Tougher U.S. stance on Pakistan shows
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Pakistan's new military offensive has reduced violence along its shared border with Afghanistan, said U.S. military officials who fear it may just be a lull.
After receiving alarming U.S. evidence of al-Qaida and Taliban retrenchment in northern Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf last month deployed two additional divisions, bringing the number of troops in the region to 100,000, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Musharraf acted only after the White House publicly revealed al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding in northern Pakistan, The Post said.
Since the new deployment, more than 200 Pakistani solders have been killed as they reoccupied abandoned checkpoints and dug defensive trenches. The effort, however, has reduced cross-border raids by terrorists under the protection of tribal chieftains in remote villages, the report said.
"The presence of new divisions has made the locals nervous, so the level of activity is down," said a senior U.S. defense official. "But unless the Pakistanis remain active, this may just be a lull."
Rice defends U.S. arms sale to Saudis
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Sunday defended a $20 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states saying "there's nothing new in this."
"Well, let's remember that the United States has had interesting security cooperation in this region for decades," Rice told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday. "It would make no sense to leave Saudi Arabia or the other Gulf states undefended, incapable of defending themselves or turning to others who might be less reliable in providing for their defense at a time when the security challenges in that region are increasing."
Rice conducted interviews from the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat where she and President George Bush met with visiting Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
She said discussions with Karzai centered on the future of Afghanistan, which has received about $14 billion in U.S. reconstruction aid. She told CBS' "Face The Nation," that Pakistani armed forces had "been much more active" on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
"I am quite certain that if there are high-value targets, that we are all going to do everything that we can to capture or kill them," she said.
Iranian bombs smuggled into Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Iranian armor-piercing bombs used with deadly effect in Iraq now are being smuggled into Afghanistan for use by the Taliban, it was reported Sunday.
"It is clear to everyone that Iran is supporting the enemy of Afghanistan, the Taliban," Col. Rahmatullah Safi, the head of border police for western Afghanistan, told The Sunday Times of London.
A Baluch tribesman in southern Afghanistan is believed to be the middle man between Iran and the Taliban, Afghan intelligence sources told The Times. The middle man also uses Iran as the central point for heroin smuggled out of Afghanistan to Europe, the report said.
Col. Thomas Kelly, a U.S. Army commander with NATO, said the armor-piercing weapons crossing the border appear factory made.
"These are very sophisticated (improvised explosive devices) and they're really not manufactured in any other place to our knowledge than Iran," Kelly said.
Former Indian PM slams U.S. nuclear deal
NEW DELHI, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Former Indian Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh Sunday offered stern criticism of a proposed nuclear deal with the United States, a report said.
The Press Trust of India reported Singh said the draft 123 agreement his country is considering signing with the United States would make India too reliant on U.S. uranium supplies in the future.
He added that the terms of the nuclear deal would make it possible for Washington to cancel it at any time and demand all of its supplies be returned.
The United States would also gain the ability to inspect Indian nuclear facilities, Singh said, along with taking away the nation's right to atomic testing.
Instead of agreeing to the Indo-U.S. deal, the former prime minister suggested that India use imported coal to help in the creation of thermal power plants.
"We can instead import coal which can be done without any conditionalities and set up thermal power plants along the coastline," he said Sunday.
Singh also suggested any future international agreements being considered by India require parliamentary approval.
Reason for bridge collapse likely delayed
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The investigation into what caused Minneapolis' I-35 bridge collapse may take six months longer than initially thought, a federal official said Sunday.
While investigators initially said the exact cause of Wednesday's afternoon's collapse should be determined in 12 months, one federal official increased that to 18 months due to conditions at the accident site, the Minneapolis Star Tribune said.
"We have taken a look at a lot of debris, but unfortunately we have not have come with an answer," National Transportation Safety Board chairman Mark Rosenker said.
Rosenker said investigators have been forced to take added precautions at the site due to a lack of structural integrity.
"The collapsed bridge continues to get weaker and weaker the longer it sits there, because the integrity is gone," he said.
Rosenker did say that investigators have narrowed the possible problem area down to the bridge's north end and would also be looking into reports of instability at the bridge prior to its collapse.
Second quake in week shakes Russia
MOSCOW, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- An earthquake in Russia Sunday injured two people and left hundreds more homeless, Itar-Tass reported.
The quake, the second to rock the region in a week, measured 4.2 on the Richter scale and was centered in the Sakhalin town of Nevelsk.
Two women, ages 42 and 62, were hospitalized in grave condition and 60 more hospital beds were reserved for those not yet brought in to clinics, Itar-Tass said.
Drinking water and several tons of bread were delivered to a tent camp established for those left homeless and those temporarily evacuated from their homes.
Authorities estimate more than 1,600 homes and three schools were destroyed by Sunday's quake. A quake in the region Aug. 2 killed two and injured 12.
