According to Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander for Iraq and Afghanistan, the threat of militant extremists in Pakistan is becoming a matter of the country's existence. At a senate panel on Wednesday, he said that groups such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban "could literally take down their state" if there actions were left unchecked.
The toD verdict: Questioned afterwards by the panel, Petraeus was confronted by senators who doubted the effectiveness of the government's methods and, in particular, the new plan that President Barack Obama introduced for Afghanistan last week that gives emphasises the crisis inside Pakistan. In particular, Democrat Committee Chairman Senator Carl Levin expressed reservations regarding the Pakistani government's ability and willingness to fight against insurgents.
The former Pakistani ambassador to the US and the UK, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, has in turn expressed her scepticism of the US plan from another perspective. She said that the aid given to Pakistan will amount to just a tiny fraction of that which Iraq continues to receive, and that policies which fail to take into account the public opinion of the Pakistani people will be doomed to failure.
Last week the US National Security Adviser, General James Jones, reaffirmed the American government's intention to continue using drone attacks in Pakistan. An unmanned Predator aircraft killed twelve people when it targeted a house in the Aurakzai tribal region on Wednesday. The attack was aimed at Taliban commander and former fitness instructor Hakimullah Mehsud, but failed to harm him.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the restive Swat Valley witnessed more violence on Wednesday as five police officers were killed and another injured when their vehicle came under fire from rockets. The attack took place in the Jat Kot region, on the border with the Swat district, and was thought to have been a retaliatory act for the recent killing of a local militant commander.
Police ready themselves for the worst during G20 meeting
The leaders of the world's 20 richest nations met on Thursday to discuss widespread changes to the global financial system in the wake of the worldwide economic crisis. The G20 summit in London presented the Metropolitan police with a security challenge and an "almost unprecedented level of activity" was predicted. A £7.5 million security plan was put in place in Operation Glencoe, which Scotland Yard claims was the most difficult public police operation it has ever carried out, with 84,000 police hours devoted to the conference. Last week's attack on the house of ex-RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin led to worries that demonstrators would target bankers and executives.
Despite grave warnings, however, the protests on Wednesday remained largely peaceful. Some violence resulted in vandalism on banks and led the police to trap protestors into makeshift pens. One man, who was found unconscious outside the Bank of England, died in hospital.
War on trafficking stepped up on US-Mexican border
The Mexican government's struggle against drug cartels continues as a police car was attacked in Michoacan state during an ambush that resulted in the death of four officers and injured four more. Five more deaths occurred in the north of the country after violence broke out in Ciudad Juarez, a town on the US-Mexican border which has recently seen much bloodshed, and others were killed in Chihuahua and Coahuila states. US president Barack Obama has put forward proposals for a $184 million plan to increase border controls between the two countries in order to stop the movement of drugs, weapons and money. Only around ten percent of the 230,000 vehicles that cross the border daily are stopped and searched. Talks between Obama and the Mexican president Felipe Calderon will be held in mid-April.
Obama and Medvedev look towards a "nuclear-free world"
A meeting in London between the US and Russian presidents led to a joint announcement that the Obama and Dmitry Medvedev would take actions to control and perhaps reduce the nuclear capacities of their respective nations. The statement released alluded to their hopes for a "nuclear-free world", and negotiations will take place in the lead-up to Obama's trip to Moscow in the summer where he will again meet with his Russian counterpart. Russia and the US are both currently signatories to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. The talks have been welcomed by all involved as a great launching pad for continued discussions. Last summer's incident between Russia and Georgia seems to have faded into distant memory.
Aid workers said to be alive after beheading deadline
A deadline that was set by militants for the beheading of three International Committee of the Red Cross workers who were kidnapped in January passed by on Tuesday without their deaths, according to the Filipino government. Ronaldo Puno, the country's minister of the interior, said that the trio, Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, were safe and alive although he could give no evidence to corroborate this statement. Negotiations over their release are continuing between the government and the Abu Sayyaf, the Islamist group responsible for their abductions who have been linked to al-Qaeda. Their demands, which were not met on Tuesday, centred around the removal of all government forces from Jolo Island where the group is based.
