Pakistan PM Agrees to Appear on Contempt Rap

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's beleaguered premier agreed on Jan. 16 to appear in court to face a contempt notice served on him for failing to re-open corruption cases, including proceedings against the president.

The Supreme Court found Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contemptand summoned him later this week, escalating pressure on a weakened government at a time of crippling tensions with the army which some analysts believe could cost the prime minister his job and force early elections.

The court wants the government to write to Swiss authorities to demand they re-open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, including multi-million-dollar money-laundering allegations, after an amnesty expired in late 2009.

Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk on Jan. 16 told the Supreme Court, which met to debate how to proceed on graft charges against Zardari, that Gilani had been ordered to appear before it on Jan. 19.

Gilani agreed to the summons in the National Assembly late Jan. 16, after his ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its coalition partners passed are solution expressing full support for democracy and democratic institutions.

"The court has summoned me and I will appear before it as a mark of respect on Jan. 19," he said in an address televised by Pakistani TV channels. "There can be difference of opinion with the judiciary and the military but they cannot either pack up or derail the whole system. Rather, they have to strengthen it."

"We have struggled for democracy," he said, adding: "We have to strengthen the parliament and democratic institutions."

As the resolution was put to vote, the main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) walked out of the house, with its leader in the assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali calling it a "smokescreen".

After days of high tension between the military and civilian leadership, the resolution insisted "all the state institutions must strictly function within the limits imposed on them by the constitution" and Pakistan's wellbeing should be ensured through democratic institutions.

Zardari and the PPP leadership insist the president is immune from prosecution as head of state and Maula Bakhsh Chandio, minister for law and parliamentary affairs, said they would take legal advice on how to proceed.

In the past, the PPP has accused the judiciary of overstepping its reach and colluding with the army to bring down the administration before its five-year mandate ends in 2013.

Last year, a Swiss prosecutor said that it would be "impossible" to reopen a case against Zardari, as he has immunity.

Supreme Court judges have outlined six options on how to proceed on graft charges against Zardari - which include finding Gilani in contempt, disqualifying the prime minister and president, and holding early elections.

Mulk said he had been left with "no option" but issue the notice to Gilani after the government ignored the court's demands.

It is only the second time that contempt of court proceedings have been initiated against a serving prime minister in Pakistan. In November 1997, prime minister Nawaz Sharif was also found in contempt in a case which ultimately led to the resignation of president Farooq Leghari.

Analysts are divided on whether Gilani could be convicted, pushed out to protect Zardari or show flexibility in order to avert a wider crisis.

"There is possibility now that the prime minister will be made a scapegoat and he may resign," senior lawyer Quosen Mufti told AFP. "Another possibility is that the prime minister will appear before the court ... If he gives the court a commitment on implementation the court can discharge the contempt notice. If not then he may be convicted."

Zardari's government is also under pressure over a memo soliciting American help to prevent a coup apparently feared in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's killing in Pakistan on May.

A close Zardari aide, Husain Haqqani, was forced to resign as ambassador to Washington and the Supreme Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the memo following a demand from the chief spymaster.

The army has carried out three coups in Pakistan, but analysts believe it has no appetite for another direct takeover, instead preferring to force early elections behind the scenes in concert with pressure from the courts.

The attorney general said Jan. 16 he had been unable to obtain crucial evidence - BlackBerry message data sent between Haqqani and U.S. businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who claims to have acted as a go-between on the memo. He said BlackBerry's makers refused to release such records without the customer's permission.

The commission adjourned the hearing until Jan. 24.

2nd U.S. Drone Strike in 2 Days Hits Pakistan

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - A U.S. missile strike targeting a militant vehicle killed four rebels on Jan. 12 in the second drone strike in 48 hours to hit Pakistan's tribal region, local security officials said.

A drone strike on Jan. 10 signaled apparent resumption of the covert CIA campaign after a two-month lull to avoid a worsening of U.S.-Pakistan relations after a NATO raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, infuriating Islamabad.

The latest missiles struck in the New Adda area, 18 miles west of Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region.

"U.S. drones fired four missiles targeting a rebel's vehicle and killed four militants," a local security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Another security official confirmed the strike and casualties. He said the identities of those killed were not immediately known.

On Jan. 10 two missiles struck a compound, also in the outskirts of Miranshah, in the first such strike since Nov. 17. Four people were killed.

The U.S. drone campaign has reportedly killed dozens of al-Qaida and Taliban operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters in the remote areas bordering Afghanistan since the first Predator strike in 2004.

But the program fuels widespread anti-American sentiment throughout Pakistan, which has been especially high since the deadly NATO incident on Nov. 26.

A joint U.S.-NATO investigation concluded last month that a catalogue of errors and botched communications led to the soldiers' deaths. But Pakistan rejected the findings, insisting the strikes had been deliberate.

NATO's probe said that both sides failed to give the other information about their operational plans or the location of troops and that there was inadequate coordination by U.S. and Pakistani officers.

The incident prompted Islamabad to block NATO supply convoys heading to Afghanistan and order the U.S. to leave Shamsi air base in western Pakistan, from where it is believed to have launched some of its drones.

Others are flown from within Afghanistan.

The region had served as the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan before the suspension triggered by the November incident.

Iran Wargames Start Near Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN - Iran on Dec. 24 began 10 days of wargames around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route in the Gulf through which more than a third of the world's ship-borne oil passes.

IRAN'S NAVY COMMANDER Adm. Habibollah Sayari points at a map during a press conference in Tehran on Dec. 22, saying that Iran will launch 10 days of naval drills on Dec. 24. (Hamed Jafarnejad / AFP via Getty Images)

The Velayat-90 military exercises, announced Dec. 22 by navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayari, kicked off as planned, Iran's Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam reported. Iranian navy forces were being deployed throughout the wargame area to the east of the Strait of Hormuz, comprising the Gulf of Oman around to the Gulf of Aden, in the first phase of the exercises, Al-Alam said, citing navy command.

The exercises were taking place at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West, with sanctions being ramped up over Tehran's nuclear program.

The United States, which maintains its own navy presence in the Gulf, has noted Iran's drill. Tehran in September rejected a Washington call for a military hotline between the capitals to defuse any "miscalculations" that could occur in the Gulf.

The wargames were ordered as the United States and its allies ratchet up economic sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil and financial sectors. More measures were expected to be imposed in coming weeks. The sanctions have helped fuel a depreciation of Iran's currency, the rial.

A rumor that spread last Dec. 13 from an Iranian lawmaker's comments that Tehran was to block the Strait of Hormuz in the drill sent the rial to a new low and oil prices soaring before it was denied by the government.

While the foreign ministry said last week such drastic action was "not on the agenda," it reiterated Iran's threat of "reactions" if the current tensions with the West spilled over into open confrontation.

Most Western countries believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's denials. Iran-U.S. tensions have also worsened over U.S. accusations of a thwarted Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Iran's capture this month of a CIA drone, and Tehran's arrest and detention of an American-Iranian it alleges is a CIA spy.

U.S. Vacates Air Base in Pakistan: Officials

QUETTA, Pakistan - The United States vacated a Pakistani airbase following a deadline given by Islamabad in the wake of anger over NATO air strikes last month that killed 24 soldiers, officials said Dec. 11.

A U.S. AIR Force plane carrying U.S. personnel and equipment prepare to take off from Pakistan's Shamsi airbase on Dec. 11. (Inter Services Public Relations via AFP)

Pakistan's military said in a statement that the last flight carrying U.S. personnel and equipment had left Shamsi airbase, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, completing a process that began last week.

Islamabad's fragile alliance with the United States crashed to new lows in the wake of the Nov. 26 NATO air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and which the Pakistan military called a deliberate attack.

The base was widely believed to have been used in covert CIA drone attacks against the Taliban and al-Qaida commanders in northwest Pakistan's tribal areas, which border Afghanistan.

"The control of the base has been taken over by the Army," the statement said.

A senior security official requesting anonymity earlier told AFP: "The Americans have vacated the Shamsi air base and it has been handed over to the Pakistani security forces."

Another official in Baluchistan confirmed that the last batch of U.S. officials left in two flights on Dec. 11.

Following the November air strikes, Pakistan closed two border crossings to Afghanistan to U.S. and NATO supplies and gave American personnel until Dec. 11 to leave Shamsi airbase.

U.S. Ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter told a Pakistan television channel last week: "We are complying with the request."

A security official said the U.S. aircraft left the Pakistani airfield around 3:00 pm with the remaining group of 32 U.S. officials and material.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Dec. 4 expressed condolences to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari for the soldier deaths and said the NATO airstrikes that killed them were not a "deliberate attack."

But the incident has rocked Washington's alliance with its counter terrorism ally Islamabad, though officials say neither country can afford a complete break in relations.

U.S. officials and intelligence analysts have said the covert drone war would not be affected by the closure of the base as Washington could fly Predator and Reaper drones out of air fields in neighboring Afghanistan. But the Shamsi air base was supposed to be particularly useful for flights hampered by poor weather conditions.

Islamabad has tacitly consented to the covert U.S. drone campaign, which many Pakistanis see as a violation of their country's sovereignty.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led forces runs through Pakistan. Roughly 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 Americans, rely on supplies from outside Afghanistan for the decade-long war effort.

Pakistan has shut off the border over previous incidents, partly to allay popular outrage, but the latest closure had entered a third week.

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a U.S. investigation into the deadly November air strikes, and decided to boycott the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan earlier this month.

Pakistan upgrades air defence system near Afghan border

Pakistan has upgraded its air defence system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft, after Nato strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, a security official told AFP on Friday.

“Now we have a fully equipped air defence system on the Afghan border. It has the capability to trace and detect any aircraft,” the official in the northwestern city of Peshawar told AFP by telephone.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the step had been taken to avert air incursions from Afghanistan and to respond to any future air strikes.
“The system has also been upgraded to immediately respond after detecting any aircraft or helicopter and to shoot it down,” he added.
Pakistan shut its border to Nato supply convoys on November 26, the same day as the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported as a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan.

Pakistan Warns of 'Detrimental Response' to Attacks

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned Dec. 9 the U.S. and its NATO allies that any future cross-border attack would meet with a "detrimental response".

U.S.-Pakistani relations plunged to a new low last month after a cross-border NATO air strike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Gilani made the comments while meeting army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the prime minister's secretariat said in a statement.

"The democratic government would not allow similar attack on the country's sovereignty and any attempt in future will definitely meet the detrimental response," the statement quoted Gilani as saying.

Pakistani security officials earlier said they had upgraded the air defense system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft.

Kayani informed the prime minister of the steps taken on the western boarders to revamp defense capabilities aimed at effectively countering any future incursion into Pakistani territory.

"The government and the people of Pakistan were ready to provide the armed forces all the necessary resources to bolster its defense and professional capabilities," Gilani said.

Pakistan shut its border to NATO supply convoys on Nov. 26, hours after the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported to be a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan.

The Nov. 26 attack brought the fragile Pakistani-U.S. alliance to a fresh low, already reeling from a covert American raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden near the Pakistani capital on May 2.

Clinton Calls Pakistan PM Over Air Strike Deaths

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Dec. 3 called Pakistan's prime minister to offer condolences over the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops killed in NATO air strikes, the State Department said.

In the call with Yousuf Raza Gilani, Clinton "reiterated America's respect for Pakistan's sovereignty and commitment to working together in pursuit of shared objectives on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect," it said.

"She once again expressed condolences to the families of the soldiers and to the Pakistani people for the tragic and unintended loss of life," it said in a statement.

Following the strikes, Pakistan decided not to take part in this week's Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan - a decision which, together with the Taliban's boycott, has cast the event's usefulness into doubt.

A statement from Gilani's office said he told Clinton that Pakistan's non-attendance was not open to review since it had already received the backing of parliament's national security committee.

The committee "has supported the decision of the cabinet not to participate in the Bonn Conference," the statement quoted Gilani as telling Clinton.

Meanwhile, he said, parliament was looking into the general issue of Pakistan's relationship with the United States.

"The parliament was seized of the matter of terms of cooperation with the U.S. This will ensure national ownership and clarity about the relationship," the statement quoted him as saying.

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a U.S. investigation into the air strikes on the Afghan border which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Nov. 26.

The incident has exacerbated fears of a prolonged crisis in relations, after Pakistan also shut down NATO's vital supply line into Afghanistan and ordered American personnel to leave Shamsi air base. The base is widely understood to have been a hub for the covert CIA drone war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan's troubled border areas with Afghanistan.

Still-angry Pakistan Backs Out of Afghan Conference

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan decided Nov. 29 to boycott a key international conference on Afghanistan next month, ramping up its protest over lethal cross-border NATO air strikes that have plunged U.S. ties into deep crisis.

The decision was taken at a Pakistani cabinet meeting in the eastern city of Lahore, days after Islamabad confirmed it was mulling its attendance in the German city of Bonn, where Pakistan's participation was considered vital.

"The cabinet has decided not to attend the Bonn meeting," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister's office said the cabinet agreed that "unilateral action" such as the Nov. 26 strike in the tribal district of Mohmand and the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden near the capital was "unacceptable."

U.S.-led investigators have been given until Dec. 23 to probe the attacks, threatening to prolong significantly Pakistan's blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan implemented in retaliation for the killings.

The U.S. military appointed Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark to lead the investigation into the attack.

The team, set to include a NATO representative, is yet to arrive in Afghanistan but an initial military assessment team went to the border at the weekend after the catastrophic strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

The Afghan and Pakistani governments are also being invited to take part.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad or Kabul, although some analysts voiced surprise that it will take as long as nearly four weeks.

A Western military official in Kabul said the schedule for the findings being delivered was "way quicker" than initially expected.

U.S.-Pakistani ties have been in free fall since a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in January, and the latest attack raises disturbing questions about the extent to which the two allies cooperate with each other.

Islamabad insists that the air strikes were unprovoked, but Afghan and Western officials have reportedly accused Pakistani forces of firing first.

"With the kind of technology available to the U.S. and NATO, it was expected they would be able to do it [the investigation] much earlier, not more than two weeks," Pakistani defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

In Pakistan, angry protests over the NATO strikes pushed into a fourth day, with 150 to 200 people demonstrating in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, setting fire to an American flag and an effigy of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The crowd carried banners and shouted: "Those who befriend America are traitors" and "We are ready for jihad," an AFP reporter said.

Pakistan has vowed no more "business as usual" with the United States. In addition to shutting its Afghan border, it has ordered Americans to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and a review of the alliance.

Yet behind the rhetoric, Islamabad has little wriggle room, being dependent on U.S. aid dollars and fearful of the repercussions for regional security as American troops wind down their presence in Afghanistan in the coming years.

In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stopped short of threatening to break the alliance altogether saying: "That can continue on mutual respect and mutual interest."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said U.S. President Barack Obama believed the latest incident was "a tragedy," and said Washington valued what he called an "important cooperative relationship that is also very complicated."

Last time Pakistan closed the border, in September 2010 after up to three soldiers were killed in a similar cross-border raid, it only reopened the route after the United States issued a full apology.

The U.S. military has insisted the war effort in Afghanistan would continue and has sought to minimize the disruption to regular supply lines.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led troops runs through Pakistan.

About 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 American forces, rely on supplies from the outside to fight the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Yet so far, officials say there has been no sign that Islamabad would bar the U.S. aircraft from flying over Pakistan.

NATO Scrambles to Contain Pakistan Fallout

BRU.S.SELS - NATO moved Nov. 27 to contain the damage from the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers, seeking to soothe Islamabad's rage against the U.S. and its military allies in Afghanistan over the airstrike.

Pakistani protesters burn U.S. and NATO flags during a protest in Multan on Nov. 27. (S.S Mirza / AFP)

Alliance Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stopped short of issuing a full apology to Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani for the "tragic, unintended" killings, which he deemed "regrettable".

Against a backdrop of longstanding pressure on Pakistan to step up the fight against "terrorists" hiding out in the border region with Afghanistan, Rasmussen's statement followed a flurry of overnight diplomacy.
He had initially left the issue Nov. 26 in the hands of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting the U.S.-led war and which includes non-NATO allies, letting the commander on the ground deal with the immediate fallout.
But as Pakistan's anger mounted in the hours following the strike early Nov. 26 and Islamabad ordered a full-scale review of its frosty alliance with Washington and the military bloc, NATO headquarters decided to react.
An official said allies had sought to ascertain "exactly what was meant" by Pakistan's public position and to prevent lasting damage from the suspension of supply lines for Afghanistan and an order for U.S. troops to leave a secretive air base in Pakistan.
Pakistan represents a vital life-line for 130,000 foreign troops, mostly American, fighting in landlocked Afghanistan, and Rasmussen joined U.S. efforts in a scramble to salvage cooperation.
"I have written to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to make it clear that the deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel," Rasmussen said in a statement, deeming the strike "a tragic unintended incident."
Pakistan says two border posts were fired upon "unprovoked" in the early hours of Nov. 26 in Pakistan's tribal Mohmand district, and on Nov. 27 conveyed its "rage" to the United States.
An ISAF investigation into the incident is likely to ask whether Afghan and American troops on the Afghan side of the border were fired upon first - whether by insurgents or Pakistani military.
"I fully support the ISAF investigation which is currently underway," Rasmussen said of the International Security Assistance Force fighting the war and which includes non-NATO allies.
"We will determine what happened, and draw the right lessons," Rasmussen added.
The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan has admitted it is "highly likely" that the force's aircraft caused the deaths before dawn on Saturday.
As the first funerals took place Nov. 27 for the dead Pakistani soldiers, NATO was trying to reopen the Pakistani-Afghan border after Islamabad on Nov. 26 held up convoys at two key crossings.
It is not the first time Pakistan shut the main land route in, after a 10-day closure in September 2010 following the deaths of three troops then.
The border was reopened after the United States formally apologized.
Pakistan, battling its own Taliban insurgency in the northwest, is dependent on billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
Relations between Pakistan and the United States have been in crisis since American troops killed Osama bin Laden in May this year near the capital without prior warning and after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January.

Pakistan Condemns 'Unprovoked' Border Attack

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan accused NATO and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of a deliberate and unprovoked attack on two of its border posts along the Afghan-Pakistan border on the night of Nov. 25/26, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, and wounding 13.

Trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan are parked Nov. 26 at the Pakistan's Torkham border crossing after Pakistani authorities suspended NATO supplies. (STR / AFP via Getty Images)

A statement from the Army's Inter Services Press Release, said the attack on the two army-manned posts in Mohmand Agency had been "unprovoked" and that the chief of army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, "strongly condemned NATO/ISAF's blatant and unacceptable act".

The release also stated Kayani had "directed that all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act," and that a "strong protest" had been lodged with NATO/ISAF which demanded "strong and urgent action" be taken against those responsible for the "aggression."
Pakistan sealed its Afghan border to NATO, shutting down a lifeline for the estimated 130,000 U.S.-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban, and called on the United States to leave a secretive air base reportedly used by CIA drones.
The Associated Press of Pakistan said a strong protest had been lodged with U.S ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter. Protests were also lodged in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Pakistani foreign office issued a statement saying the attacks were "totally unacceptable, constituted a grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty, were violative of international law and a serious transgression of the oft conveyed red lines and could have serious repercussions on Pakistan-U.S./NATO/ISAF cooperation."
No further details of the attack or explanation were forthcoming from the Pakistan Army or the Air Force when asked just how the attack was able to take place in the aftermath of the U.S. Navy Seals raid into Pakistan in May when the military was supposed to be more alert to threats emanating from the western border, or why ISAF/NATO attacked posts they knew to be manned by the Pakistan Army, or why the Pakistan Air Force was not able to intervene.
South Asia analysts and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad Brian Cloughley said the consequences of the raid would be probably severe.
"This is quite outrageous and I have no doubt it signifies the end of the last lingering shreds of trust that the Pakistan army had for the U.S.," Cloughely said.
He added: "The locations of Pakistani posts have been notified to ISAF. There is no excuse whatever for this incident, especially after the meeting between Kayani and [ISAF commander Gen. John R] Allen."
Cloughley visited Mohmand Agency in early November and was hosted by the Pakistan Army's 77 Brigade that is based there. The brigade had just concluded Operation Brekhna, a three-phase operation to clear the area of some one thousand Taliban militants that took place between January and September 2011.
The operation faced substantial threats from IEDs (which accounted for 47 of the brigade's 74 killed), uncovered nine bomb factories, and an elaborate tunnel system (one part of which contained a 40-bed hospital).
Cloughley also said the Pakistani officers complained that no ISAF or Afghan forces were based between the border and the Kunar River in Afghanistan, and that this area had militant bases (which remained unharmed) from where raids were carried out into Pakistan.
A raid emanating from this area of Afghanistan in August killed 16 Frontier Scouts in the Pakistani region of Chitral.
Information from Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.

U.S. 'Confident' on Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Safety

WASHINGTON - The United States believes that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands, a State Department spokesman said Nov. 9, rebutting a report that Islamabad's atomic arsenal was vulnerable to theft.
Two U.S. publications, The Atlantic and the National Journal, citing unnamed sources, last week said Pakistan had transported nuclear weapons in low-security vans on congested roads to hide them from U.S. spy agencies.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that the United States was not persuaded that safety had been compromised.
"We have confidence that the government of Pakistan is well aware of the range of potential threats to its nuclear arsenal and is accordingly giving very high priority to securing its nuclear weapons and materials effectively," Toner told reporters. "We continue to have confidence... that they're taking appropriate steps," he said.
Pakistan at the weekend rejected as "pure fiction" the report's assertion that transporting the weapons in such a manner had made them more susceptible to theft by Islamist militants.

Afghan soldier turns gun on Australian troops, wounds three

Last updated: 2 hours ago

An Afghan soldier shot and wounded three Australian and two Afghan troops . — Photo by AFP

KABUL: An Afghan soldier shot and wounded three Australian and two Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan, the third such surprise attack against Australians in the past five months, officials said on Wednesday.
The shooting comes after a string of attacks by “rogue” soldiers and police, or by insurgents who have infiltrated security forces.
Such attacks are especially damaging as the Afghan National Army (ANA) tries to win public trust before Afghan forces take full responsibility for security nationwide.
Foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
The ANA soldier opened fire with a grenade launcher and an automatic weapon from a position overlooking a patrol base in Uruzgan province late on Tuesday, Australia’s Defence Force commander David Hurley said.
The Australian soldiers sustained wounds that were not life-threatening but serious, while the two Afghan soldiers also shot at the base were in a satisfactory condition, Hurley and a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said.
The Afghan soldier fled the scene in an army vehicle, Hurley said. ISAF said a search for him was still underway.
Tuesday’s shooting followed a similar attack less than two weeks ago in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, when an Afghan soldier shot and killed three Australian soldiers and an Afghani interpreter.
In May, an Afghan soldier killed an Australian service member who had been mentoring the Afghan army, ISAF said, an attack which also took place in Uruzgan province.
The Afghan soldier was later killed when he refused arrest, ISAF said.
The latest shooting prompted the Australian Greens political party to renew their call for Australia to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, where it has around 1,500 troops.
But Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who made a surprise visit to Kabul in the past week, said Australia would stick with its military commitments in Afghanistan.
“As distressing as these incidents are, as dreadful as these incidents are, our mission in Afghanistan does need to continue,” Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.
“Training is pivotal to that mission and our purpose in Afghanistan is to deny Afghanistan as a country in which terrorists can train to wreak violence around the world.”
In September, an Afghan guard employed by the US embassy opened fire inside a CIA office in Kabul, killing an American contractor.

Pakistan Rebuts Report on Movement of Nukes

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Nov. 6 angrily rejected a report that it had been moving its nuclear weapons in unsafe conditions, saying nobody should underestimate its capability to defend itself.
Two U.S. magazines reported Nov. 4 that Pakistan has begun moving its nuclear weapons in low-security vans on congested roads to hide them from U.S. spy agencies, making the weapons more vulnerable to theft by Islamist militants.

The Atlantic and the National Journal, in a joint report citing unnamed sources, wrote that the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden on May 2 at his Pakistani compound reinforced Islamabad's longstanding fears that Washington could try to dismantle the country's nuclear arsenal.
But in a statement, Pakistan's foreign ministry said the report was "pure fiction, baseless and motivated. It is part of a deliberate propaganda campaign meant to mislead opinion."
Pakistan has consistently rejected concerns over the safety of its nuclear arsenal and alluded to a smear campaign.
"The surfacing of such campaigns is not something new. It is orchestrated by quarters that are inimical to Pakistan," said the statement.
The ministry said Pakistan was capable of defending itself.
"No one should underestimate Pakistan's will and capability to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests."
After the bin Laden raid, the head of the Strategic Plans Divisions (SPD), which is charged with safeguarding Pakistan's atomic weapons, was ordered to take action to keep the location of nuclear weapons and components hidden from the United States, the report said.
Khalid Kidwai, the retired general who leads the SPD, expanded his agency's efforts to disperse components and sensitive materials to different facilities, it said.
But instead of transporting the nuclear parts in armored, well-defended convoys, the atomic bombs "capable of destroying entire cities are transported in delivery vans on congested and dangerous roads," according to the report.
The pace of the dispersal movements has increased, raising concerns at the Pentagon, it said.
The article, based on dozens of interviews, said the U.S. military has long had a contingency plan in place to disable Pakistan's nuclear weapons in the event of a coup or other worst-case scenario.

Chinese Cyber-Espionage Growing: U.S. Report

TAIPEI - A new U.S. intelligence report declares the most active and persistent perpetrator of economic espionage is China.
The report, issued by the U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX), draws on the inputs and reporting from more than a dozen U.S. law enforcement and intelligence collection bodies, including the CIA, FBI, DIA and NSA.

China views economic espionage as an "essential tool in achieving national security and economic prosperity," the report said.
The report - "Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace: Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2009-2011" - indicates the U.S. intelligence community judges the use of cyber tools is now a greater threat than more traditional espionage methods.
A recent Chinese espionage case in the U.S. contrasts the shift from traditional espionage tradecraft to today's cyber espionage techniques. Dongfan Chung, a former Boeing and Rockwell engineer who had worked on the B-1 bomber and space shuttle, was sentenced by a U.S. Federal Court in 2010 to 15 years for having 250,000 pages of sensitive documents in his home.
"This is suggestive of the volume of information Chung could have passed to his handlers between 1979 to 2006," the report said.
The logistics of handling the physical volume of so many documents, equal to "four 4-drawer filing cabinets," are staggering. However, according to the report, today the information could have easily fit onto a compact disc or transferred via e-mail. "Cyberspace makes possible the near instantaneous transfer of enormous quantities of economic and other information."
The costs of cyber espionage on commercial U.S. business are high.
■ Between 2008 and 2009 an employee of Valspar Corporation, David Yen Lee, downloaded proprietary paint formulas valued at $20 million with the intent of selling it to China.
■ Meng Hong, a Dupont Corporation research chemist, downloaded proprietary information on organic light-emitting diodes in 2009 with the intent of transferring the data to a Chinese university.
■ Yu Xiang Dong, a product engineer with Ford Motor Company, copied 4,000 Ford documents onto an external hard drive in 2009 with the intent of transferring the data to an automotive company in China.
China's intelligence services seek to "exploit" Chinese citizens or persons with family ties to China to recruit. Of the seven cases that were adjudicated under the Economic Espionage Act in 2010, six involved a link to China.
U.S. corporations and cyber security specialists have reported an "onslaught" of computer network intrusions originating from China. "Some of these reports have alleged a Chinese corporate or government sponsor of the activity," but the U.S. intelligence community has not been able to confirm these reports.
In a study released in February, McAfee attributed an intrusion attempt they labeled "Night Dragon" to a Chinese Internet Protocol (IP) address and indicated the intruders stole data from the computer systems of petrochemical companies.
In January 2010, VeriSign iDefense identified the Chinese government as the sponsor of intrusions into Google's networks.
MANDIANT, a cyber security company, reported in 2010 that information was pilfered from the corporate networks of a U.S. Fortune 500 company during business negotiations in which the company was looking to acquire a Chinese firm.
The report states that China is driven by its longstanding policy of "catching up fast and surpassing" the Western powers. "An emblematic program in this drive is Project 863, which provides funding and guidance for efforts to clandestinely acquire U.S. technology and sensitive economic information." Project 863 lists the development of "key technologies for the construction of China's information infrastructure."
In terms of military technology, China is focusing on two areas: marine systems designed to jump-start the development of a blue-water navy, and aerospace systems that will allow China's air force to develop air supremacy.
The U.S. is not the only victim of Chinese cyber espionage, according to the report. South Korea claims that in 2008 the country lost $82 billion in proprietary information from Chinese and other hackers. Japan's Ministry of Economic, Trade and Industry (METI) conducted a survey of 625 manufacturing firms in 2007 and found that more than 35 percent reported some form of technology loss and more than 60 percent of those leaks involved China.
Since late 2010, hackers have accessed more than 150 computers at France's Finance Ministry, exfiltrating and redirecting documents relating to the French G20 presidency to Chinese sites.
The British Security Service's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure warned hundreds of business leaders in 2010 of Chinese economic espionage practices, including the giving of gifts of cameras and memory sticks equipped with cyber implants at trade fairs and exhibitions.
German officials also noted that business travelers' laptops are often stolen during trips to China. "The Germans in 2009 highlighted an insider case in which a Chinese citizen downloaded highly sensitive product data from the unidentified German company where he worked to 170 CDs," the report says.
China always denies reports of being involved in cyber espionage and often responds with counteraccusations.

U.S. Reins in Drones Over Diplomatic Concerns

WASHINGTON - The U.S. spy agency has quietly tightened its rules on drone strikes in Pakistan over concerns about their impact on tense relations with Islamabad, the Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 3.

Pakistanis protest U.S. drone strikes on Oct. 28 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Concerned about strained relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, the CIA has tightened rules on drone strikes, according to the Wall Street Journal. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP via Getty Images)

The Journal, citing senior officials, said the new rules resulted from a behind-the-scenes battle between an aggressive Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military and diplomatic officials concerned about relations with Pakistan.

A high-level review reaffirmed support for the drone program - which has killed hundreds of militants, including top commanders, in recent years - but established new rules to minimize the diplomatic blowback, the Journal said.
The changes reportedly include granting the State Department greater sway in strike decisions, giving Pakistani leaders advance warning of more operations and suspending operations when Pakistani officials visit the United States.
"It's not like they took the car keys away from the CIA," the Journal quoted a senior official as saying. "There are just more people in the car."
The Journal said the debate was sparked by a particularly deadly drone strike on March 17 that took place just one day after Pakistan agreed to release a CIA contractor who had killed two Pakistanis.
Tensions between the two allies escalated throughout the spring, climaxing in May with the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in a secret U.S. commando raid carried out without Islamabad's knowledge.
At issue in the debate over drones were so-called "signature strikes," in which unmanned drones fire on groups of suspected militants without necessarily knowing all their identities.
These strikes, which make up the bulk of operations, are seen as more controversial than "personality" strikes, which target alleged top militants, the Journal said.
U.S. officials do not publicly discuss the drone program, but they claim to have substantially weakened al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months by taking out top leaders.
Pakistan has criticized the program, however, saying it inflames anti-American sentiment and extremism by killing scores of civilians.