Word: kashmir
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...Saudi financier who recruited and led Arab volunteers for the jihad (holy war) against the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. Since that war, he has sent his "Arab Afghans" to fight in Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir and other conflicts involving Muslims. But he also declared a jihad against the United States, and has been accused of authoring a number of bloody attacks on Americans, most notably the 1998 embassy bombings in east Africa. He's also a prime suspect in the attack on the USS Cole...
...Indian subcontinent. Pigeonholed into a single-issue agenda, Americans are left with a portrait of the country that is both inaccurate and ill-informed. To most Americans, India is a nation embroiled in a nuclear arms race with Pakistan and an ethnic battle over the state of Kashmir. The victim of news analyses too watered down and politicized to be of any real informational use, the depth and complexity of the country's social, political and economic condition are lost to the American public at large...
...massacre this week of 90 Indian pilgrims in Kashmir may prove to be more of a headache for Pakistan's General Parvez Musharraf than for India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Tuesday's killings are believed to be the work of Kashmiri separatist guerrillas aiming to preempt historic peace talks between the largest separatist organization, Hizbul Mujahideen, and the Indian government. Pakistan hosts and sponsors all of the separatist groups fighting to end Indian rule in the disputed, predominantly Muslim territory and unite with Pakistan. But General Musharraf, under pressure from the West to ease tensions with India...
...There's certainly a pattern here: The last time Vajpayee traveled to Pakistan for talks, in February 1999, there were massacres in Kashmir on the eve of his departure, also blamed on Pakistani hard-liners opposed to the rapprochement. Indeed, the muted response to the recent killings in India suggests they weren't entirely unexpected. India's leaders are keeping their eyes on the prize, starting the peace talks, despite the killings - after all, stopping the talks may well have been the killers' objective...
...Although the two countries have fought two wars over Kashmir and went to the brink of a third last summer, both also have compelling reasons to settle the dispute. Pakistan's basket-case economy is in desperate need of Western assistance, and Washington has made clear that this is no longer a Cold War entitlement - aid now is dependent on easing tensions with India and reining in terrorism. For India, there's the simple fact that the insurgency in Kashmir is bleeding its defense budget, while a military solution remains as elusive as ever. And Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist government...