Pakistani Army

The Egyptian military stamps itself as protector of the nation, but behind this carefully tended mythology the army controls a multibillion-dollar business empire that trades in products not normally associated with men in uniform: olive oil, fertilizer, televisions, laptops, cigarettes, mineral water, poultry, bread and underwear. Estimates suggest that military-connected enterprises account for 10% to 40% of the Egyptian economy. It is an opaque realm of foreign investments, inside deals and privilege that has grown quietly for decades, employing thousands of workers and operating parallel to the army's defense industries.

The Egyptian military stamps itself as protector of the nation, but behind this carefully tended mythology the army controls a multibillion-dollar business empire that trades in products not normally associated with men in uniform: olive oil, fertilizer, televisions, laptops, cigarettes, mineral water, poultry, bread and underwear. Estimates suggest that military-connected enterprises account for 10% to 40% of the Egyptian economy. It is an opaque realm of foreign investments, inside deals and privilege that has grown quietly for decades, employing thousands of workers and operating parallel to the army's defense industries.

Gen. Asif Nawaz, 56, Pakistani army chief of staff who pledged to help democracy take root in a country long dominated by martial law. Nawaz replaced Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg as Pakistan's top military chief on Aug. 16, 1991, in what was only the second peaceful transfer of power within Pakistan's military since the country's creation as an Islamic republic in 1947. Previous military chiefs had overthrown civilian governments.

  A Pakistani American businessman told a judicial panel Wednesday that Pakistani officials enlisted him last year to deliver a memo urging Washington to help rein in the country's powerful military, saying the idea was pushed by the nation's then-ambassador to the U.S. and endorsed by President Asif Ali Zardari. Mansoor Ijaz testified that during a phone call in the days after the May 2 killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. commando raid, a noticeably agitated Husain Haqqani, the ambassador at the time, said Zardari's government was "under enormous pressure" fromPakistan's military.

Pakistan's army chief Friday ordered an investigation into a video circulating online showing the brutal firing squad execution of six blindfolded Pakistanis by a group of men dressed in what appear to be Pakistani army uniforms. Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's call for the probe reverses the army's initial reaction when the video surfaced last month. At that time, military authorities called the video fake and denied that any Pakistani soldier could be involved in extra-judicial killings.

Pakistan's army chief Friday ordered an investigation of a video circulating on the Internet that purportedly shows the firing squad execution of six blindfolded Pakistanis by men dressed in what appear to be Pakistani army uniforms. The call for the investigation by the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, reverses the army's initial reaction when the video first surfaced last month. At that time, military authorities called the video fake and denied that any Pakistani soldier could be involved in extrajudicial killings.

Warplanes carried out strikes against militant targets along the Afghan border before what the Pakistani government promises will be a ground offensive into the Taliban's main stronghold. The United States is encouraging Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan. But the Pakistani army has been beaten back on three previous offensives in the Taliban heartland and forced to sign peace deals. The military says 80% of the militant attacks in Pakistan are planned from South Waziristan.

The 200,000 Muslims stranded in Bangladesh since its 1971 war of independence are to be resettled in Pakistan. Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq said they will all be moved as soon as transportation is available. The non-Bengali Muslims--known as Biharis, from their origin in the Indian state of Bihar--supported the Pakistani army in its unsuccessful fight to keep Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, from becoming independent.

Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani has appointed a new head of Military Intelligence, an army spokesman said, in a widely expected move to replace a close confidant of President Pervez Musharraf. "Maj. Gen. Muhammad Asif has been appointed as chief of Military Intelligence and Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ijaz has been posted out," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. U.S. ally Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999, quit as army chief in November, and voters swept his political allies out of government in a parliamentary vote Feb. 18.

The detention of Pakistanis suspected of supplying information to the CIA in advance of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden reflects the deep embarrassment within their country's military and intelligence circles over the unilateral U.S. operation, analysts said Wednesday. Pakistan's military has faced intense domestic criticism in recent weeks from lawmakers and commentators over its failure to detect the secret helicopter-borne U.S. commando team that slipped into the military city of Abbottabad on May 2 and killed the Al Qaeda leader.

The detention of Pakistanis suspected of supplying information to the CIA in advance of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden reflects the deep embarrassment within their country's military and intelligence circles over the unilateral U.S. operation, analysts said Wednesday. Pakistan's military has faced intense domestic criticism in recent weeks from lawmakers and commentators over its failure to detect the secret helicopter-borne U.S. commando team that slipped into the military city of Abbottabad on May 2 and killed the Al Qaeda leader.

The death toll in a suicide bomb blast at a military training school in the northwest city of Mardan rose to 32 Thursday in an attack that underscored militants' ability to strike sensitive Pakistani installations despite a series of army offensives aimed at uprooting the country's homegrown insurgency. The attack occurred at the Punjab Regiment Center, an army training camp, just as cadets had assembled on the grounds and were going through their morning exercises. Zeeshan Haider, a local police official, said a teenage boy dressed in a school uniform appeared on the grounds and detonated the explosives-laden suicide vest he was wearing.

Pakistan's army chief Friday ordered an investigation of a video circulating on the Internet that purportedly shows the firing squad execution of six blindfolded Pakistanis by men dressed in what appear to be Pakistani army uniforms. The call for the investigation by the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, reverses the army's initial reaction when the video first surfaced last month. At that time, military authorities called the video fake and denied that any Pakistani soldier could be involved in extrajudicial killings.

Pakistan's army chief Friday ordered an investigation into a video circulating online showing the brutal firing squad execution of six blindfolded Pakistanis by a group of men dressed in what appear to be Pakistani army uniforms. Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's call for the probe reverses the army's initial reaction when the video surfaced last month. At that time, military authorities called the video fake and denied that any Pakistani soldier could be involved in extra-judicial killings.

Visiting Afghanistan, the Defense secretary says he and Karzai have agreed on the need for stepped up collaboration between NATO-led forces and the Pakistani military to eliminate insurgent sanctuaries. Visiting Afghanistan, the Defense secretary says he and Karzai have agreed on the need for stepped up collaboration between NATO-led forces and the Pakistani military to eliminate insurgent sanctuaries. Kandahar, Afghanistan — Militants operating out of safe havens in Pakistan remain a major threat to Afghanistan, but cooperation between NATO-led forces and the Pakistani military is increasing, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday.

Pakistani authorities have released a former Pakistani army major arrested in connection with the failed Times Square bombing in New York, saying they had determined he had no links to prime bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad. Adnan Ahmad was detained in mid-May on suspicion of having links with Shahzad, the Pakistani American accused of rigging a Nissan Pathfinder with explosives that he tried to detonate May 1 in midtown Manhattan. Pakistani law enforcement sources said investigators suspected Ahmad because they believed he and Shahzad had exchanged cellphone calls and had met once in Islamabad.

Army troops began pulling back from Pakistan's border with India on Monday, almost a week after the military took over Pakistan's government and four months after a bitter border dispute threatened to erupt into full-fledged war. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who overthrew the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif, said the redeployment was a peaceful gesture toward India. But India responded coolly, saying the move had no military significance.

The Pakistani army Sunday was investigating reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud may have been killed in a drone strike last month. If confirmed, the militant's death could deal insurgents a severe setback in their battle against the government. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Mahsud, 28, was wounded Jan. 17 in a U.S. airstrike that targeted two cars in North Waziristan, a largely Taliban-controlled tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. Abbas said intelligence agents are investigating a report on state television that Mahsud was killed in the airstrike and buried four days ago in the tribal district of Orakzai.

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber attacked a livestock market in the suburbs of the violence-wracked northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday , killing a mayor who had opposed the Taliban and 11 other people. Abdul Malik, mayor of the village of Adazai, was with his bodyguards at the market when the bomber struck. Peshawar police official Sahibzada Muhammad Anees said Malik was the target. Malik, who had survived previous attempts on his life by the Taliban, had recently organized a tribal militia to keep militants from the neighboring Khyber region out of his village, located about 10 miles south of Peshawar.