Business Pivot Point

The Afghan rebels have been able to strike at the heart of Afghanistan, i.e, the fortified capital city of Kabul, at will. Few months back they struck Kabul just before elections to spill fear in the minds of the Afghan people who wanted to vote. The Afghan rebels had openly threatened people to stay away from voting.
Now these rebels have been able to strike the NATO base in Kabul killing three foreign soldiers and also three local policemen. This is the base where Afghan forces are trained by US army men. The strike only confirms the fear of the US Afghan head about the impending defeat for US forces in Afghanistan.

Security of your home is one of the most critical issues that you would be thinking and quite probably be worrying about. It is not easy to ensure 100% secure home. There are always ways by which the burglars and others find a way of breaking in. However, we can put our best foot forward and ensure that everything possible has been done about it.

So, what are the steps that one can take? To start with, one can have security installed. You can get someone like ADT to install the burglar alarms and the security cameras. That will give you a huge peace of mind. The second thing that you can do is to have high fences and shrubs around your home. These deter quick escape and hence the burglars will think many times before targeting your house. Never leaving your house dark is another important step. It should always be lit. Never having things which are very valuable at home is a must. If it is so valuable, put it in your bank’s locker. These are in fact some of the steps that the National Safety Council advocates to curb the burglaries and to keep your house safe and secure. So, please ensure that you follow these steps for a secure home.

The best way to lead life is to be safe than to be sorry. That is the philosophy which has worked for me everytime. I take enough safety precautions. I ensure that I reach the airport at least 15 minutes in advance than what is required. I plan my day in advance. I also plan my holidays. All these ensure that I lead a relatively stress free life. I do that when it comes to safety of my home also. I have adt alarms installed so that I don’t have to worry about the security of my home.

There are other advantages in having these alarms installed at home. One of the biggest advantages other than a perfectly safe home is the fact that installation of these alarms goes a long way in the reduction of the home insurance premiums.

The home insurance companies look at a number of factors such as where the home is located, which locality, what is the valuation of the house, what are the valuables in the house and what is the value of them totally and so on. Most of these cannot be changed. But, the insurance agencies also look at whether the home owner has taken adequate efforts in securing the house. That is where they look at whether the home is having enough protection, whether it has good enough lock and key and whether it has a good security system. If they see that you have installed a good security system, they actually charge less for the insurance.

The Iraqi capital city of Baghdad has been hit by two devastating car bombs today which killed over 73 people on the spot, and as per preliminary reports over 230 people are injured. The car bomb blasts have shocked the Iraqi government which is already battling it out with the militants for the last seven years.
The US administration is also in a fix on the military policy on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Taleban terrorist group has declared a war on the Pakistan government and has been carrying out suicide bomb attacks and car bomb attacks across various Pakistani military and police installations in the last few weeks.
Today they have attacked a Pakistani air force factory in Kamra town which has killed at least seven people. The Pakistan army is currently on an aggressive attack on the Taliban network in Waziristan region and has so far killed over 150 militants.

The US major handling the Afghanistan war had indicated two months back that the US and NATO troops are facing a certain defeat in Afghanistan, unless more troops are rushed in immediately. So Obama and his deliberated the issue over the last few weeks, and finally they have decided to send another 20000 or more troops to Afghanistan.
But Afghanistan election results are being reviewed by the UN and it is most likely to call for re-election. That means nobody knows who is going to Afghanistan in the future. In that situation there are people who say that US must wait till we know who is going to be the new Afghan President. But that may take at least another two to three months, by when there could be more casualties to US and NATO troops present in Afghanistan.
So US seems to be heading for a confusion on Afghanistan policy for the next few months.

The Pakistani government is claiming that it has total control over the country, but the reality seems to be totally different. The entire North West province bordering Afghanistan is nowhere in government control, and now even the interior parts of Pakistan seem to be in danger of Taleban terrorist attacks.
The Taleban terrorists have been able to strike at military and police establishments in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Islamabad with hardly any resistance from the government forces. This only explains the support of the people in power to the terrorist elements. That seems to be worrying the US government in a big way. And US is most likely to revise the Pakistan - Afghanistan policy dramatically in the coming months.

Three key defense and police establishments were hit by the Taleban terrorists yesterday, in the heart of the Pakistani city of Lahore. The Lahore city is the second most active and most populous city in Pakistan after the capital city of Islamabad.
The attacks were repulsed by the special army commandos after nearly 18 hours of heavy fighting, and loss of 40 lives.
Over 20 police / army personnel have lost their lives in these attacks.
The Pakistani Taleban terrorist organization has claimed responsibility, and has vowed to carry out more such attacks in the coming weeks, in retaliation for the Pakistani army attacks on the terrorist networks in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border towns.

The Pakistani government has for long nurtured the militants , Al-Qaida and also Taleban , to fight against the Indian forces in Kashmir. And over the last few years, these groups were trained by the Pakistani intelligence unit, to fight against NATO forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Now the pressure from US has made Pakistan fight back these same forces which they nurtured and developed. The Taleban forces are not happy with the U-turn made by Pakistan government, and have started retaliation in a big way. The latest attack by the Pakistan based terrorist forces on a major Pakistani Army headquarters at Rawalpindi, is a case in point.
The terrorist group has been able to hit anywhere inside Pakistan, and has now warned of major attacks in the coming weeks. That is a clear sign that the Pakistan government does not have control over the country in the real sense.

The US administration has collected information that the Al-Qaeda terrorist groups operating in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding it very difficult to raise cash. And in the last one year their cash raising ability has deteriorated and hence their influence in the region is coming down.
On the other hand, the Taleban terrorist group has been able to improve it’s financial capabilities, thanks to the massive drug crops in Afghanistan. The Taleban is increasing their manpower and also their capabilities substantially in the last one year. The US forces are now working over night to curtail the funding base of Taleban and Al-Qaeda, which is the key to destroying their network.