Irshad Salim
New York

WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW BELOW: Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan discusses the Afghan War, the floods in Pakistan, ISI and Kayani on Charlie Rose Show.

Holbrooke says Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is a powerful political factor in his country. Kayani was in Bangladesh during the 1971 war, Holbrooke added.

“He (Kayani) is an enormously powerful political factor in the country. And we have extensive discussions with him,” Holbrooke told the popular Charlie Rose Show in the Aug 12 interview.

“General Kayani, first of all, he’s a very powerful person and a very important factor in the equation,” he says. “He was head of the ISI. He also went to Fort Leavenworth Command and Control College and is proud to say he is a member of the Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame (in Kansas). Among general officers I’ve known, he’s a remarkable strategic thinker. He’s very smart,” Holbrooke said in response to a question.

Holbrooke, as Obama Administration’s point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan and civilian counterpart of Gen Patreus of Centcom, also talked about the floods.

Holbrooke said the flood is an economic catastrophe, a political catastrophe and “it has huge implications for U.S.”

According to him there are five groups fighting US, Nato and the rest. Two are from Pakistan – the Pakistani Taliban and the LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba). Holbrooke alludes to Haqqani group supporting the al Qaeda and harboring bin Laden.

WATCH HOLBROOKE INTERVIEW on Charlie Rose Show:

MIRANSHAH: Missiles fired from an unmanned drone destroyed a compound used by militants in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Thursday, killing at least 10 militants in the first such attack for two weeks, officials said.

Two missiles were fired into the compound in the village of Sheerani Mada Khel in the district of North Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked stronghold heavily targeted in a covert US drone war this year.

“At least 10 militants were killed,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Most of the dead militants are said to be foreigners,” he added, but said that their nationalities were not yet known.

Pakistani officials use the term “foreigners” for Al-Qaeda fighters operating in the tribal regions.

Another security official said up to 14 militants were killed when three missiles slammed into the compound.

The area, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, is a stronghold of Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

He is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters in the region who stage attacks over the border against foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any high-value targets among the dead.

The missiles were fired at around 6:30 pm (1330 GMT) and militants quickly surrounded the site, barring access to local residents, officials said.

US forces have been waging a covert drone war against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked commanders in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt, where militants have carved out havens in mountains outside direct government control.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area on the Afghan border a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.

Thursday’s strike was the first drone attack in Pakistan’s tribal belt since six militants were killed in South Waziristan on June 29.

Around 960 people have been killed in more than 100 drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, including a number of senior militants. However the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country.

Waziristan came under renewed scrutiny when Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American charged over an attempted bombing in New York on May 1, allegedly told US interrogators he went there for bomb training.

The United States has been increasing pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamist havens along the Afghan border.

Pakistani commanders have not ruled out an offensive in North Waziristan, but argue that gains in South Waziristan and the northwestern district of Swat need to be consolidated to prevent their troops from being stretched too thin.

LONDON: A Pakistani man accused of being an Al-Qaeda operative was “deeply involved” in a plot targeting Britain and the United States, a lawyer told an extradition hearing in London Wednesday.

Abid Naseer was arrested earlier Wednesday in northeast England on a US warrant, accused of involvement in a failed Pakistan-based campaign against American and British cities.

The 24-year-old was the “point of contact” in Britain for the alleged transatlantic plot and is accused of planning attacks in Manchester, northwest England, lawyer Melanie Cumberland, for the US government, told the court.

Officials here said US authorities have lodged a request for Britain to extradite Naseer, who was one of five people charged over the plot in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York.

US prosecutors have accused Al-Qaeda leaders of directing the conspiracy which included an alleged attempt to bomb the New York subway.

Cumberland said Naseer was alleged to have been an Al-Qaeda operative who participated in the plot.

“The conspiracy was coordinated by Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan,” she told the late-night extradition hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates Court.

“The targets were in the US and in the UK. Naseer’s particular involvement in the conspiracy is alleged to be that he and a number of associates prepared to carry out attacks between April 15 and 20 in Manchester city centre.”

The Pakistani faces charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and conspiracy to use a destructive device.

“Naseer appears to be the point of contact for the conspiracy insofar as it related to the UK,” Cumberland said.

“He is a key part of the UK conspiracy,” she said, adding that: “The allegation is he is deeply involved in these activities.” The lawyer said Naseer allegedly went to Pakistan in September 2008 and remained there until November 2008.

On his return to Britain, he communicated with a man identified as Ahmad, who was in contact with Al-Qaeda, the court heard.

Naseer, who spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, was remanded in custody after the 20-minute hearing.

He was one of 12 men arrested by British counter-terrorism police last year on suspicion of plotting mass casualty attacks in England.

The Pakistani was also accused of being an operative of Al-Qaeda when he was detained in 2009, although he was never charged.

The British government subsequently tried to deport him but while an immigration court acknowledged he was “an Al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat”, it ruled his safety could not be guaranteed in Pakistan.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s interior ministry confirmed that “we are cooperating with the US for the extradition of Abid Naseer.” (AFP)

29 June 2010 episode of Pakistani Talk Show Islamabad Tonight carries exclusive interview with former Pakistani Army Chief Gen (R) Mirza Aslam Beg on US presence in Afghanistan, status of war, upcoming negotiations between Afghan Taliban and the NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, role of Pak army, ISI, presence of RAW and Mossad in Pak-Afghan border areas, etc..