For Pakistan, any celebration over the counter-terrorism successes of the last week has been extremely short-lived. Shortly after American and British officials lauded Pakistan’s efforts to thwart the plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes, the focus of ongoing global investigations turned inexorably towards the South Asian nation. This focus is driven by overwhelming evidence that the country remains a hub of terrorist activity and is attracting followers from around the world. As news of arrests in Great Britain and Pakistan broke, Pakistani officials did their best to emphasize an Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda connection but admitted that the majority of the [...]
European intelligence sources were surprised by the news of the alleged plot to blow up five U.S. airliners over the mid-Atlantic. This was not because a major strike by Islamist terrorists was in itself unexpected. But European intelligence organizations, sources said Saturday, had anticipated that the target would be an international institution, or the energy center of a major city, such as a large power station. Instead, the thwarted attack turned out to have echoes of 9/11. Though al Qaeda has not been firmly linked to the plot, the evident Pakistani connection brings it geographically close to Osama bin Laden’s [...]
