assist Pakistan’s development in various fields.

Briefing the US State Department, Holbrooke said, “We are doing more, we will announce more, we want to do as much as the Congress will support, but Congress writes the cheques.”

The envoy praised Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani for deciding to participate in the upcoming round of strategic dialogue in the US. He said strategic dialogue was not possible without the participation of the army. He also praised the Pakistan Army for its successes against terrorists in Tribal Areas.

Holbrooke described the agenda for the strategic dialogue as the fight against al Qaeda and improved bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US.

He said the US would also discuss with the Pakistani delegation issues related to the distribution of water and power. “Beyond the strategic broad-range discussions, we want to move into operational things like water, energy,” he said.

The US envoy also praised the government for arresting Mullah Baradar.

Holbrooke said the dialogue in the US on March 24 – to be led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi – “marks a major intensification in our relationship”.

He said US officials would visit Islamabad on the Pakistani government’s invitation for the next round of the strategic dialogue. He said the round of dialogue to be held in Pakistan would be meaningful and not a mere photo session. daily times monitor/app

Pak to US: Terror bill worth $35 billion, nuke deal

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is coming up with a bill of $ 35 billion for its efforts in the war on terror and a wish-list that includes a nuclear deal similar to the US-India agreement as it prepares to engage Washington this coming week in what officials from both sides say is the most comprehensive dialogue in their bilateral history.

Turning the US mantra that Pakistan should “do more” in the war on terror, Pakistani officials, in an aggressive turnaround, have said Pakistan has done enough and it is now the United States turn to do more, as they set off to Washington for talks on the heels of what they claim is unprecedented success against the Taliban.

Pakistan has “captured” nearly half the top Taliban leadership, including the organisation’s No.2 Mullah Baradar, in recent weeks in the run-up to the talks. Although U.N and Afghan officials accuse the Pakistanis, who were hosting the Taliban leadership, took them in to sabotage peace talks being held outside Islamabad’s patronage, U.S officials said on Friday that they were “gratified” by the arrests.

“We are extremely gratified… he is where he belongs,” the Obama administration’s Af-Pak envoy Richard Holbrooke said about Baradar’s arrest by Pakistan as he previewed the upcoming talks with reporters at the State Department on Friday, adding, “And many other people have been picked up or eliminated, and this is putting much more pressure on the Taliban. And this is a good thing for the simplest of reasons: It is good for the military efforts that are underway in Afghanistan.”

Holbrooke also endorsed a central role for the Pakistani military at the talks, asking “how can you have a strategic dialogue without including the military?” In a move that has caused some disquiet in Pakistan itself, the country’s army chief Pervez Ashfaq Kiyani and spy chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha are members of the delegation, ostensibly led by Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Kiyani is said to have set the agenda for the talks in preparatory meetings in Pakistan.

“If we have a strategic dialogue in our country, we’re going to include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or some other representative. So we are very pleased that General Kayani is part of this delegation. We think that it’s one country, one government, one team. It was their decision and we welcomed it,” Holbrooke said. Washington in recent weeks has noticeably cooled down its criticism of the over-arching role played by the Pakistan military in the country’s affairs.

Pakistan’s wish-list for the Obama administration includes not only speeding up disbursements in bilateral aid under the Kerry-Lugar package and Coalition Support Funds, both of which are audited for more precise use and claim, but enhanced support for its economy, particularly in the energy sector. Vast swathes of the country are now under 8 to 12 hour power cuts and Islamabad is presenting this as one reason why Washington should offer a civilian nuclear deal to Pakistan similar to the US-India deal, although experts say Pakistan has no capacity to absorb or implement such an agreement even if it were to pass international scrutiny.

US officials remain non-committal about the deal. “We have a very broad and complex agenda in these talks… and we’re going to listen carefully to whatever the Pakistanis say,” Holbrooke said cautiously when asked about a possible nuclear deal. In fact, no one in Washington takes Pakistan $ 35 billion claim as its total cost in the war on terror arrived at during internal deliberations in Islamabad last week, seriously.

But Holbrooke held out the prospect of enhanced aid in other areas and sectors, promising a few surprise announcements. “This is not a photo op, although you will have an opportunity to take a photo. This is an intense, serious dialogue bilaterally between the US. and Pakistan,” he said in a hurried briefing at the state department that followed a White House meeting of principals where, Holbrooke said, — “almost every senior person in the United States foreign policy community was in the room” to discuss US policy for the region.

Pakistan too is striving to broad-base its ties with the US on the same lines as India’s expansive engagement, covering sector beyond security. Indicative of the broad agenda for the March 24 talks, the Pakistani delegation led by Foreign Miniser Qureshi includes Minister of Defense Mukhtar Ahmad, Finance Minister nominee Abdul Shaikh, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Social Issues Wazir Ali; Advisor to the Prime Minister on Agriculture and Water Majidullah; the Chief of Staff of the Army General Kayani and his delegation of military advisors; Ambassador Hussain Haqqani; Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir; and Secretaries of Information Technology, Water and Power, Finance, Agriculture, Defense, among others.

The US delegation, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton includes Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin, National Security Council Senior Director David Lipton, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Marantis, the Administrator of USAID Raj Shah, myself, Ambassador Anne Patterson and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Judith McHale, Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sydney, among others.

Storm over Israeli settlements as unreal as the peace process

US Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, 9 March 2010. (David Lienemann/White House Photo)

Since Israel announced yet another new settlement in occupied East Jerusalem during the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden last week, Israel has been subjected to a storm of criticism from friend and foe alike. Biden was in Jerusalem to show US support for Israel and to launch “proximity talks” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) of Ramallah. Instead the Israeli announcement caused him and the US administration deep embarrassment, prompting several officials to term it an “insult” and an “affront” and to stir talk of the worst crisis in US-Israeli relations in decades.
This might be music to the ears of those long frustrated by American silence on Israel’s constant violations of international law, but it actually amounts to little.

Just before Biden’s visit, US envoy George Mitchell had been in the region to orchestrate the proximity talks. It seemed a final hurdle had been removed when the Arab League gave diplomatic cover to PAleader Mahmoud Abbas to join the talks for a limited period of four months. Just then Israel dropped the latest settlement bombshell blowing the whole thing up.

The proximity talks device was highly controversial already. Skeptics pointed out that an additional few months of indirect talks would be of no use when almost two decades of direct negotiations — with ostensibly less hardline Israeli governments — had produced absolutely nothing. The talks were also perceived as blatant American and international capitulation to Israeli intransigence, and yet a desperately needed cover for the total US failure to get Israel to agree to a real settlement freeze as a condition for resuming direct talks. All the misgivings were confirmed by Israel’s announcement of the 1,600 settler homes.

It would have been scandalous for Palestinians — even as weak and compromised as Abbas’ authority — to engage under such conditions. The PA expressed strong objections, demanding that the Israeli plan be withdrawn before returning to the talks. So it seemed it was back to square one.

But this is only part of the story. If the proximity talks blew up, it was at least as much the fault of the US administration itself as it was that of Israel. Let’s recall the real sequence of events. On 8 March, just two days before Biden’s visit, Israel announced the construction of an additional 112 units in Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem — violating its own self-declared 10-month moratorium outside what it defines as Jerusalem. PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat issued one of his routine statements, but there were no threats by the PA to boycott the talks.

Even worse, the US seemed to provide cover for the Israeli move; State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters then that the Beitar Illit decision “does not violate the moratorium that the Israelis previously announced,” although he allowed that “this is the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of as we move ahead with these parallel talks.”

Netanyahu may have been — justifiably — surprised by the strength of the US rhetorical reaction later after the Jerusalem announcement (and that of EU, UN and other international officials who added their own “strong” criticism only after they got an American green light). None of these people ever bothered much about settlement expansion before. Why this one, why now? After all, Israel never told anyone it would freeze settlement construction in what it defines as “greater” Jerusalem!

Despite Netanyahu’s denial that he knew in advance of the announcement, it is clear Israel was sending a message to the peace process chorus. First, that renewed talks would not mean any slow down in colonization schemes on occupied lands. Second, that Israeli-defined Jerusalem is outside the scope of any negotiations. Third, Netanyahu does not need the talks — for him they are only a cover for colonization — so he could afford the risk that the talks would be jeopardized knowing full well that the US reaction would be limited at worst to words of criticism.

Netanyahu has nevertheless admitted that it was a miscalculation to announce a major new settlement when Biden was visiting precisely to emphasize US support for Israel. But for him the mistake was only in timing, not in substance. Indeed, despite all the strong American criticism over the weekend, Netanyahu announced on Monday that settlement-building in Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank would continue as normal as it has for 43 years. Since 1967, settler roads and settlements, now home to half a million Israeli Jews, have eaten up more than 46 percent of the West Bank.

During the colonization years which have been constantly accompanied by Israeli aggression, confiscation of territory and additional ethnic cleansing and displacement of Palestinians, the international community showed little or no anger at Israel, other than occasional empty statements of disapproval, and it kept up business as usual.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization and later the Palestinian Authority, also negotiated year after year with Israel and signed accords and agreements while the land was being openly colonized and thePalestinian people were constantly persecuted and viciously uprooted. Arab states for their part have negotiated and signed peace treaties while the occupation remained firmly in place and the process of settlement building went on.

So if for 43 years there has been continuous occupation accompanied with continuous settlement building while the international community was maintaining a deadly and a cowardly silence, why all the sudden noise over 1,600 additional housing units? It is neither the first project nor will it be the last. And notice that for all its complaints, the United States pointedly did not require Israel to cancel the project. It would never dare do that. Instead within a few days, the US will be pressuring the PA to return to futile negotiations while the settlement construction carries on.

Remember Jabal Abu Ghneim, the forested hill near Bethlehem that Netanyahu decided to build on in the 1990s against strenuous American and international objections that it would “destroy the peace process?” Today the trees are gone and in their place are only Israeli apartment buildings. But the fake, fraudulent “peace process” continues as if nothing happened. This theatrical storm will also slowly die down and the settlements construction will steadily keep up.

Hasan Abu Nimah is the former permanent representative of Jordan at the United Nations. This essay first appeared in The Jordan Times.

Pakistan to US: Act as good as you talk

PressTv

Pakistan urges the United States to match its words with action, amid Washington’s continued claims of alliance with Islamabad.

“My message to the US is that the time has come to walk the talk,” said Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday, AFP reported.

“We need to build comfort on all sides,” he added, suggesting that the bilateral ties suffered from a confidence deficit.

“We expect the US to understand our concerns both in the realm of security and economic development.”

Under the guise of reinforcing the Pakistani security, the Pentagon, in cooperation with the US Central Intelligence Agency, have been launching missile attacks on the Pakistani soil.

Over the recent years, the assaults have reportedly killed hundreds of Pakistani civilians besides inflicting material damage.

The White House has, meanwhile, been insisting to control the way its financial aid to Islamabad is channeled.

Israeli drone technolgy to Pakistan via Italain, Chinese, Turkish firms

Pakistan has made huge strides in the development of drones. The technology has helped Pakistan nab some of the worst offenders. Both Turkish and Chinese firms have been working with Pakistan in the redesign of the drones.

ANKARA — Turkey and Israel appear to be on track to finalise a long delayed multi-million-dollar deal for the delivery of 10 drone aircraft for the Turkish air force, a Turkish official said Friday.

The project, launched in 2005, was under threat of cancellation amid delays and rising tensions between the two countries over Israel’s devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip last year.

“Turkish experts are currently in Israel to test the drones,” the defence ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Should the systems pass the tests, six aircraft will be brought to Turkey’s southeastern province of Batman, on the border with Iraq, for further tests, the official added.

“If there are no problems, we will take the drones. We expect the delivery to take place in the first six months of this year,” he said.

The announcement came ahead of a visit by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak to Turkey on Sunday for talks on mending battered ties following the latest diplomatic row.

On Wednesday Israel was forced to apologise after Ankara threataned to withdraw its ambassador over Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s public dressing down of the envoy.

The drone project had been expected to be completed in the second half of 2009, but it was delayed by technical problems, forcing Turkey to give the two contractors — Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit — a deadline until early 2010 and threaten to cancel the tender.

Last week, Defence Minister Vecdi Gönül said that negotations were under way on the compensation the Israeli companies would pay for the delay, but refused to give a figure.

Media reports have suggested that the compensation could be somewhere around 12 million dollars (8.2 million euros).

The drone contract was part of an 185-million-dollar project that involved the manufacture of 10 aircraft, surveillance equipment and ground control stations, with Turkish firms providing sub-systems and services.

Under a 1996 military cooperation deal, Turkish-Israeli ties have flourished greatly until last year when the two countries fell out about Ankara’s almost daily criticism of the Jewish state over the Gaza war. Turkey, Israel on track to close drone deal: official (AFP)

India Out Of The Loop On Af-Pak

Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN

WASHINGTON: The atmospherics are good but the ground realities are unfavourable. India is struggling to stay relevant and advance its geo-political equities with the United States at a time Washington is buffeted by domestic pressures and international crises that are undercutting its resolve to put ties with New Delhi on a higher plane.

Good intentions, broad agenda, and packed schedules notwithstanding, Indian diplomatic foray into Washington this week was notable for gripes and grievances than any significant advancement towards the stated goal of achieving a strategic relationship with the US, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao had a series of meetings on Tuesday, including a drop-in by secretary of state Hillary Clinton at a state department meeting with her counterpart William Burns, but in the end there was no meeting of minds on the most fundamental security issue of the times.

India and US disagree on Afghanistan and Pakistan. That much became clear towards the end of the foreign secretary’s visit although elaboration on this issue was foiled by the cancellation of Rao’s wrap-up press meet (Indian Embassy said she was unwell).

At a time when Washington is searching for an exit strategy from the Af-Pak region, a statement released at the end of her visit (in lieu of the cancelled press conference) tersely noted that “she (Rao) reiterated India’s long-held position that it was important for the international community to stay the present course in Afghanistan for as long as it is necessary.” The international community on the other hand wants to get the hell out of Afghanistan — yesterday.

There were other unresolved issues. Rao’s engagement was also partly torpedoed by the withdrawal by the government of the nuclear liability bill in Parliament hours after her arrival here. As a result, there was little progress on tying up loose ends of the civilian nuclear deal including an agreement on reprocessing although there were brave words about the deal being on track and on schedule.

Most notably, on the issue of high-tech cooperation, the Indian side was still pleading for removal of some its organizations from the so-called Entities List, seven years after the establishment of the group. “The Indian side requested the US department of commerce to review US export controls applicable to India and update them to bring them in keeping with the changed political realities that contextualize India-US strategic partnership today,” the concluding statement said.

To say India has become a mere sideshow in Washington would be overstating it (besides meeting Clinton, Rao also called on the NSA Jim Jones and two key lawmakers on a day Washington was awash with the health care issue and the US-Israel spat). There were important advances in bilateral matters, including setting the stage for external affairs minister S M Krishna’s visit to Washington shortly leading in turn to President Obama’s visit to New Delhi later this year.

But on the Af-Pak issue, India is clearly out of the loop. Pakistan is again the new game in town. Even as the Indian foreign secretary made the rounds of a capital in political and legislative ferment (over the health care bill), diplomatic corridors were abuzz with Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s own outreach to the Taliban through his brothers and Pakistan’s effort to impose itself on that engagement.

Rao meanwhile was telling think-tankers that Taliban remained untouchables for New Delhi. India’s gripe about US arms to Pakistan also went largely unaddressed. In fact, even as Rao was complaining about the potential use by Pakistan of US-supplied weapons against India, Washington had delivered from its base in Jordan a squadron of 14 AH-1 Cobra advanced helicopter gunships to Pakistan.

Times of India

Iran to step up Afghan presence

ATUL ANEJA

Within days of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Kabul, Iran has decided to increase its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan’s sensitive border province of Nimroz.

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency (FNA) is reporting that Tehran is planning to establish its consulate, during the Iranian New Year, starting from March 21.

“According to our country’s Foreign Minister, Iran’s consulate in Afghanistan’s Nimroz province will be opened in the near future,” an Iranian official was quoted as saying.

Iran has a special security interest in Nimroz, which borders the country’s turbulent Sistan-Balochistan province. Analysts say Iran has been badly hit by cross-border movement of drugs and militants into the Sistan-Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, is also important for Iran’s trade with Afghanistan. Goods from the Iranian port of Chabahar, after being ferried through Iranian territory, can be taken inside Afghanistan across a 215 km India-built highway from Zaranj to Delaram, a key junction connected to major Afghan cities.

Last month Iran captured Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the Jundallah group which has been accused of masterminding several militant attacks including assassination of senior Iranian military commanders in Sistan-Balochistan.

Observers say Iran’s diplomatic assertion in Afghanistan acquired high visibility during the visit on March 10 to Kabul by Mr. Ahmadinejad.

The visit has been followed up by a flurry of diplomatic activity involving Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar is set to meet his counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan in Islamabad this month. Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said a summit of the leaders from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan is also on the anvil. Iran’s state-run Press TV quoted Mr. Mottaki as saying the idea was discussed during Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit to Kabul, just before Mr. Karzai left for Islamabad on an official visit.