there have been strong rumours about quetta for a while now…even some locals have claimed to have seen activity …
there is growing pressure on pakistan to stop supporting the taliban…they say theyhave but secretly they have nt…
i think it wont be longer before sanctions are imposed eventually…but can they afford to alienate pakistan?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1778443,00.html>
Excerpt:
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Pakistan sheltering Taliban, says British officer
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]· Colonel’s outburst follows multiple terror attacks
· Afghanistan president says Quetta used as base
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Declan Walsh in Kandahar
Friday May 19, 2006
The Guardian [FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]
A senior British officer accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to use its territory as a “headquarters” for attacks on western troops in Afghanistan as insurgents struck on multiple fronts yesterday. In one of the worst 24-hour periods since they were ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban launched two suicide bombs, numerous firefights and a massive assault on a village in Helmand province, where 3,300 British soldiers are being deployed. The violence, which started on Wednesday night, caused 105 deaths including 87 Taliban, 15 police, an American civilian and a Canadian woman soldier, according to the highest estimates. British forces were not involved.
Colonel Chris Vernon, chief of staff for southern Afghanistan, said the Taliban leadership was coordinating its campaign from the western Pakistani city of Quetta, near the Afghan border. “The thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta in Pakistan. It’s the major headquarters,” he told the Guardian. “They use it to run a series of networks in Afghanistan.”
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, echoed these comments by accusing Pakistan of arming the insurgents. “Pakistani intelligence gives military training to people and then sends them to Afghanistan with logistics,” the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency quoted him as saying.
Col Vernon said the Quetta leadership controlled “about 25” mid-level commanders dotted across the Afghan south, one of whom was captured last month. He declined to name him.
The unusually forthright British criticism, reflecting sentiments normally expressed in private by western commanders, drew a furious denial from the Pakistani military…
<http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/05/249D4663-3884-4B0F-8E04-41D51BB71A0B.html >
**South Asia: Afghan President Reignites Feud With Pakistan Over Insurgency **
By Golnaz Esfandiari Pakistan today rejected fresh charges by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the country is providing a training ground for militants and allowing them to infiltrate Afghanistan. Karzai made the accusations on May 18 after an upsurge in violence that appears to have left more than 100 people dead.
PRAGUE, May 19, 2006 (RFE/RL) – President Karzai angrily denounced the violence during a visit to Kunar, near the Pakistani border.
He blamed religious extremists and intelligence services in Pakistan.
“We have precise information that in the madrasahs of Pakistan, young boys are being told to go to Afghanistan and join the jihad, burn schools, and destroy clinics because ‘infidels’ are in Afghanistan,” Karzai said…
