Subject: South Asia Daily: Operation in NW Pak Disrupted Haqqani Network; PM Modi Debuts on Forbes’ List; U.S. Sought Iranian Investment in Afghanistan
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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 08:23:40 -0500 (EST)

Operation in NW Pak Disrupted Haqqani Network; PM Modi Debuts on Forbes’ List; U.S. Sought Iranian Investment in Afghanistan

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Operation in NW Pak Disrupted Haqqani Network; PM Modi Debuts on Forbes’ List; U.S. Sought Iranian Investment in Afghanistan

Operation in NW Pak Disrupted Haqqani Network; PM Modi Debuts on Forbes’ List; U.S. Sought Iranian Investment in Afghanistan

 <p>  <i>Editor's  Note: New America's International Security Program is looking for a Project  Manager to join our team in Washington, D.C. to support our efforts to create a  primer and a corresponding database on the development potential of unmanned  aerial vehicles. For more information about this one-year contract position, as  well as the application requirements, please check out the employment  listing&nbsp;<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOBXE4EtVHA45f5 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">here</a>.</i>  </p><br><p>  <i style="font-size: 1.135em; line-height: 1.7em">Event Notice: "War Dogs: Tales  of Canine Heroism, History, and Love," Nov. 6, 12:15 PM (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOBXE4EtVJA5921 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">New America</a>).</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Pakistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Bonus Read: "Into the Abyss: The  Escalating Violence Against Pakistan's Polio Workers," David Sterman</i>  </p><br><p>  <i>Operation  in northwest Pakistan disrupted Haqqani network</i>  </p><br><p>  Operation  Zarb-i-Azb, a Pakistani military operation in North Waziristan that began in  June, has weakened the Haqqani network, according to a senior U.S. military  commander in Afghanistan (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqAqAc7ee target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Dawn</a>). Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, a senior commander for  U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a Pentagon briefing&nbsp;on  Wednesday: "They are fractured like the Taliban is. That's based pretty much on  the Pakistan [operations] in North Waziristan this entire summer-fall," and  added "[t]hat has very much disrupted their efforts [in Afghanistan] and has  caused them to be less effective in terms of their ability to pull off an  attack in Kabul."  </p><br><p>  <i>Pakistan  rejects Indian dialogue conditions</i>  </p><br><p>  On  Thursday, Pakistan rejected India's "red line" drawn by Indian Defense Minister  Arun Jaitley yesterday, according to Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson  Tasneem Aslam (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqArA0cbf target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">ET</a>). Aslam said that Pakistan does not accept India's  conditions on talks, adding that: "Dialogue with India is not a favour, but a  necessity for peace and development in South Asia." India said yesterday that  Pakistan will have to choose between dialogue with the Indian government or the  Kashmiri Hurriyat leadership.  </p><br><p>  <i>Polio  eradication deadline not set by Sharif</i>  </p><br><p>  Despite  wide reporting yesterday that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set a  six-month deadline for polio eradication in Pakistan,&nbsp;on Thursday&nbsp;the  Prime Minister (PM) House spokesman denied the statement (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqAsAf456 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Dawn</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqAuAb656 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">ET</a>). The PM House spokesman said that Sharif had not made  any strict deadline at the Polio Steering Committee meeting&nbsp;on Wednesday,  and that Sharif directed the chief ministers to make polio eradication a top  priority.  </p><br><p>  <i>Balochistan  ordered to hold elections</i>  </p><br><p>  The  Balochistan Election Commission was directed by the chief minister to hold  elections for vacant seats in the local government in the peasants and laborers  categories but the state election commission insists that they cannot be  scheduled yet (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqAyAcfb2 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">ET</a>). Balochistan Election Commissioner (BEC) Sultan Bayzeed  told the <i>Express Tribune</i>:  "The notification we received does not state which categories or the number of  seats we need to hold elections for" and without such information, the BEC  cannot schedule the elections. Currently there are 743 seats reserved for  peasants and laborers in Balochistan's local government, all of which have been  empty for the past 11 months.  </p><br><p>  --  Courtney Schuster  </p><br><p>  <b>India</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>PM  Modi debuts on Forbes' list</i>  </p><br><p>  Indian  Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranked 15th on the Forbes' list, as he made his  debut among the world's most powerful people, according to news reports on  Wednesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqA1Aac75 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Forbes</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqA6A30a6 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Economic Times</a>). Speaking about Modi, Forbes said:  "India's newest rock star doesn't hail from Bollywood. He is the newly  elected Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with a landslide victory,  ushering the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power after decades of control  by the Gandhi dynasty" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOzWN9iFT8Aa1f9 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">NDTV</a>). Forbes further said: "The world is as impressed as  the citizens of India: So far he's toured the US and China and met with his  Southeast Asian neighbors" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOzWN9iFUEA8156 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Hindustan Times</a>). The magazine also noted that Modi, a  "Hindu nationalist," was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat  when hundreds of Muslims were massacred during the 2002 riots.  </p><br><p>  Other  Indians on the Forbes' list included Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani  (No. 36), ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal (No. 57), and  Microsoft's Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at (No. 64). The Congress party  President Sonia Gandhi, who ranked 21st last year, was omitted from the list.  Russian President Vladimir Putin topped the Forbes' list and was followed by  U.S. President Barack Obama. The terror group Islamic State's chief, Abu Bakr  al-Baghdadi, made his first appearance on the list.  </p><br><p>  <i>Indian  government may divest loss-making PSUs</i>  </p><br><p>  Indian  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while addressing the opening day of the two-day  India Economic Summit organized by the World Economic Forum in New Delhi on  Wednesday, said that the Indian government may privatize loss-making public  sector undertakings (PSUs) (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBJAd323 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Livemint</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmO50r6deFRA203c target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">&nbsp;Hindustan Times</a>). Jaitley said: "I would be open to  look at some set of PSUs which could do much better in private hands. There are  still a large number of them which are almost on the verge of closure, where  people are going to lose employment. So, given a choice between their  continuing in the present shape or getting privatised, then the second option  would be a preferable option... Currently, they are being sustained merely on  governmental support -- now that is not a long-term solution. Taxpayers cannot  continue to pay for loss-making businesses" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmObuwgCN-5A3592 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Economic Times</a>). There are presently 79 loss-making PSUs in  India, which include 49 sick enterprises.  </p><br><p>  Jaitley  also indicated further liberalization of the insurance sector and reforms in  the railway sector, land acquisition law, and auctioning of mineral assets for  mining. Jaitley said the government is considering reforms for mining of  minerals similar to the guidelines established for the auctioning of coal blocks.  Jaitley said: "With regard to other minerals, we are about to take similar  reforms to eliminate the possibility of discretion and crony capitalism" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOBXE4EtVPA69e2 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Indian Express</a>). Recently the Supreme Court cancelled 214  out of 218 coal block allocations, which were declared illegal and arbitrary by  the court.  </p><br><p>  <i>India  leads Facebook's list for content restriction</i>  </p><br><p>  In  the first six months of 2014, Facebook restricted access to nearly 5,000 pieces  of information on its website in India, the highest for any country, according  to news reports on Wednesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOnSH7_kI8A1899 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">NDTV</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBVA70ba target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">&nbsp;BBC</a>). Facebook, in its Government Requests Report,  said: "We restricted access in India to a number of pieces of content reported  primarily by law enforcement officials and the India Computer Emergency  Response Team under local laws prohibiting criticism of a religion or the  state" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBbA4aae target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Indian Express</a>). India also ranked second -- behind the  United States -- in terms of government requests for access to users and  accounts. In its report, Facebook also said that government requests worldwide  were up by 24 percent, and Facebook content restricted due to local laws  increased to about 19 percent globally.  </p><br><p>  <i>-- Neeli Shah and Jameel Khan</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Afghanistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>U.S.  sought Iranian investment in Afghanistan</i>  </p><br><p>  The  United States sought to encourage Iranian investment in Afghanistan to prop up  the country's faltering economy, according to a report in the&nbsp;<i>Wall  Street Journal&nbsp;</i>on Tuesday&nbsp;(<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmObuwgCN_QA9ad0 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">WSJ</a>). According to the report, a specialized American task  force encouraged Iranian investment despite sanctions that restrict American  companies' interaction with Iranian companies seeking special permission to  encourage Iranian assistance of a pharmaceutical company and four mines. Joseph  Catalino, who directs the Pentagon's Task Force for Business and Stability  Operations, told the&nbsp;<i>Wall Street Journal</i>: "For Afghanistan, you  can't ignore Iran." James Bullion, who previously led the task force said, "We  wanted to see the best bidders come with the best offers for the Afghan  people."  </p><br><p>  <i>Afghan  troop losses unsustainable</i><i style="font-size: 1.135em; line-height: 1.7em">&nbsp;</i>  </p><br><p>  The  second highest ranking commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson,  called the current rate of Afghan troop losses unsustainable while talking to  reporters&nbsp;on Wednesday&nbsp;(<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmObuwgCN_PAa224 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">RFE/RL</a>,<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOxqcbCBlMAd219 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Defense One</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBfAf085 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">AP</a>). Anderson said there was a 6.5 percent increase in the  number of Afghan soldiers and police killed in battle so far in 2014 compared  to 2013, and said "those numbers are not sustainable in the long term."  Anderson's comments come as Gen. John Campbell, the top American commander in  Afghanistan, said he is reassessing whether the delay in the signing of the  Bilateral Security Agreement will necessitate a longer American troop presence,  according to a report in Foreign Policy&nbsp;on Monday&nbsp;(<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFjKEsPoQHbc801EAf1fe target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">FP</a>).  </p><br><p>  <i>NATO  chief visits Kabul</i>  </p><br><p>  NATO's  new secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is in Kabul on an unannounced visit,  media outlets reported&nbsp;on Thursday&nbsp;(<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBgA3571 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Pajhwok</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBhA135d target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">RFE/RL</a>). Stoltenberg visited a training center for Afghan  Special Forces and is scheduled to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.  Stoltenberg stated: "I have seen a highly trained, experienced and professional  force."  </p><br><p>  Pakistan  Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif also arrived in Kabul&nbsp;on Thursday&nbsp;(<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBlA92a7 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Pajhwok</a>). He is expected to meet with Ghani and  Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah to discuss a variety of  issues including security. Sharif already met with his Afghan counterpart Gen.  Sher Mohammad Karimi.  </p><br><p>  <i>Taliban  kill 10 in Paktia</i>  </p><br><p>  The  Taliban killed ten civilians&nbsp;on Wednesday&nbsp;in Paktia province  according to local officials (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmObR29CIqrA0d1c target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">TOLO News</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71yrcj.224n/VFt2OUmOF-19VqBpA5d2b target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Pajhwok</a>). According to provincial spokesman Rohullah Samon  the bodies were found in the Zurmat district&nbsp;on Thursday. The Taliban  claimed responsibility for the killings, alleging that the men were policemen.  </p><br><p>  --  David Sterman  </p><br><p>  Edited  by Peter Bergen  </p><br> 

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