Pakistan's Army shying away from major Taliban assault

Peshawar, Pakistan

Pakistan's fitful military operation against Islamist extremists pushed into its third day Monday, but there was no sign of overt combat -- and growing criticism of the army's failure to crack down on the Taliban and al-Qaida, which operate out of the country's lawless tribal belt.

A senior official in the North West Frontier Province, Afrasiab Khattak, said that despite the election of a civilian government in February, the army -- with President Pervez Musharraf's support -- continues to use the tribal-belt sanctuaries to undermine the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

The military operation has consisted primarily of isolated assaults on buildings used by warlords in Khyber agency in the tribal belt, which have met almost no resistance. The lightly armed Frontier Corps paramilitary was used, rather than the regular army.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said an offensive would be "premature" in the South Waziristan area, known for hard-core militants, as the government still hoped for a peace deal there. "This operation is to clear the suburbs of Peshawar," he said.

Kabul, Afghanistan

Coalition launches deadly air strikes

The U.S.-led coalition said helicopters and a bomber have attacked large groups of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, killing an estimated 33 people.

A coalition statement said a reconnaissance aircraft saw the groups Monday night in Khost province, bordering Pakistan.

United Nations

"Our flag is not enough protection"

U.N. personnel around the world are increasingly likely to be targets for attack because the organization is perceived by some as a tool of powerful members rather than an unbiased advocate for all nations, Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran diplomat who headed a global study on the security of U.N. staff members, said Monday.

The study, by a panel organized after 17 U.N. workers were killed in a bombing in Algiers last December, concluded that neither individual staff members nor the organization had fully grasped the change in perceptions, Brahimi said.

"We continue to think of ourselves as good guys, and just because you have the flag, wherever you go you will be all right," he said. "We need to realize that our flag is not enough protection."

Beijing

Dissidents kept from visiting congressmen

Police blocked Chinese dissident lawyers from attending a meeting with two visiting U.S. lawmakers, the lawmakers and a human-rights group said today.

Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Chris Smith, R-N.J., planned to dine with the group Sunday night. Police either took the lawyers away or placed them under house arrest before the meeting took place, they said.

Also

The Indian government Monday introduced the country's first climate-change plan, but reiterated its long-held stance that developed nations created the bulk of the mess and should be responsible for cleaning it up.

Seattle Times news services