theSun | TUESDAY AUGUST 25 2009
news without borders
Army chief: Al Qaeda
capable of more attacks
WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda
remains “very capable” of at-
tacking the United States, the
top US military officer said
as he tried to boost waning
US support for the conflict in
Afghanistan.
Nearly eight years after
the Sept 11, 2001 attacks that
killed some 3,000 people, Al
Qaeda is “still very capable,
very focused on it,”
chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Mike
Mullen (pix) said
on NBC’s Meet the
Press on Sunday.
“They also
are able to both
train and support
and finance, and
so that capability is
still significant,” he
said.
Mullen added that the US
military is “very focused on
making sure that it doesn’t
happen again,” referring to
the potential for another such
attack on US soil. Meanwhile,
Al Qaeda is gaining from the
support of Taliban fighters
in Afghanistan and Pakistan,
making the US fight against
extremism in Afghanistan
all the more urgent, Mullen
said.
“I think it the situation in
Afghanistan is serious and
deteriorating and I’ve said
that over the last couple
of years, that the Tali-
ban insurgency has
gotten better, more
sophisticated.”
US support
for the war in
Afghanistan has
appeared tepid
at best. A survey
by the Washington
Post and ABC News
in mid-August suggested
51% believe the war is not
worth fighting, while 47%
support it.
“Certainly the numbers
are of concern,” Mullen
said, as Washington ramps
up efforts to bolster the size
and strength of US forces in
Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama,
who has made the conflict
a top priority in his admin-
istration and declared the
war there a “necessity,” has
ordered the deployment
of 21,000 additional troops
which would boost the total
to 68,000 by the end of the
year.
The White House is
also expecting within two
weeks an evaluation by the
commander of US forces in
Afghanistan, Gen Stanley
McChrystal, who may cut
the number of troops in
support staff roles to free up
soldiers for combat against
Taliban insurgents.
McChrystal, who oversees
American and Nato troops
in Afghanistan, is weighing
the step as he carries out an
assessment of the war effort
amid widespread speculation
he is preparing to request
more US troops.
The New York Times
reported US military com-
manders in Afghanistan told
President Barack Obama’s
chief envoy to the region that
they did not have enough
troops to do their job.
The newspaper said the
commanders spoke this
weekend with Richard Hol-
brooke, who over the past
two days, visited all four
regional command centres
in Afghanistan.
All four told him that while
the additional US troops
have had some benefit in the
south, the numbers remain
below what commanders
need, the report said.
While the Pentagon has
said the official recommen-
dation will not include a re-
quest for troops, Washington
expects such a request in the
coming months.
US Independent Senator
Joseph Lieberman, who re-
cently met with McChrystal
in Afghanistan, confirmed
that a request would be
forthcoming.
“We didn’t talk about it in
detail. But it’s very clear that
General McChrysal is going
to ask for more troops,” he
said on CNN’s State of the
Union talk show. – AFP
9
13 men arrested over
terror plots in Karachi
KARACHI: Pakistani police have arrested 13 men accused of
plotting attacks across the country, with one cell planning to
disrupt Ramadan and the other targeting economic hub Ka-
rachi, police said yesterday. In Karachi on Sunday, police held
seven members of banned Al Qaeda-linked extremist group
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on suspicion of planning suicide attacks in
the southern port city and capital of Sindh province.
“We have arrested seven men and recovered three explo-
sives-filled jackets and detonators,” said senior Karachi police
official Saud Mirza. He said that a large quantity of explosives
had also been seized in the Sunday raid.
“They were planning to hit some major targets including
police establishments and Shiite mosques in the city,” he
added. “The material we have recovered from them was
enough to start a small war in a part of the city.”
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is regarded as the fiercest of Pakistan’s
Sunni Muslim extremist outfits and is known to have mounted
numerous attacks on the minority Shiite Muslim community
and other targets since it was formed in 1996.
Pakistani authorities blame the group for the devastating
attack last September on Islamabad’s five-star Marriott Hotel,
which left 60 people dead, and say the group has strong links
to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
One of the seven detainees, Shehzad Munna, was an ex-
pert in manufacturing suicide jackets and traversed Pakistan
recruiting for terrorist organisations and training young men
for suicide attacks, Mirza said.
Six more suspected militants were taken into custody
yesterday in Punjab – Pakistan’s most populous province.
“We have arrested six suspected terrorists who were plan-
ning to hit key installations in major cities,” said Usman Anwar,
district police officer of Sargodha, a city located in the heart
of Punjab province. – AFP