Patrol Base Jaker Movie

Construction of a jihadi mindset

The fact that a sizeable number of those recruited by religious militant organisations for conducting terror attacks in Pakistan are between 14 to 19 years and are products of both the religious and public education systems in the country should be reason enough to revamp these educational systems.

Considering the present curricula, teaching methods and learning culture in elementary and secondary schools in particular and higher education in general, it is not surprising that there is confusion regarding the objectives of the ideological paradigm of the well-coordinated and well-networked jihadist movement in Pakistan.

full story at www.dawn.com

Obama, advisers to meet on Afghanistan

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Monday night with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the White House announced.

It will be the ninth meeting of the president's war council to consider whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by the U.S. commander on the ground there.

full story at www.cnn.com

The AfPak Paradox

There is a new acronym in the lexicon of Obama administration national security moguls. "AfPak" stands for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The term denotes the administration's desire to take a unified approach to policy and strategy for these two countries. President Barack Obama correctly views them as the central front of the war on terrorism and — also accurately — sees so many aspects of the strategic problem of the Afghan war playing out in both countries that it is far more useful to consider them intertwined.

full story at www.fpif.org

Assignment AfPak

A year ago, Dexter Filkins of the New York Times was working out of the Pearl Continental Hotel in the Taliban-infested city of Peshawar. The reporter was awaiting a nod from fixers that passage into a deadly swath of territory known as the Khyber Agency had been arranged. Four weeks had passed, and then suddenly a breakthrough: a posse of armed tribesmen was hired to take him in.

full story at www.ajr.org

Agonizing over Afghanistan

The president emphasized that the future of Afghanistan was inextricably linked with that of Pakistan, and that in turn the security of the U.S. was linked to the fates of both countries. Afghanistan “will see no end to the violence if insurgents move freely back and forth across the border,” Obama said.

full article at www.armedforcesjournal.com

President Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan (AFPAK) Strategy from 27MAR09

General James Jones, National Security Advisor, Briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center on "President Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan (AFPAK) Strategy."  US Department of State briefing on March 27, 2009.