Pakistan Security Brief - May 26, 2011

U.S. military plans to reduce number of troops in Pakistan; WikiLeaks: Former finance minister alleges that military officials had failed to inform government of aid; Diplomatic cable reveals UAE concerns that military cooperation made public; Naval officer belonging to Hakimullah Mehsud’s tribe had warned of Karachi attack; Pakistani navy reduces alleged number of base attackers; TTP spokesman: America using nuclear susceptibility as "excuse" to pressure government into fighting the Taliban; Headley provides further testimony at Rana trial; TTP militants fire mortar in NWA; Militant commander killed in Kurram; Largest ever heroin bust; Two militants killed in Kashmir.

U.S.-Pakistani Relations

• On Wednesday, the U.S. military released a statement stating that it plans to decrease the number of U.S. troops in Pakistan, following a formal request from Islamabad. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said, “We were recently (within the past 2 weeks) notified in writing that the government of Pakistan wished for the US to reduce its footprint in Pakistan. Accordingly, we have begun those reductions.” Lapan said that the entire U.S. military mission in Pakistan has ranged between 200 and 300 officers. The decrease will reportedly target the number of military trainers in the country, which will drop from 120 to less than 50.[i]

WikiLeaks

• WikiLeaks has published a diplomatic cable that reveals that in 2009, Pakistan's finance minister Shaukat Tarin asked then-U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson to keep him up to date on monetary support provided to the Pakistani military. Tarin alleged that military officials had failed to inform the civilian government of the aid it was receiving. He also had told Ambassador Patterson that only $250 million out of $6.6 billion in military aid went to fighting militants under former president Pervez Musharraf. Meanwhile, a diplomatic cable reveals concern in the United Arab Emirates that their military collaboration with the U.S. against militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan had been made public.[ii]

Karachi Naval Base Attack

• A naval officer belonging to Hakimullah Mehsud’s tribe who was arrested in January for alleged links to the Taliban had previously disclosed intelligence on the impending attack on the PNS Mehran base. The officer, who hails from South Waziristan, had also warned of potential attacks on oil depots and power grid stations, as well as other naval stations. Meanwhile, the Pakistani navy has again revised its number of base attackers from ten to twelve assailants to only four. Naval officials have also expressed concerns that the naval base attack would not have been possible without inside help. A senior officer said that “The attackers knew that the navy’s prized assets such as the Orion aircraft and the Chinese and American personnel were present on our base and they came specifically after them.” The militants had also reportedly been in contact with a “commander” via a high-tech wireless system.[iii]
• In response to the raid, Prime Minister Gilani said that Pakistan would “ensure that terrorist hideouts are being destroyed using all appropriate means.” Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan expanded on his statement that future attacks would not target nuclear installations because "Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power state." Ehsan said fears that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal could be susceptible are America's "excuse" to pressure Pakistan's government into fighting the Taliban.[iv]

Tahawwur Rana Trial

• On Wednesday, David Headley provided further testimony at the trial of Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago resident charged with providing material support in connection to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Headley testified that that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had asked him to penetrate Islamic extremist groups while functioning as an informant. Headley declared that he “later used his relationship with the agency as a cover for his activities with the insurgent group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).” He also revealed that he had attended LeT training camps as well as received espionage training from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. A senior Pakistani intelligence official shrugged off the accusations and said "I have nothing to say on this. This is [Headley’s] opinion, whatever he's saying."[v]
• Headley said that most of his planning was done in coordination with a retired Pakistani military officer named Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, known as "Pasha." Headley also revealed that he had surveyed targets in Mumbai, including nuclear power plants. He stated that he had spent two years scouting various airport and bus terminals, in addition to Jewish Chabad houses within the country. Reuters reports that Headley and Rana had “gloated over the success of the Mumbai raids and praised its planners, listening to recordings of cell phone conversations between the attackers and Headley’s main Lashkar contact, Sajid Mir, during the raid.” Following the Mumbai attack, Headley and an associate reportedly traveled to the Waziristan region to meet with an al Qaeda representative about a potential terror attack against the Jylland-Posten newspaper in Denmark.[vi]

FATA

• Suspected Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants fired a mortar at a security check point in North Waziristan on Thursday. No causalities have been reported from the attack, which took place outside Miram Shah.[vii]
• A militant commander was killed and three other Turi tribesmen sustained casualties during clashes in the Balesh Khel and Khar Kallay areas of Kurram Agency on Tuesday. Local elders have held demonstrations in protest against the recent surge in violence and the failure of the local administration for “allegedly supporting militants.” However, during an address to a tribal jirga in Parachinar, the Peshawar corps commander suggested that the military may launch a security operation in the area. Meanwhile, a stalemate was reported in the negotiations with militants for the release of thirty-one kidnapped passengers. The Taliban militants had reportedly demanded $700,000 (Rs60 million) as ransom for the release of the Turi tribesmen whom they kidnapped in late March.[viii]

Heroin Bust

• On Wednesday, officials from the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) seized its largest ever heroin haul, worth an estimated $44 million. The drugs were captured from a container at the Karachi port and in a subsequent raid in the Quaidabad neighborhood. The heroin was allegedly smuggled from neighboring Afghanistan through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[ix]

Kashmir

• Two militants were killed in separate firefights in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday. The two insurgents were members of LeT bringing to three the number of suspected LeT militants killed by Indian forces in the Kashmir region since Monday.[x]