...Pakistani forces arrested three men wearing suicide vests who planned to attack parliament, an intelligence agency and other public buildings, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told CNN.
Malik did not specify where or when the men were caught, except to say it was within the last four weeks, CNN reported.
Pakistani soldiers have been engaged in intense fighting with Taliban militants headquartered along the northwest border with Afghanistan.
The militants have said they would stop fighting during the month of Ramadan, which began Saturday and traditionally is considered a time of peace. Malik, however, said the promise was not to be trusted....
The dead guys replacement. Got that? This is the DEAD GUY'S replacement. Who needs to be worried?
In this image taken on Nov. 26, 2008 Pakistani Taliban deputy Hakimullah Mehsud is seen flanked by his comrades in Orakzai tribal region of Pakistan. (AP / Ishtiaq Mehsud)
Is Pakistan's Taliban movement on the way out? (click here)
By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's extremist Taliban movement is badly divided over who should be its new leader, and analysts and local tribesmen say the al-Qaida-linked group may be in danger of crumbling.
A wave of defections, surrenders, arrests and bloody infighting has severely weakened the movement since its founder, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed Aug. 5 in a U.S. missile strike. The announcement this weekend that Hakimullah Mehsud, a 28-year-old with a reputation as a hothead, would succeed him is likely to further widen the split.
Hakimullah has support from Taliban groups in Orakzai, where he is based, and Bajaur, both parts of the wild Pakistan tribal zone that borders Afghanistan. But the heart of the Pakistani Taliban movement lies in the Waziristan portion of the tribal area, where the warlike Mehsud and Wazir clans live and where a commander named Waliur Rehman is backed as the next chief. Rehman was very close to Baitullah Mehsud.
"There's no way that the Mehsuds and the Wazirs are going to accept Hakimullah as chief. During his lifetime, Baitullah had given every indication that when he's no more, Waliur Rehman is the next guy," said Saifullah Mahsud, an analyst at the FATA Research Centre, an independent think tank in Islamabad. "Waliur Rehman is a cool, calm, calculated guy, a very good listener... That's why the Taliban had liked Baituallah so much, he was a very cool guy, a very calm guy."...
George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney pat a Coup Leader on the head and handed him billions US to use the Pakistani air space and hoped he wouldn't be assassinated. How do you put the brevity of what is occurring in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Taliban on the shoulders of a man that wants to put trust in generals to secure the region from becoming a greater threat to the USA?
How do you answer the war raging in areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan with sanity after the USA was rerouted into a war in Iraq?
Is Obama facing hard choices? I don't know if that is even a legitimate question.
Obama facing hard choices on Afghanistan war plans (click here)
By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer Richard Lardner, Associated Press Writer – 48 mins ago
WASHINGTON – As public support for the war in Afghanistan erodes, President Barack Obama soon may face two equally unattractive choices: increase U.S. troops levels to beat back a resilient enemy, or stick with the 68,000 already committed and risk the political fallout if that's not enough.
Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is completing an assessment of what he needs to win the fight there. That review, however, won't specifically address force levels, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But military officials privately believe McChrystal may ask for as many as 20,000 additional forces to get an increasingly difficult security situation in Afghanistan under control. And one leading Republican is already saying McChrystal will be pressured to ask for fewer troops than he requires....
40 suspects held in NW Pakistan search operation (click here)
2009-08-23 18:25:15
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have arrested militants from various areas of Swat in northwestern Pakistan while houses of two commanders have been destroyed.
The private Geo quoted sources as saying that the security forces arrested 40 suspects during the search operation in Beshbund, an area of Charbagh tehsil in Swat while houses of two extremist commanders in the area of Sertaligram were destroyed.
Meanwhile, two extremists surrendered themselves to the forces in Gul Jabba, an area of tehsil Kabal.
All markets and bazaars in Mingora, the main town of Swat, are open Sunday despite the weekly holiday.
Curfew has been relaxed in various areas of the district.
Curfew will be relaxed up to 21:00 (1500GMT) in Mingora, Kabal and Kanju, up to 18:00 (1300GMT) in Khwazakhela, Matta, Warshkhela, Peochar and Madyan.
North Pakistan Missile Strike Kills 13 (click here)
By VOA News 21 August 2009
Pakistani officials say at least 13 people are dead in a suspected U.S. missile attack on a militant hideout in Pakistan's North Waziristan region.The officials say the strike, early Friday, destroyed a home in a village, Dande Darpa Khel, near the region's main town, Miranshah. Security officials say women and children were among those killed. Some of the casualties were said to be Afghans....
