On Pakistan, the Taleban, and Al Qaeda....

The AP has a large "impact" piece on Pakistan that's pretty good.

A former minister in President Pervez Musharraf's ousted government, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said insurgents were being paid between 6,000 and 8,000 rupees — the equivalent of $90 and $120 — a month in Mohmand and grain was being collected to feed them. He did not identify the source of the donations but said Pakistan's army and intelligence were aware of them.

Maulvi Abdul Rahman, a Taliban militant and former police officer under the ousted hardline regime..... said under a tacit understanding with authorities, militants were free to cross to fight in Afghanistan so long as they do not stage attacks inside Pakistan, which has been assailed by an unprecedented wave of suicide attacks in the past year.....

But retired Pakistani general Talat Masood said the army still treats militants and Afghan rebels as "assets" because of its deep conviction that India is expanding its influence in Afghanistan and using its consulates there to foment an ethnic rebellion in Pakistan's troubled southwest Baluchistan province.

Over the weekend, the Pakistani foreign minister said that no US military are allowed in Pakistan to hunt for Bin Laden or Al Qaeda, so, Pakistan is publicly declaring safe haven for them all.

On Sunday, 9 US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan as the Taleban tried to overrun a new base in Kunar near the Pakistani border (map.) "An unknown number of militants got inside the outpost, the reason the fighters were able to inflict such high casualties...."

Also on Sunday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen was in Pakistan "express(ing) deep frustration with growing cross-border militant attacks" and "complaining that militants were moving across the border with greater liberty now than during the previous government."

The NYTimes has an article on the Taleban's expansion into mafia like activities with legitimate businesses to fuel their fight.

And, Juan Cole makes an observation,

When was the last time that an al-Qaeda operative was captured in Afghanistan by US forces? Is that really what US troops are doing there, looking for al-Qaeda? Wouldn't we hear more about it if they were having successes in that regard? I mean, what is reported in the press is that they are fighting with "Taliban". But I'm not so sure these Pushtun rural guerrillas are even properly speaking Taliban (which means 'seminary student.')

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