Word: kayani
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Pakistan may currently enjoy what seems to be a healthy if noisy democracy, but the office of army chief remains the most powerful one in the country - certainly exceeding the effective control of any politician or civilian bureaucrat. And now Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, is showing that he is truly in charge of the military - and hence the most powerful man in the country...
...bombing, U.S. helicopters seeking to cross into Pakistan were repelled by gunfire from Pakistani troops and local tribesmen. An earlier ground assault in a remote village in South Waziristan had allegedly killed up to 20 civilians, and it sparked a chorus of criticism led by army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who vowed to protect Pakistan's borders "at all costs...
...people including civilians, triggered angry criticism across Pakistan. As the protector of his country's sovereignty and nervous about rising anti-American sentiment, Pakistan's army chief issued an unprecedented warning in response to the raid. "No external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan," Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said. The statement was cheered by an anxious public and, in a sign of the military's influence, it was echoed by leading members of the government who had, until then, been reluctant to speak on the issue...
...Siddiqa suggested that Gen. Kayani's protests over the raids may have been designed for domestic consumption."And where the public is concerned, there have been only a few demonstrations in Peshawar, which is natural," she added. "But again, that hasn't stopped the queues outside McDonald's and the visa section of the U.S. embassy. I think there is a lot of unhappiness and discomfort in Pakistan. But the reality, as Prime Minister Gilani recently said, is that we can't do anything. I think what the Americans have calculated is that this will not get out of control...
Whatever the military challenges, the U.S. Administration has continued its quiet cultivation of Kayani, who has acted more aggressively against insurgents in recent months, with full-scale aerial assaults. On Aug. 6 he launched a massive operation in Bajaur tribal agency, an insurgent-ridden area along the border. But the exercise was a lesson in being careful what you wish for. Pakistan's army was built to fight a conventional war with India and is ill equipped to handle violence at home. Three weeks of air strikes forced more than 260,000 residents to flee the region; many ended...