Final Solution – Part Two:

Translation from Russian

Russian Atheist Explains Suicide Bombing Continued from Part One Tariq Saeedi With Sergi Pyatakov and Tamara Orlova in Moscow Additional reporting by Qasim Jan in Kandahar and GN Brohi in Kharan and Nushki Lucky breaks come when you least expect them. A major break presented itself recently, revealing the involvement of the USA and India in the terrorism spate in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We will come to it near the end of this narrative. When working on this series of investigative reports, we understood early the need to think out of the box. In an attempt to think out of the box we decided to consult an atheist. It was on his prodding that we went back to the field and found something big. Vitaly was a professor of gosateism (state atheism) at the now-defunct department of atheism at the Moscow State University (MGU). An atheist by choice rather than opportunism, Vitaly is as knowledgeable about Islam as any well- educated and well-read Muslim scholar. To bolster his argument, he can quote verses from the Koran and the sayings of The Prophet from memory. The fundamental difference between Vitaly and a Muslim scholar is that Vitaly studied Islam to debunk it. In several interviews, we discussed suicide bombing with him. Our first report in this series (‘Final Solution’ Frenzy – Part One: From Afghanistan with Love) was the basic raw material from which we expected Vitaly to come up with a plausible explanation as to why some young people would agree to act as suicide bombers. In that report we mentioned that the Americans were running at least two training camps in Afghanistan, they were most probably preparing the kind of young people who looked like Muslims but acted otherwise, quite possibly some young men who looked like Taliban were being transported in American helicopters to areas near the border with Pakistan, automobiles were being stolen or snatched at gunpoint in Balochistan and some of those vehicles were being used in the acts of terrorism, there were huge numbers of unregistered automobiles in half of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, and there was a wide corridor in Balochistan that was being used by different kinds of people for illegal traveling between Afghanistan and Iran. Here we present the essence of our conversations with Vitaly in the form of question-and-answer sequence: Talking to Vitaly nCa: Before we discuss the process of suicide bombing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, could you please give us some insight into non-personal acts of suicide in general? Vitaly: Right at the start, I must make it clear that the use of suicide as a tactic or weapon, what you call non-personal act of suicide, is not exclusive to religion – any religion at all. The incidents of the use of suicide as a method of advance or retreat, offence or defence, desperation or exhilaration, are scattered throughout the history of mankind. It is a mindset that can be induced or acquired. For instance, Jim Jones and 909 of his followers committed mass suicide in November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana. Except for 9-11, it was the largest number of American casualties in a single event. Jones and his followers described themselves as communists, and in their last will they left assets worth more than US $ 20 million for the Soviet Union. Their mass suicide can be described as an act of desperation and retreat. The Kamikaze pilots blew themselves – and the enemy – to pieces not for God but for the King and the country. The Tamil Tigers have their land and their political agenda, not God, in mind when going for a suicide mission. As far as organized religion is concerned, it is susceptible to manipulation after reaching the inevitable stage of ‘intellectual coma.’ It was the intellectual coma that generated the early waves of crusaders to their sure death. nCa: How do you define intellectual coma? Vitaly: Intellectual coma is when an organized religion gets disconnected from spirit. It is the triumph of form over substance. It is when the written and spoken word of scholars divides the adherents instead of uniting them. For example, when Saladin was knocking at the doors of Jerusalem in 1187, the Christian scholars were debating in earnest whether Jesus Christ was the son of man or God. In 1258, just 71 years later, when the Mongol armies under Helegu were entering Baghdad, the Muslim scholars at the main square were contesting hotly whether crow washalal or haram. nCa: How does it relate to suicide bombing in Islam? Vitaly: Suicide as such is probably not permissible in Islam. In one of the early battles of Islam, a companion of The Prophet fought valiantly and got seriously wounded. The onlookers praised his bravery but The Prophet said that he may end up in hell. This made some listeners wonder and they kept an eye on the wounded companion to see as to what he would do next. A few hours later, he committed suicide in his tent. This incident is universally quoted by the body of Muslim scholars who speak against suicide. However, it is possible to divide the act of suicide into two categories i.e. the permissible and the forbidden. For instance, a convincing case can be built that commitment of suicide to escape despair, law, shame or pain is forbidden while suicide as a tactic in asymmetrical warfare is permissible. Regardless of the doctrinal stance one takes on this issue, the persistent occurrence of suicide bombing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan demands different treatment. Looking at the complexity of the situation, one needs to be mindful of external and internal manipulations. To expand on this point, I would like first to give my personal understanding of Islam. In the early texts, Islam was referred to as path (deen) – a very wide path – and the preference to walk on the right or left, or in the middle, of that path was defined as mazhab. It is only when public debates on religion became a fashion that Islam came to be referred to as mazhab. You may rightly ask as to what difference it makes. The sheer bulk of literature in Islam that appeared after the sacking of Baghdad, veered away from the main path, the deen. It was denial and retreat. My understanding of Islam is that neither your body nor the soul is answerable because body is perishable and soul is an order (amr) of God. What is answerable is your consciousness. Your consciousness is the product of the lifetime of your commission and omission, negation or acceptance. However, just read the Islamic literature created during the last seven hundred years. Except for some notable exceptions, the general impression is that everybody is going to hell except for a chosen few. Based on the bulk of literature produced during the intellectual coma, it appears that it is nearly impossible to please the God of Islam. The Islamic literature of the past few centuries promotes hopelessness instead of hope. The scholars, by and large, don’t offer optimism; they dispense fear. This is one reason why it was easy to convince people of the validity of atheism in Soviet Union. Looking at the main body of Islamic literature, it seems that paradise is a small island, able to accommodate just a handful. It also gives the impression that God is an angry old man, taking pleasure in committing people to eternal torture, creating them merely to throw them into the hell. Considering that every author recommends every other author for hell, the Islamic paradise would be one lonely place. When a common Muslim looks at the presumed demands made on him, he sometimes loses all hope and starts looking for a shortcut to heaven. This opens door for internal and external manipulation. Suicide can be billed as cheap ticket to paradise. Ka-boom, and you are there already, in the company of eternal virgins along the banks milk and honey rivers. This is just one of the several reasons why someone would agree to become a suicide bomber. I will come to another, more relevant reason, in a minute. nCa: You are saying ‘internal and external manipulations.’ Could you please elaborate? Vitaly: You told me that some young people, Muslim in appearance, were seen entering from Afghanistan into Pakistan, and they did not perform obligatory ablutions before their prayers. This is the sign of induced exclusiveness; this is what I call ‘Zombification.’ This is the other reason I am talking about that could be more relevant to the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. nCa: We are afraid we don’t understand your line of argument. Vitaly: If you take a group of teenagers, preferably 12 to 17, and the idea is to make them suicide bombers, here is how you would zombify them: If they are from Muslim families, chances are that they would know at last the basics of their religion. Your first job would be to rewire their acquired knowledge. The sheer bulk of the extraneous and wrongly focused Islamic literature makes it easy. You can take any young man or woman and convince them easily that they are the only ones going to paradise; give them exclusivity and they will die in name of God, in the manner determined by you. You would start building their uniqueness by giving permissions not available to ‘ordinary Muslims.’ As you tell me, these young men pray without ablutions. This permission can be created by twisting the provision that in case of non availability of water or in extreme danger, such as in the heat of battle, one can substitute full ablutions with dry ablution. All you have to tell them is that they are in the middle of a war, they are the chosen few, and the usual rules don’t apply to them. If your finding is correct that the Americans are preparing and sending these people to Pakistan, there has to be more to it than just the practice of praying without ablutions. I will suggest that you go back and try to find more. Back to spadework We took his advice and returned to the field to learn more. To begin with, we were not sure of the location of American training camps in Afghanistan. Moreover, for several reasons, we did not want to talk with any of the probable graduates of the American training camps. Our contacts in Afghanistan and Pakistani province of Balochistan started looking for people who may know something about the lifestyle and mindset of the young people we mentioned in the first report, who were saw praying without ablutions. In that first report we mentioned that at least one American training camp was located in either Ghowr or Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. The later reconnaissance, carried out after our initial conversation with Vitaly, convinced that the camp was somewhere in Uruzgan, not very far from Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In fact, the new discoveries we made are enormous in scope. Acquiring sharp focus Our findings are immense in nature. There is no denying that fact that our field team worked very hard but we must acknowledge one lucky break that made it all possible. When Vitaly sent us back to the field, we didn’t know what to do therefore we simply started listening attentively to the local gossip. There was the talk that an Indian citizen, who was disguised as Afghan mullah, had been caught in Kharan district of Balochistan, probably in the third week of March 2010. We talked to people in Kharan to confirm whether it was true, and if so, who he was and what was he doing in Kharan, a district that does not touch with Afghanistan. In those areas rumor mill works better than Twitter. Soon we found that an Indian citizen had definitely been caught in Kharan and he was in the company of two Afghans. They were traveling by public transport to Iran. This confirmed our earlier reports that a corridor exists in the territory of Pakistan that is used by certain elements for traveling between Afghanistan and Iran. The reason for his being detected and caught is somewhat funny; it is directly related to the male instinct of stealing a glance at the others’ “endowment.” In most areas of Balochistan the whole of the outdoors is used as an open-air public toilet. It so happened that when that unlucky Indian went to attend the call of nature, someone else also felt the urge to discharge his urine. Just by chance, the other person saw that the Indian was not circumcised. He told it to others and in no time at all about a dozen people gathered and started beating him. In those rough environs people beat first and ask questions later. The Indian, who was not only bearded and turbaned like a typical Afghan mullah but also spoke Pashtu fluently, broke soon; after being roughed thoroughly he was handed to an FC patrol. A college student in Nushki who has some friends in FC told us that the Indian was interrogated by FC before being transferred to the authorized agencies. The student told us that the Indian talked candidly to avoid further beating. He told the FC that he was an instructor in a training camp in Afghanistan where the Indians were subcontractors on behalf of Blackwater (now Xe). The camp was training young men to destabilize Pakistan, Iran and China through suicide bombing and other acts of terrorism. He also told the FC interrogators that vodka smuggled from Tajikistan was mixed with orange juice and given occasionally to some trainees as a sample of what they might expect in paradise. The other thing of significance that he told was some Indian female sex workers, brought from India as nurses, were on their staff and their services were available to some select students in the camp. He told also that some young Afghan boys, kidnapped by local warlords as sex slaves, were brought occasionally to the camp for servicing the designated suicide bombers. Those ‘nurses’ were also available, in their spare time, to ‘nurse’ some local warlords. Our sources in Afghanistan confirmed that kidnapping of young boys for sex slavery was almost back to the same level when Taliban first appeared on the scene. In fact, the first rise of Taliban, in 1990s, started with the rescue mission to free a boy who had been kidnapped by a warlord. Our sources also confirmed that, yes, vodka was being smuggled in large quantities from Tajikistan and it was generally used in the private gatherings of the warlords. Orange or mango juice was popularly used for mixing the cocktail. So, Vitaly was right. Resuming conversation with Vitaly nCa: You were right. There was much more to it than just the practice of praying without ablutions. The American training camp is being run by the Indian subcontractors on behalf of Blackwater, and they provide female and male sex mates and alcohol to some if not all students. Vitaly: This is the classic Sabbah formula. Remember the 11th century cult of Assassins (Hashashin), founded by Hassan bin Sabbah? His cult, which plagued the mainstream Islam for more than 150 years, was built on exclusivity through sex, drugs, strong loyalty to the leader and distortion of tenets. Whoever is running the camp in Afghanistan has certainly borrowed heavily from the Sabbah model. nCa: What could be the training period in such a camp? Vitaly: Based on my knowledge of human nature, I can say that the training period would be three to five weeks. In less than three weeks it would be difficult to rewire the brain – to zombify – and in more than five weeks there would be the risk of the student waking up from the trance. Also, there is comfort in numbers. In this kind of training you cannot prepare would-be suicide bombers in isolation. The company of fellow crazies is a booster. Nonetheless, the size of each group would have to be small, probably five or so. In the next report, due in about a week or so, it will start becoming clear as to why we have named this series ‘Final Solution’ Frenzy. A Russian and an American expert will interpret and augment our findings, cutting right to the heart of American plans for the region. To be continued . . .

Final Solution – Part Three:

Translation from Russian

Rendezvous with Final Solution

Continued from Part Two

Tariq Saeedi

With Sergi Pyatakov in Moscow, Mark Davidson in Washington

Several things happened since the publication of the second report in this series about a couple of week ago: Karzai finally broke down under tremendous American pressure; after a gap of six years terrorism resurfaced in Russian at a time and in areas most convenient for American interests; the government in Kyrgyzstan collapsed with a helpful push from Russia; Ban Ki-moon toured Central Asia, and the lecturing tone of his talks in each country and the composition of his delegation raised eyebrows in the region; and there is an unprecedented push to impose more sanctions on Irn.

All of these developments are related to our current series of investigative reports in one way or the other.

The accelerated pace of events in the Eurasian region has forced us to hasten with the remaining material. This series – ‘Final Solution’ Frenzy – was supposed to unfold in about twelve reports but now we have decided to cram the remaining information into three or four reports. This would rush the things and make if difficult to provide an easily understandable narrative.

For the purpose of this report, we consulted four experts, two in Moscow, and two in Washington. For obvious reasons, they would like to remain anonymous. Instead of assigning them pseudonyms, we would simply refer to them as ‘experts’ in this report.

July Rendezvous

There is a new sense of urgency in the DoD-CIA circles. An anxiety, bordering on desperation, has apparently enveloped the minds of everyone from Gates-Vickers duo down to field commanders.

The media whitewash notwithstanding, Operation Moshtarak was neither a big battle not a big success, the political will is eroding fast in many NATO countries, some of the defeats of Americans in Afghanistan are being pathetically described as strategic repositioning, there is nothing to show for the military and civilian surge so far while Obama is nearing the election phase where he might face a very formidable Sarah Pallin, and Iran is stronger than ever.

Run, Obama, run. Run, Bob, run. Run, Mike, run.

Our experts in Washington and Moscow were unanimous in their opinion that JULY 2010 appears to be a crucial month in American plans. The architects of the Final Solution are rushing to rendezvous with the Final Solution. Most of the elements for the Final Solution would be in place by July 2010.

Our experts also opine that after July 2010, the components would be in place to start a proper war against Iran and do an amputation surgery on Pakistan.

Patriot, Patriot

A network of Patriot Defence System (PAC-3) has been established in UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. UAE and Saudi Arabia purchased Patriot under their ambitious acquisition drives largely fed by the fear mongering by the United States. Final tests are scheduled for July 2010.

Our Washington expert told that all of these systems are centrally linked to the control centre in Israel. Among other things, it would ensure that none of the Patriot systems, costing the Gulf countries billions of dollars, would be available for their defence against Israel.

Our expert in Moscow said that Patriot system is designed to protect the aggressor from counterattack. It means that an aggressor, after hitting first, can hide behind the Patriot shield to avoid retaliation by the aggrieved party. Obviously, the only understandable reason for erecting a wall of Patriot between Israel and Iran is to provide for the time when Iran would try to retaliate after being bombarded by US-Israel forces.

Our expert in Moscow also told that USA is pushing very hard to sell Patriot system to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, two countries that bordering Iran.

Patriots are produced by Ratheon. William Lynn, the former vice president of Raytheon, is currently the deputy secretary of defence and a close friend of Gates and Vickers.

Less than perfect Patriot

Our Washington expert said that despite being billed as the ultimate shield, Patriot has two basic flaws: 1. If left running for several days, it acquires a time lag; and 2. Its IFF ping response system is prone to mistakes.

He said that a time lag of 1/3 second creates an error of 600 meters at optimum range, rendering it virtually ineffective.

Even Raytheon people would try to convince you otherwise, the IFF ping signature recognition system of Patriot can easily be duped into mistaking foe for friend and friend for foe, he said.

Formidable Presence

The United States has formidable presence in the Gulf already. Bahrain is home to the US Navy Fifth Fleet. Qatar hosts the US Central Command (USCENTCOM), and Kuwait has a large US military base. These forces would be augmented starting July 2010.

Ticonderoga class cruisers

In addition, at least four upgraded Ticonderoga class cruisers, equipped with Aegis ballistic missile defence system, will be stationed in the Gulf region by July 2010.

Our expert in Moscow told that Aegis ABM system is supposed to counter the Iranian Shahab missiles. This stands to logic because the only other regional countries with indigenous long range missile capacity are India and Pakistan and no one has expressed concerns about their posing threat to anyone.

The ships with Aegis interceptor systems are capable of blowing up ballistic missiles above the atmosphere. The system can track over 100 targets simultaneously. It has multidimensional capabilities i.e. it can engage land, air, sea and subsurface targets concurrently. It is an all weather system, our experts in Washington and Moscow told.

The versatility of Aegis can be seen from the fact that it was used in February 2008 to destroy a satellite orbiting the earth.

New Generation of Nuclear Warheads

The first batch of the new generation of nuclear warheads called RRW (Reliable Replacement Warhead) was scheduled to enter service in 2012 but the deadline has reportedly been shifted back to third quarter 2010 (circa July). They are likely to be mounted on Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles

The Achilles heal of the RRW is that its delivery error is said to be above 30%. Our Washington expert told that DoD is itching to test it in real life conditions, the kind of conditions that would be obtainable if confrontation with Iran becomes a reality.

Super Bunker Buster

The super bunker buster MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) or GBU-57A/B is a new generation of super bomb, ten times more powerful that its predecessor, BLU-109, that was sued in Tora Bora. Because of its immense size, it can be delivered only by B-52 or B2a Stealth Bomber.

It can penetrate 200 feet (about 60 meters) before exploding. Our sources in Washington told that the deadline of for availability of first batch of these bombs has been shifted back by three years to July 2010. DoD has pushed Boeing real hard and they have promised to deliver at least 4, possibly 10, super bunker busters by July 2010.

Under the present conflict mix, Iran is the only country where these bombs would be used, said our Moscow expert.

Small Diameter Bomb

The Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) has been tested successfully and the first batch of 140 has already been handed by the manufacturer to DoD. By July 2010, some F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft would be ready for dropping these precision bombs on any targets in Iran or Pakistan.

Cyber Warfare

July 2010 is also the month when the Tenth Fleet of the US Navy would be re-established. Formerly anti-submarine command, the tenth fleet has been resurrected as Navy Cyber Command Tent Fleet, a naval component of the DoD Cyber Command.

Its charter can be summed up as “information dominance,” said our Washington expert.

The tenth fleet would focus on managing and protecting the war-fighting capabilities of the defence information tech networks and simultaneously wage a war of disinformation, and airwave jamming. The possibilities include false and fake TV and radio transmissions, and websites, to spread fear and panic in target countries.

The tenth fleet will comprise of 44000 IT specialists, of which 24000 would be available by July 2010. Some of the ships from the re-created tenth fleet are expected to move to the Gulf region by lateJuly 2010.

Floating Air Force

At least five aircraft carriers of the US Navy would either be stationed or be able to reach the Gulf region at short notice by July 2010.

Combined, they would be able to launch about 700 sorties every day, more than enough of air power to render ineffective any air force in the region.

It is heard, but not confirmed, that the new F-35 Lightening II fifth-generation fighters would be available for some of these carriers by late July or August 2010.

Virginia Class Submarines

Our Washington experts said that some Virginia class submarines are also likely to be deployed to the Gulf region by July 2010.

In addition to their conventional role, these submarines are also capable of providing covert intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

This would be augmented substantially by additional ships and submarines from the US Seventh Fleet. The US Seventh Fleet is part of the US Pacific Fleet, the largest naval force in the world under a single command.

At root – JSOC

Our experts in Washington and Moscow agree that JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) is at the root of most of what is happening now in Pakistan and Iran and what is likely to happen after July 2010. It is necessary to underline that JSOC operates outside the US military chain of command.

JSOC is run by vice admiral William McRaven, who answers to the head of US Special Operations Command, Admiral Eric T Olson. It is located at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, USA.

JSOC commands and controls the Special Mission Units (SMUs) that are responsible for highly classified operations, a euphemism for engaging in terrorism and blaming it on someone else.

Army’s Delta Force, Navy’s Seal Team 6, and a joint unit engaged in clandestine operations are all part of JSOC.

Because of the fact that both Robert Gates and Michael Vickers have deep roots in CIA, the SMUs of JSOC operate in close collaboration with CIA. In fact, their personnel are co-opted so frequently that it is impossible to draw a line between DoD and CIA as far black operations are concerned, told our Washington expert.

Blackwater (now Xe) is still the main contractor for outsourcing terrorism.

JSOC operates under the umbrella of USSOCOM (US Special Command Operations Command), the main unit of the sprawling empire of Michael Vickers.

We would like to underscore that even though most of the elements would be in place by July 2010 for something big to happen, it doesn’t mean that something drastic would necessarily happen in July 2010. The essence of this report is that the USA would be in a position by July 2010 to impose Final Solution on Pakistan and Iran.

Our next report would deal with the anatomy of Final Solution for Pakistan. We hope to release in about a week or ten days.

To be continued . . .

Final Solution – Part Four

Translation From Russian

Final Solution for Pakistan

Continued from Part Three

Tariq Saeedi

With Sergi Pyatakov in Moscow, Mark Davidson in Washington, Qasim Jan in Kandahar and Rupa Kival in New Delhi

1 May 2010 (nCa) --- The components of the ‘Final Solution’ for Pakistan are known, and almost ready. The exact shape those components will take when put together is not so clear. The expected outcome is recognizable; the degree to which the actual outcome would resemble the expectations is still in the dark.

This report is based on our legwork in the field and the expert opinion of our consultants in Moscow, Washington and New Delhi. There is unanimity in the field findings and the expert opinion that the United States could be on the verge of doing something drastic and desperate in the region.

The main frustration for the American policymakers is that when they move with their own plans, everything else also moves, not necessarily in the same direction. The inability to anticipate the complex dynamics has rendered many of their moves not only ineffective but counterproductive.

One of the important new developments is that India, till now an enthusiastic partner of Gates-Vickers duo in destabilizing Pakistan, is fast losing appetite for such adventures.

There are three main pillars of the ‘Final Solution’: 1. Cut the western half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan and declare it ‘international strategic corridor’; 2. Topple the sitting government in Iran; and 3. Create an Ismaili state, joining the Gorno-Badakhshan oblast of Tajikistan, Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan.

The benefits that the Americans expect to derive from this triple-decker ambition would be discussed in one of the later reports.

In the present report we shall deal with the components of the ‘Final Solution’ as they relate to Pakistan.

The mock operations in Helmand and Kandahar

The DoD-CIA and their embedded journalists painstakingly spun a tale that Helmand was a stronghold of Taliban. That was their justification for Operation Moshtarak.

In fact, half of Helmand was already in the hands of the US forces. The other half, sparingly populated, was not important for the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

As the operation Moshtarak unfolded, we were in touch with our sources in Helmand. We know from first-hand accounts that:

1. The operation was conducted mainly by the US forces although the reporting gave the impression that the NATO was equally in the forefront.
2. One of the main reasons given for the operation was that Taliban were benefiting from poppy crops and they must be denied this source of income. We know for sure that not a single poppy bulb was destroyed during the operation.
3. The village elders that were shown meeting the US force commanders were the middlemen for poppy, and the Americans fully knew it.
4. We are still in touch with our Helmand sources and we know that the Americans don’t dare go far beyond their camps.
5. Roughly five percent of the US forces were busy in keeping an eye on the newly trained Afghan police because the policemen had the tendency to desert and join the enemy whenever they found a chance.

After the mock operation in Helmand, the US forces are now planning a bigger offensive in Kandahar, an area that is billed ad nauseam as the spiritual capital of the Taliban.

Based solely on the media hype and DoD-CIA statements, one gets the impression that not even a mosquito can fly in Kandahar without the consent of Taliban.

The actual fact is that the Kandahar airport is the busiest single-runway airport in the world. More than 700 American and NATO flights land or take off every day at Kandahar airfield. Had Taliban been in control of the whole of Kandahar, it would not have been possible for so many American and NATO warplanes to land and take off in that province. Also, there are two American bases in Kandahar.

Therefore, the impression that Helmand and Kandahar were, or are, out of bounds for Americans and NATO is based on manufactured ‘truth.’

In search of an explanation for the American fascination with Helmand and Kandahar and the operations that are not what they are said to be, we consulted some experts in Moscow and Washington.

Oleg in Moscow and Simon in Washington (not their real names) are military strategists with access to information not available to the media or public.

Oleg said, “One way to understand the operations in Helmand and Kandahar is to see where the operation begins and where it ends. At the end of the operation, do you find more American forces near the border with Pakistan?”

Simon in Washington agreed. “Yes, the objective is apparently to put large number of troops along the border with Pakistan,” he said.

When asked for the reasons for this move, Simon said, “The bipartisan thinking here is that Pakistan is the problem. ----- If you find a boulder in your path, either you remove it or you try to go around it. The inclination here is to go around this boulder.”

This cryptic remark of Simon reminded us of a Russian expert we sometimes consult for our investigative reports. The keywords in his remark were ‘boulder’ and ‘go around.’

In what way is Pakistan a boulder and how would one ‘go around’ it, we asked.

Simon said, “Everyone in Washington considers China the main threat. If unchecked for another decade or so, China would be a superpower, probably replacing the USA as the only superpower of any consequence. It is not possible to contain China without cutting a free path across Pakistan and Afghanistan, right up to the borders of China.”

“Cutting a path through Pakistan? Are you talking of Greater Balochistan?” we asked.

“Yes,” Simon said, “But now it is not Greater Balochistan, at least for now. The gossip here is that the hawks in the establishment would now be content with half of the Pakistani Balochistan. They call it international strategic corridor.”

We returned to Oleg in Moscow to ask whether the American forces that would end up near the borders of Pakistan on completion of Kandahar operation would be enough to sever half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan.

“First, you have to see what is happening in Helmand where the operation Moshtarak has been completed already. Whatever they do in Helmand would be repeated on larger scale in Kandahar,” said Oleg.

We already had this information. Soon after the completion of operation Moshtarak, the American forces started building forward bases and depots at four points in Helmand, the first of them at Gereshk and the last at a location southward of Malik Rokand, practically at the border with Pakistan.

We told this to Oleg. He said, “You see, this is systematic deployment of forces at the Pakistan border, with a semi-permanent logistics support system for prolonged presence.”

Some new questions arose: Would the American forces, at some convenient time, try to rush into Pakistan in order to create the ‘international strategic corridor’ they want? What will be the size and geographical scope of such a corridor? What would be the likely strength of US troops at the border of Pakistan at the end of the planned operation in Kandahar? Would the US troops at Pakistan border be enough for cutting off half of Balochistan considering that Pakistan is likely to offer some tough resistance?

The other jaw of pincer

“The pincer must have two jaws,” said Simon.

He explained, “The US Navy would be in a position after July 2010 to station some landing ships, probably four, near the territorial waters of Pakistan. They would be able to land and support more than 30000 troops, complete with transport units and fighting gear, anywhere at the Pakistan coastline between Pasni and Gawadar. There would be aircraft carriers with more than enough warplanes to overwhelm the Pakistan Airforce. This is the other jaw of the pincer.”

The picture thus emerging was that after July 2010, the US would have substantial number of troops at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. This is the area where the Chagai district of Pakistani Balochistan meets the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The total number of these troops, Oleg in Moscow estimated, would be more than 35000.

Simultaneously, as Simon told us, there would be some 30000 soldiers and marines waiting to land at the beaches of Balochistan. This makes military sense, especially in the face of the fact that the part of Balochistan that lies between these two pressure points does not have any significant presence or support system of Pakistan army.

International strategic corridor

The international strategic corridor, the clipped version of the former plan to create Greater Balochistan, was of great interest from the point of view of our report.

To get a clutch-hold on this question we consulted Oleg. We asked him that as a military strategist how he would draw such a corridor on the map.

“First, you need to define our military goals and then you look at the terrain. Match the two in the most efficient manner,” said Oleg.

He said that Chagai district of Pakistan Balochistan runs for about 500 km along the border with Afghanistan. This, he said, represents nearly 30% of the total Pak-Afghan border and the easiest terrain from the military point of view.

“If I were to draw such a border, I would take Nushki as the starting point and draw a north-south line, connecting it with Ras Malan. All the area west of the line up to Iranian border would be the strategic corridor,” said Oleg.

We took this hypothetical corridor to Simon and asked for his comments.

Simon said, “Yes, this is about the size of the thing. DoD-CIA brains are also thinking along the same lines.”

Trigger point

Theoretically it looks neat and orderly to draw a corridor on the map and cut it off from a sovereign country on the military strength alone. However, in real life one needs some excuse, even the size of a fig leaf, to undertake such an enterprise.

We asked Oleg and Simon as to what could be the trigger point for the American forces to justify such an audacious undertaking.

Oleg said, “The excuses are not hard to fine. There can be the civil war in Pakistan, which they are trying hard to start. There can also be a political assassination in Pakistan to start unrest at such a scale that the USA would be able to convince the international community that ‘humanitarian’ intervention had become necessary.”

Simon in Washington added, “An international incident can easily be linked to Pakistan and that would be a good enough reason for invasion. It can be as big as assassination of Obama and as small as bombing of a refinery in the UK. In fact, the latest amendment to the NATO charter seems designed to add this kind of hair trigger in the NATO mechanism. Justification, in any case, is no big deal when you don’t really need to justify it to anyone.”

Simon said that the recent history was full of false flag operations. He cited the 1954 firebomb and unrest in Alexandria (Egypt) by Israel, to make Egypt look unstable and delay the withdrawal of British troops from Suez Canal, the CIA murder of Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco to foil communists from coming to power, the murder of Patrice Lumumba by CIA in 1965, the JFK plan to shoot down American civilian plane and blame it on Cuba as some of the examples.

Self financed war and civilian surge

A chance remark by Oleg opened a new path for investigation.

He said, “Goals are layered in the military strategy. If you go for a single goal and you fail in that, you are a skunk. However, if you go out there with seven goals and achieve just two, there are ways to make you look good despite overall failure.”

We started thinking of what other goals could be found in the US intention of cutting off half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan in addition to the obvious advantage of getting a direct supply route to Afghanistan, easy access to Central Asia, and curtailment of China.

Although these are three major goals, each one of them enough to justify an ambitious expedition, and all of them would be achieved if the US manages to create its international strategic corridor, could there be something else that we had missed?

While we were pondering this question, our sources in Helmand told that the Americans were planning a major ‘civilian surge.’ The sources told us that thousands of civilian professionals were being trained in the US in conditions resembling the terrain, town and country life, and unrest in Afghanistan.

We asked Oleg if the civilian surge in Afghanistan could have any connections with the international strategic corridor the American might try to create before the end of this year.

“Look at the corridor area and see if there is anything of economic or strategic importance,” he said.

Sure enough, as if our eyes had opened for the first time, we saw on the map Saindak and Reko Dig mines, rich in gold, silver and other precious metals and minerals. There is also a mountain in the area that is of interest to Americans because they believe it houses some of the atomic facilities of Pakistan.

We took this hunch to Simon. He took a few days to get back.

In our next session Simon told that about 38 mining engineers and nine nuclear scientists were among the professionals who were being trained under the civilian surge programme and they would be ready to arrive in Afghanistan near the end of July 2010.

Simon conjectured that the mining engineers could be used to assess the potential of Saindak and Reko Dig mines. The general estimates are that these mines hold more than US $ 200 billion worth of wealth. If the civilian surge engineers can confirm these estimates, it would be all the more reason to create the international strategic corridor and get hold of these assets. After all, it could be the ticket to make this war pay its own expenses, and give some profit at the side.

Nuclear bonus

Simon also said that a certain mountain in the general area of the anticipated corridor was of great interest to Washington bigwigs. It is a mountain where some in Washington believe that Pakistan maintains some of its nuclear facilities.

“If this mountain falls in our hands, it would be a definite way to not only to be sure of the exact nuclear capability and expertise of Pakistan, but also to cut it back to an acceptable level,” said Simon.

“It would be a big bonus for Americans,” said Oleg.

Gawadar and Pasni Ports

Both Simon and Oleg pointed out that one must not underestimate the importance of Gawadar and Pasni ports, both of them in the expected area of the international strategic corridor. The ports, and the infrastructure, transportation and communication network connected to them, could of immense value to the USA.

Role of India

The creation of an international strategic corridor – a euphemism for the downsized independent Balochistan – is a big American enterprise and there are several sidekicks on the show, most notably India.

India, till now, was an enthusiastic player, in the hope that it would get to police Afghanistan after the Americans leave. However, it appears that the Indian appetite for meddling in Pakistan and Afghanistan has dampened of late. We are not sure whether it is a simulated effect or the real thing.

Because of the recent reshuffling in the Indian power agencies, our ability to understand the Indian plans and mindset has been reduced to a third hand access, that too not very reliable.

What we have been able to gather is that the Indian intelligence community is split between hawks and realists – doves are not employable in this profession. Hawks want to keep pushing on the current plans and realists are advocating a wait and see policy.

Nonetheless, we found that India has increased its support for the movement to create an independent Ismaili state in the northern areas, now re-designated Gilgit-Baltistan province. The supposed leadership of the movement is sitting in India. We also learned that the takeover of the Swat valley by the so-called Pakistani Taliban was a dry run to cut off Pakistan from northern areas when a real attempt is made to create the Ismaili state.

Our sources in Afghanistan also told that India recently staged fights in some provinces of Afghanistan not far from the Central Asian states to convince them of the usefulness of allowing Indian military bases on their soil. Their main aim was to intimidate Tajikistan where India has vacated a base it once had. The recent skirmishes in Badghis and Fariab provinces were in this category.

We also found that the Indian embassy in Kabul has thwarted negotiations between Brahmdagh Bugti, the grandson of late Akbar Bugti, and the Pakistan authorities. A Baloch, who is a lawyer by profession, was acting as middleman in these talks.

Pakistan Media

One sidekick is India, the other is the Pakistani electronic media, especially the 150 or so TV hosts who prefer to call themselves ‘anchors.’

We talked to an American diplomat whose job requires frequent interaction with the Pakistani media. This report will not assign a pseudonym, or declare the gender of the American diplomat because that was the condition of cooperation. We will not tell whether the diplomat is still in Pakistan or has moved out.

“Pakistani TV journalists are some of the easiest to buy or manipulate,” said the American diplomat.

“Their price is ridiculously small. A drink, a lunch with a second or first secretary in a place where they can be seen by their admirers, invitations to official receptions, or at most, a trip to the states, is all you need to buy their loyalty,” said the diplomat.

“My dog is usually fussier,” the diplomat added in disgust.

“There was a drive,” the diplomat explained, “very obvious and crude, in some selected countries, to make the educated people feel ashamed of being Muslims.”

“The Pakistani TV journalists swallowed it hook, line and sinker,” said the diplomat.

“Except for an incorruptible handful, they are a sorry lot,” the American diplomat said with an undisguised revulsion.

The next report in this series will deal with the ‘Final Solution’ for Iran. We hope to release it within the next ten days or so.

To be continued . . .

Operators of Drones Are Faulted in Afghan Deaths

By DEXTER FILKINS

KABUL, Afghanistan — The American military released a scathing report on Saturday on the deaths of 23 Afghan civilians, saying that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by a team of Predator drone operators helped lead to an inadvertent airstrike this year on a group of innocent men, women and children.

The report said that four American officers, including a brigade and battalion commander, had been reprimanded, and that two junior officers had also been disciplined. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who apologized to President Hamid Karzai after the attack, announced a series of training measures intended to reduce the chances of similar events.

The episode, in which three vehicles were attacked and destroyed in February, illustrated the extraordinary sensitivity to the inadvertent killing of noncombatants by NATO forces. Since taking command here last June, General McChrystal has made the protection of Afghan civilians a priority, and he has sharply restricted the use of airstrikes.

The overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, but the growing intensity of the fighting, and the big push by American and NATO forces, has sent civilian casualties to their highest levels since 2001. General McChrystal’s concern is that NATO forces, in their ninth year of operations in Afghanistan, are rapidly wearing out their welcome. Opinion polls here appear to reflect that.

“When we make a mistake, we must be forthright,” General McChrystal said in a statement. “And we must do everything in our power to correct that mistake.”

The civilian deaths highlighted the hazards in relying on remotely piloted aircraft to track suspected insurgents. In this case, as in many others where drones are employed by the military, the people steering and spotting the targets sat at a console in Creech Air Force Base, Nev.

The attack occurred on the morning of Feb. 21, near the village of Shahidi Hassas in Oruzgan Province, a Taliban-dominated area in southern Afghanistan. An American Special Operations team was tracking a group of insurgents when a pickup and two sport utility vehicles moving through the area began heading in their direction.

The Predator operator reported seeing only military-age males in the truck, the report said. The ground commander concurred, the report said, and the Special Operations team asked for an airstrike. An OH-58D Kiowa helicopter fired Hellfire missiles and rockets, destroying the vehicles and killing 23 civilians. Twelve others were wounded.

The report, signed by Maj. Gen. Timothy P. McHale, found that the Predator operators in Nevada, as well as the ground commander in the area, made several grave errors that led to the airstrikes. The “tragic loss of life,” General McHale found, was compounded by the failure of the ground commander and others to report in a timely manner that they might have killed civilians.

“The strike occurred because the ground force commander lacked a clear understanding of who was in the vehicles, the location, direction of travel, and the likely course of action of the vehicles,” General McHale wrote.

That fatal lack of understanding, General McHale wrote, stemmed from “poorly functioning command posts” in the area that failed to provide the evidence that there were civilians in the trucks. In addition, General McHale blamed the “inaccurate and unprofessional reporting of the Predator crew operating out of Creech A.F.B., Nevada, which deprived the ground force commander of vital information.”

Because of that, General McHale said, the officer on the ground believed that the vehicles, then seven miles away, contained insurgents who were trying to reinforce the fighters he and his men were tracking.

Predator drones contain powerful cameras that beam real-time images to their operators. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Predators and other such aircraft are often used to track and kill suspected insurgents, sometimes with their own missiles. The C.I.A. operates its own drone operation separate from the military’s.

In this case, the military Predator operators in Nevada tracked the convoy for three and a half hours but failed to notice any of the women who were riding along, the report said. Americans on the ground did spot two children near the vehicles, the report said, but the drone operators insisted that the convoy contained only military-age men.

“Information that the convoy was anything other than an attacking force was ignored or downplayed by the Predator crew,” General McHale wrote.

Immediately after the initial attack, the Kiowa helicopter’s crew spotted brightly colored clothing at the scene, and, suspecting that civilians might have been in the trucks, stopped firing. After the attack, the Special Operations team turned over the bodies to local Afghans. Even so, General McHale said, officers on the ground failed to report the possibility of civilian casualties in a timely manner, despite clear evidence suggesting that something like that might have happened.

The report, which had previously been classified, contains several words, phrases and sections that are blacked out.

On receiving the results of the investigation, General McChrystal recommended a battery of additional training exercises for military personnel coming to Afghanistan, and additional training for those already here. In addition to reprimanding the four officers and admonishing the other two, General McChrystal asked Air Force commanders to open an investigation into the Predator operators.

US weighs military option in Pakistan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taliban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.

Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzadand elements of the Pakistani Taliban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.

The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of U.S. Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.

Airstrikes could damage the militants' ability to launch new attacks but also might damage U.S.-Pakistani relations.

The CIA already conducts unmanned drone strikes in the country's tribal regions. Officials told the Post that a U.S. military response would be considered only if a terrorist attacks persuaded President Barack Obama that the CIA campaign is ineffective.

A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pakistan already has been told that it has only weeks to show real progress in a crackdown against the Taliban.

The U.S. has put Pakistan "on a clock" to launch a new intelligence and counterterrorist offensive against the group, which the White House alleges was behind the Times Square bombing attempt, according to the official.

U.S. officials also have said the U.S. reserves the right to strike in the tribal areas in pursuit of Osama binLaden and other high-value targets.

At the same, the Obama administration is working to improve ties with Pakistani intelligence officials to head off attacks by militant groups, the Post reported.

Officials quoted by the Post and the AP requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding U.S. military and intelligence activities in Pakistan.

Taliban Leave Pakistan, but Afghans Repel Them

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and SHARIFULLAH SAHAK

KABUL, Afghanistan — After five days of fighting, the Afghan border police, supported by American helicopters, repelled a force of Pakistani Taliban who appeared to have crossed the border to try to carve out a new haven in Afghanistan’s Nuristan Province, according to Afghan officials.

Meanwhile, in Paktia Province in southeastern Afghanistan, theTaliban ambushed a joint force of Afghan National Police and NATOsoldiers, killing at least five Afghan police officers, provincial police officials said.

The attacks not only indicated that the summer fighting season had begun, but also provided a reminder of the permeability of Afghanistan’s rugged border, which is difficult for NATO vehicles to patrol but well traveled on foot and donkey by insurgents who know their way over the high mountain passes.

In Nuristan, the fighting in the Barg-e-Matal district ended with two border police officers dead, three wounded, at least three houses burned and at least 25 Taliban dead, said Gen. Zaman Mamozai, the head of the Afghan Border Police for the country’s eastern region.

An American military spokesman in Jalalabad, Maj. T. G. Taylor, confirmed that helicopters had provided some close air support overnight.

“Large numbers of Taliban” were involved in the fight, General Mamozai said. He estimated that more than 600 insurgents were in the area. He said they came to Barg-e-Matal from the Pakistani areas of Swat, Bajaur and Chitral and included Chechens and Arabs as well as Pakistanis.

Though it was impossible to confirm the presence of such a large contingent of Pakistani Taliban and fighters with Al Qaeda, the fighting underscored the difficulty of denying havens to militant groups when borders are so permeable. Many of the Pakistani Taliban and others appeared to have felt that they could no longer operate freely in some of their bases in Pakistan’s tribal areas because of military operations by the Pakistani Army, and so were apparently testing nearby areas where there is no little or no presence of NATO troops.

General Mamozai sounded pleased that his forces had received strong backing from Nuristani residents who apparently did not want the Taliban to take up residence in their area. Nuristanis, who speak a different language from the main Afghan languages of Pashto and Dari, have a reputation as clannish and wary of outsiders who attempt to move onto their territory regardless of their nationality.

“In this fight not only our Afghan forces took part, but even local villagers also helped us in fighting the Taliban,” General Mamozai said.

“Three houses of villagers were burned by the Taliban because the villagers were helping us during the fight,” he said.

He said he could not confirm the death of Maulana Fazlullah, a notorious member of the Pakistani Taliban, who was reported to have died earlier this week in the fighting.

In Paktia, the Taliban ambushed a joint NATO-Afghan patrol in the early afternoon in the Dandi Patan district, killing five Afghan police officers and damaging two of their vehicles, which generally have little protection against bullets, bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Dandi Patan district police chief, Commander Wahab, was in the convoy and survived the attack, but was seriously wounded, said Ghulam Yaar, the security officer for the Paktia provincial police headquarters. Commander Wahab was taken to the nearby American-run Forward Operating Base Salerno for medical treatment.

The police in Khost announced Friday that the police chief of Alisher district, Jawar Khan, had died Wednesday of his wounds from a Taliban attack on May 20.

A NATO soldier died in southern Afghanistan early on Friday when an improvised explosive device detonated near him, according to a military statement.

The radicalization of an all-American kid