Pakistan Update: The Missile Attacks Haven't Gone Away....

With all the attention given to Mumbai and its aftermath --- The Washington Post had an editorial today castigating the Zardari Government for "denying the truth" --- the local situation in Pakistan has receded from attention here in Britain.

It shouldn't:

Suspected US missile strikes killed at least eight people Monday in volatile north-west Pakistan.

As The Times of London writes about the links "between [the Pakistani intelligence service] ISI and the likes of LeT [the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba]: it's a monster we created and now we can't get it back in the bottle", it may want to consider what other monsters are being created with events such as yesterday's.

Around the World on A Saturday: From Iraq to Zimbabwe to North Korea

IRAQ: BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT

You might think that, two days after the deadliest bombing in Iraq in six months, the media might want to consider the impact. However, a day after noting the death of 57 Iraqis and the wounding of many more in Kirkuk, everyone has blissfully walked away.



They have done so even though the choice of the restaurant, where Kurdish and Arab leaders were meeting over ethnic tensions in the city, might indicate that someone is quite intent on derailing the political process. Juan Cole even speculates that Iraqi President Jalal Talebani may have been the Number One target.

ZIMBABWE: THE NEW YORK TIMES WAKES UP

Continuing our coverage of Better Late than Never, the editorial staff of the Times have finally noticed the situation, although they don't advocate US involvement: "[The African states] must renounce their recognition of Mr. Mugabe as president and press him and his cronies to cede power."

More substantially, The Washington Post notices an even deadlier situation across the continent, courtesy of a UN report, "Rwanda and Congo have been backing rival rebel and militia groups locked in a violent conflict in eastern Congo that has displaced more than 250,000 civilians since August."

NORTH KOREA: THE FINAL BUSH FAILURE?

Almost eight years after throwing out the negotiating process to halt North Korean development of nuclear weaponry and more than three years after realising that the big stick wasn't going to deter Pyongyang, the Bush Administration suffered a last humiliation when North Korea effectively walked out of talks.

PAKISTAN PLAYS FOR TIME

Richard Oppel and Salman Masood in The New York Times have figured out Pakistan's strategy in dealing with the aftermath of Mumbai. Their article depicts the  "house arrest" of the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Muhammed Saeed.

With such measures, Islamabad hopes to stave off calls for extradition of Saeed and other LeT leaders, a step which would likely bring the downfall of the Zardari Government.

Update: Pakistan and Al Qa'eda --- How Not to Cover the News

Only a couple of hours ago I blogged on the UN report warning of the extended reach of the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba and wrote, "The misleading read of this report would be that LeT is now a branch of Al Qaeda."

Step up, Daily Telegraph, which begins its story:

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the [United States] joint chiefs of staff, said members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other Pakistan groups were able to operate at a much higher level.

"Terror" Beyond Pakistan: Expanding Reach of Lashkar-e-Taiba?

McClatchy News Services has obtained a United Nations document on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group linked by many to the Mumbai attacks, and the implications go far beyond Indo-Pakistani relations. The article asserts, "LeT has sent operatives to attack U.S. troops in Iraq, established a branch in Saudi Arabia and been raising funds in Europe" and "may also have received money from al Qaida".



On Wednesday, a UN Security Council committee --- pressed by India and the US --- put three of LeT's alleged leaders and a Saudi supporter on a terrorist watch list. India also sought the inclusion of Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan's intelligence service, but China reportedly blocked his addition to the list.

The misleading read of this report would be that LeT is now a branch of Al Qaeda. If only it were that simple: the indications are that LeT, while formally banned by Pakistan since 2002, is now a group beyond Al Qaeda with its own aims and ideas of how to achieve them.

And that in turn doubles attention back, not to Osama bin Laden, but to internal Pakistani politics. As Juan Cole notes cogently about Pakistan's arrest of one of the four on the UN list, Zaki ur Rahman Lakhvi, and Zarar Shah:

[Zarar Shah] is thought to be a liason to a network of retired officers of the [Pakistani service] Inter-Services Intelligence, who are alleged to have trained the Mumbai attackers.

This is a game of chicken. As the civilian Pakistani government gets closer to rogue cells in the ISI, it risks another coup or black ops aimed at destabilizing it.