US forces using Shamsi airbase in Balochistan
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009 |
ISLAMABAD: The Shamsi airbase in Balochistan is being used by American forces for logistical purposes but the government is not satisfied with
payments for the use of the facility, disclosed the defence minister.
Talking exclusively to DawnNews, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said that the US was still using the Shamsi airbase, however, the govt is not
satisfied with payments for its use.
Earlier, the US was also using the Jacobabad Airbase and Pasni for its operations in Afghanistan.
Just a day earlier, the defence minister had also admitted the existence of the Afghan Taliban’s Quetta Shura for the first time but said that the security
forces had taken on the Quetta Shura and damaged it to such an extent that it no longer posed any threat.
However, until this admission by the defence minister, the government had so far denied the existence of any Taliban leadership or the Quetta Shura in
Balochistan’s capital.—DawnNews
http://www.dawn.com
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009 |
ISLAMABAD: The Shamsi airbase in Balochistan is being used by American forces for logistical purposes but the government is not satisfied with
payments for the use of the facility, disclosed the defence minister.
Talking exclusively to DawnNews, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said that the US was still using the Shamsi airbase, however, the govt is not
satisfied with payments for its use.
Earlier, the US was also using the Jacobabad Airbase and Pasni for its operations in Afghanistan.
Just a day earlier, the defence minister had also admitted the existence of the Afghan Taliban’s Quetta Shura for the first time but said that the security
forces had taken on the Quetta Shura and damaged it to such an extent that it no longer posed any threat.
However, until this admission by the defence minister, the government had so far denied the existence of any Taliban leadership or the Quetta Shura in
Balochistan’s capital.—DawnNews
http://www.dawn.com
CIA terminates contract with Blackwater: report
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009
WASHINGTON: The US Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled a contract with a security company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide that
allowed the company to load bombs on CIA drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported late Friday.
Citing intelligence officials, the newspaper said the contract gave Blackwater employees an operational role in one of the CIA’s most significant covert
programs, which has killed dozens of militants with Predator and Reaper drones, AFP reported.
The contract with the company, now called Xe Services, was canceled this year by CIA Director Leon Panetta, the report said.
CIA spokesman George Little said Panetta had ordered that the agency’s employees take over the jobs from Xe employees at the remote drone bases
in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the paper noted.
Panetta had also ordered a review of all contracts with the company, according to the report
‘At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any CIA operations other than in a security or support role,’ Little was quoted by The Times as saying.
The disclosure about the terminated contract comes a day after The Times reported that Blackwater employees had joined CIA operatives in secret
operations against suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Blackwater teams joined CIA operations: NY Times
WASHINGTON: Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the CIA's most sensitive operations, including raids on
suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
Blackwater's role in Afghanistan began in early 2002 when the CIA hired the private company to guard the perimeter around its station in Kabul's Ariana
Hotel, the newspaper reported on its website www.nytimes.com.
Now known at Xe Services, Blackwater was also hired as security for the CIA station in Baghdad after the US-led invasion of Iraq a year later.
But the Times said Blackwater's role in both wars changed sharply when its guards began providing security for CIA operatives in the field, sometimes
during offensive missions in conjunction with Delta Force or Navy Seals teams.
Raids on suspected insurgents in Iraq, known as ‘snatch and grab’ operations, began happening almost nightly during the worst years of the war
between 2004 and 2006.
The Times quoted several former Blackwater guards as saying operations to capture and kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan became so routine that
Blackwater personnel sometimes became partners in the missions rather than simply providing the security for the CIA officers.
The Blackwater name burst into the headlines of the Iraq war after a September 2007 shooting in which its guards allegedly killed 14 unarmed Iraqi
civilians while escorting a convoy of US diplomats through Baghdad.
One guard pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the shooting, which also wounded 20 people. Five others were charged.
The Times reported in August the CIA also hired Blackwater contractors for a secret program to track and assassinate senior Al-Qaeda figures. The
program cost millions of dollars but never captured or killed any militants, the paper said. –Reuters
http://www.dawn.com
Blackwater not operating in Pakistan: Malik
Friday, 13 Nov, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan, but that the security firm Dyncorp - which provides
security to American diplomats and also works with the US Army in Afghanistan - has been granted concessions in carrying arms.
Blackwater, visa fraud and deportation of US citizens and rape cases in the country were some of the issues raised in the National Assembly on Friday.
Speaking on the floor of National Assembly, Rehman Malik said that although concessions have been provided to Dyncorp, diplomats are still not
allowed to display arms as per policy. He added that a strong protest has been lodged with a foreign embassy whose members were arrested in
Islamabad for carrying arms.
Malik also said that 48 US citizens and over 12,000 Afghan nationals have been deported from Pakistan during the last five years.
Meanwhile, the government has cancelled illegally obtained ID cards belonging to about 90,000 Afghan nationals. He added that the FIA has registered
over 1,000 cases of obtaining visas on fake passports since year 2000.
Malik also mentioned that around 7,000 rape cases have been reported in the country, with 5,000 alone in Punjab in the last three years.
http://www.dawn.com
Blackwater accused of gun running
By Our Correspondent
Saturday, 21 Nov, 2009
WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday that it had received ‘very serious allegations’ from the US Senate against an American security
firm formerly known as the Blackwater.
The firm, now called the Xe Services, face stiff fines for gun running if the charges are proved.
Earlier this week, Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to the State Department saying that the
committee had been told by a top US official that the company had engaged in ‘broad violations’ of export laws and that the unlicensed shipments ‘went
beyond weapons for personal use’.
In the letter, Senator Kerry asked the State Department’s acting inspector general to begin an investigation into the ‘continued fitness’ of Xe Services to
carry out contract work for the State Department.
‘I’ll just confirm we received the letter’, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a briefing in Washington. ‘The Office of the Inspector General has the
letter, and I’m sure the Secretary will see it as soon as she gets back.’
The spokesman said that these were ‘very serious allegations’ and the department hoped to learn more from the Senate panel about these allegations.
The letter, he said, contained some new information but ‘we are not aware of the specifics of these allegations’.
Meanwhile, the US media reported that Xe executives were already talking to US government officials on this issue and their discussions could lead to
millions of dollars in penalties.
US government officials and former company employees told the media that many of the violations involved arms shipments to Iraq, to outfit company
security guards operating inside the country.
In addition, other penalties could result from violations of licensing requirements for the transfer of other forms of military technology and training
expertise to foreign countries.
http://www.dawn.com
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009
WASHINGTON: The US Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled a contract with a security company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide that
allowed the company to load bombs on CIA drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported late Friday.
Citing intelligence officials, the newspaper said the contract gave Blackwater employees an operational role in one of the CIA’s most significant covert
programs, which has killed dozens of militants with Predator and Reaper drones, AFP reported.
The contract with the company, now called Xe Services, was canceled this year by CIA Director Leon Panetta, the report said.
CIA spokesman George Little said Panetta had ordered that the agency’s employees take over the jobs from Xe employees at the remote drone bases
in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the paper noted.
Panetta had also ordered a review of all contracts with the company, according to the report
‘At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any CIA operations other than in a security or support role,’ Little was quoted by The Times as saying.
The disclosure about the terminated contract comes a day after The Times reported that Blackwater employees had joined CIA operatives in secret
operations against suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Blackwater teams joined CIA operations: NY Times
WASHINGTON: Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the CIA's most sensitive operations, including raids on
suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
Blackwater's role in Afghanistan began in early 2002 when the CIA hired the private company to guard the perimeter around its station in Kabul's Ariana
Hotel, the newspaper reported on its website www.nytimes.com.
Now known at Xe Services, Blackwater was also hired as security for the CIA station in Baghdad after the US-led invasion of Iraq a year later.
But the Times said Blackwater's role in both wars changed sharply when its guards began providing security for CIA operatives in the field, sometimes
during offensive missions in conjunction with Delta Force or Navy Seals teams.
Raids on suspected insurgents in Iraq, known as ‘snatch and grab’ operations, began happening almost nightly during the worst years of the war
between 2004 and 2006.
The Times quoted several former Blackwater guards as saying operations to capture and kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan became so routine that
Blackwater personnel sometimes became partners in the missions rather than simply providing the security for the CIA officers.
The Blackwater name burst into the headlines of the Iraq war after a September 2007 shooting in which its guards allegedly killed 14 unarmed Iraqi
civilians while escorting a convoy of US diplomats through Baghdad.
One guard pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the shooting, which also wounded 20 people. Five others were charged.
The Times reported in August the CIA also hired Blackwater contractors for a secret program to track and assassinate senior Al-Qaeda figures. The
program cost millions of dollars but never captured or killed any militants, the paper said. –Reuters
http://www.dawn.com
Blackwater not operating in Pakistan: Malik
Friday, 13 Nov, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan, but that the security firm Dyncorp - which provides
security to American diplomats and also works with the US Army in Afghanistan - has been granted concessions in carrying arms.
Blackwater, visa fraud and deportation of US citizens and rape cases in the country were some of the issues raised in the National Assembly on Friday.
Speaking on the floor of National Assembly, Rehman Malik said that although concessions have been provided to Dyncorp, diplomats are still not
allowed to display arms as per policy. He added that a strong protest has been lodged with a foreign embassy whose members were arrested in
Islamabad for carrying arms.
Malik also said that 48 US citizens and over 12,000 Afghan nationals have been deported from Pakistan during the last five years.
Meanwhile, the government has cancelled illegally obtained ID cards belonging to about 90,000 Afghan nationals. He added that the FIA has registered
over 1,000 cases of obtaining visas on fake passports since year 2000.
Malik also mentioned that around 7,000 rape cases have been reported in the country, with 5,000 alone in Punjab in the last three years.
http://www.dawn.com
Blackwater accused of gun running
By Our Correspondent
Saturday, 21 Nov, 2009
WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday that it had received ‘very serious allegations’ from the US Senate against an American security
firm formerly known as the Blackwater.
The firm, now called the Xe Services, face stiff fines for gun running if the charges are proved.
Earlier this week, Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to the State Department saying that the
committee had been told by a top US official that the company had engaged in ‘broad violations’ of export laws and that the unlicensed shipments ‘went
beyond weapons for personal use’.
In the letter, Senator Kerry asked the State Department’s acting inspector general to begin an investigation into the ‘continued fitness’ of Xe Services to
carry out contract work for the State Department.
‘I’ll just confirm we received the letter’, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a briefing in Washington. ‘The Office of the Inspector General has the
letter, and I’m sure the Secretary will see it as soon as she gets back.’
The spokesman said that these were ‘very serious allegations’ and the department hoped to learn more from the Senate panel about these allegations.
The letter, he said, contained some new information but ‘we are not aware of the specifics of these allegations’.
Meanwhile, the US media reported that Xe executives were already talking to US government officials on this issue and their discussions could lead to
millions of dollars in penalties.
US government officials and former company employees told the media that many of the violations involved arms shipments to Iraq, to outfit company
security guards operating inside the country.
In addition, other penalties could result from violations of licensing requirements for the transfer of other forms of military technology and training
expertise to foreign countries.
http://www.dawn.com
