Grumpy Editor

Haqqani clan emerges as suspect in deadly Kabul attack

Just when some newspapers ran a Pentagon report that violence in Afghanistan decreased 26 percent between July and last month, compared to the same period last year, a vehicle laden with explosives smashed into an armored U.S. military bus in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 17 people, including four U.S. troops, five U.S. civilians working for the military, a Canadian soldier and four Afghans.

Violence in the Afghanistan capital, particularly against U.S. troops, has been rare.

However, a U.N. report last month found violence in Afghanistan increased 39 percent in the first eight months this year.

The U.N. blamed the increased violence in part on a rise in use of homemade explosives.

But a ruthless crime family may be involved.

While the Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing, Afghan and American officials suspect a crime clan known as the Haqqani network, based in Pakistan, may have been behind the Saturday attack.

Although mention of the Haqqani group may be new to most Americans, a New York Times story last month declared “American military officers, who have spent years urging Washington to take action against the Haqqanis, express anger that the Obama administration has still not put the group on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.”

 

Most media miss al-Qaeda link in Pakistan shooting case

 

Nineteen days after Raymond Davis, a U.S. consular staffer was jailed in Lahore, Pakistan for fatally shooting two armed men, President Barack Obama declared that country must release him under a pact that gives diplomats immunity from prosecution, notes Grumpy Editor.

“If our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country’s local prosecution,” Obama informed a Washington news conference on Tuesday.

That has been a long-time diplomatic standard.

Nevertheless, a Lahore court today adjourned until March 14 in ruling whether Davis has diplomatic immunity.

Police plan to formally charge the former U.S. Army Special Forces member with murder.

Davis, who said he acted in self defense, was taken into custody on Jan. 27.

Into the intrigue --- and missed by most media in this international diplomatic saga --- is that on the same day Obama was meeting the press, Pakistan’s al-Qaeda-linked Taliban warned it would punish those involved in any move to release Davis.

Only Reuters’ Chris Allbritton uncovered that warning.

The two men Davis shot reportedly robbed two people earlier on the same day.

The incident occurred after Davis withdrew money from an ATM and was driving a car when the two men on a motorcycle confronted him at a busy intersection in Lahore, according to the U.S. Embassy.

A senior Pakistani official later admitted the two men were part of a criminal gang.

Even if released soon, things won't be smooth for Davis.

In another twist, Sen. John Kerry Tuesday jumped into the skirmish with a 24-hour visit to Pakistan, promising Pakistanis that the U.S. Embassy worker will face a U.S. criminal investigation if released.  The Massachusetts Democrat also expressed regret for deaths of the two men.

Pakistan is one of the largest non-NATO recipients of U.S. military aid.