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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (223413)	3/9/2007 4:15:33 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Asia Times has a reporter who was held as a "guest" of the Taliban for a few weeks. Eventually they let him go, but in the process he has made some contacts with the Taliban and every so often reports on what they are up to. This is his latest article on them atimes.com

To: geode00 who wrote (223413)	3/9/2007 4:29:22 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 281500

It is kinda funny when a former head of intelligence service makes fun of the president: KARACHI - Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's eight-hour trip to Saudi Arabia last weekend to meet with King Abdullah dealt a body blow to US efforts to drive a wedge between the Persians and the Arabs. Plans to create a Sunni bloc to isolate and oppose an Iran-dominated Shi'ite "crescent" have also been derailed. And Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has come out of the whole episode with egg on his face. Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, a former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence who maintains close ties with Riyadh and Tehran, told Asia Times Online that he believes Musharraf's meddling in Middle Eastern affairs has further isolated the general. ... "The immense popularity of the Iranian president and Hezbollah's Hasan Nasrullah among Arab youths was a matter of concern for Arab monarchs, but it does not mean that they will be part of any American designs in the Middle East," Gul told Asia Times Online. "The entire Saudi plan of a peacekeeping force and resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict was one perspective, but the Americans tried to hijack the plan through Egypt and Pakistan," Gul said. ... "Arab leaders were stunned by Musharraf's remarks, and King Abdullah went out of his way in a newspaper interview to embarrass Musharraf by saying that Palestine is purely 'our' issue and nobody needs to meddle in the area with their own agenda," Gul said. ... "Now Musharraf should sort out his options, as he has already lost his Afghan card to the Americans and his significance is only to guard against Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into anybody's hand who would use it against Israel," Gul said.