All Pakistan Blog

The meetings have been facilitated by Germany and Qatar, but American officials have been present each time, meeting with Tayeb Agha, who is a close personal assistant to Mullah Omar, the officials said. The C.I.A. and the State Department have been involved in the meetings, one official said.

Talks have begun before the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2.

The presence of Mr. Agha, a longtime personal assistant of the reclusive Taliban leader, is a sign that the Taliban are serious despite their public opposition to peace talks, the officials said. 

Yet the senior Afghan official cautioned that the meetings might not represent much because Mr. Agha was known to be no longer particularly close to Mullah Omar. Mr. Agha was a much trusted personal assistant, answering phone calls and making appointments for Mullah Omar, for most of the Taliban’s time in power, from 1994 to 2001. 

The meetings have been conducted without the participation of Pakistan.

Germany, which has troops in northern Afghanistan, has led the process with the Taliban and hosted some meetings, while Qatar has hosted another, according to the officials.

"The wreckage of the helicopter destroyed in the bin Laden operation was returned over the weekend and is now back in the United States," Colonel Dave Lapan said.

The helicopter was damaged in a hard landing at bin Laden's compound and US special forces deliberately blew it up after gunning down the Al-Qaeda leader in the May 1-2 raid, officials have said.

Photographs of the tail of the wrecked helicopter fueled speculation among experts and aviation enthusiasts that the aircraft was a secret model with design features to reduce noise or foil radar detection -- most likely a modified Blackhawk.

Pakistan had said earlier this month that it would not share the damaged helicopter with China, which has been accused of buying up wreckage of US military aircraft to get an insight into American defense technology.

Tensions between the United States and its ally Pakistan have run high since bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the world's most wanted man, was found living in Abbottabad, a garrison town near Islamabad.

Relief and rescue teams have rushed to the site and initiated their work. The injured are being shifted to Khyber Teaching Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital.

It is said that the blast was heard across Peshawar city. Windowpanes of the nearby buildings were smashed into pieces in the blast. Security forces have cordoned off the area.

According to the sources, fresh commandos have reached PNS Mehran on Monday morning and its Zarar company is participating in the operation while helicopter are also being used for surveillance.

Fifteen bomb explosions have been heard so far since militants assaulted PNS Mehran.

Navy spokesman said that two P-3C Orion aircrafts have completely destroyed in the attack while five including four navy and one rangers personnel have been killed while nine others received injuries.

He expressed hope that operation would soon be concluded.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu stopped short of directly criticising the daring raid by US special forces on Pakistani soil that ended with bin Laden's death but said national sovereignty "should be respected" at all times.

"Pakistan is at the forefront of the international counter-terrorism effort. The international community should understand and support Pakistan," Jiang told a press conference.

"We support Pakistan's position and understand and support Pakistan formulating and implementing a counter-terrorism strategy based on its national conditions."

Since Sunday's raid, Pakistan has been on the defensive over its failure to find bin Laden, who was living in a compound near the country's top military academy in Abbottabad.

Islamabad has rejected those criticisms, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani saying that the United States and other countries shared the blame for not finding bin Laden sooner.

Gilani on Wednesday called on the "entire world" to help Pakistan fight terrorism and extremism -- a call quickly answered by its close ally Beijing.

"We believe that terrorism is a public enemy of the international community and the international community should work together to combat the potential terrorist threat," Jiang said.

"A holistic approach should be taken to address the symptoms and causes of terrorism and eliminate the breeding grounds."

Earlier this week, Jiang called the death of bin Laden a "positive development in the international anti-terrorism struggle" but on Thursday, she suggested China did not necessarily approve of US methods.

"We uphold that countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected," the foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

Islamabad has complained that the US military raid was unauthorised and unilateral, and should not set any precedent, but US President Barack Obama has said he reserves the right to target fugitives in Pakistan in future.

CIA director Leon Panetta said that the United States chose not to alert Pakistan of the operation on its soil for fear that officials may have alerted the Al-Qaeda chief -- evidence of Washington's uneasy ties with Islamabad.

Its good to have at least one friend who is supporting us in these difficult times. We must change the way we act else we will be under threat all the times. Recent news show India's intentions of following the footsteps of US and carrying out operations on Pakistani soil. 

Today the Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir warned of catastrophic results if anyone followed the example of US. "There should be no doubt Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its own defence." he said.

Al-Watan newspaper, quoting an unnamed "regional source," said the top two Al-Qaeda men had differences and that a courier who led US forces to bin Laden was working for Zawahiri.

The courier was a Pakistan national and not a Kuwaiti as the US suspected, Al-Watan said. The man knew he was being followed by the US military but disguised the fact.

"The Egyptian faction of Al-Qaeda is defacto running the organisation now and since he was taken ill in 2004 they have been trying to take full control," 

according to the paper.

It said Zawahiri's faction had persuaded bin Laden to leave tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border and take shelter instead in Abbottabad near Islamabad where he was finally killed by US commandos on Monday.

With the return of an Egyptian figure in Al-Qaeda, Saif al-Adel, last autumn from Iran, the Egyptian faction had hatched a plan to dispose of Saudi-born bin Laden, according to Al-Watan. Geo News

Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney was asked whether the president would be prepared to target fugitives again if they were on Pakistani soil, despite Islamabad’s complaints the bin Laden raid was unauthorised and unilateral. “He made very clear during the campaign that that was his view. He was criticised for it,” Carney said.

“He maintained that that was his view and, by the actions he has taken as president, feels that it was the right approach and continues to feel that way,” he said. 

What should be the reaction from our side to these statements? Everyone had anticipated these intentions from US and now we are watching them do whatever, whenever and where ever they want. 

Could this be the beginning of a dark age where US will start attacks within Pakistan??? This is the question every Pakistani is asking. How could we tolerate such intrusion? Why have we become such a weak country that US does not even bothered to ask us or inform us about the attack? 

Imran Khan is organizing sit ins in different cities demanding drone attacks to be stopped. I would suggest he should start planning on something more intense as the current situation is looking very glim and we have to raise voices to stop this.