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President Obama urgently needs to respond to recent developments in Pakistan relating to the missing children of jailed Pakistani national, Dr. Aafia Siddiqi, specifically, we need to know what US records reveal about the whereabouts of Dr. Aafia Siddiqi and her children between 2003 and 2008?

A week ago unidentified men on Sunday brought a 12-year-old girl to the home Dr. Fauzia Siddiqi in Karachi claiming that she is Maryam Khan the daughter of Dr. Aafia Siddiqi.

Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyers maintain that she was abducted by the Pakistani and US agents along with her three children in 2003 and rendered to Afghanistan where she was detained by American forces for over five years. Siddiqui claims she was abused, raped and tortured throughout her detention.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on yesterday that a DNA test has now positively proved that Maryam Khan Dr. Fauzia Siddiqi in Karachi is the biological daughter of Aafia Siddiqui’s former husband, Dr Amjad Khan. (more…)

by John Jiggens

It was common during the opening of the Iraq war to see slogans proclaiming “No blood for oil!” The cover story for the war — Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s links with Al Qaeda and his weapons of mass destruction — were obvious mass deceptions, hiding a far less palatable imperial agenda.

The truth was that Iraq was a major producer of oil and, in our age, oil is the most strategic resource of all.

The war’s real agenda was confirmed by moves to privatise Iraq’s state-owned oil company to Western interests in the aftermath of the invasion.

Why then, are there no slogans saying “No blood for opium”?

Afghanistan’s major product is opium and opium production has increased remarkably during the present war. The current NATO military offensive around Marjah in Hemand province, reported to be Afghanistan’s main opium-producing area, is clearly motivated by opium. (more…)

The Nato-led ISAF military force has admitted that at least 12 Afghan civilians have already been killed during Operation Moshtarak, their major military offensive in the south of Afghanistan.

The civilians victims died after a rocket hit their house today, the second day of Operation Moshtarak, which aims to take control of the town of Marjah and neighbouring areas in Helmand province from the Taliban.

“Two rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System [HIMARS] launched at insurgents firing upon Afghan and Isaf forces impacted approximately 300 metres off their intended target, killing 12 civilians in Nad Ali district,” the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement. (more…)