Up to 150 Taliban killed in eastern Afghan offensive

KABUL: A force of about 700 US and Afghan troops has killed up to 150 Taliban insurgents in a major offensive along eastern Afghanistan”s border with Pakistan, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The US-led operation, which began Sunday, was one of the largest yet in the region around Kunar province, said the newspaper, which cited US officials as calling it “one of the most intense battles of the past year” in Afghanistan.

In a statement Sunday, NATO”s International Security Assistance Force said more than 600 ISAF and Afghan troops were pursuing Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Kunar and that “a number of insurgents” had been killed.

Two US troops had been killed in the battle, according to ISAF, which had no immediate update to offer on Tuesday.

A US daily reported the offensive was designed to flush out growing numbers of Taliban militants bidding to open up a second front in Kunar, as the US-led ISAF battles to root out insurgents in southern Afghanistan.

“The Taliban know we are bringing our surge of forces, and they realise they can”t just let that happen, so they are pursuing their own surge,” Major General John Campbell, the senior commander in eastern Afghanistan, told the newspaper.

Obama urges sustained engagement with Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States President Barack Obama Wednesday said Washington has been encouraged by Pakistan’s recent anti-militant gains in its tribal border regions with Afghanistan.

He underscored that asserting full control over historically ungoverned areas would take time and urged for continued international engagement with Islamabad and Kabul.

“I am actually encouraged by what I have seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months,” he said in a joint press conference with President Hamid Karzai at the White House.

Obama was responding to a question by an Afghan journalist, who sought to blame Pakistan for all of Afghanistan’s failures.

“But,” Obama reminded, “just as it is going to take time for Afghanistan’s economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it is going to take some time for Pakistan even where there is a will to find a way to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are loosely governed from Islamabad.”

The US president praised Islamabad’s anti-terrorism commitment and underlined the the vitality of sustained engagement with Pakistan towards grappling with the extremist challenge in the restive Afghan border region, reports media correspondent in the District.

“Indeed, Pakistan’s major offensive against extremist sanctuaries — both against the leadership of al-Qaeda and its affiliates advance the security of Pakistanis, Afghans and Americans alike,” Obama said.

Obama urges sustained engagement with Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States President Barack Obama Wednesday said Washington has been encouraged by Pakistan’s recent anti-militant gains in its tribal border regions with Afghanistan.

He underscored that asserting full control over historically ungoverned areas would take time and urged for continued international engagement with Islamabad and Kabul.

“I am actually encouraged by what I have seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months,” he said in a joint press conference with President Hamid Karzai at the White House.

Obama was responding to a question by an Afghan journalist, who sought to blame Pakistan for all of Afghanistan’s failures.

“But,” Obama reminded, “just as it is going to take time for Afghanistan’s economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it is going to take some time for Pakistan even where there is a will to find a way to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are loosely governed from Islamabad.”

The US president praised Islamabad’s anti-terrorism commitment and underlined the the vitality of sustained engagement with Pakistan towards grappling with the extremist challenge in the restive Afghan border region, reports media correspondent in the District.

“Indeed, Pakistan’s major offensive against extremist sanctuaries — both against the leadership of al-Qaeda and its affiliates advance the security of Pakistanis, Afghans and Americans alike,” Obama said.

Blast Near Private School in Charsadda, Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan News: A roadside bomb targeting a police officer exploded in the main northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, injuring four people including SHO.
The bomb was detonated by remote control as Riaz Ulislam, the head of a police station in Peshawar, was passing by in his vehicle in a residential area of Peshawar near a school, said Hakim Khan, a police officer at the scene of the attack.

The blast injured the SHO, his driver and a child who was passing by, Khan said. The explosion badly damaged the vehicle and a nearby electrical tower, he added.

Suspected militants have carried out a wave of deadly attacks in and around Peshawar since the army launched a major offensive in mid-October in the South Waziristan tribal area, where al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding.

Last week, a suicide bomber killed 19 people outside a courthouse in Peshawar. In late October, a car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the city, killing at least 112 people, the deadliest attack in Pakistan for more than two years.

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Blast Near Private School in Charsadda, Pakistan was first posted on November 26, 2009 at 10:29 am.

US Drone Hits a Family Home of Mehsud, 2 killed

WANA: A suspected US missile attack in South Waziristan killed two relatives of top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud here Wednesday.

The missile apparently fired by a US drone hit a house in Sararogha area of the agency, says the channel.

The house belongs to father-in-law of local Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, identified as Akramud Din, who was also killed in the attack, it was reported.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press has reported citing unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials that the suspected U.S. missile strike killed two relatives of Baitullah Mehsud, top Pakistani Taliban leader.

One of the officials said it was not clear whether Mehsud himself was in the house at the time, but that he was known to often visit.

The second official said agents were trying to get details about the woman who died in the attack.

Mehsud is the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant group blamed by Pakistan for the assassination of the country’s ex-premier, Benazir Bhutto, in a gun-and-bomb attack near the capital Islamabad in December 2007.

He is also accused of organizing dozens of other suicide attacks in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s air force and the military have carried out several attacks targeting Mehsud, and the army has said it is preparing for a major offensive against Mehsud and his network in the tribal region.

Wednesday morning’s attack is the latest in a series of suspected U.S. missile strikes in recent weeks targeting Mehsud.