Salon.com > Sebastian Abbot

Former president Musharraf flees Pakistan

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:25:00 +0000

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf and his security team pushed past policemen and sped away from a court in the country's capital on Thursday to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked in a case in which he is accused of treason.

Local TV broadcast footage of the dramatic scene in which Musharraf jumped into a black SUV and escaped as a member of his security team hung to the side of the vehicle. He sped away to his large compound on the outskirts of Islamabad that is protected by high walls, razor wire and guard towers.

This week has gone from bad to worse for Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999 when he was serving as army chief and spent nearly a decade in power before being forced to step down in 2008. He returned last month after four years in self-imposed exile to make a political comeback despite legal challenges and Taliban death threats, but has since faced paltry public support.

A court in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday disqualified Musharraf from running in the parliamentary election scheduled for May 11, likely squashing his hopes for political comeback.

In Pakistan, many say aid “snub” dims U.S. sway

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:50:00 +0000

The decision to suspend more than one-third of American military aid to Pakistan could end up hurting Washington more than Islamabad as the U.S. seeks to navigate an end to the Afghan war and defeat al-Qaida, former Pakistani officials and analysts warned Monday.

Holding back the $800 million in aid is unlikely to pressure Pakistan to increase cooperation with the U.S. and could strengthen those in the government who argue that Washington is a fickle ally who can't be trusted, they said.

"If you still need the relationship, which clearly the United States does, then it really doesn't make sense to take action at this time because it leaves the United States with less, not more, influence with the Pakistani military," said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. "Cooperation cannot be coerced by punitive actions."

Despite billions of dollars in American aid since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the relationship has long been tense because of Pakistan's reluctance to target Taliban militants on its territory who stage cross-border attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Libyan rebels say strikes help them hold town

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Libyan rebels said NATO airstrikes on Sunday helped them drive Moammar Gadhafi's forces out of a hard-fought eastern city that is the gateway to the opposition's stronghold.

Four airstrikes largely stopped what had been heavy shelling of Ajdabiya by government forces, rebel battlefield commander and spokesman Col. Hamid Hassy said. NATO's leader of the operation said the airstrikes destroyed 11 tanks near Ajdabiya and another 14 near Misrata, the only city rebels still hold in the western half of Libya.

Hassy said Gadhafi's forces fled the western gate of Ajdabiya and by mid-afternoon had been pushed back about 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of the city. However, sporadic shelling could still be heard around western Ajdabiya.

Mohammed Idris, the supervisor of the hospital in Ajdabiya, said 38 people died in the fighting over the weekend, including 20 Gadhafi fighters and three rebels killed Sunday.

The main front line in Libya's uprising runs along a highway on the country's northern Mediterranean coast that leads out of the rebels' de facto capital of Benghazi in the opposition-held eastern half of the country and toward the regime's western stronghold in the capital Tripoli.

Libyan military surges on key rebel-held outpost

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Libyan government troops shelled rebels' main front-line outpost and advanced in guerrilla-style units Saturday, killing at least three opposition fighters in what appeared to be their most serious push into the heart of rebel territory since international airstrikes began.

NATO responded to the advance on the eastern city of Ajdabiya with an airstrike that kicked up a huge mushroom cloud. Government troops' intense shelling dropped off after that, but soldiers moved into the town in civilian cars and trucks in an apparent effort to foil NATO pilots.

Recapturing Ajdabiya would give the Libyan military a key staging ground to attack the rebels' de facto capital, Benghazi, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) farther east along the coastal highway. Moammar Gadhafi's forces were approaching Benghazi when they were driven back by the international air campaign launched last month to protect civilians and ground Gadhafi's aircraft.

The push into Ajdabiya was launched even as international envoys opened fresh initiatives for a peace deal. The African Union said it planned to send a team to Libya on Sunday to begin meetings with the government and rebel leaders.

Manned NATO aircraft attack Pakistan

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:37:00 +0000

NATO helicopters in eastern Afghanistan launched rare airstrikes into Pakistan, reportedly killing more than 50 militants after an outpost near the border came under attack from insurgents, officials said Monday.

International forces also pressed forward with a key combat operation in their drive to rout Taliban fighters around the southern city of Kandahar, a push that is key to U.S. military strategy to turn around the 9-year war and prevent the Taliban from undermining the Afghan government.

The airstrikes into Pakistan came after the insurgents attacked a small Afghan security outpost near the border. NATO justified the strikes based on "the right of self-defense," a spokesman said. Pakistan is sensitive about attacks on its territory, but U.S. officials have said they have an agreement that allows aircraft to cross a few miles (kilometers) into Pakistani airspace if they are in hot pursuit of a target.

The first strike took place Saturday after insurgents based in Pakistan attacked the outpost in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, which is located right across the border from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, said U.S. Capt. Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Angelina Jolie condemns planned Quran burning

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Angelina Jolie on Wednesday condemned a Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 35-year-old actress spoke out against the proposed burning during a trip to Pakistan to raise awareness about the floods that have devastated the largely Muslim country over the last six weeks. She visited in her capacity as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.'s refugee agency.

Jolie's criticism echoed that of top U.S. officials, who have described the church's plan as a disgraceful act and have even warned that it could endanger U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Americans worldwide.

"I have hardly the words that somebody would do that to somebody's religious book," Jolie told reporters in Islamabad after visiting refugees camps in northwestern Pakistan -- one of the areas of the country hit hardest by the floods.

The Christian minister organizing the Quran burning, Pastor Terry Jones, has said he plans to go ahead in spite of concerns. He is part of the Dove World Outreach Center, a tiny, evangelical Christian church in Gainesville, Florida, with an anti-Islam philosophy.