A busy month

Intelligence agencies have reportedly disrupted an al-Qaeda linked plot to stage simultaneous Mumbai-style attacks -- with coordinated attackers taking hostages, using guns and grenades -- on cities in the U.K., France, and Germany, believed to have moved from the aspirational to the operational stage in Pakistan, where the CIA has stepped up the pace of drone strikes in the last month in an attempt to thwart the plotters (Guardian, AFP, Times, BBC, Sky, AFP, CNN). The U.S. is reportedly investigating whether the plot extends to U.S. targets (WSJ). A Pakistani military spokesman has dismissed reports about the alleged plot, stating, "We don't have any credible information from sources that any such planning is taking place or terrorists are planning anything in North Waziristan" (AFP).

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The news that the latest chief of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan may have been killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan a few days ago is starting to seep over the world's news sites, and today's Wall Street Journal led with the story that this month's 21 drone strikes were aimed at disrupting an alleged plot to attack targets in France, Germany, and the U.K.

This has been the busiest month on record for the drones, which target militants in Pakistan's tribal areas -- the next closest in terms of the frequency of the strikes was January 2010, with 12, following an attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan's Khost province. By our calculations, this month's attacks have killed at least 90 people described as militants in reliable press accounts. If Sheikh Al-Fateh was indeed killed by a drone strike, he would be the tenth militant leader to be felled this year, and the 15th under the Obama administration.

More facts about the drone strikes, as reported: This year, 66 of the 75 drone strikes have been in North Waziristan, which is a hotbed of militants affiliated with a range of groups such as the Haqqani network, al-Qaeda, and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Eight were in South Waziristan, and one was reported in Kurram.

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has come under considerable criticism in the U.S. for his emotional outbursts and cantankerousness. Foreign Policy managing editor Blake Hounshell mocked Karzai recently for crying over the prospect that his son, Mirwais, might leave the country to live a better life. Bob Woodward’s newest book alleges that Karzai has received treatment for manic depression and smokes marijuana -- leading commentators to speculate that the Afghan president has lost the ability to lead. However, Hamid Karzai remains the only real option for crafting a political and institutional framework that will stabilize the country, and the sooner the U.S. realizes it, and stops wishing for a perfect leader to fix an imperfect war, the better off we’ll be.

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Of sighs and tears

Deputy governor for the Afghan province of Ghazni Mohammad Kazim Allahyar was killed earlier today, along with his son, nephew, and three others, when a Taliban suicide bomber drove his motorized rickshaw into their vehicle traveling on the Kabul to Kandahar highway (AFP, AP, Pajhwok, BBC). Afghan President Hamid Karzai, giving a speech in Kabul to mark literacy day and lamenting the violence in Afghanistan, reportedly wept alongside members of the audience as he worried about his toddler son potentially leaving Afghanistan (AFP, AP, BBC). "I want him to go to school here, I swear to God I'm worried, I'm worried, oh people, I'm worried... I don't want my son Mirwais to be a foreigner. I want Mirwais to be Afghan," Karzai said.

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Cross-border relations

In rare cross-border incursions in the last few days, NATO Apache helicopters killed as many as 49 Haqqani network insurgents who had attacked a remote combat outpost in Afghanistan's Khost province, right across the border from North Waziristan (AP, BBC, Geo, Dawn, Reuters). Though Pakistan is sensitive about attacks on its territory, U.S. officials say they have an agreement that allows border crossing if troops are in hot pursuit of a target or are under attack.

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It was bound to create controversy and outrage in a country fixated with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The sentencing of the Pakistani neuroscientist -- dubbed the ‘Grey Lady of Bagram,' the ‘daughter of Pakistan' and ‘Prisoner 650' by her supporters -- in a New York court on Thursday has riled many in Pakistan, including the government that had campaigned for her release.

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It has been a terrible year for Pakistan, and 2010 has not spared journalists working in the country either. In September so far, three journalists have been killed, one has been beaten up and another tortured so severely that chills went up even the bravest journalist's spine. Six journalists have been killed in Pakistan this year alone, with the last casualty reportedly at the hands of the Taliban. Three Afghan journalists were recently arrested recently by Afghan or international forces on the other side of the border, as well. And the year isn't over yet.

In the first week of September, Pakistani journalist Umar Cheema was abducted and tortured in Islamabad, at the hands of unnamed criminals. After his release, he said his captors had warned him to "Stop writing against the government, if you cannot bear this torture." It is widely believed that his kidnapping and torture were at the hands of Pakistan's spy agencies, which have had a long and bloody history of quelling dissent. One only has to look at a list of what Cheema had been reporting on to connect the dots.

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The legal process

Aafia Siddiqui, the female Pakistani scientist trained in the United States who was convicted earlier this year of attempting to murder U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan in 2008, was sentenced yesterday to 86 years in prison (BBC, Guardian, Tel, AJE, ET, WSJ). Siddiqui urged her supporters to refrain from violence, but Pakistanis staged rallies in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Karachi, some throwing rocks, burning American flags and effigies of Barack Obama, and scuffling with police (AP, AFP, ET, Dawn). The Pakistani government has also been criticized for failing to secure her release (AFP, ET). Her family has vowed to launch a "movement" for her, and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Siddiqui a "daughter of Pakistan" and similarly promised to campaign for her repatriation (The News, AP). Bonus read: Not a daughter of Pakistan (FP).

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