Daily brief: Pakistani ambassador accused of orchestrating Mullen memo

Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation would like to extend their most heartfelt congratulations to AfPak Channel co-editor Peter Bergen and his wife Tresha Mabile on the birth Thursday of their son, Pierre Timothy Bergen. Both mother and son are healthy, happy, and resting.

Memo-gate

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz alleged Thursday that Pakistani ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani orchestrated the plan purportedly laid out in a memo delivered May 10 to then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen for Pakistan to remove its senior military and intelligence leadership and cut ties with militant groups in return for protection against a military coup (FP, Tel, ET, AP, LAT, The News, Guardian). Haqqani flatly denied involvement in writing or planning the memo — obtained by FP’s The Cable blog Thursday — which argues that, "A unique window of opportunity exists for the civilians to gain the upper hand over army and intelligence directorates due to their complicity in the [Osama bin Laden] matter" (FP). Haqqani, who has offered to resign his position, remains locked in a fight for his political future, as the Post parses out the major divide between civilians and soldiers in Pakistan (ET, Dawn, ET, Dawn, AP, Post).

As many as eight militants were reported killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike on a compound in the Ramzak area of North Waziristan Thursday (DT, ET, AP, CNN, AFP). In Karachi, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives Friday, killing himself, as paramilitary Rangers closed in on him (Dawn, ET). And an anti-terrorism court on Thursday cleared three sons of Pakistani militant leader Sufi Mohammed of some charges, though they still face allegations of "murder, terrorism and revolt" (Dawn).

At least 24 former parliamentarians and leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) announced Thursday that they were joining former cricket star-turned-opposition politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party, as Reuters looks at Khan’s meteoric rise (ET,Reuters). And Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani threatened to take unspecified "action" against PML-Q member and Minister of Housing Faisal Saleh Hayat, who has filed a case with Pakistan’s Supreme Court alleging corruption in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government (ET).

Two stories round out the news: The Tethryan Copper Company (TCC), a joint Canadian-Chilean venture, charged Friday that a decision by Balochistan’s mining authority to deny the TCC permission to work on the Reko Diq mine was in violation of "local rules and Pakistani law" (ET). And the Tribune reports on the Balochistan parliament’s struggles to set up their planned winter session in the port city of Gwadar, which has only one hotel and limited access to clean water (ET).

Stark warning

Former Afghan Interior Minister and opposition political figure Hanif Atmar said Thursday in Washington that Afghanistan will descend into civil war if the United States does not leave a residual force of 20,000 to 30,000 troops after the 2014 deadline for withdrawal (Post, AFP). Atmar added that the reconciliation process has "failed" as Afghan President Hamid Karzai continues with a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, that is discussing peace talks with militant groups as well as Afghanistan’s relationship with the United States (AFP). And U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of the military’s Joint Command in Afghanistan, defended controversial night raids in an interview with the Journal Friday, after Karzai demanded before the Jirga that the raids cease (WSJ).

Speaking to Reuters Thursday, Russian anti-drug head Viktor Ivanov said that American anti-opium eradication activities were "unsatisfactory," and that the Taliban make $150 million a year from the drug trade in Afghanistan (Reuters). A group of aid agencies warned Friday that severe drought has left as many as three million Afghans at risk of hunger as winter approaches (Reuters, BBC). And a roadside bomb exploded near a playground in the eastern province of Nangarhar Friday, killing four children (Reuters).  

[Expletive, deleted]

Concerned about the impact of text messaging on Pakistan’s youth, the country’s telecommunications authority has ordered phone companies to ban some 100 "obscene" words from the messages (BBC, Guardian). The list contains words in Urdu and English, including "Athlete’s foot," "Jesus Christ," "Monkey crotch," "Bakwaas (nonsense)," and "Wuutang," an apparent reference to the American rap group the Wu-Tang Clan.

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