Asif Ali Zardari will be sworn in tomorrow as Pakistan's president, following his election victory at the weekend, amid warnings from opposition voices that the country is in danger of a “civilian dictatorship” after the military rule of General Pervez Musharraf. Zardari inherits a country facing a deep economic and security crisis, where the hold […]
Foget labels. In reality, two giant parties struggle perennially for power in Pakistan. One is the politicians’ party, whose candidate, Asif Ali Zardari, has just been elected president. The other is the army party, which prefers bazookas to ballot boxes. Democracy in this pivotal country is a frail blossom. And Zardari is as frail as […]
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 8 — At least 20 people were killed and 25 others injured Monday after several missiles fired by unmanned U.S. Predator drones hit a religious school and the house of a powerful Taliban commander in northwest Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan, according to witnesses and a Pakistani security official. The missile strike […]
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Explosions reportedly caused by missiles fired from U.S. drone aircraft hit a house and seminary linked to a key Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least nine people, officials and witnesses said. The blasts occurred in a village in North Waziristan, a militant stronghold in Pakistan's wild […]
Sec Treas Henry Paulson recently published an essay in CFR's Foreign Affairs magazine, which discusses leveraging trade as a platform to strengthen the SinoAmerican relationship. He writes hopeful that the next administration will engage China in a way that is responsive to its “twin priorities” of “territorial integrity and economic growth.” Paulson's theory revolves around the […]
Late in the afternoon of June 10, during a firefight with Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border, American soldiers called in airstrikes to beat back the attack. The firefight was taking place right on the border itself, known in military jargon as the "zero line." Afghanistan was on one side, and the remote Pakistani region […]
PESHAWAR, Sept 6: At least 30 people, five of them policemen, were killed and 79 wounded after a suicide car bomb ripped through a police checkpost and nearby markets on Saturday. The explosion was so powerful that it left the checkpost and two markets in the Zhangali area of the provincial capital in ruins. A […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Sept 5: An assorted majority of a parliamentary electoral college will on Saturday deliver a divisive presidency to Asif Ali Zardari, whose double march to succeed former president Pervez Musharraf in what is now Pakistan's most powerful office is marked by political skill and broken promises. The vote by the two houses of […]
New Delhi – A high-ranking Pakistani official has alleged that American ground forces crossed over from Afghanistan to carry out an attack on Pakistan soil. While the United States has frequently been connected with missile attacks in Pakistan , usually carried out by pilotless drone aircraft , this claim, if true, would mark “a threshold […]
Less than a year ago, Asif Ali Zardari would have hardly been considered a likely candidate for high office. His image was that of a flamboyant polo-playing former businessman who had to fight allegations of corruption and shake off the nickname of "Mr Ten Per Cent". But tomorrow he is widely expected to become the […]
Saturday's Pakistan presidential contest is the final stage in the consolidation of power over the past year by the Pakistan People's party, which used to be led by Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister. It also marks the return of the presidency to genuinely civilian hands for the first time since the 1999 coup […]
By common consent Pakistan stands at a critical juncture. The Islamist insurgency in Afghanistan has spread into its western tribal areas, where al-Qaida and Taliban militants are now firmly established. The “war on terror” alliance with the US is under severe strain as Washington noisily criticises the army's failure to curb extremism. Meanwhile 71% of […]
American Special forces entered South Wazirstan to target Al-Qaeda early Wednesday morning. This is a new and significant development because prior to this attack, Americans and NATO forces normally used air power to bomb suspected terrorists in Pakistani tribal areas. This attack signals that Americans and NATO forces are increasingly taking matters in their own […]
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan ‚ Helicopter-borne American Special Operations forces attacked Qaeda militants in a Pakistani village near the border with Afghanistan early Wednesday in the first publicly acknowledged case of United States forces conducting a ground raid on Pakistani soil, American officials said. Until now, allied forces in Afghanistan have occasionally carried out airstrikes […]
PESHAWAR/BEIJING: Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday claimed they had kidnapped two Chinese telecommunications engineers and two Pakistanis and that abductions would continue until the government stopped attacking militants. Talking to Daily Times over telephone, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the two Chinese engineers, their guard and driver were in the custody of his colleagues. He said […]
