Pakistan relaxed visa scrutiny for US defense officials this week.
The Pakistani Embassy in Washington has lifted all scrutiny mechanisms for granting visas to defense-related American officials. Under the new procedures, implemented two weeks ago, officials will be granted visas in 24 hours.
Previously, under pressure from the armed forces, all applications for visas
by United States defense officials were passed on to Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense, which in turn sent them to the directorate of Military Intelligence. After several months of scrutiny, visas were either granted or denied.The new procedures were laid down on the direct intervention of the office of President Asif Ali Zardari to facilitate the Americans
in their quest to directly hunt down militant networks in Pakistani cities, where Washington believes major attacks in Europe are being planned and also from where the insurgency in Afghanistan is being directed. Compared with 2009, US drones have doubled their air-to-ground attacks during 2010, to more than 100 on militant sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas…
…Between the lines, the declaration implies the continuation of the American-led war against al-Qaeda and Taliban with a new dimension from next year.
Amazing that a ragtag bunch of tribesmen can divert so much of our money from public works. The money draining battle against shadowy dark forces continues…
