NEW U.S. BASE IN NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN?
The U.S. is planning to build a sprawling Special Forces base in northern Afghanistan near Mazar-i-Sharif at a cost of up to $100 million. According to the Federal Business Opportunities website (FBO.gov) the U.S. Defense Department would like a contract to construct the base signed by September of this year, making it operational by late 2011 or early 2012. The 17-acre site is just 35 miles from the Uzbek border. The proposed base is part of a larger plan by CENTCOM to spend up to $3.8 billion on construction work across the Middle East and Central Asia, including border posts in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as training facilities in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. (Eurasia Review July 8 2010)
PAK CRACKS DOWN ON PUNJABI TALIBAN, SORT OF
Despite its considerable distance from the perpetually violent Af-Pak border, Pakistan’s largest, wealthiest, and most strategically important province, the Punjab, has recently suffered a wave of attacks by Islamist militant groups once linked to the Pakistan state. Pakistan’s sectarian and Kashmir-focused militant groups have traditionally called the Punjab their home, however most of these groups have avoided targeting the Pakistani state and non-minority Muslims in the past, not least because many have had close bonds to the Pakistani military and intelligence services. In recent years those ties have frayed and with more radical groups and factions emerging and other groups simply moving closer to the Pakistani Taliban and its anti-state agenda. This has led to the emergence of what many are calling the “Punjabi Taliban.”
However, the Punjabi Taliban is facing a public backlash for increasingly targeting civilians in the Punjabi heartland, particularly the capital of Lahore. The most recent attack, on July 1, saw over 40 people killed at one of the city’s most famous Sufi shrines. That attack was followed by public demonstrations and warnings that moderate groups were preparing to take up arms and confront extremists. A rare government crackdown on these militant groups followed, involving over 150 arrests. However many are skeptical that the local Punjabi government, which has in the past nurtured close ties these same extremist groups for political gain, is serious about taking them on. Consider the governor of the province, Salmaan Taseer, one of them: he recently described the crackdown has been an “eyewash.” Security analyst Muhamad Rana, meanwhile, says “They have not arrested any members of the big terrorist organizations operating in Punjab.” (Time July 14, 2010)
INDIA CONSIDERS BEEFING UP BORDER PRESENCE EVEN MORE
In yet another measure meant to bolster India’s military presence along its contested border with China, New Delhi is considering raising a Mountain Strike Corps to be sent to the Northeast and two Independent Brigades, one each for Ladakh and Uttarakhand in the Northwest. The Times of India has learned that the proposal is being considered in the coming weeks by the Cabinet Committee on Security, India’s highest national security policymaking body, in what could be the largest-ever upgrade of Indian military capabilities along the Sino-Indian border. The strike corps would be outfitted with ultra light howitzers and helicopters and the units would act as rapid reaction forces. The proposed forces would be an addition to two mountain divisions currently being raised and on track to be deployed to the border mid-way through next year. (Times of India July 2, 2010)
HEADLEY TELLS INDIA ISI INVOLVED IN MUMBAI
Indian officials were beside themselves when the U.S. for months denied New Delhi access to David Coleman Headley, a Chicago man arrested in March by U.S. authorities for links to several terrorism plots, including a devastating attack on Mumbai, India in 2008 that killed 170. When a team of Indian officials from the National Investigation Agency was finally granted access to Headley in June, they apparently gleaned insights about Islamabad’s involvement with terrorist groups like Lashkar e Taiba, the jihadist outfit with which Headley was affiliated and the primary organization fingered for the Mumbai attacks. In recent weeks, senior members of the Indian government have revealed that Headley informed them that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, was “literally controlling and coordinating [the Mumbai attack] from the beginning till the end,” in the words of India’s Home Secretary, G.K. Pillai. Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon later added “What we learnt from Headley is really the links with the official establishment and existing intelligence agencies,” creating a “nexus” which makes terrorism “a much harder phenomenon to deal with.” U.S. officials, meanwhile, appear perturbed that New Delhi is speaking publicly about Headley’s confessions before he has been convicted in U.S. court. (Bloomberg July 20, 2010; The Daily Times July 22, 2010)