Pakistan:
UPI: Militants in Pakistan have attacked a natural gas pipeline in the country’s southwest. “Authorities in Pakistan’s south-western Sindh province said a 24-inch natural gas pipeline, which fed a local power plant, was destroyed, Pakistan’s Daily Times newspaper reports. Natural gas supplies to surrounding communities were disrupted and no return-to-service date was announced.
The attack follows an announcement from Turkmenistan that the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline would be accelerated.”
The Nation: US Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has criticized the incumbent President Obama of relying too heavily on drones to defeat terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “…Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, lashed out at President Barack Obama for failing to keep pace with the evolving threat of al-Qaeda and relying too heavily on drones to protect national interests.”
The News Tribe: The residences of three Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders have been targeted by militants in Sindh province. “Sources said that the residence of Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani in Shikarpur district came under hand grenade attack early morning.
‘Police have also found an explosive material outside the residences of Ayaz Soomro, the provincial law minister and Mir Hayat Talpur, the member of provincial assembly,’ they added.”
Afghanistan:
The Long War Journal: US officials are blaming the continuing spate of insider attacks on the Haqqani Network, as well as the Taliban. “On Oct. 5, US officials acknowledged that ‘the pattern of shootings and the movements and backgrounds of some of the shooters — including travel into Pakistan shortly before the shootings — point to a likely connection’ to the Haqqani Network, the Associated Press reported. While officials have not yet found express links to the Haqqani Network in any of the attacks so far, Australian Brigadier General Roger Noble, a senior Coalition operations officer, said that insider attacks as a means of dividing the Afghans from the Coalition are ‘right up [the Haqqanis'] alley.’”
Nine News: The Taliban are dispirited and weak following the summer fighting season, according to Australian Lieutenant Colonel Trent Scott. “The Afghan National Army (ANA) increasingly was professional and competent with a presence all over Oruzgan province, he told AAP on the phone from Afghanistan.
Insurgents knew that and were not prepared to take on the ANA face to face.
‘They definitely are not game to take on Australian forces and they will avoid direct contact,’ Lt-Colonel Scott said, adding they were ‘a dispirited fractured bunch of small groups running around the countryside.’”
Comment: Musa Khan Jalalzai writing for the Daily Times: Afghanistan is sliding towards complete collapse, and the withdrawal by the US and NATO will be the final catalyst in the country’s downward spiral. “A source from the Afghan defence ministry informed this scribe that the leaders of the Northern Alliance in and outside the government have begun to stockpile arms and take other steps to prepare for a future civil war in Afghanistan. Some experts understand that after the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, the US-backed regime will collapse and the civil war might be worse than that in the 1990s when the Soviet army left the country. Kabul will be dominated by violence and torture. The Taliban will return with renewed vengeance.”
India:
Khabar South Asia: 18 have been arrested in southern Karnataka, providing evidence that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) is seeking to recruit among young Muslims – including young professionals – in that area. The arrests included an accountant and physician, fitting into a trend of education Muslims working willingly with organisations such as LeT and the IM.Punjab Newsline: Dal Khalsa UK, “a radical Sikh organization”, has accused the Indian Government – and in particular the Research and Analysis Wing – of staging a false flag operation in the case of Lt-Gen Brar, stabbed in London on 30th September 2012. The group cites various incredible aspects of the reported attack as evidence of its manufacture by Government.
Punjab Newsline: Dal Khalsa UK, “a radical Sikh organization”, has accused the Indian Government – and in particular the Research and Analysis Wing – of staging a false flag operation in the case of Lt-Gen Brar, stabbed in London on 30th September 2012. The group cites various incredible aspects of the reported attack as evidence of its manufacture by Government.
