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Pakistan says towns cleared in Taliban offensive

Britain to spread cash to crimp Taliban recruitment: report
London (AFP) Nov 17, 2009 - British soldiers should buy off potential Taliban recruits in Afghanistan with cash, according to a new army field manual published in a newspaper Tuesday. Army commanders should also talk to Taliban insurgent leaders with "blood on their hands" in order to speed up the end of the drawn-out conflict in Afghanistan, the manual said. The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers, The Times newspaper said. According to the manual, army commanders should give away enough money to dissuade Afghans from joining the Taliban, who are known to pay about ten dollars a day to recruit local fighters.

"The best weapons to counter insurgents, don't shoot. In other words, use bags of gold in the short term to change the security dynamics. But you don't just chuck gold at them, this has to be done wisely," Major General Paul Newton told the newspaper, at the launch of the document in London on Monday. The manual came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday gave a speech strongly defending Britain's military involvement in Afghanistan, amid waning public support at home as the number of soldiers killed grows. Brown also offered to host an international conference on Afghanistan in London in the new year to possibly set a timeframe for military handover to Afghan forces starting in 2010. The manual, the first such doctrine written by the British army in eight years, highlights the importance of talking to the enemy.

"There's no point in talking to people who don't have blood on their hands," Newton said. The manual said money can be the answer, if it is prudently distributed. "Properly spent within a context of longer-term planning, money offers a cost-effective means for pulling community support away from the insurgents and provides the military with a much-needed economy of force measure," it said. It also noted that British commanders have not had quick access to the same levels of cash as their US counterparts in recent military operations.

by Staff Writers
 Sararogha, Pakistan (AFP) Nov 17, 2009
 Pakistan's military said Tuesday that its latest offensive against the Taliban had captured most of the towns and population centres once under militant control in South Waziristan.

Pakistan dispatched 30,000 troops into battle on October 17, vowing to crush the Tehreek-e-Taliban network and blaming the faction for some of the deadliest bomb attacks that have killed more than 2,500 people in 28 months.

The offensive has been welcomed by the United States, which has dubbed Waziristan and the rest of Pakistan's tribal belt on the Afghan border the most dangerous place on Earth where Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West.

Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters flown by the army to the former rebel bastion of Sararogha that the army had captured most of the population centres and disrupted the militants' food supply line.

"The myth has been broken that this was a graveyard for empires and it would be a graveyard for the army," Abbas said.

"Major town and population centres have been secured," he added.

In Sararogha, which was previously home to around 10,000 people and is surrounded by hills, streets were destroyed, the market reduced to rubble and no civilians in sight, said an AFP reporter.

Commanders said troops were locked in fighting Tuesday at Janata, about six kilometres (four miles) north of Sararogha, which they described as a former bastion of Uzbek and Arab fighters.

Overall, 550 militants and 70 soldiers have been killed since the army launched the offensive on October 17, Abbas said.

The army provides the only regular information from the frontlines. Few of the details can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers barred from independent access to the area.

Pakistan estimated 10,000 Tehreek-e-Taliban footsoldiers were holed up in South Waziristan. Although there have been pockets of stiff resistance, many of the militants are believed to have escaped into neighbouring districts.

The South Waziristan offensive has displaced more than 250,000 people, according to the army, and the United Nations has urged Pakistan to ensure safety and security of civilians during the operation.

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THE STANS
US Afghan supply flights over Russia still not on: US
 Washington (AFP) Nov 16, 2009
 The United States is still unable to use Russian airspace to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan despite a July deal with Moscow, the State Department said Friday, expressing hope the flights can start soon. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said negotiators were still hammering out details of the deal announced in July by presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev during a Moscow ... read more






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