War on Terror and has turned into war between Obama and Osama

Since new president Barak Obama has took reigns in United States few things has changed. One of them is the security atmosphere in South Asian region as well as priorities of new administration of Oval office in this region. Last week when president of United States Barak Obama announced his new policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan which has also been  called Af-pak policy it was first chance to judge the diplomatic competence of this young charismatic president of United States.

I want to remind readers that I was one of the rarest of rare in India to predict that policies of Barak Obama will not be helpful for India. My prediction was based on a reason that Barak Obama has some different design in his mind as for as south Asian region is concerned and this design is based on the regional solution. Although president George W Bush has done not any favor to India in its fight against cross border terrorism but he filled all the dots of local Islamic separatist groups in one global jihadi ambition but Barak Obama is going to deal the situation of Islamic terrorism not merely as an ideology but according to local geo-political realities. To some extent from theoretical point of view it seems very lustrous but its consequences are different. Read more

Pakistani president admits Taliban has “huge” presence in Pakistan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Taliban has established itself across a large part of Pakistan, forcing the country to fight a war against the hard-line Islamist group that is about Pakistan’s own survival, President Asif Zardari told CBS News.

“(The Taliban) do have a presence in huge amounts of land in our side. Yes, that is the fact,” Zardari told “60 Minutes” in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday, excerpts of which were released on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama said this week there was no doubt terrorists were operating in safe havens in the tribal regions of Pakistan, and the United States wanted to make sure Islamabad was a strong ally in fighting that threat.

Obama and Zardari spoke by telephone on Wednesday, the Pakistani foreign ministry said. The two discussed the surge in violence by al Qaeda and the Taliban, which has stepped up its insurgency against U.S. forces and the Afghan government.

Zardari said Pakistan had been in denial about the Taliban in the past. “Our forces weren’t increased … . We have weaknesses and they are taking advantage of that weakness,” he said.
Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say.

“Women do not have a proper status in society,” said Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker. “Films are supposed to be a mirror of reality, and we make films to change the status quo.”

In a recent movie, “All Women Are Angels,” a comedy that was at the top of the box office for weeks, a judge rejects the divorce plea of a woman who walked out on her husband when she found him with another woman.
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Afghanistan could be Obama’s Vietnam

LONDON, Feb 11: Unless the insurgents’ advance is halted, Afghanistan will become President Barack Obama’s Vietnam, fears Col John Nagl, a consultant.

A Daily Telegraph report (War against Taliban ‘will be lost by autumn’ unless strategy changes) datelined Washington and published on Wednesday quoted Col Nagl, an Iraq veteran who helped devise the strategy, as saying that gains made by the Taliban needed to be reversed by the end of the fighting season, around late September or early October, or else the Taliban would establish a durable base that would make a sustained Western military presence futile.

“Counter-insurgency campaigns have momentum, like a football game when the crowd senses something before it happens. Right now the Taliban has that momentum,” said Col Nagl.

In his campaign Mr Obama committed to sending extra resources to Afghanistan and was bullish about the chances of success. But at a press conference this week, he played down expectations of ushering in a Western-style democracy and instead set a goal of preventing the country from becoming a haven for terrorists.

The president’s spokesman on Tuesday announced that he had asked Bruce Riedel, a former CIA agent and academic, to head an inter-agency review that would include civilian and military affairs in Afghanistan and the region, indicating that the so-called ‘surge’ might not be ordered by the president.

The leaking of Col Nagl’s assessment report to the media at this juncture is regarded by some diplomatic circles here as a desperate attempt by the supporters of the ‘surge’ idea in Pentagon to force President Obama’s hand.

The Telegraph report cleverly juxtaposed Col Nagl’s assessment with a statement by Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which he had said that he expected to announce the deployment of a further 30,000 US troops soon, even though President Obama’s administration was waiting to evaluate the reviews.

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US, UK may be losing patience with Islamabad: report

LONDON, Feb 11: The arrival in Islamabad of Richard Holbrooke and Britain’s appointment of its own diplomat as a special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan indicates a loss of patience with the democratic government both countries had invested so much hope and diplomacy in, says Dean Nelson, the South Asia editor of Daily Telegraph, in a write-up (Pakistan will be a stern test of Washington’s ‘smart power’) published on Wednesday.

Recalling that before his arrival Mr Holbrooke had described the situation in Pakistan as “dire”, Mr Nelson said it would be difficult to disagree with his appraisal.

“Mr Holbrooke’s arrival, with unprecedented powers delegated by President Obama, and the appointment of Sir Sherard mark a new approach to Pakistan in which irritation and anger are not far below the surface. For this first trip, Holbrooke really will listen and learn, then he’ll come back and tell them,” Mr Nelson said, quoting one diplomat in Islamabad.

According to him, the Pakistan government has not yet sensed the plunge in temperature and was last week optimistically briefing on its strategy to bring the Americans to heel.

In his opinion, Pakistan will demand an end to bombing by US Predator drones on Al Qaeda and Taliban targets, which it says is a blatant violation of its sovereignty and also “it will propose that the drones be handed over to Pakistan’s military so that they can launch the raids themselves”.

But Mr Nelson notes that the sovereignty that Islamabad publicly asserts against American air strikes is one which it is unable to enforce against the Al Qaeda leaders and Taliban fighters whose writ runs stronger: it is their “emirate” now, and the United States appears ready to treat it as such.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are to be regarded as conjoined twins who cannot survive without each other, he asserts.

Mr Holbrooke is expected to support a new approach which will involve more Pakistani aerial bombardment of militant havens, the creation of a new elite police force to move in and control the regained territory, more aid for education, and secret talks with “persuadable” Taliban leaders and allies in Afghanistan, such as former prime minister Gulbadin Hekmatyar, to help them switch sides.
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Obama: US choosing words carefully in terror war

WASHINGTON – When talking about terrorism — words matter, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Asked in a television interview why he hasn’t used the oft-repeated “war on terror” phrase coined by the Bush administration, Obama said he believes the U.S. can win over moderate Muslims if he chooses his words carefully.

“Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we’re going to win this struggle is through the battle of hearts and minds,” Obama said in an interview with CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

The Associated Press reported Saturday that Obama has used the catch phrase just once, in contrast to its repeated use by the Bush administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Instead, Obama has spoken broadly of the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism” and pledged to “go after” extremists and “win this fight.”

“I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations,” Obama said Tuesday. “But that those organizations aren’t representative of a broader Arab community, Muslim community.”

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Under Obama, `war on terror’ catchphrase fading

By LOLITA C. BALDOR,

WASHINGTON – The “War on Terror” is losing the war of words. The catchphrase burned into the American lexicon hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is fading away, slowly if not deliberately being replaced by a new administration bent on repairing the U.S. image among Muslim nations.

Since taking office less than two weeks ago, President Barack Obama has talked broadly of the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism.” Another time it was an “ongoing struggle.”

He has pledged to “go after” extremists and “win this fight.” There even was an oblique reference to a “twilight struggle” as the U.S. relentlessly pursues those who threaten the country.

But only once since his Jan. 20 inauguration has Obama publicly strung those three words together into the explosive phrase that coalesced the country during its most terrifying time and eventually came to define the Bush administration.

Speaking at the State Department on Jan. 22, Obama told his diplomatic corps, “We are confronted by extraordinary, complex and interconnected global challenges: war on terror, sectarian division and the spread of deadly technology. We did not ask for the burden that history has asked us to bear, but Americans will bear it. We must bear it.”

Obama has made it clear in his first days in office that he is courting the Muslim community and making what is at least a symbolic shift away from the previous administration’s often more combative tone.

He chose an Arab network for his first televised interview, declaring that “Americans are not your enemy.” Before his first full week in office ended, he named former Sen. George J. Mitchell as his special envoy for the Middle East and sent him to the region for talks with leaders.

According to the White House, Obama is intent on repairing America’s image in the eyes of the Islamic world and addressing issues such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unrest in Pakistan and India, Arab-Israeli peace talks and tensions with Iran.

Using language is one way to help effect that change, said Wayne Fields, professor of English and American culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

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