December 30 - January 5
India - Pakistan - Crisis
India has watched closely from the side-lines
as the Afghan crisis unfolded. It saw
Pakistan's central role as an ally of Washington, though many in India viewed
their own country as a more natural partner in President Bush's struggle against
international terrorism.
Pakistan
may have a key role in US thinking for the time being, but many Indian analysts
believe that their own security interests must be served. The US decision to
designate two militant Pakistani groups as terrorist organizations is a small
victory for the Indian Government. Since the struggle against global terrorism
is firmly in the headlines, India is moving to capitalize on the moment to see
what gains it can make. Above all, India wants international pressure brought on
Pakistan to restrain anti-Indian groups in Kashmir.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to urge
India and Pakistan to pull back from the brink of war in a diplomatic visit to
the region.
Relations
between India and Pakistan, two neighboring nuclear states have deteriorated
following the suicide bombing of the Indian parliament by Kashmiri separatists
on 13 December, which left 14 dead.
India and then Pakistan announced tit-for-tat
sanctions against one another as fears intensify that the two nuclear powers may
be moving towards serious conflict.
India was the first to impose the punitive
measures, including a ban from 1 January on Pakistan's national airline from
flying in Indian air space and a reduction by half of India's diplomatic staff
in Islamabad and Pakistan's diplomats in Delhi. Pakistan retaliated almost
immediately, with similar restrictions.
India extended until January 5 the time it is
giving for half of Pakistan's diplomatic corps in New Delhi to leave the
country. India announced the sanctions on the 27th , ordering the diplomats out
within 48 hours.
The Indian sanctions were aimed at forcing
Pakistan to take action against two Kashmir militant groups blamed for a suicide
attack on India's parliament two weeks ago.
Tensions
between the two neighbors have risen dramatically since the attack, which Delhi
alleges was backed by Pakistani intelligence. Pakistan denies any involvement. New
Delhi blames the December 13 parliament attack on two Pakistani-based militant
groups, which it says are supported by Pakistan's intelligence agency.
The latest showdown followed the US decision to
place the two militant groups blamed for the Indian parliament attack on a list
of proscribed terrorist organizations. The designation freezes the US assets of
the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad groups.
Pakistan has already frozen the groups' assets
and arrested the founder of the Jaish group. New Delhi said those actions as
meaningless, reiterating demands that Islamabad must shut down the two groups
for good!
While Pakistan has reportedly arrested about
100 members of the militant groups thought to be behind the parliament attack,
India says the moves do not go far enough, saying the arrests are merely
"cosmetic." Pakistan says it is doing all it can to rein in those
responsible, but measures taken so far against the groups.
Why?
The most immediate impact of the crisis has
been on those who live near the border, rather than the population as a whole.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said
earlier that a new deployment of Indian troops along the entire border with
Pakistan would be complete in the next few days.
Pakistani military spokesman General Rashid
Quereshi countered that India's decision to move large numbers of troops to the
frontier was a matter of serious concern. Pakistani troops involved in the hunt
for Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the September attacks in America,
have apparently been redeployed along the Indian border.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Villagers
north of the Punjabi town of Sialkot have started fleeing their homes in
anticipation of what is to come - something they have done in the past when
troops have been deployed in such large numbers. Uncertainty has caused panic in
the stock markets with shares initially loosing six percent of their value.
Along the Line of Control which divides Indian
and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, there are reports that 100 people in
southern Rawalkot district left their homes on Friday night for fear of attacks
but then returned during the day.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has urged
Pakistan to take part in talks with India to avoid an all-out conflict.
Speaking to Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul
Sattar on Monday night, Mr Straw welcomed the arrest on Sunday of a leading
Islamic militant and 22 other suspects. He
said more needed to be done to avert a full-scale conflict between the two
countries.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said
last week that he is willing to meet with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee during a summit of South Asian nations in Nepal this week. Speaking at
a dinner organized for international journalists and the diplomatic community,
Musharraf also said Pakistan would not initiate a war with its nuclear neighbor.
PAKISTAN
Background: Population, 142 million
The
Muslim-majority state of Pakistan occupies an area which was home to some of the
earliest human settlements and two of the world's major religions, Hinduism and
Buddhism. The modern state was born out of the partition of the Indian
sub-continent in 1947 and has faced both domestic political upheavals and
regional confrontations. War with India over the disputed northern territory of
Kashmir came shortly after independence - the two countries fought there in 1965
and in 1971. Civilian politics in Pakistan in the last few decades has been
tarnished by corruption, inefficiency and confrontations between various
institutions.
Pakistan came under military rule in October
1999 after the ousting of a civilian government which had a lost public support.
Leader, General Musharraf, has pledged to revive the country's fortunes - but
must overcome economic backwardness, corruption, and law and order problems.
INDIA
Background: Population, 1 billion
The
world's second most populous country has emerged as a major power after a period
of foreign rule and several decades during which its economy was virtually
closed. It has developed the capacity to strike at China and arch-rival Pakistan
with its own missiles, and has carried out a program of nuclear tests in
defiance of world opinion.
India is still struggling with huge social,
economic and environmental problems.
Communal, caste and regional tensions continue
to haunt Indian politics, sometimes threatening its long-standing democratic and
secular ethos. In 1992, widespread Hindu-Muslim violence erupted after Hindu
extremists demolished the Babri mosque at Ayodhya.
CNN Interactive
Recently, CNN organized a 9/11 related
interactive.
You can check these out by going directly to: MAPS
AND INTERACTIVE INDEX
Afghanistan - New
Government
BBC:
Hamid
Karzai is sworn in as leader of Afghanistan's new interim government to
replace the defeated Taliban regime.
The interim government is tasked with uniting a
country that is fragmented along ethnic, religious and political fault lines.
Afghanistan's newly-created International
Security Assistance Force will demonstrate the global community's backing for
the new government, and its interest in ensuring a peaceful transfer of power in
the post-Taliban era. The British Royal Marines will be the first visible
elements of the international presence in Afghanistan, which was agreed at talks
in Germany, in parallel with plans for the interim government. Ultimately, the
contingent could comprise as many as 5,000 troops, from several nations.
The cabinet is drawn from representatives of the Northern Alliance, the Rome
group loyal to former king Zahir Shah, and the smaller Cyprus and Peshawar exile
groups. 
Chairman: Hamid Karzai (Pashtun)
Women's Affairs: Sima Samar (Rome group, Hazara)
Defense: Mohammad Fahim (Northern Alliance,
Tajik)
Planning: Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq (Northern
Alliance, Hazara)
Water and Electricity: Shaker Kargar (Northern
Alliance, Uzbek)
Finance: Hedayat Amin Arsala (Rome group,
Pashtun)
The new Foreign Minister will be Dr Abdullah
Abdullah (Northern Alliance, Tajik).
Where in the World is bin
Laden?
While
there is not any reliable news about bin Laden, United States military officials
have confirmed the presence of forces in an area of southern Afghanistan where
it is believed that ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar may be hiding. A major
manhunt is under way there..
There was no word on where bin Laden might be
following Sunday's capture of the mountain caves of Tora Bora where his
terrorist network made its last major stand in Afghanistan.
Where is bin Laden? Nowhere and everywhere.
Virtually every day, bin Laden is reportedly seen by dozens of people in
different places at the same time. CNN:
video
report
Abdullah Tawheedi, a deputy head of
intelligence in Afghanistan, says he has received "reliable
information" that the terrorist leader paid a "large amount" of
money to buy his way out of Afghanistan. It
was the second time in as many days that a Afghan government official said bin
Laden was in Pakistan.
The report could not be independently verified.
Tawheedi named Haji Zaman -- a well-known independent military commander -- as
the man responsible for taking bin Laden across the border to Pakistan.
Ironically, Zaman had recently been fighting
against bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization. But Tawheedi says he believes
Zaman was apparently persuaded by money to help the terrorist leader.
Tawheedi said Zaman handed bin Laden over to
the protection of an Islamic group with links to Pakistan's intelligence agency,
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The agency helped establish and supported the
militant Taliban regime which ruled Afghanistan for five years.
Tawheedi said that Zaman had recently requested
a cease-fire in the Tora Bora region of southeastern Afghanistan, where bin
Laden was believed to be hiding.
Tawheedi said he believes Zaman wanted
hostilities stopped so he could steal bin Laden out of the danger area to
safety. Tawheedi said his information is that bin Laden paid Zaman a "large
amount" of money for safe passage to Pakistan.
Experts Assess bin Laden Videotape
Statements
PBS 12 minute 
Audio:
A reporter and an Arab expert examine the international reaction to the Osama
bin Laden tape.
The original translation of the Osama bin
Laden videotape misses the fact that bin Laden identifies nine of the hijackers,
a Saudi dissident says and an independent translator hired by CNN confirmed
Thursday.
One more striking example of detail left out of
the government translation, according to Al-Ahmed and the independent
translator: Bin Laden's description of exactly what he said to others just
before the radio announcement that the first of the attacks had succeeded. They
quoted him as saying he told followers, "When you hear a breaking news
announcement on the radio, kneel immediately, and that means they have hit the
World Trade Center." CNN:
New
information found on bin Laden tape.
Next Move?
In Washington, war councils and the military is turning to the next targets
in the global war against terrorism. Top officials are talking, with
circumspection, about using the military to track down and eliminate key
terrorists among Al Qaida’s terror cells (Newsweek 8.57 minute audio
report).
al
Qaida Is Done In Afghanistan
Intelligence experts suspect that bin Laden may have a group of as many as 1000
al Qaida with him, perhaps still in Afghanistan, more likely having escaped.
About 2000 al Qaida had thought to have been in the area of Tora Bora at the
start of fighting there. Several local fighters said women and children were
among the Al Qaida dead, adding credence to reports that some foreign fighters
had brought their families.
Haji Zaman, top military commander in the
eastern Jalalabad region, told reporters that the remnants of bin Laden's al
Qaida forces had been virtually wiped out in the eastern Tora Bora mountains
after days of fierce fighting, but the Saudi-born militant himself was no longer
there. He says "This is the last day for al Qaida in Afghanistan.'' He said
bin Laden had fled, but this would not stop Afghan mujahideen warriors from
completing a mopping-up operation. Already there are hundreds of captured
Taliban being brought in to "justice." The anti-Taliban forces are
reportedly brutalizing Arab and other foreign fighters.
New Threats
US defense chief Donald Rumsfeld said that US
forces had found materials and documents at a former al Qaida base in southern
Afghanistan, and were testing them for chemical, biological and radiation
content. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned NATO it must
prepare for terrorists who will use everything from computers to cruise missiles
to wreak havoc.
Rumsfeld
addressed troops, giving a message of mission to the military.
Right,
a large crowd becomes difficult as food and water are in extraordinary short
supply. Rumsfeld met with interim leader, Hamid Karzai.
There is much to do to ready bases and operations for a UN Peacekeeping Force.
Relief, food and water, medical supplies, and transportation to mention a few
are still problems too.
For multimedia presentations, use the MSNBC Battlefield
Interactive and the BBC
Interactive: War:
Where Next?
Peace Keeping
