Pakistan blames “Afghan commander” for Nato attack: BBC

KARACHI: According to a BBC report, Pakistan’s military officials on Monday blamed an Afghan commander for the November 26 Nato strike on Salala check post in Mohmand agency, DawnNews reported.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the accused Afghan commander conspired on the instructions of Indian and Afghan intelligence to dismantle Pakistan’s ties with US and Nato.

According to the published report, Pakistani military officials were probing the incident on their own and also handed few details of the investigative report to their Nato counterparts across the border on Monday.

Pakistani officials demanded action against the accused Afghan National Army commander by Nato officials in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s investigative report did not indicate involvement of any American officials in the attack.

According to the report Afghani troops, without any prior notice, were patrolling an area at Pak-Afghan border which required 72 hours prior notice to Pakistani forces.

The troops deployed at Salala check post opened fire on Afghan patrol team considering them militants and subsequently Nato air defence helicopters, came to afghan team’s rescue, attacked the Pakistani post.

According to Pakistan officials, Afghans knew exact location of the post hence calling Nato for help was a pre-planned scheme.

However the ISPR rebuffed the BBC report calling it inaccurate.

N. Korea Test Fires Short-Range Missile

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast on Monday, the same day it announced the death of leader Kim Jong-Il, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

A WOMAN HANDS out free newspapers with an image of the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, in Hong Kong on Monday. North Korean state-run television announced today that Kim Jong-il died at the age of 69. (Aaron Tam / AFP via Getty Images)

The agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying the missile launch was unrelated to the announcement that Kim had died Saturday of a heart attack. "North Korea test-fired a short-range missile this morning ... it has been [closely] monitored by our military authorities," said the official, as quoted by Yonhap.

Seoul's defense ministry declined to confirm the report. The missile is believed to have a range of about 120 kilometres (72 miles), he said, adding the North was apparently trying to improve the weapon. North Korea has been testing its new KN-06 missile, a modified version of the KN-01 and KN-02 ground-to-ground missiles, Yonhap said.

The communist country has frequently conducted short-range missile tests in recent years. South Korean officials say they are part of routine exercises but the tests are sometimes timed to coincide with periods of tension.

South Korea put its military on alert as the North's state television announced that the 69-year-old leader had died.

U.S. Forces Leave Iraq After Nine Years

IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER, Kuwait - The last U.S. forces left Iraq and entered Kuwait on Dec. 18, nearly nine years after launching a divisive war to oust Saddam Hussein, and just as the oil-rich country grapples with renewed political deadlock.

SOLDIERS WAVE TO those arriving in the last American military convoy to depart Iraq after crossing over the border into Kuwait on Dec. 18 in Camp Virginia, Kuwait. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

The last of roughly 110 vehicles carrying 500-odd troops mostly from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, crossed the border at 7:38 a.m., leaving just 157 military trainers at the U.S. embassy, in a country where there were once nearly 170,000 troops on 505 bases. It ended a war that left tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,500 American soldiers dead, many more wounded, and 1.75 million Iraqis displaced, after the U.S.-led invasion unleashed brutal sectarian killing.

"It feels good, it feels real good" to be out of Iraq, Sgt. Duane Austin told AFP after getting out of his vehicle in Kuwait. "It's been a pretty long year - it's time to go home now."

The 27-year-old father-of-two, who completed three tours in Iraq, added: "It's been a long time, coming and going. It's been pretty hard on all of us ... (It will) be a nice break to get back, knowing that it's over with now."

The last vehicles transporting U.S. troops out of Iraq left the recently handed over Imam Ali Base outside the southern city of Nasiriyah at 2:30 a.m. to make the 220-mile journey south to the Kuwaiti border.

They travelled down a mostly deserted route, which U.S. forces paid Shiite tribal sheikhs to inspect regularly to ensure no attacks could take place. Five hours later, they crossed a berm at the Kuwaiti border lit with floodlights and ringed with barbed wire.

"I am proud - all Iraqis should be proud, like all those whose country has been freed," 26-year-old baker Safa, who did not want to give his real name, told AFP in Baghdad. "The Americans toppled Saddam, but our lives since then have gone backward."

A 50-year-old mother-of-four who gave her name only as Umm Mohammed, or mother of Mohammed, added: "I don't think we can ever forgive the Americans for what they did to us."

The withdrawal comes as Iraq struggles with renewed political deadlock as its main Sunni-backed bloc said it was boycotting parliament and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, moved to oust one of his deputies, a Sunni Arab.

Maliki sent an official letter to parliament urging MPs to withdraw confidence in Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, a member of the secular Iraqiya party, after Mutlak accused him of being "worse than Saddam," an aide to the premier said.

Later on Dec. 18, Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, also a Sunni and an Iraqiya member, was escorted off a plane at Baghdad airport as security forces arrested two of his bodyguards on "terrorism charges," officials and a witnesses said.

Earlier, a security official told AFP that 10 of Hashemi's guards had been detained and were being questioned in connection with terror attacks.

A day earlier, Iraqiya, which emerged as the largest bloc in inconclusive 2010 polls but was unable to form a government, said it was boycotting parliament in protest at what it said was Maliki's centralization of power.

Iraqiya, which controls 82 of the 325 seats in parliament and nine ministerial posts, has not, however, pulled out of Iraq's national unity government.

It said the government's actions, which it claimed included stationing tanks and armored vehicles outside the houses of its leaders in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, "drives people to want to rid themselves of the strong arm of central power as far as the constitution allows them to."

Provincial authorities in three Sunni-majority provinces north and west of Baghdad have all moved take up the option of similar autonomy to that enjoyed by Kurds in north Iraq, drawing an angry response from Maliki.

Key political issues such as reform of the mostly state-run economy and a law to regulate and organize the lucrative energy sector also remain unresolved, to say nothing of an explosive territorial dispute between Arabs and Kurds centered around the northern oil hub of Kirkuk.

Dec. 18's completion of the withdrawal brings to a close nearly nine years of American military involvement in Iraq, beginning with a "shock and awe" campaign in 2003 to oust Saddam, which many in Washington believed would see U.S. forces conclude their mission within months.

But key decisions taken at the time have since been widely criticized as fuelling what became a bloody Sunni Arab insurgency, in particular dissolving the Iraqi army and purging the civil service of all members of Saddam's Baath Party, including lower-rankers.

The insurgency eventually sparked communal bloodshed, particularly after the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the predominantly Sunni city of Samarra by al-Qaida. More than 100,000 Iraqis have been reported killed in violence since the invasion, according to British NGO Iraq Body Count.

The bloodshed was only quelled when then-U.S. president George W. Bush ordered a "surge" of American troops to Iraq, and Sunni tribal militias sided with U.S. forces against al-Qaida.

Baghdad and Washington signed a 2008 pact that called for the withdrawal by the end of this year, and in the summer of last year, the U.S. declared a formal end to combat operations while maintaining fewer than 50,000 troops in Iraq.

The U.S. embassy will now retain just 157 U.S. soldiers, for training Iraqi forces, and a group of Marines for security.

Attacks in Iraq remain common but violence has declined significantly since its peak.

Iraq has a 900,000-strong security force that many believe is capable of maintaining internal security but lacks the means to defend its borders, airspace and territorial waters.

Some also fear a return to bloody sectarianism, doubt the strength of Iraq's political structures, and feel that Maliki has entrenched his powerbase to the detriment of Iraq's minorities.

Taiwan Receives Two U.S. Early Warning Aircraft

TAIPEI - Taiwan received two upgraded early warning aircraft from the United States on Dec. 18, the island's air force said, as part of an arms deal that upset China-U.S. relations.

The arrival of the E-2K aircraft in southern Kaohsiung city brings to four the number of such planes in Taiwan's air force, it said, after they were sent to the United States last year for upgrades.

Taiwan acquired four E-2Ts in 1995 and added two E-2K, an improved version of the Grumman Hawkeye series, in 2006.

A pair of E-2Ts were transported to the United States for upgrading last month, as part of a $6.5 billion arms sale agreed with Taiwan in 2008, which also included advanced interceptor Patriot missiles, Apache attack helicopters and submarine-launched missiles.

Analysts say the E-2K - an all-weather early warning and control system platform with an upgraded radar, software, avionics and propellers - will further reduce warning time if China launched an air attack on the island.

Ties between Taipei and Beijing have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008 promising to boost trade links and allow more Chinese tourists to visit the island.

But Beijing still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the island has governed itself since 1949 at the end of a civil war.

China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence, prompting Taipei to seek more advanced weapons, largely from the United States.

U.S. Vows to Back Turkey Over Kurdish Rebels

ANKARA - The United States will maintain its support of Turkey in the fight against Kurdish rebels, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Dec. 16.

"In my discussions here in Ankara, I made very clear that the United States would continue to assist Turkey in confronting this threat," Panetta told a press conference.

The United States said in October it planned to sell Turkey with three new Super Cobra attack helicopters for the campaign against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in a deal worth $111 million.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community including Washington, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

The United States also said in November it was redeploying four Predator drones to Turkey from northern Iraq, with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.

"We're prepared to discuss further efforts to try to improve the capabilities" of Turkey regarding drones, Panetta said without elaborating.

Some members of the U.S. Congress are opposed to the possible provision of drones to Ankara as they are concerned about the strained ties between Turkey and Israel.

"We try to share that information with the Congress so that they understand why this is important we take those steps. We continue to explore other steps that can be taken to assist Turkey in the effort to deal with the PKK," Panetta said.

Relations between one-time allies Turkey and Israel plunged into crisis after Israeli commandos killed nine Turks on board a flagship of a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip last year.

Pakistan Measures in U.S. Defense Bill 'Counterproductive'

ISLAMABAD - Measures to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in funds for Pakistan in the recently passed U.S. defense authorization bill for 2012 have been labeled counterproductive by regional experts.

The measures seek to withhold $700 million for Pakistan until Congress is convinced by the defense secretary that Islamabad is moving to combat the IEDs used to attack NATO/ISAF troops in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government and military have not released a response to the measures.

However, former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad, Brian Cloughley, said the measures were "petty and spiteful" and "put in place by politicians who are anxious to play the patriotism card to win votes."

He said the measures were also unworkable as one of the main concerns of U.S authorities was to restrict the flow of fertilizer from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Fertilizer from Pakistan is a main ingredient in the production of homemade explosives.

Cloughley said that fertilizer was desperately needed in Afghanistan because of the generally poor soil quality and, therefore, he believes the fertilizer would be imported regardless of what the U.S. Congress wants.

"There is no possible means of detecting it other than individual search of every truck moving through official border check posts, including, of course, via northern routes," Cloughley said.

Cloughley added: "Fertilizer doesn't come only from Pakistan. It, along with much other contraband, enters through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; probably Iran, too."

He said Congress had also ignored the fact that "over 150,000 Pakistani troops have been committed to the western border, more than the U.S. and ISAF have in the whole of Afghanistan", and that "of the claimed 170,000 Afghan army troops supposed to be serving … only 3,000 to 4,000 [troops] are in the east of the country."

Even if Pakistan was able to stop the flow of fertilizer through the border crossings, Cloughley said smugglers would resort to more simple measures by loading it onto donkeys trained to make their own way across the border.

The withholding of finances is a keenly felt issue in Pakistan.

Analyst Haris Khan, of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank, said "Under the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) aid, no money or funds have been released since June 2011."

The Pakistani government and military have been somewhat silent on the non-payment of funds, Khan said.

Kahn described the silence in terms of the continued non-reimbursement of payments Pakistan made for 28 embargoed F-16C/Ds under the Pressler Amendment in the 1990s. Pakistan initially continued to make payments for the embargoed aircraft despite it being unlikely they would be released.

He said Pakistan should take a more forceful and "businesslike" approach to the non-payment of funds for services rendered, and be more active in demanding payments.

Just what Pakistan can do in this regard is uncertain, as all movement of NATO supplies through Pakistan has already stopped due to the NATO/ISAF attacks on two border posts on the night of Nov. 25/ 26.

Pakistan may not have much leverage, but Cloughley said he believes the U.S. is also in a similar position.

While the measures sound very severe, Cloughley said, "the freeze will not affect Pakistan gravely."

Ultimately, Cloughley said the measures are counterproductive as the "only definite outcome" will be "increased distrust and hatred of the U.S. throughout Pakistan."

NATO Ends Iraq Training Mission

BAGHDAD - NATO ended its training mission in Iraq on Dec. 17 as alliance officials lamented the collapse of a deal to extend it because Baghdad refused to grant its troops immunity from prosecution.

U.S. LT. GEN. Robert Caslen, center, the head of the NATO training mission in Iraq, stands next to Iraqi Chief of Staff Abu Baker Zebari, second from left, while addressing a ceremony in Baghdad marking the end of NATO's training mission there on Dec (Sabah Arar / AFP)

U.S. Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, the head of the NATO training mission, said the alliance had been willing to sign a deal with Iraq's government and did not require parliamentary approval, but Baghdad's lawyers said MPs would need to vote on any pact.

By contrast, the collapse of an agreement for a post-2011 U.S. training mission, which was being discussed between Baghdad and Washington, was due to the U.S.'s insistance that it be approved by lawmakers.

The United States has signed over its final base in the country, and virtually all remaining American forces in Iraq are due out in the coming days.

Adm. James Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, said in a letter addressed to Caslen and read at Dec. 17's ceremony that "there were hopes to continue the mission beyond 2011, and we are concluding earlier than we had hoped."

Caslen told reporters after the ceremony that NATO was willing to sign an agreement with Iraq's executive, "but ... as the lawyers reviewed it and looked at it, they thought that the immunities had to go back down to the parliament."

"They knew they weren't going to get that (approved)," he said.

He continued: "The secretary general of NATO had the authority to go ahead and approve it with whatever (authority) the Iraqi government decided."

"So the issue ended up being who in the Iraqi government had the authority to approve this ... It turned out to be, Iraqi law said the authority had to be at the legislative level."

He added that the lack of a post-2011 NATO training mission was "unfortunate".

On Nov. 29, a NATO spokesman said the alliance had been asked by Maliki to "extend its training mission until the end of 2013" and that it had "accepted this request in principle."

NATO's training mission in Iraq was aimed at assisting "in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and institutions," and as of November 2011, 12 countries were represented in its force, comprising around120 soldiers.

All will leave by year's-end. A post-2011 training mission would have involved around 110 NATO soldiers, Caslen said.