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U.S. Citizens, Interests Endangered By Its Bias To Israel
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Anti-US rallies implicate dangerous
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ISLAMABAD, April 12 (IslamOnline) – A senior Pakistani security official asserted Friday that American citizens and interests faced imminent danger if the U.S. administration continued its biased stance towards Israel.
“U.S. interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially in provinces dominantly populated by Pashtuns like Kadhar, Zabil, Ghazni, Bakhtia and Khost, are possible targets,” the official told IslamOnline, asking not to be named.
“There are increasing attacks against U.S. and UN troops in Afghanistan, especially since the start of Sharon’s onslaught on the Palestinians,” he added.
In a statement released a few days ago, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar ‘vowed to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan till the last breath’. Omar, in his statement published in Pakistani papers, wondered about ‘America’s justifications for blindly supporting Israel’s barbarism toward the armless Palestinians’.
Meanwhile, London-based al Hayat newspaper in its Tuesday edition published a statement that, it said, came from al Qaeda and warned of new attacks against U.S. interests.
Al Qaeda statement, dated March 26, claimed that Osama bin Laden was alive and well.
"Osama bin Laden is safe and in good health and preparing the next steps of his battle," the newspaper quoted the statement as saying.
The statement also said that 18 U.S. troops were killed by Taliban forces during fighting in Afghanistan, but the United States denied such a loss.
Al Hayat reporter Ahmed Zeidan said the newspaper sent someone to collect the statement from an individual after receiving a telephone call three days ago.
Zeidan said he believed the statement was authentic because it had also appeared on a Web site that has carried previous al Qaeda messages.
Within the same context, U.S. military personnel and their families stationed in the Persian Gulf and Middle East are advised to take security precautions in their daily routines, according to a senior U.S. military official, reported CNN International.
The official said local U.S. military commanders throughout the region were conducting security briefings and reviews in recent days because of the crisis in the Middle East ( a reference to Israeli aggression against the Palestinians), and subsequent anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli demonstrations in countries across the region.
Service members and their families are being advised to remember basic security precautions, such as varying their routes to work and school, traveling in small groups and using a buddy system to let others know their locations.
The official likened this to the State Department's recent warning to travelers that the region remains at a high state of tension.
A military official, familiar with U.S. military operations in the region, said that the unrest in Israel and the regional reaction so far led to no specific problems for the U.S. military, nor problems in support from Arab nations for the war on terrorism.
Even so, he emphasized that moderate Arab allies are telling the U.S. military about their opposition and concerns about U.S. policy. "You can't have a conversation with a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) country without this being the first topic," he said. "The volume and the urgency is way up."
With additional reporting by Rasheed Omar
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