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Pakistan Government in Jeopardy? 21 Soldiers Killed by Taliban in Brazen Attack

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WASHINGTON – The latest killing of 21 captured Pakistani troops by the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, has indicated a rising threat to the very authority of the Pakistani government, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

This followed an attack in early December on Peshawar Air Force Base which raised serious questions on the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal. While the attack proved unsuccessful, the brazenness raised further security and public concerns about the commitment of the militants to take down the government.

The air base itself is located close to the northwest tribal areas where Pakistani and U.S. forces have continuous firefights with the Taliban, who are attempting to threaten Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

The attack on the Peshawar Air Force Base isn’t the first such attack on a military facility. There also have been attacks on Minhas Air Force Base in Kamra where a squadron of U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets is located.

Ironically, publicity of the attacks apparently has encouraged the TTP to launch even more brazen attacks, with the idea of seeking to undermine the stability of the government and its military and create doubt in the public’s mind on both institutions maintaining order.

Read more from this story HERE.

Top Pakistani Militant Commander Killed in US Drone Strike

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An American drone strike in Pakistan has killed top Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir, a senior intelligence official confirms to FoxNews.com.

Nazir, along with five close associates, was killed in a US drone strike, which took place near the town of Wana in Sar Kanda area of Birmil of South Wazristan Agency, one of seven federally administered tribal areas where militants thrive.

“The information we have received from our ground sources confirmed the death,” a senior Pakistan Army Intelligence official told FoxNews.com. “The vehicle in which the key Taliban war lord was traveling in was struck by two missiles.”

The Pakistani official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. rarely comments on its secretive drone program, and Pentagon spokesman George Little said he could not confirm Nazir’s death, but he added that if true, it would be “a significant blow” to extremist groups in the region.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Senate Votes 81 to 10 to Reject Limits on Aid to Pakistan, Libya, and Egypt (+video)

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This past weekend, the United States Senate voted 81 to 10 to reject Senator Rand Paul’s effort to limit financial aid to Pakistan, Libya, and Egypt until the countries surrender the individuals responsible for the recent attacks against US interests within their borders.

In urging passage of this foreign aid limitation, Senator Paul criticized Hillary Clinton’s efforts to award more aid to Egypt despite the nation’s vehemently anti-American actions over the last several months. He also slammed other anti-US actions taken by these supposed allies.

The following is a video of Senator Paul’s speech on the Senate floor. I recommend you skip the first 3:45 of the video:

And, in case you were wondering, Alaska’s Senators Murkowski and Begich voted against any limits on Pakistan’s, Libya’s, and Egypt’s foreign aid. All other Senators’ voting records appear HERE, too.

US Buys Advertising on Pakistani National TV to Broadcast Obama Denouncing Anti-Muslim Video

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The US Embassy in Islamabad is spending $70,000 to run advertisements on Pakistani TV showing US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denouncing an anti-Islam video that has sparked protests in many Muslim nations.

The American Embassy in Islamabad, in a bid to tamp down public rage over the anti-Islam film produced in the U.S., is spending $70,000 to air an ad on Pakistani television that features President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denouncing the video.

The State Department said Thursday the embassy had compiled brief clips of Obama and Clinton rejecting the contents of the movie and extolling American tolerance for all religions into a 30-second public service announcement that is running on seven Pakistani networks. Obama and Clinton’s comments, which are from previous public events in Washington, are in English but subtitled in Urdu, the main Pakistani language.

Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the aim was to get the messages to the widest possible audience in Pakistan, where tens of thousands of protestors angry about the film tried to reach the U.S. embassy before being turned back by Pakistani police. She said embassy staffers had decided the ads were the best way to spread the word. The seven networks have a potential audience of 90 million people, she added.

“The sense was that this particular aspect of the president and the secretary’s message needed to be heard by more Pakistanis than had heard, and that this was an effective way to get that message out,” Nuland told reporters in Washington. The ads are not running in other countries, she said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pakistan Calls National Holiday So Citizens Can Protest US Video; 2000 Try to Storm US Embassy

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Photo credit: Omer Wazir

Some 2,000 protesters attempted to storm the US Embassy in the Pakistani capital on Thursday, even as US officials in the country tried to staunch lingering anti-US fervor by posting ads condemning the anti-Islam film that sparked worldwide attacks on US interests.

Riot police used tear gas and batons to keep the stone-throwing demonstrators away from the guarded enclave housing the embassy, and hundreds of shipping containers were lined up to cordon off the area. The government later called in army troops to protect the restricted areas when it appeared that police could not handle the situation.

“It is our responsibility to protect all our diplomats, all the foreigners,” said Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. He criticized protesters for resorting to violence and suggested that various religious and militant groups among the crowd were to blame.

Most of the protesters appeared to be students affiliated with the Islamist hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party. Flags from other Islamist groups, Jamaat-u-Dawa and the al-Qaeda linked militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, could be seen flying among the crowd. Demonstrators also rallied peacefully in the Pakistani cities of Lahore, Chaman, Karachi and Peshawar.

The demonstrations are expected to grow on Friday, the traditional Muslim day of prayer. The Pakistani government deemed Friday a national holiday so people can demonstrate peacefully against the film.

Read more from this story HERE.

Al Qaeda Releases Video of American Hostage Captured in Pakistan (+video)

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By Muhammad Lila. Al Qaeda has released a new video of American hostage Warren Weinstein delivering a personal message to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

In the video, Weinstein, 71, believed to be held in the tribal regions along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, appears healthy and calm, speaking in a soft, controlled manner.

“Unfortunately President Obama and the American government have shown no interest in my case,” Weinstein says in the video, seated on a chair with his back slightly slouched, wearing a thin white t-shirt.

“Therefore, as a Jew, I’m appealing to you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the head of the Jewish state of Israel, one Jew to another, to please intervene on my behalf.”

Weinstein, a former Peace Corps and USAID official, was kidnapped from his home in an upscale neighborhood in Lahore in August 2011 after gunmen tricked his security guard into letting them enter the premises. At the time, Weinstein was working as the country director for J.E. Austin Associates, a consultancy firm whose website states its goal is to “improve productivity, to enhance competitiveness, to strengthen management and strategy implementation, and to facilitate economic development.” According to the website, the company works with government and non-government organizations. Read more from this story HERE.

This ABC News Report includes segments from the Al Qaeda video:

Report: Pakistani Blasphemy Case Against Christian Down Syndrome Girl Fabricated

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The case against a Pakistani Christian girl potentially facing a death sentence for allegedly burning sacred Islamic texts has been thrown into doubt after her local mullah was arrested on accusations of tampering with evidence in order to frame her.

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti appeared in court on Sunday after witnesses claimed to have seen him adding pages of the Qur’an to a bag of ashes Rimsha Masih had been carrying away for disposal last month in order to strengthen the case against her.

Although many of the cases brought under the country’s much criticised blasphemy laws are thought to be spurious, the Rimsha case is thought to be the first time in the more than two decades since the laws were introduced that someone has been arrested for fabricating evidence.

But while the dramatic turn of events delighted the girl’s supporters, a prosecution lawyer insisted he would press ahead with the case against her.

Last month a local man, Malik Hammad, spotted the girl with the ashes and accused her of burning a prayer book that included passages from the Qur’an, a particularly provocative form of blasphemy which can carry the death penalty.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Pakistanis Demanding Death Penalty for Christian Girl with Downs Syndrome for Blasphemy

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Pakistani Police say an 11-year old disabled girl was arrested last week in a Christian area of the capital Islamabad, after a crowd of people demanded that she be punished for allegedly desecrating pages of the Muslim holy book. Here’s a BBC report on the girl’s current status:

Political Correctness Causing US Generals to Ignore Islam as Cause of Increased Afghan Casualties?

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Photo credit: isafmedia

The U.S. Army command recently announced that only 25% of the lethal “green on blue” Afghan military insider attacks against U.S. and N.A.T.O. troops were attributable to the Taliban. Mere “personal grievances,” we are told, account for the other 75% of attacks committed by our Afghan allies.

How could it be that so many Muslims in the Afghan National Army (A.N.A.) have become murderously enraged over personal disagreements and accidental insults? What has caused this upsurge in murders that has killed at least 40 U.S. troops since January 2012?

The answer is buried deep in a May 12, 2011 unclassified report by a U.S. Army “Red Team.” This report, titled “A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility,” contains a litany of bureaucratic puffery that tries to explain away these acts of murder committed against the U.S. and N.A.T.O. troops by their A.N.A. “allies.”

During a recent press conference, General John R. Allen, Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, claimed that Ramadan fasting, combined with operational tempo during the summer heat, were causing the current spate of killings of his own troops by Muslim A.N.A. soldiers.

That doesn’t seem right. The U.S. Army has been in Afghanistan for 11 years, and the number of attacks has climbed enormously in the last year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Afghanistan: America’s forgotten war

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It was once President Barack Obama’s “war of necessity.” Now, it’s America’s forgotten war.

The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It’s not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress – even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.

Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They’re more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted “Stop the war!” They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.

By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that’s long enough.

Public opinion remains largely negative toward the war, with 66 percent opposed to it and just 27 percent in favor in a May AP-GfK poll. More recently, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of registered voters felt the U.S. should no longer be involved in Afghanistan. Just 31 percent said the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting there now.

Read more from this story HERE.