On Ground Updates: Pakistan/Afghanistan - June 24, 2009

On Ground Updates:
Pakistan/Afghanistan
Tough Rules For Afghanistan Air Strikes Examined
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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Close Air Support
Tough rules for Afghanistan air strikes are examined in this Fox News video report. Great air footage video of one mission!
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AubreyJ………

On Ground Updates: Pakistan/Afghanistan - June 14, 2009

On Ground Updates:
Pakistan/Afghanistan
Sunday, June 14, 2009
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AP brings us the following report late this Sunday evening and it starts off like this… Pakistan ordered its army to go after the country's top Taliban commander, a feared al-Qaida-allied militant whose remote stronghold could prove a difficult test for troops but whose demise would remove a major threat to the country's stability… The announcement Sunday of the operation in South Waziristan, rumored for weeks, came hours after a suspected U.S. missile strike killed five alleged militants there. The move will likely please Washington, which wants Pakistan to eliminate safe havens for militants leaving Afghanistan and which considers South Waziristan a particularly troublesome hideout for al-Qaida…
Read the full report at link below…
Pakistan orders army to go after Taliban chief
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KansasCity.com reports it this way… Pakistan announced late Sunday it would fight warlord Baitullah Mehsud in Waziristan in a gamble that will see the Pakistani troops confront the fountainhead of Taliban and al-Qaida extremism… The move signals Islamabad is serious about fighting Islamic extremism, but promises to engulf the country in bloodshed. Mehsud's terrorist network spans Pakistan and he has grown so powerful U.S. officials believe he poses an "existential" threat to nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key American ally… The determination to take the offensive to Waziristan, part of Pakistan's tribal area that runs along the Afghan border, also marks an important turn in the struggle against al-Qaida…
Read the rest at link below…
Pakistan declares war on Taliban leader Mehsud
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The Washington Post has this take and it goes in part like this… The announcement by officials in North-West Frontier Province came after a week of deadly attacks attributed to the Pakistani Taliban, including the bombing Tuesday of a five-star hotel that killed 11 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the assassination Friday of a moderate Sunni Muslim cleric in another suicide bombing here in the capital of Punjab province… It also followed another day of violence in the northwestern region where the Taliban forces are based…
Read this report in full at link below…
Pakistan To Pursue Taliban Leader

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AubreyJ………

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates - May 13, 2009

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates

FOX News brings us the following News Video:

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates - May 12, 2009

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates
Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
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Up To 700 Militants Dead
In Pakistani Raid

About above News Video: A major Pakistani military offensive in the northwest has killed up to 700 militants in the past four days, and the operation will proceed until the last Taliban fighter in the area is ousted. Originally posted May 11th.
News Video/Info posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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Pakistan Pledges To Continue Swat Offensive

- This video removed by me in respect of Google Ad Policies…

About this News Video: Fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many fleeing their homes in Swat for hastily erected refugee camps… Aid agencies describe the situation as dire, with overcrowding, lack of proper hygiene and soaring temperatures adding to the misery. But Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman says the military insists its operation will continue. Originally posted May 11th.
News Video/Info posted on YouTube by AlJazeeraEnglish
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AubreyJ.........

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates - May 07, 2009

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates
Pakistan Military says regional offensive killed more than 200 militants
Thursday, May 07, 2009
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* VOANews.com has the following report up on their website today and it starts off like this… Pakistan ordered its military to eliminate militants on Thursday, as troops targeted suspected Taliban positions in the country's northwest…
Read the full report at link below…
Pakistan Orders Military to Eliminate Militants, Terrorists
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* MiamiHerald.com reports it this way… Pakistan declared war on its homegrown Islamic extremists Thursday in a dramatic move that could trigger a wider conflagration… Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a late-night televised address to the nation, said Pakistan would launch a full-scale offensive against Pakistani Taliban guerrillas who've seized control of the vast Swat valley, which is about 100 miles north of the capital… Pakistan will no longer "bow our heads before the terrorists," Gilani said in an 11 p.m. address as he called on citizens to rally behind the armed forces. He said that the government had tried peaceful negotiation with Taliban entrenched in the Swat valley, but the strategy hadn't worked… Pakistan had "reached a stage where the government believes that decisive steps have to be taken," he said, and the army's job now was to "eliminate the militants and the terrorists."…
Read the rest at link below…
Pakistan launches full-scale military assault on Taliban

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Residents Flee Pakistani War Zone

About news video: Thousands of Pakistani civilians are fleeing a former tourist destination turned war zone where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.
This news video posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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AubreyJ………

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates - April 24, 2009

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates
It’s already too late to be asking if Pakistan might fall to the Taliban for parts of it already have
Friday, April 24, 2009
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Militants in Pakistan Launch Brazen Attack

About News Video: Police say dozens of militants armed with guns and gasoline bombs attacked a truck terminal in northwestern Pakistan and burned five tankers carrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Original post date April 23rd
Posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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* PressTV.ir has this report this early Friday morning…
Pentagon Chief Robert Gates warns that the US will severe its relations with Pakistan unless Islamabad crushes the Taliban-led insurgency… Speaking to thousands of US soldiers --who are about to be deployed to war-ravaged Afghanistan--Gates said "Pakistani leaders must take the appropriate actions" to deal with the Taliban insurgents… Also, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Islamabad of abdicating to the insurgents and incited Pakistanis around the world to speak out against the government policy of ceding land to the militants… Clinton emphasized Pakistan posed "mortal threat" to the world security by abdicating to the Taliban…
Read the rest at link below…
Gates warns Pakistan over Taliban advances
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* CNN.com brings us this report early this Friday Morning…
The Taliban said Friday that it would withdraw from the Buner district -- about 96 kilometers (60 miles) from Pakistan's capital -- after its land grab sounded alarms worldwide about the possibility of terrorists taking control of the country…
Read the full report at link below…
Taliban: We'll withdraw from district near capital
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Update: 12:15pm CDT
News Video: U.S. Concerns as Taliban Advance
As the Taliban move further into Pakistan, taking over Buner, a district that is just 70 miles northwest of Islamabad, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff meets with Pakistani military leaders, again.
Watch this New York Times News Video HERE
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Read more from The New York Times at link below…
Taliban Hold Valley in Pakistan as They Remove Some Forces …………………………………………………………
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Also in the news Friday is this News Article by the American Forces Press Service
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Combined Forces in Afghanistan Kill 14 in Six-Hour Battle
Friday, April 24, 2009

Coalition and Afghan forces killed 14 insurgents in a six-hour battle in the Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province yesterday.
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Forces were patrolling in an area known for heavy insurgent activity when they were attacked. The insurgents fired at the forces with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
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Coalition forces called in close-air support on two enemy fighting positions, killing 14 fighters and injuring one, who later surrendered. Two others also were detained.
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No coalition or Afghan forces were injured in the attack.
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In other Afghan news, coalition and Afghan forces detained three suspects last night in an operation to capture the leader of bomb-making ring near Kabul.
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Forces targeted a residence in the Paghman district of Kabul province, west of the Afghan capital. They searched the residence without incident and detained three men.

From DoD’s American Forces Press Service news article - Compiled from U.S. Forces Afghanistan news releases

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My short take today is this:
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I said it last year and I’ll say it again… Pakistan is the next front on the War on Terror… not Afghanistan. Even though the two do seem to go hand in hand of late…
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President Obama and his Administration better get serious with this dangerous situation we find ourselves in today. For yes Mr. President… there still is a Major War on Terror ongoing.
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Changing your Administration from saying ‘War on Terror’ to something less offensive to those overseas does nothing more than show our enemies and our friends just how weak of a leader you really are.
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At least President Bush led… You, President Obama, are not a Leader… but a follower of the far Left Wing Kooks of your Political Party.
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I for one believe the on ground situation in Pakistan is going to get much worse… And I cannot help but believe we will find ourselves heavily in Pakistan with our military troops and all our military might within the next 12 months. I hope I turnout wrong on this one…
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AubreyJ………

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates - March 31, 2009

Pakistan/Afghanistan: On Ground Updates
Pakistani Taliban Chief Baitullah Mehsud claims responsibility for deadly assault on Pakistani Police Academy - Says group planning Terrorist Attack on White House that would "amaze" the world
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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FOXNews.com brings us this troubling report today and it starts off like this… The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world… Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border… "Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details…
Read the full report at link below…
Taliban Chief Vows 'Amazing' Attack on Washington 'Soon'
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* France24.com has this report…
The leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, has reportedly claimed Monday’s deadly assault on a police academy in Lahore. Yet among the region’s insurgents, some are sceptical of the claim.
Read the Report/Watch the News Video at link below…
Taliban militant denies leader’s role in Lahore raid
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AubreyJ………