Pakistan wins UN Security Council seat alongside India

Pakistan may resist Western attempts to sanction Syria and Iran

Pakistan has won a seat alongside its regional rival India on the UN Security Council.

It was contesting elections for five positions with two-year terms.

Morocco, Guatemala and Togo have also been elected as new temporary members of the council. The Eastern European seat is still being contested.

Pakistan's win means both South Asian nuclear states will serve, but diplomats do not think regional rivalry will play out in a big way there.

The positions of Pakistan and India are similar on many international issues.

The elections replace five of the 10 temporary members of the council every year.

Usually regional groupings endorse the seats in advance, but this year there was an unusually high number of contestants, making the outcome unpredictable.

Guatemala ran unopposed and Morocco won easily, but Togo's victory took three rounds and the fifth seat is still contested.

Pakistan's ambassador, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said he expected to work well with his Indian counterpar - he received a congratulatory call from the Indian envoy while talking to journalists.

Diplomats say the greater impact may be on wider council dynamics - they suspect Pakistan may join emerging powers in resisting Western attempts to sanction countries such as Syria and Iran.

If so, it would continue positions held by Brazil, whose term is ending.

Togo's victory ensures a black African presence on the council, something that was in doubt because its run-off was against the Arab state of Mauritania.

Haqqani commander 'killed' in Pakistan drone strike

A top commander of the Haqqani militant network has been killed in a US drone strike in the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan, a US official says.

Janbaz Zadran "played a central role in helping the Haqqani network attack US and coalition targets" in Afghanistan, the official told the BBC.

The US blames the Haqqanis for attacks including one on the US embassy and Nato in Kabul last month.

Pakistan's restive tribal area is frequently targeted by drones.

Many insurgents - from the Taliban as well as the Haqqani network - have taken shelter there.

Escalation
In line with US policy, the official did not confirm reports earlier today that the killing was the result of a strike from an American-operated drone aircraft.

Janbaz Zadran, who the US says was also known as Jamil, was a key lieutenant to Badruddin Haqqani, one of the group's commanders and the son of its founder, the Associated Press says.

Badruddin Haqqani is on a US state department blacklist.

Zadran had access to Haqqani's leadership in Miram Shah. He served as a key lieutenant to Haqqani network commander Badruddin Haqqani. In May, the US designated Badruddin Haqqani a terrorist. He's the son of the group's founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to the State Department.

"His death in Miram Shah makes him the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield," the official said.

The drone strikes come as the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, arrived in Islamabad in an effort to improve relations with Washington.

Drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office in 2008. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.

A number of militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but many civilians have also died.

The US does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.

Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was in the final stages of deciding whether to label the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have been severely strained since the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil by US commandos in May.

Seized India explosives 'meant for attacking Delhi'

Police in India say the large quantity of explosives recovered from a car on Thursday was to meant be used in an attack by militants in Delhi.

The car was carrying more than 5kg (11lb) of explosives and was found outside a railway station in Haryana.

Police said the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Indian Babbar Khalsa International were planning to use it.

They said the attack was timed ahead of the upcoming Diwali festival.

Sixteen people were killed and 76 others were injured in a bomb attack on the high court in Delhi last month.

Delhi police official Arun Kampani told reporters officers they had received intelligence that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in Indian-administered Kashmir had planned to "strike in Delhi" with the help of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a group said to be active in Indian Punjab.

"Investigations were done and found that the explosives were meant for BKI and to be used in Delhi," Mr Kampani said.

The "exchange" of explosives was planned in Ambala, when the police received information on the car, he said.

No arrests have been made so far, and it is still unclear who drove the car to the car park at Ambala railway station.

Detonators, timer devices and batteries were also recovered from the vehicle, officials say.

Indian intelligence agencies believe Babbar Khalsa has the backing of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Hamid Karzai admits Afghanistan 'security failure'

President Karzai: "We should provide a more predictable, secure, environment for Afghan citizens"

President Hamid Karzai has said his government and Nato have failed to provide Afghans with security, 10 years after the Taliban were otherthrown.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Karzai also accused Pakistan of supporting the insurgency, saying sanctuaries there still needed to be tackled.

He vowed to step down in 2014 and said he was working on the succession.

His comments come as the ex-commander of coalition forces said Nato allies remain far from reaching their goals.

After a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, retired Army General Stanley McChrystal estimated that the coalition was "a little better than" half way to achieving its military ambitions, adding that the US began the war with a "frighteningly simplistic" view.

'Pakistani support'
In his interview with the BBC, President Karzai also traced some of Afghanistan's current insecurity to military strategy in the early years of the war and the failure to tackle the Taliban sheltering in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas.

"Nato and the US and our neighbours in Pakistan should have concentrated a long time back, in the beginning of 2002-3, on the [Taliban] sanctuaries," he said.
Although he was eager to emphasise achievements in education and health, President Karzai admitted that security was his greatest failing.

"We've done terribly badly in providing security to the Afghan people and this is the greatest shortcoming of our government and of our international partners," he said.

"What we should do is provide better and a more predictable environment of security to the Afghan citizens and in that the international community and the Afghan government definitely have failed."

In recent months Afghanistan has seen a string of brazen assaults on major cities and military targets as well high profile assassinations, such as the killing last month of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

President Karzai said that it was a "serious shortcoming" that the Taliban were able to launch such spectacular attacks but also added that "these problems come from abroad" and pointed the finger at Pakistan's role in the Taliban insurgency.

"On the overall policy of Pakistan toward Afghanistan and towards the Taliban, definitely, the Taliban will not be able to move a finger without Pakistani support," he said.

He added that the president and prime minister of Pakistan were eager for good relations with Afghanistan but re-emphasised that Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan will not go away unless the government there co-operates with the Afghan administration.

Pakistani authorities deny any support for the insurgents.

'Foreign corruption'
President Karzai also admitted that the policy of talking to the Taliban had received a serious blow with the assassination of ex-president Rabbani but added: " Find an address, find a location, and we will talk to you."
But as Nato begins to draw down troops in anticipation of relinquishing its combat role in 2014, Hamid Karzai also confirmed that he would step down from the presidency in that year. He added he was starting work to find a successor.

"I feel it is my responsibility to be working on a next president that the Afghans can trust and that they can have faith in, and that he as the president can serve this nation," he said.

The president also maintains that the corruption, which has marked his administration, will get better after 2014 when foreign forces withdraw. He blamed such corruption largely on foreign companies and governments.

"The reality of the matter is that a very, very big part of big corruption in Afghanistan emanates from the international community," he said.

Despite the advances in health and education, rights groups and aid organisations say many challenges remain.

Some $57bn (£37bn) of aid has been spent over the past decade, according to the non-governmental organisations who form part of the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief, but, while some gains have been made, the spending has not always translated into real improvements for many Afghans.

And a decade of conflict has left many dead. The UN says that more than 10,000 civilians have died in violence in the past five years alone. More than 2,500 international troops have been killed - most of them American. The conflict has already surpassed Vietnam to become the longest war in US history.

Correspondents say Western officials admit that parts of the country will remain violent after 2014 when Nato stops fighting. Without a peace deal with the Taliban, they say, few really expect the war to be brought to an end.

US and Nato 'far from goals' in Afghanistan

International forces have yet to bring peace to Afghanistan

After 10 years in Afghanistan, the US still lacks the knowledge to bring the conflict to a successful end, retired Army Gen Stanley McChrystal has said.

Gen McChrystal said US and Nato allies were barely over half-way towards reaching their goals in the country.

"Operation Enduring Freedom" was aimed at tracking down Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 and eliminating the Taliban.

The UN says more than 10,000 Afghan civilians have died because of the fighting in the past five years alone.

More than 2,500 international troops have been killed - most of them American.

The conflict has already surpassed Vietnam to become the longest war in US history.

'Superficial understanding'
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Gen McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 before being forced to resign after a magazine interview, said the most difficult task would be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans could believe in and that would balance the influence of the Taliban.
"We didn't know enough and we still don't know enough," he said. "Most of us - me included - had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years," he said.

He added that while the choice to engage in Afghanistan may have been understood, the decision to invade Iraq had been seen as illegitimate by many in the Muslim world and had diverted some military resources that could have been put to good use in Afghanistan.

Gen McChrystal's comments come as a coalition of aid groups said despite billions of dollars in aid, improvements were only patchy.

The Acbar group said health and education sectors in particular remained in dire need of improvement.

Few gains
The BBC's Paul Wood, in Kabul, says that Western officials admit that parts of the country will remain violent after 2014 when Nato relinquishes its combat role. Without a peace deal with the Taliban, he says, few really expect the war to be brought to an end.

Some $57bn (£37bn) of aid has been spent over the past decade, according to the non-governmental organisations who form part of the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief, but, while some gains have been made, the spending has not always translated into real improvements for many Afghans.

For example, now 80% of Afghans have access to health services, compared to just nine percent in 2001, according to data from the Public Health Ministry.

But many of the brand new clinics are often closed or poorly equipped.

"Behind the headline numbers there lies a picture of people struggling to reach clinics which lack medicines or doctors, and school children trying to learn without textbooks or classrooms," said Acbar director Anne Garella.

The country is also facing its worst drought for a decade, with the World Food Programme saying it expects that 2.6 million people will need aid.

Rights group Amnesty International earlier this weeks welcomed progress in new human rights laws, the availability of education and health services and reduced discrimination against women, but said in some spheres - including justice and policing, security and displacement - the situation had remained stagnant, or even deteriorated.

"The Afghan government and its partners can't continue to justify their poor performance by saying that things are better than during the 1990s," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty's Asia Pacific director.

Bin Laden death: 'CIA doctor' accused of treason

Bin Laden was top of the US 'most wanted' list

A Pakistani commission investigating the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden says a doctor accused of helping the CIA should be tried for high treason.

Dr Shakil Afridi is accused of running a CIA-sponsored fake vaccine programme in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was killed, to try to get DNA samples.

He was arrested shortly after the 2 May US raid that killed the al-Qaeda chief.

The commission has been interviewing intelligence officials and on Wednesday spoke to Bin Laden family members.

Pakistan, which was deeply embarrassed by the raid, has described the covert US special forces operation as a violation of its sovereignty.

A government commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, has been charged with discovering how the US military was able to carry out the raid deep within Pakistan without being detected.

It is also investigating how Bin Laden was able to hide in Abbottabad, a garrison town, for several years.

DNA sought
After questioning Dr Afridi, the commission said that in view of the record and evidence it was "of the view that prima facie, a case of conspiracy against the State of Pakistan and high treason" should be launched against him.

Washington has been arguing that Dr Afridi should be freed and allowed to live in the US.

In the weeks after the Bin Laden raid, reports emerged that Dr Afridi, a senior Pakistani doctor, had been recruited by the CIA to organise the phoney vaccine drive.

After having tracked down a Bin Laden courier to a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, the CIA wanted to confirm Bin Laden's presence by obtaining a DNA sample from the residents.

It is not clear if any DNA from Bin Laden or any family members was ever obtained.

After the raid, Pakistani authorities took three of Bin Laden's widows and two of his daughters into custody.

The commission said on Thursday that statements had been taken from them and they were no longer required for its investigation.

Haqqani network denies killing Afghan envoy Rabbani

Siraj Haqqani said "the game which is being played by the West... is close to an end"

A key leader of the Afghan militant group, the Haqqani network, has told the BBC it was not responsible for killing Burhanuddin Rabbani, the man overseeing Taliban peace talks.

Afghan officials have linked the Haqqanis to a suicide attacker who killed Rabbani with a bomb in a turban.

The leader, Siraj Haqqani, also told BBC Pashto his network was not linked to Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI.

Mr Haqqani was giving an audio response to written questions from the BBC.

Security considerations ruled out a face-to-face interview in which the answers could be challenged, but the BBC understands that the audio response is genuine.

The questions were delivered through an intermediary, who returned with the audio response.

Siraj Haqqani is the son of group founder Jalaluddin Haqqani and has a key role in its operations.

The Haqqanis have been blamed for a series of deadly recent attacks in Kabul.

'Military council'

Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed at his home in Kabul on 20 September when meeting a man who said he was carrying an important peace message from the Taliban. The man detonated a bomb hidden in his turban.

In his interview response, Siraj Haqqani simply says: "We haven't killed Burhanuddin Rabbani and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate."

The Islamic Emirate is the name the Taliban gave to Afghanistan when they took control in 1996.

The Taliban have said they do not wish to comment on the Rabbani killing.

Afghan investigators say the killer was a Pakistani and that the murder was plotted in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

Afghan government officials have also accused the Pakistan intelligence agency, the ISI, of involvement, a charge Islamabad denies. Afghanistan and the US have both accused the ISI of links to the Haqqani network.

Mr Haqqani admitted the network was behind "the attack on the US embassy, Nato headquarters and other attacks" in Kabul, which he said were ordered by a "military council" and were not the work of individuals.

In relation to links to the ISI, Mr Haqqani said that during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, mujahideen fighters "had contacts with the intelligence agencies of Pakistan and other countries, but after the invasion by the Americans there have never been contacts by intelligence agencies of other countries which could be effective for us".

He said the Haqqanis "have been contacted and are being contacted by intelligence agencies of many Islamic and non-Islamic countries, including the US, asking us to leave the sacred jihad and take an important part in the current government".

Mr Haqqani said that was not his network's responsibility, but he added: "We know that their aim is not peace, they want to create tension among the Emirate's mujahideen."

He said accusations of links to the ISI were an attempt "to hide their failure and to confuse peoples' minds".

Command structure

Mr Haqqani vowed that "the game which is being played by the West... is close to an end".

He pledged loyalty to Mullah Omar, saying he "is our leader and we totally obey him".

Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed by a bomb hidden in a turban

"In every operation we get the order, planning and financial resources from the Emirate's leadership and we act accordingly," Mr Haqqani said.

He also delivered a message to the "government and people of Pakistan", telling them to be "careful of their Islamic values. They should understand that America will not let Pakistan live a peaceful life until it destroys all the wealth and values of it."

After Rabbani's death, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would no longer hold peace talks with the Taliban, but would instead focus on dialogue with Pakistan.

Mr Karzai said: "[Taliban leader] Mullah Omar doesn't have an address... their peace emissary turns out to be a killer, whom should we talk to?

"The Afghan nation asks me who's the other party that you hold talks with? My answer is, Pakistan."

Afghan aide Burhanuddin Rabbani's killer 'Pakistani'

As a university lecturer in the 1970s, Rabbani was the founding father of the Afghan mujahideen

The Afghan government says its investigations show that the killer of Burhanuddin Rabbani, its negotiator with the Taliban, was a Pakistani.

Evidence from the case showed the murder was plotted in the Pakistani city of Quetta, a statement said.

Rabbani was assassinated on 20 September by a suicide attacker who purported to be a Taliban peace envoy.

Kabul has often accused Pakistan's government of supporting militant groups, a charge Islamabad denies.

After Rabbani's death, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would no longer hold peace talks with the Taliban, but would focus on dialogue with Pakistan.

'Message of peace'
The Afghan government statement quoted its investigators as saying: "Documents and evidence together with the biography, address and phone numbers of suspects involved in the incident have been submitted to the government of Pakistan in order to arrest and hand [suspects] over."

A spokesman for Mr Karzai, Siamak Herawi, reiterated on Sunday that peace talks with the Taliban were suspended and that a new peace strategy would be spelled out "very soon".

On Friday, Mr Karzai made it clear where the efforts should focus.

Afghan men in Kabul take part in an anti-Pakistan protest

He said: "[Taliban leader] Mullah Omar doesn't have an address... their peace emissary turns out to be a killer, whom should we talk to?

"The Afghan nation asks me who's the other party that you hold talks with? My answer is, Pakistan."

Both Afghanistan and the US have accused Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, of supporting militant groups.

In particular, the ISI is accused of backing the Haqqani network, said to be behind a series of high-profile attacks on US and Afghan government targets in Kabul.

On Saturday Afghan Interior Minister Besmillah Mohammadi said that "without doubt" the ISI was also involved in Rabbani's killing.

Pakistan has regularly denied supporting militant groups.

Rabbani was the leader of the Peace Council, constituted by Mr Karzai and tasked with negotiating with the Taliban.

Rabbani was killed in his own home while meeting two men claiming to be from the Taliban, one of whom had a bomb hidden in his turban.

The Peace Council said it had been in touch with what it believed to be the Taliban high command based in Quetta, and was told a messenger would be sent to Kabul.

The attacker purported to have a "message of peace" and had sent a CD which even the president heard, to get access to Rabbani.

Officials say they believed the message would signal a major breakthrough, but it proved to be a trick.

The Taliban have said so far only that they do not wish to comment on the killing.

Karzai abandons peace talks with the Taliban

President Karzai says peace can only be achieved by talks with Pakistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said his government will no longer hold peace talks with the Taliban.

He said the killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani had convinced him to focus on dialogue with Pakistan.

Former Afghan President Rabbani was negotiating with the Taliban but was killed by a suicide bomber purporting to be a Taliban peace emissary.

US President Barack Obama has renewed calls for Pakistani action against militants of the Haqqani network.

Mr Karzai, speaking to a group of religious leaders, said there were no partners for dialogue among the Taliban. It was not possible to find the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, he added.

"Where is he? We cannot find the Taliban Council. Where is it?" he said.

"A messenger comes disguised as a Taliban Council member and kills, and they neither confirm nor reject it. Therefore, we cannot talk to anyone but to Pakistan," Mr Karzai told the meeting.

"Who is the other side in the peace process? I do not have any other answer but to say Pakistan is the other side in the peace talks with us."

A statement by members of the nationwide council of religious scholars praised Rabbani's efforts to bring peace to the country, and condemned his killing in the strongest terms.

'Terrorist hot bed'

Last week, the US military accused Pakistan's spy agency of helping the Haqqani militant network in a recent attack on Kabul.

Pakistan's foreign minister responded by warning that the US could lose Pakistan as an ally if it continued to publicly accuse Islamabad of supporting militants.

Late on Friday, President Barack Obama renewed calls for Pakistan to take action against the group.

"My attitude is, whether there is active engagement with Haqqani on the part of the Pakistanis or rather just passively allowing them to operate with impunity in some of these border regions, they've got to take care of this problem," said Mr Obama.

Pakistan has long denied supporting the Haqqani group, but BBC correspondents say it has a decades-old policy of pursuing foreign policy objectives through alliances with militants.

Although Islamabad denies the network has safe havens inside Pakistan, the country's former national security adviser told the BBC that it was operating in North Waziristan, in Pakistan's restive tribal belt.

"Today North Waziristan is a hot bed," said Retired Maj Gen Mahmoud Durani.

"It's not just Haqqanis. Everybody who is anybody in the terrorist field is there. Although there is military (there)... I think they have a fair amount of freedom of action."

He said the army was too overstretched to take on the Haqqani group.

The BBC's Orla Guerin says that, privately, officials admit that the group is not a target for Pakistan because its members don't kill and maim inside the country.

US officials say they are close to deciding whether to label the group as a foreign terrorist organisation, and the Treasury Department on Thursday announced new sanctions on five individuals it said were linked to "the most dangerous terrorist organisations operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan".

Telangana: India new state protest enters 18th day

Protests have taken place in the capital, Hyderabad

A strike in favour of a new state in the Telangana region of southern India's Andhra Pradesh state has entered its 18th day.

Some 800,000 protesting government employees have stopped work, leading to a shutdown of offices, schools and colleges.

Public transport is off the roads and widespread power outages are being reported from the region.

Andhra Pradesh saw violent protests for and against the proposal last year.

With a population of 40 million, the proposed Telangana state comprises 10 of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts, including the state capital and India's sixth most populous city, Hyderabad.

Normal life in Hyderabad has come to a standstill on Friday after a fresh strike call by pro-Telangana activists, the BBC's Omer Farooq says.

For the last 18 days, 800,000 government employees - mostly teachers, public transport workers and coal mine workers - have been on strike, demanding a new state of Telangana.

As a result, schools, colleges and government offices in the region are shut.

A strike by the workers of Singareni Collieries Company has led to power cuts - electricity is mainly coal-fed in the region.

Last week, protesters blocked trains in the region, and a supporter of the new state threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a hoarding in Hyderabad.

In July, all 118 legislators representing the Telangana region resigned from the state assembly, which has 294 members.

And the party leading the demand for statehood, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), is sticking to its position.

Opponents of the move are unhappy that Hyderabad, home to many major information technology and pharmaceutical companies, could become Telangana's new capital.

The final decision on a new state lies with the Indian parliament. But the state assembly must also pass a resolution approving its creation.

Deep divisions have emerged over the Telangana issue in the past two years.

In December 2009, India's Congress party-led government promised that the new state would be formed, but later said more talks were needed.

The announcement prompted widespread protests in the state, and a student committed suicide in support of the formation of Telangana.

Telangana

• Population of 40 million
• Comprises 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, including city of Hyderabad
• Landlocked, predominantly agricultural area
• One of the most under-developed regions in India
• 50-year campaign for separate status
• More than 400 people died in 1969 crackdown

US in 'final' stage to decide Haqqani network status

The US has blamed the recent attack on Kabul's US embassy on the Haqqani network

The United States says it is close to deciding whether to label the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a final review was under way before making a decision on the group blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan.

US officials say the group was behind the recent attack on the US embassy in Kabul in which some 25 people died.

They have been putting pressure on Pakistan to sever links with the group.

The most senior US military officer, Adm Mike Mullen, recently accused Pakistan's spy agency of supporting the Haqqani group.

Pakistani officials have consistently denied links with militant groups.

The spat has further strained US-Pakistan ties which have deteriorated sharply after the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil by US commandos in May.

'Final review'
"We're in the final, formal review that has to be undertaken to make a government-wide decision to designate the network as a foreign terrorist organisation," Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
She said seven leaders of the group had been placed under US sanctions since 2008.

The Haqqani network, which is closely allied to the Taliban and reportedly based in Pakistan, has been blamed for several high-profile attacks against Western, Indian and government targets in Afghanistan.

It is often described by Pakistani officials as a predominantly Afghan group.

But correspondents say its roots reach deep inside Pakistani territory, and speculation over its links to Pakistan's security establishment refuses to die down.

US officials have long been frustrated at what they perceive to be Pakistani inaction against the Haqqani network, and analysts say US concern about the group's capabilities is particularly acute as Nato begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

After Adm Mullen's accusation last week, Pakistan's government warning that the US could lose Pakistan as an ally if it continued to publicly accuse Islamabad of supporting militants.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that the US cannot afford to alienate Pakistan's government or its people.

Washington, however, has kept up the pressure, urging Islamabad to break any links it has with the Haqqani network.

Pakistan denies its intelligence service has links with the Haqqani network and says it is determined to fight all militants based on its border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan defies US

Pak Interior Minister Rehman Malik (L) holds a Chinese flag as he greets Chinese Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu at an airbase in Rawalpindi yesterday. Pakistani officials have been meeting with ambassadors and other foreign dignitaries seeking diplomatic support amid a row over alleged connections with militants.Photo: AFP

Pakistan will not launch an offensive against Haqqani extremists despite Washington ramping up the pressure after a series of attacks on US targets in Afghanistan, an official said yesterday.

The US and Pakistan are key allies in the war against Islamist militants in Afghanistan, but their relationship is often troubled and hit new depths after the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert US raid in Pakistan in May.

Pakistan's army chief of staff gathered together his top generals in an extraordinary meeting at the weekend after a series of stinging rebukes from the Americans blaming the Haqqanis and Pakistani intelligence for recent attacks.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is now expected to call a rare cross-party conference, although he has dismissed the American allegations as little more than finding a scapegoat for US "disarray" in the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

"I don't think the indicators are as such," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP when asked if the army was going to launch an operation in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, where the Haqqani leadership is based.

Instead, he said, the military needs to "consolidate gains" made against local militants who pose a security threat elsewhere in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt that Washington has branded an al-Qaeda headquarters.

Pakistan has around 140,000 troops based in its troubled northwest and says more than 3,000 soldiers have been killed since 2001 -- more than the 2,735 Western soldiers to have died fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

General James Mattis, commander of the US Central Command which oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on Sunday became the most senior US commander to hold talks with Pakistani generals in Islamabad since last week's public US accusations of Pakistani involvement with the Haqqanis.

After the talks, General Khalid Shameem Wyne, chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed concern about "negative statements" and said "irritants" in the US relationship come from an "extremely complex situation".

In a curt Pakistani statement, the military said it was committed to achieving "enduring peace in the region" -- something it said was only possible "through mutual trust and cooperation".

In the latest in a series of rows, Washington accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of involvement in the September 13 attack on its embassy in Kabul, raising tensions to a new level.

The White House demanded Friday that Pakistan "break any link they have" with the Haqqanis, which was founded by former CIA asset Jalaluddin Haqqani and is today run by his son Sirajuddin -- based in North Waziristan.

But the Pakistani official told AFP that troops were too busy countering cross-border attacks from Afghanistan and local Pakistani militants in other parts of the tribal belt to take on the Haqqanis.

The outgoing top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, bluntly accused Pakistan of "exporting" violent extremism to Afghanistan through proxies and warned of possible action to protect US troops.

Afghan attack: Gunfire heard at Kabul 'CIA station'

Gunfire and a blast have been heard from a compound said to house the CIA station in the Afghan capital Kabul.

A US official confirmed there was an attack on the facility previously known as the Ariana hotel, describing the situation as "fluid".

The CIA has not commented, but Afghan counter-intelligence sources told the BBC at least one attacker was killed.

It comes two weeks after militants attacked the US embassy in Kabul.

They also fired rocket-propelled grenades at Nato headquarters in the city.

Some 25 people died in the 20-hour attack, which Washington blamed on the Haqqani militant group.

The US has accused Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, of supporting the group - a claim denied by Islamabad.

Earlier this week, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the chief of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in the Afghan capital. The Taliban said they carried out that attack.

'Investigation ongoing'

The gunfire at the US compound was heard on Sunday evening.

It was not clear if the incident took place inside the building or just outside.

"The situation is fluid, and the investigation is ongoing," said the US official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official declined to provide further details.

Afghan intelligence sources told the BBC that their personnel in the area had heard one explosion and gunfire which lasted nearly 10 minutes.

They said that "at least one attacker was dead", without giving any further details.\

One source said: "The only thing we can confirm is they (the CIA) must have invited someone inside and he turned out to be an attacker. This is the only logical assumption."

The compound is located in the most secure part of Kabul - near the US embassy and Nato military bases.

Meanwhile, a source in the nearby Afghan presidential palace told the BBC:"After the explosion was heard, an Afghan National Army (ANA) vehicle was passing. CIA-employed guards opened fire on the vehicle, thinking it had attacked them."

The sources said that two ANA soldiers, one CIA guard and one presidential guard were injured.

Nepal tourist plane crashes near Kathmandu killing 19

A small plane has crashed in Nepal killing all 19 people on board, officials say.

Witnesses said the plane was on fire and broke up as it fell

The Buddha Air plane was carrying 16 tourists to view Mount Everest and other peaks and was returning to the Nepalese capital.

One person was rescued alive and taken to hospital but died of his injuries.

Tourism Secretary Ganeshraj Joshi said there had been 10 Indians on board, two Americans, a Japanese citizen and six Nepalis, including the three-man crew.

The privately-operated Beechcraft-made 1900D aircraft lost contact with the control tower at 07:31 (02:46 GMT) local time.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

Local TV stations reported that witnesses saw flames coming from the plane just before it went down in foggy weather in Godavari, several kilometres from Kathmandu.

One eyewitness said the plane had hit the roof of a house in Bisankunarayan village before breaking up.

Police spokesman Binod Singh told Reuters that all the bodies had been recovered by ground search teams but that bad weather had prevented helicopters from landing.

"Once the helicopters land, we'll bring all bodies to Kathmandu and take them to the Teaching Hospital for post-mortem," he said.

Aviation accidents involving small aircraft are not uncommon in mountainous Nepal.

Last December, all 22 people travelling in a small passenger plane were killed when it crashed east of Kathmandu.

In August 2010, a plane heading for the Everest region crashed in bad weather killing all 14 people on board, including four Americans, a Japanese national and a British national.