The extremist operations carried out by networks "cut off from any social movement and manipulated by obscure forces, had an effect that was the exact reverse of the one their authors probably hoped for," he writes.
General McKiernan, who has been critical of Pakistan's efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters using havens there to attack allied forces in Afghanistan, said he was "cautiously optimistic" that a continuing assault by Pakistani forces against militants in the tribal area of Bajaur could put a dent in extremist operations in the border region.
Speaking by telephone from the Kosovo capital, Pristina, Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi said, "Regardless of the provocations by extremists, the operation has gone smoothly exactly as planned".
If a holding operation in the nation's center was successful, we would probably then seek to establish order in the parts of Pakistan where extremists operate.
Obama still did not give a timeline for deciding on a strategy to go after the extremist group's operations in Syria.
CAIRO — A military spokesman said the Egyptian Army killed nine Islamist extremists in an operation on Saturday, part of a campaign in recent weeks to quell militant activity in the lawless Sinai region.
For all the gestures and symbols borrowed from extremist Islam, the Chechen operation differed fundamentally from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, or from the bombing this month in Bali.
The official declined to confirm the BBC report that those arrested were Islamic extremists, but said the operation was "linked to international cases as much as local".
"Fazul's death is a significant blow to Al Qaeda, its extremist allies and its operations in East Africa," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
Investigators have copious amounts of evidence provided by Ajmal Kasab, the sole survivor of the attack team, and David Headley, a Pakistani-American extremist who conducted surveillance operations on the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and other targets in Mumbai.
The French authorities have been on high alert for terrorist activity for years, and this vigilance has escalated since January, when the French military began an operation against extremists who had imposed harsh Islamic rule in Mali.
