Former Afghan spy chief slams Taliban talks

Peace talks with the Taliban will lead to the disaster unless the insurgent group is disarmed first, Afghanistan's former intelligence chief said Thursday.

Amrullah Saleh, who headed the Afghanistan's spy agency from 2004 until earlier this year, said the key to peace with the Taliban is cutting off their support from Pakistan and disarming and dismantling the group before allowing them to operate as a normal political party.

"Demobilize them, disarm them, take their headquarters out of the Pakistani intelligence's basements," Saleh said. "Force the Taliban to play according to the script of the democracy," he added, predicting the party would ultimately fail, "in a country where law rules, not the gun ... not the law of intimidation."

Saleh said the United States should give Pakistan a deadline of July 2011 to pursue top insurgents inside their borders or threaten to send in U.S. troops to do the job.

National Guard Staff Sgt. Killed In Afghanistan

A Staff Sgt. that once resided in the Tuolumne County has died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Department of the Defense states that Staff Sgt. Vincent W. Ashlock, 45, was killed in a non-combat related incident on December 4th in Khost province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 890th Battalion, 168th Engineer Brigade out of Lucedale, Mississippi. No further information has been released about his death.

Staff Sgt. Ashlock was a longtime resident of Groveland, and also lived in Sonora for a time, according to family members. Most recently Staff Sgt. Ashlock and his family resided in Seaside, CA.

No Taliban or US troops in the Quetta

“There is no soldier of the American army in the Quetta,” he said while talking to newsmen after attending the inaugural ceremony of the 5th batch of the Balochistan Institute of Technical Education here on Wednesday.

He also denied the presence of the Taliban militants in the city and said: “There is no justification and need for drone attacks on Quetta.”

However, he said, there were students studying in religious institutions who had nothing to do with the militancy.

The chief minister reiterated his offer of talks with ‘angry Baloch brothers’. “They should come for talks on all issues.”

Answering a question about the suicide attack on his convoy on Tuesday, the chief minister said those involved in the attack would not be spared.

Earlier addressing the ceremony, Nawab Raisani and Southern Command’s chief Lt-Gen Javed Zia said the government and the army would fight extremism jointly to restore peace in Balochistan.

The chief minister thanked the army and its chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for providing educational and technical training facilities to a large number of youths in Balochistan.

He announced a Rs100 million grant for the BITE and said the army should also launch such projects in other districts of the province.

Lt-Gen Zia said a sense of deprivation existed among the Baloch people, but foreign elements would not be allowed to exploit it.

Marine camp pendleton

A Marine from the Camp Pendleton has died of wounds sustained during combat in the Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

Sgt. Jason Peto, 31, of Vancouver, Wash., died at Bethesda (Md.) Naval Medical Center of wounds sustained Nov. 24 in Helmand province.

Peto, a rifleman, was part of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton. He was on his third combat deployment.

The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment is battling the Taliban for control of the Sangin region of the Helmand province.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, in a news conference Wednesday at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, called Sangin "the last Taliban stronghold" in the province and predicted a Marine victory.

"We will be successful," he said.

Two Pendleton Marines killed in Afghanistan

Abbate enlisted in the Marine Corps Feb. 1, 2006. This was his second combat deployment, according to a 1st Marine Division news release.

His personal service awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy and Marine Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Cpl. Chad S. Wade, 22, of Bentonville, Ark., died Dec. 1, also in combat in the same province. He too was a rifleman but was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Wade enlisted on Oct. 16, 2007. This was his second combat deployment, the first being in Iraq, according to the 1st Marine Division.

20 killed in Mohmand Agency Blast

At least 20 persons were killed and around 50 were injured in the explosion at Political Agent’s office in the Ghalanai, the chief town of Mohmand tribal region on Monday.

The injured were transferred to the local hospital.

security agencies have cordoned off the area after the explosion.

The nature of the blast yet to be established.

Thirteen killed in Malam Jabba bus crash: police

Thirteen people including women and children were killed and more than a dozen injured when an overcrowded bus carrying a wedding party fell into a ravine in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday.

The driver of the vehicle lost the control while taking a sharp bend and plunged into a deep ravine at Malam Jabba, 30 kilometres (18 miles) northeast of the Swat Valley.

“Three more people died of injuries in the hospital, rising the death toll to 13,” doctor Anwar Ahmed told AFP.

He said the dead were eight women, three children and two men. Senior police official Alam Zeb confirmed the toll and said the injured were taken to hospital.

Pakistan has one of the world’s worst records for fatal traffic accidents, blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.