PAKISTANI ARMY FIERCELY FIGHTING ON AFGHAN BORDER

BBC:

Seven Pakistani troops and 14 suspected militants have died in fierce fighting on the Afghan border, the army says. The soldiers died in a rocket attack on an army post in the North Waziristan tribal area. Troops returned fire, killing 14 militants, the army said. Military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan told the BBC the militants included locals and foreigners. Another 22 people have died in recent fighting, eight of them troops and eight villagers killed at the weekend. Reports said several soldiers were also wounded.

Maj-Gen Sultan told the BBC that the militants' local leader, Bilal, had been killed in the fighting. He said the authorities would continue their efforts "to expel foreigners from the area and neutralise local miscreants".

Tens of thousands of Pakistani soldiers are deployed in the tribal area to hunt for Taleban and al-Qaeda militants who fled the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. More than 200 Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives in the fighting while the military claims it has killed about 600 militants.

THIS IS GOOD NEWS. I'M VERY GLAD THE PAKISTANI ARMY IS STILL ON THE HUNT.

In semi-related news:

US has issued travel advisory warning its citizens against travel to Afghanistan in view of the security situation there. ... The Department of State strongly warns U.S. citizens against travel to Afghanistan. There is an ongoing threat to kidnap and assassinate U.S. citizens and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) workers throughout the country. The ability of Afghan authorities to maintain order and ensure the security of citizens and visitors is limited, the statement issued by the US State Department said. Remnants of the former Taliban regime and the terrorist al-Qaida network, and other groups hostile to the government, remain active.

Maybe we should have nuked Torabora in 2001. Perhaps one small nuke then would have saved us - and the Pakistanis and the Afghanis - a lot of trouble ever since.