Mansoor Ijaz

Last updated

Mansoor Ijaz
Mansoor-IJAZ.jpg
Mansoor Ijaz in Monaco, 7 July 2007
Born
Musawer Mansoor Ijaz

August 1961 (age 63)
Tallahassee, Florida
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater1979–1983 University of Virginia
1983–1985 M.I.T.
1983–1986 Harvard-MIT M.E.M.P.
Occupation(s) Hedge fund management
Venture capitalist
News analyst and opinion writer
Freelance diplomacy
Parent(s) Mujaddid A. Ijaz (1937–1992)
Lubna Razia Ijaz (1936-2017)

Mansoor Ijaz (born August 1961) is a Pakistani-American venture financier and hedge-fund manager. He is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management Ltd, a New York and London-based investment firm that operates CARAT, a proprietary trading system developed by Ijaz in the late 1980s. His venture investments included unsuccessful efforts in 2013 to acquire a stake in Lotus F1, a Formula One team. In the 1990s, Ijaz and his companies were contributors to Democratic Party institutions as well as the presidential candidacies of Bill Clinton.

Contents

During the first Clinton term, when the U.S. had severed official ties with Sudan, Ijaz opened informal communications links between Washington and Khartoum in an effort to gain access to Sudanese intelligence data on Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, who were then operating from Sudan. Ijaz was involved in efforts to broker a ceasefire in Kashmir in 2000–2001, and in the Memogate controversy, in which former Pakistani envoy Husain Haqqani allegedly used him to deliver a memorandum to senior U.S. officials in order to thwart an attempted coup by the Pakistani military after bin Laden was killed.

Personal life

Ijaz deadlifts 418 lbs, U.S. Nationals 1982 US National Weightlifting Championships (IJAZ DEADLIFT 418 lbs).jpg
Ijaz deadlifts 418 lbs, U.S. Nationals

Mansoor Ijaz was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and grew up on a farm in Montgomery County, Virginia. [1] He has two brothers (Atif and Mujeeb) and a sister (Neelam Ijaz-Ahmad). His brother Farouk died in 2012. [2] [3]

His father, Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz (June 12, 1937— July 9, 1992), was a Pakistani experimental physicist and professor of physics at Virginia Tech [4] who was noted for his early role in the development of Pakistan's nuclear energy program and his discovery of numerous isotopes while working at Oak Ridge National Laboratories. [5] His mother, Lubna Razia Ijaz, was a solar physicist who worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization to develop renewable energy programs in Pakistan. [6]

Ijaz received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Virginia in 1983 [7] and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985, [8] where he was trained as a neural sciences engineer in the Harvard-MIT Medical Engineering Medical Physics Program (M.E.M.P.).

While attending the University of Virginia, Ijaz earned All-American status as a powerlifter in March 1982 with a combined lift total (squat, bench press and deadlift) of 960 lbs at the National Collegiate Powerlifting Championships held at Marshall University. [9] Coached by John Gamble, he competed in the 56 kg class. Later that year, he competed at the U.S. National Powerlifting Championships in the 52 kg class and finished third. [10] Ijaz was Virginia State Champion in the 52 kg and 56 kg classes and set more than 25 Virginia State powerlifting records during three years in the sport. [11]

Professional life

Wall Street career

Ijaz at the Monaco Grand Prix, 2013 M IJAZ Lotus F1 Grid MC.jpg
Ijaz at the Monaco Grand Prix, 2013

Mansoor Ijaz began his career on Wall Street in 1986, joining Van Eck Associates Corporation as a technology analyst. In 1990, Ijaz left Van Eck to start Crescent Investment Management LLC, where he developed a trading system, Computer-Aided Regression Analysis Techniques, to manage his first hedge fund. His mentor at Van Eck, Klaus Buescher, joined Crescent as president in 1991, and they together managed the company until Buescher's death in June 1997. Since that time, Ijaz has remained active as Crescent's owner, operating it as a quantitative investment adviser and venture investing firm. [12]

In the early 2000s, Crescent transitioned from a traditional hedge-fund management firm to a focus on venture investments, initially in homeland security technologies after the September 11 attacks. Ijaz formed and listed Crescent Technology Ventures PLC on London's AIM Stock Exchange to raise venture capital for his projects, but changes in AIM Rules for small-cap investment companies forced the start-up to de-list a year later. [13] In the 2000s, Ijaz also launched an effort to finance and build what would have been the world's first underwater hotel, Hydropolis. Construction of this Dubai resort was projected to cost US$500 million in 2007, [14] but was shelved by local authorities after the financial crisis of 2008. [15] Crescent Hydropolis Holdings LLC continues operations today under private ownership. [16]

Crescent's venture investments included a bid together with its Abu Dhabi affiliate, Al Manhal International Group LLC, to acquire a stake in Formula One team Lotus F1. Quantum Motorsports Limited, a partnership between Crescent and Al Manhal, announced its intention to acquire 35% of Lotus F1 in June 2013. [17] After several delays related to financing the deal, it did not take place. [18] [19]

Media commentator

Ijaz has also served as a media commentator and has written numerous opinion pieces for internationally known publications [20] including The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post , and the Los Angeles Times in the United States and the Financial Times in the United Kingdom. On television, he has served as a guest commentator for U.S. networks CNN, ABC, and Fox News, as well as for the BBC in the United Kingdom. [21] Hired as a Fox News contributor in late 2001, Ijaz appeared as a counterterrorism and foreign affairs analyst on various network programming. [22] By 2007, his appearances on Fox were no longer exclusive to the network. [23] He continued to appear periodically for various networks in Pakistan, [24] India [25] and the U.S. [26] into early 2012 as Pakistan's Supreme Court-appointed Judicial Commission began the Memogate inquiry.

Political life

Ijaz with Hillary Clinton, July 1999 Ijaz & Hillary Rodham Clinton 1999.jpg
Ijaz with Hillary Clinton, July 1999

Through his opinion pieces and political fundraising, Ijaz has advocated for the integration of Muslims into the American political mainstream. [27] He raised significant amounts for various Democratic Party causes during the 1990s when President Clinton had paved the way for minority communities to become more active in U.S. politics, encouraging fellow Pakistani and Muslim Americans to join his fundraising efforts along the way. [28] [29] In 1996, Ijaz raised or contributed more than $525,000 for the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, [30] bringing Ijaz into close proximity with Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, [30] Hillary Clinton [4] as well as other Clinton administration national security officials with whom he would later engage on Sudan, Kashmir and Pakistan's nuclear program. [31]

Ijaz also used his fundraising results to advance his causes in Congress, appearing as an expert witness in front of committees in the Senate on extremist threats faced by the United States [32] [33] and in the House of Representatives to advocate for Washington to adopt a policy of "constructive engagement" with rogue Muslim countries affected by U.S. sanctions. [34] As Ijaz' prominence in Democratic Party circles increased, allegations of conflicts with his business interests also surfaced, although they were never proven. [30] In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Ijaz had a public falling out with senior Clinton-era officials, including the former president, Sandy Berger and Susan Rice, over what he deemed were failures in their counterterrorism policies during Clinton's two terms in office. [35] [36] In 2007, Nevada Republicans approached Ijaz to run against Sen. Harry Reid, in a bid to unseat the Senate Majority Leader, but Ijaz declined. [37]

Ijaz was a member of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council from 2007 until 2009, [38] and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, [39]

Philanthropic activities

Away from Crescent's daily affairs and former political and media engagements, Ijaz has served on the College Foundation Board of Trustees at the University of Virginia, [40] and he serves on the advisory board of the Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation. [41] RAF raises funds for building education infrastructure and programs in Afghanistan, including the construction of schools such as Mayar Elementary School, which enrolled 400 boys and girls from Maidan Wardak Province upon opening in late 2005. [42] During the mid-1990s, Ijaz supported Developments in Literacy, an initiative to build and operate elementary schools in rural Pakistan as alternatives to the religious schools in which many Pakistani children were being radicalized. The group did not seek to create a secularized school system; its goal was to teach the Qur'an as one of many subjects rather than as the only subject. [43] Ijaz and his wife Valérie also serve as goodwill ambassadors for a British charity, Children of Peace, that works to reconcile differences between Palestinian and Israeli youth. [44] In late 2011, while addressing the World Peace Festival, a peace conference held in Berlin, Ijaz announced an intention to donate 1% of his net worth to create a Humanitarian Relief Fund that would make an effort to alleviate the root causes of poverty. In noting his belief that governments have often failed to provide assistance to the poor in sufficient ways over the long term, Ijaz sought similar pledges for the proposed fund from other philanthropists. [45]

International negotiations

Ijaz with President Bill Clinton, June 1996 Ijaz & Clinton 1996 DSCC Event.png
Ijaz with President Bill Clinton, June 1996

Negotiations with Sudan

Mansoor Ijaz was involved in unofficial negotiations [8] between the U.S. and Sudanese governments in 1996 and 1997 to obtain access to Sudan's intelligence files on Osama bin Laden and the early remnants of Al-Qaeda's network there after efforts to extradite bin Laden to the U.S. failed in early 1996. In the same year, the United States Congress imposed sanctions against Khartoum over allegations of harboring and abetting terrorist cells on its soil. [46] In early 1996, CIA and State Department officials held secret meetings near Washington, D.C., with Sudan's then-defense minister, El Fatih Erwa. [47] In May 1996, bin Laden left Sudan for Afghanistan under pressure from the United States when the meetings failed to reconcile U.S. demands made of Khartoum about its record in aiding, abetting and harboring known terrorist groups and individuals. [8]

Ijaz first met Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and other Sudanese leaders in August 1996 and reported his findings back to U.S. government officials, including Lee Hamilton, ranking member of the House Committee on International Relations at the time, and Sandy Berger, then Clinton's deputy national security adviser, and Susan Rice, then director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. [48] Initially, Khartoum sought U.S. sanctions relief, particularly for its growing oil sector, in return for access to its intelligence data on Al Qaeda's nascent network and bin Laden's activities there. [49] However, the sanctions continued until U.S. officials exempted some in unrelated policy decisions that benefited U.S. oil companies. [50] Ijaz then argued that Washington should adopt a policy of "constructive engagement" with Khartoum vis-a-vis economic development and political reconciliation in return for Sudanese counterterrorism cooperation. [34]

In April 1997, Omar al-Bashir sent a letter to Hamilton, hand-carried by Ijaz from Khartoum to Washington, D.C., in which Sudan made an unconditional offer of counterterrorism assistance to the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies. [34] Madeleine Albright, then newly appointed secretary of state, decided to test the Sudanese government's moderating public stance, and on September 28, 1997, she announced that certain U.S. diplomats would return to Khartoum to pursue, among other objectives, obtaining Sudan's counterterrorism data. [51] According to former U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Tim Carney and Ijaz, Susan Rice, then newly appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke persuaded Berger to overrule Albright's overture to Khartoum. In early October 1997, the State Department abruptly reversed its diplomatic entendre [52] and proceeded in early November to announce new, more comprehensive trade, economic, and financial sector sanctions against the Sudanese regime. [53] Ijaz ended his efforts to reconcile U.S.–Sudan relations over counterterrorism issues in the summer of 1998 after the FBI declined Sudanese intelligence chief Gutbi Al-Mahdi's final unconditional offer of counterterrorism cooperation. [54]

Capturing bin Laden had been an objective of the U.S. government from the presidency of Bill Clinton until his death in 2011. [55] Ijaz asserted that in 1996, prior to bin Laden's expulsion from Sudan, the Sudanese government allegedly offered to arrest and extradite him to the United States. Khartoum's offer included detailed intelligence about the growing militancy of Hezbollah, Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Iran's Revolutionary Guard, among other groups operating in the region. Ijaz further asserted that U.S. authorities allegedly rejected each offer despite knowing of bin Laden's involvement in training terrorists in Somalia, some of whom were allegedly involved in supporting militia members that downed U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu in October 1993. [36] Any evidence of bin Laden's involvement in criminal activity against U.S. interests, such as training militia members who attacked U.S. troops in 1993, could have been grounds for indicting him far before Sudan expelled the Saudi fugitive in May 1996.

However, the 9/11 Commission found that although "former Sudanese officials claim that Sudan offered to expel bin Laden to the United States", "... we have not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim." [56] Amb. Carney reportedly had instructions only to press the Sudanese to expel bin Laden because the U.S. government had no legal basis (i.e., no indictment outstanding) to ask the Sudanese for further action. [57] In August 1998, two years after the warnings, the U.S. launched cruise missile strikes against Khartoum in retaliation for the East Africa embassy bombings. [58]

Ceasefire negotiations in Kashmir

In 2000 and 2001, Ijaz was involved in efforts to broker a ceasefire in Kashmir, the cause of multiple wars between India and Pakistan since independence. He held a series of meetings with senior Indian and Pakistani government officials as well as senior Kashmiri leaders in both Indian and Pakistani-held Kashmir from November 1999 until January 2001, traveling to India secretly on out-of-passport visas. [59] Following months of clandestine negotiations between militant Kashmiri commander Abdul Majid Dar and A. S. Dulat, then-chief of India's intelligence directorate, Dar declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Himalayan enclave on July 25, 2000. The initial ceasefire was aborted by a hard-line militant faction within Dar's Hizbul Mujahideen, widely believed to have been supported by Pakistani intelligence. [60] In order to gain Pakistani support for India's peace efforts in Kashmir, Ijaz met Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad in May 2000. Musharraf reluctantly agreed to back the ceasefire plan despite opposition from hardliners in the ranks of Pakistan's armed forces and intelligence services. [59]

Ijaz carried Musharraf's message to senior Indian officials, including India's then-deputy intelligence chief, C. D. Sahay. Sahay and Ijaz worked together to develop a comprehensive blueprint [59] for participation of a wider cross-section of Kashmiri resistance groups, particularly militant groups operating from Pakistan-held Kashmir. In late summer 2000, Ijaz traveled to Muzaffarabad to negotiate with Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin. That meeting resulted in Salahuddin issuing a letter to President Clinton, [61] hand-carried to the White House by Ijaz, in which the Kashmiri leader requested Clinton's support for Salahuddin's further steps in Kashmiri ceasefire negotiations.

The plan drafted by Sahay and Ijaz [61] reportedly became the basis of a decision by India's prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to announce a unilateral ceasefire in Indian-held Kashmir in November 2000. [62] To broaden support for the plan, Ijaz met with senior Indian government officials in New Delhi and leaders of Kashmiri resistance groups in Srinagar. He would later bring the two sides together for face-to-face negotiations. But Ijaz's efforts to build permanent peace ended in early 2001 when he shared his plans with Indian home minister L. K. Advani to bring Pakistan's Islamic groups on board in support of wider Indo-Pakistani peace. [59] A resulting peace summit between India and Pakistan, held in Agra in June 2001, sought to forge an agreement on a permanent resolution to the Kashmir conflict, but Musharraf and Vajpayee ultimately failed to persuade their hardliners to allow signing of an accord. [63]

Memogate

Ijaz with General James L. Jones, NATO Commander, Bagram Air Base, Oct. 2006 Ijaz with Gen. Jones, Bagram Air Base, October 2006.jpg
Ijaz with General James L. Jones, NATO Commander, Bagram Air Base, Oct. 2006

Mansoor Ijaz was one of the key protagonists in Pakistan's Memogate controversy. [64] On October 10, 2011, Ijaz published an opinion piece about the interference of Pakistan's intelligence services in the function of its democratic institutions. In the opinion's prelude, Ijaz disclosed the existence of a memorandum that he had allegedly been asked to deliver to Admiral Mike Mullen, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on behalf of a senior Pakistani diplomat, [65] later identified as Pakistani envoy Husain Haqqani, in the days following the Abbottabad raid. [66] The memorandum sought the Obama administration's help to avert a military takeover of Pakistan's civilian government in the immediate aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death. [67] It was delivered to Mullen at Ijaz's request by former U.S. national security adviser General James L. Jones. [68]

Then-leader of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif (who would later become Pakistan's prime minister), lodged a petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate the origins, credibility and purpose of the memorandum. [69] His and other petitions lodged with the Supreme Court alleged that the memorandum had been drafted by Haqqani at the behest of Pakistan's then-president, Asif Ali Zardari, and delivered without knowledge of the country's powerful armed forces and intelligence services. On December 30, 2011, after reviewing Sharif's petition, the Supreme Court constituted a Judicial Commission to conduct a broad inquiry. [70] Ijaz was among the key witnesses deposed, as were Pakistan's intelligence chief, Ahmad Shuja Pasha and Haqqani. Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani submitted written testimony to the Supreme Court, as did then-Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani on behalf of the Zardari government. [71]

After nearly six months of investigations, the Judicial Commission reported its findings on June 12, 2012. [72] It found that the memorandum was authentic and that Haqqani was its "originator and architect". [73] : 119  The report said the former ambassador "orchestrated the possibility of an imminent coup to both persuade Mr. Ijaz to convey the message and also to give it (Memorandum) traction and credibility". [73] : 108  The justices found further that one of Haqqani's purposes was to head a new national security team in Pakistan. In an unexpected turn of the investigation, a secret fund was discovered in Pakistan's Washington embassy that Haqqani allegedly had access to and had allegedly utilized, in "apparent violation of Article 84 of the Constitution of Pakistan". [74] The commission's report exonerated President Zardari from any prior knowledge of the memorandum, although it noted that in the "considered view" of the justices, Haqqani had led Ijaz to believe the memorandum had the Pakistani president's approval. [73] : 111  [75] Following testimony by Ijaz, the commission deemed him a reliable witness whose credibility Haqqani had unsuccessfully sought to undermine. [73] : 112 

The Supreme Court, upon hearing the commission's report in session, ordered Haqqani to appear before the bench. The former envoy, however, continued to reject the commission's findings while maintaining his innocence. As of July 2014, he remained in the United States. [76]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osama bin Laden</span> First general emir of al-Qaeda (1957–2011)

Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. After issuing his declaration of war against the Americans in 1996, Bin Laden began advocating attacks targeting U.S. assets in several countries, and supervised al-Qaeda’s execution of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory</span> Sudanese complex bombed by the US in 1998

The al-Shifapharmaceutical factory in Kafouri, Khartoum North, Sudan, was constructed between 1992 and 1996 with components imported from Germany, India, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the United States. It was opened on 12 July 1997 and bombed by the United States on 20 August 1998. The industrial complex was composed of four buildings. It was the largest pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum and employed over 300 workers, producing medicine both for human and veterinary use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omar al-Bashir</span> President of Sudan from 1989 to 2019

Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south; he subsequently replaced President Ahmed al-Mirghani as head of state. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992, al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party, which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020, the Government of Sudan announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Infinite Reach</span> 1998 American strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan

Operation Infinite Reach was the codename for American cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda bases that were launched concurrently across two continents on 20 August 1998. Launched by the U.S. Navy, the strikes hit the al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, and a camp in Khost Province, Afghanistan, in retaliation for al-Qaeda's August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and injured over 4,000 others. Operation Infinite Reach was the first time the United States acknowledged a preemptive strike against a violent non-state actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard A. Clarke</span> American counter-terrorism expert

Richard Alan Clarke is an American national security expert, novelist, and former government official. He served as the Counterterrorism Czar for the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism for the United States between 1998 and 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inter-Services Intelligence</span> Military intelligence service of Pakistan

The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.

Richard Miniter is an American investigative journalist and author whose articles have appeared in Politico, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, The New Republic, National Review, PJ Media, and Reader’s Digest. A former editorial writer and columnist for The Wall Street Journal in Europe, as well as a member of the investigative reporting team of the Sunday Times of London, he is currently the National Security columnist for Forbes. He also authored three New York Times best-selling books, Losing bin Laden, Shadow War, Leading From Behind, and most recently Eyes On Target. In April 2014, Miniter was included by CSPAN's Brian Lamb in his book Sundays At Eight, as one of Lamb's top 40 book author interviews of the past 25 years for Miniter's investigative work on 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of Sudan (1985–2019)</span> Government of Sudan from 1985 to 2019

This article covers the period of the history of Sudan between 1985 and 2019 when the Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab seized power from Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry in the 1985 Sudanese coup d'état. Not long after, Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir, backed by an Islamist political party, the National Islamic Front, overthrew the short lived government in a coup in 1989 where he ruled as President until his fall in April 2019. During Bashir's rule, also referred to as Bashirist Sudan, or as they called themselves the al-Ingaz regime, he was re-elected three times while overseeing the independence of South Sudan in 2011. His regime was criticized for human rights abuses, atrocities and genocide in Darfur and allegations of harboring and supporting terrorist groups in the region while being subjected to United Nations sanctions beginning in 1995, resulting in Sudan's isolation as an international pariah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Husain Haqqani</span> Pakistani diplomat (born 1956)

Husain Haqqani is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States.

Osama bin Laden, a militant Islamist and co-founder of al-Qaeda, in conjunction with several other Islamic militant leaders, issued two fatawa – in 1996 and then again in 1998—that military personnel from the United States and allied countries until they withdraw support for Israel and withdraw military forces from Islamic countries. He was indicted in United States federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudan–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Sudan–United States relations are the bilateral relations between Sudan and the United States. The United States government has been critical of Sudan's human rights record and has dispatched a strong UN Peacekeeping force to Darfur. Relations between both countries in recent years have greatly improved, with Sudan's post-revolutionary government compensating American victims of al-Qaeda terror attacks, the removal of Sudan from the State Department's blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and the United States Congress having reinstated Sudan's sovereign immunity in December 2020.

Sudan has a conflict in the Darfur area of western Sudan. The Khartoum government had, in the past, given sanctuary to trans-national Islamic terrorists, but, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, ousted al-Qaeda and cooperated with the US against such groups while simultaneously involving itself in human rights abuses in Darfur. There are also transborder issues between Chad and Darfur, and, to a lesser extent, with the Central African Republic.

This is a list of activities ostensibly carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) within Pakistan. It has been alleged by such authors as Ahmed Rashid that the CIA and ISI have been waging a clandestine war. The Afghan Taliban—with whom the United States was officially in conflict—was headquartered in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas during the war and according to some reports is largely funded by the ISI. The Pakistani government denies this.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmad Shuja Pasha</span> Pakistani general

Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, HI(M) is a retired three-star rank army general of the Pakistan Army. He was the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the main intelligence service of Pakistan from October 2008 until March 2012. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2011 but received an extension of one year, and retired in March 2012. Pasha was replaced by Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam. In 2011, Pasha was named as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine.

Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan, Iran, and India, as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond. Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense, while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de facto India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper, respectively. According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Pakistan was reportedly, with the possible exception of Iran, perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups; aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community. Daniel Byman, a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy, also wrote that Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism. In 2018, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on an official visit to the United States, acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth, particularly from the United States, for the last 15 years during the War on Terror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy M. Carney</span> American diplomat (born 1944)

Timothy Michael Carney is a retired American diplomat and consultant. Carney served as a career Foreign Service Officer for 32 years, with assignments that included Vietnam and Cambodia as well as Lesotho and South Africa before being appointed as ambassador to Sudan and later in Haiti. Carney served with a number of U.N. Peacekeeping Missions, and until recently led the Haiti Democracy Project, an initiative launched under the presidency of George W. Bush to build stronger institutional foundations for the country's long-term relationship with the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alleged Pakistani support for Osama bin Laden</span> Relationship between the state of Pakistan and Osama bin Laden

Pakistan was alleged to have provided support for Osama bin Laden. These claims have been made both before and after Osama was found living in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and was killed by a team of United States Navy SEALs on 2 May 2011. The compound itself was located just half a mile from Pakistan's premier military training academy Kakul Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad. In the aftermath of bin Laden's death, American president Barack Obama asked Pakistan to investigate the network that sustained bin Laden. "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan", Obama said in a 60 Minutes interview with CBS News. He also added that the United States was not sure "who or what that support network was." In addition to this, in an interview with Time magazine, CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that US-officials did not alert Pakistani counterparts to the raid because they feared the terrorist leader would be warned. However, the documents recovered from bin Laden's compound 'contained nothing to support the idea that bin Laden was protected or supported by the Pakistani officials'. Instead, the documents contained criticism of Pakistani military and future plans for attack against the Pakistani military installations.

Osama bin Laden's house in Khartoum is a pink and beige brick-and-stucco three-story house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter of Khartoum, Sudan, where Osama bin Laden lived between 1991 and 1996.

The memogate controversy revolves around a memorandum ostensibly seeking help of the Obama administration in the wake of the Osama bin Laden raid to avert a military takeover of the civilian government in Pakistan, as well as assisting in a civilian takeover of the government and military apparatus. The memo was delivered in May 2011; Mansoor Ijaz wrote a Financial Times article in October 2011 bringing initial public attention to the affair. The memo, which at first was questioned to even exist, was published in November, leading to the resignation of Ambassador Haqqani and the continuing Pakistani Supreme Court investigation.

al-Qaeda has five distinct phases in its development: its beginnings in the late 1980s, a "wilderness" period in 1990–1996, its "heyday" in 1996–2001, a network period from 2001 to 2005, and a period of fragmentation from 2005 to 2009.

References

  1. ↑ "The Rediff Interview with Mansoor Ijaz". Rediff.com . 2000-11-28. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
  2. ↑ "OBIT - IJAZ Farouk Ahmed". The Roanoke Times . July 6, 2012. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz, Nuclear Scientist, 55". The New York Times. July 14, 1992. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 Ahmed, Fasih (2011-12-02). "Who in the World is Mansoor Ijaz?". Newsweek Pakistan . Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  5. ↑ Ijaz, Mansoor (2004-02-11). "Not all of Pakistan's nuclear scientists were rogues". Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  6. ↑ "Lubna Razia Ijaz Scholarship". Virginia Tech, Department of Physics. Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
  7. ↑ "UVA Newsletter". University of Virginia. 2003-02-03. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  8. 1 2 3 Miniter, Richard (2003). Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror. Regnery, An Eagle Publishing Company. pp. 226–. ISBN   9781621571117 . Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  9. ↑ Purdy, Tom (1981-09-11). "Ijaz shoots for half ton". Cavalier Daily .
  10. ↑ Appel, Larry (March 1982). "Ijaz qualifies for lifting nationals". Cavalier Daily .
  11. ↑ Geran, George (September 1980). "The Ijaz's: Mom prays her sons to powerlifting titles". The Roanoke Times .
  12. ↑ Miniter, Richard (2003). Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror. Regnery. p. 117. ISBN   9781621571117 . Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  13. ↑ "AIM Notices" (PDF). London Stock Exchange. 2005-03-18. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  14. ↑ Behar, Michael (2007). 1,200 Square Feet Under the Sea. Popular Science. pp. 64–68, 270.1. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  15. ↑ McKnight, Jenna M. (2009-04-15). "Architecture in Recession: U.A.E." Bloomberg Businessweek . Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  16. ↑ "Company Overview of Crescent Hydropolis Resorts Plc". Bloomberg Businessweek . 2014-03-21. Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  17. ↑ Cary, Tom (2013-06-19). "Lotus will be the No. 1 team on the Formula One grid 'within a year', claims new investor Mansoor Ijaz". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  18. ↑ Noble, Jonathan (2014-01-21). "Lotus Formula 1 team talks with Quantum continue". Autosport . Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  19. ↑ Saward, Joe (21 January 2014). "Finding the truth". joeblogsf1. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "Missing Reporter Daniel Pearl". PBS NewsHour. 2002-01-29. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  21. ↑ "Mansoor Ijaz: Fixer in Pakistan's 'Memogate' Row". BBC, Asia Edition. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  22. ↑ "Fox News Contributors: Mansoor Ijaz". Fox News Channel. 2003-09-05. Archived from the original on December 19, 2005. Retrieved 2005-12-19.
  23. ↑ Cavuto on Fox (2007-10-18). "Mansoor Ijaz on Pakistan bombing". Fox News Channel. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  24. ↑ Lekin with Sana Bucha (2011-11-19). "Interview with Mansoor Ijaz". Geo TV . Retrieved 2014-03-25.[ dead YouTube link ]
  25. ↑ NDTV 24x7 with Barkha Dutt (2012-01-20). "I will be in Pakistan before the 26th: Mansoor Ijaz". NDTV . Retrieved 2014-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ Global Public Square with Fareed Zakaria (2011-12-05). "Zakaria Interviews Mansoor Ijaz on Memogate". CNN. Archived from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  27. ↑ Ijaz, Mansoor (1997-03-14). "Campaign Giving as a Freedom Tax". Los Angeles Times .
  28. ↑ Curtis, Edward E. (2010). Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History. Infobase Publishing. pp. 258–. ISBN   9781438130408 . Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  29. ↑ Jamal, Amaney (July 2005). "Political Participation and Engagement of Muslim Americans" (PDF). Princeton University, American Politics Research, Sage Publications, Vol. 33 No. 4 pp 521–544. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  30. 1 2 3 Ottaway, David (1997-04-29). "Democratic Fundraiser Pursues Agenda on Sudan". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  31. ↑ Lieby, Richard (2011-11-29). "Mansoor Ijaz: the Man Who Stirred Up Pakistan's Memogate Storm". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  32. ↑ Shah, Sabir (2011-11-19). "Mansoor Ijaz also brokered US-Sudan talks over Osama extradition". The News International . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  33. ↑ 1999 Senate Hearings (1999-11-02). "Testimony of Mansoor Ijaz". Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sub-Committee on Near East and South Asian Affairs. Retrieved 2014-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. 1 2 3 "1997 Congressional Hearings - Intelligence & Security". House Judiciary Committee, Sub-Committee on Crime and Terrorism. 1997-06-10. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  35. ↑ Franken, Al (2004). Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Penguin. ISBN   9781101219447 . Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  36. 1 2 Ijaz, Mansoor (2001-12-05). "Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  37. ↑ Smith, John (2007-08-22). "Muslim American taking on daunting odds in bid to unseat Reid". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  38. ↑ Atlantic Council "Mansoor Ijaz - Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  39. ↑ Council on Foreign Relations "CFR Membership Roster". 2014-03-24.
  40. ↑ "UVA President's Report October 2004-September 2005". University of Virginia. September 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-09-03. Retrieved 2005-09-10.
  41. ↑ "Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation". Archived from the original on 2014-03-29.
  42. ↑ "Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation Press Book" (PDF). Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  43. ↑ "Senate Hearing 106-297". United States Government Printing Office. 1999-11-02. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  44. ↑ "Goodwill Ambassadors". Children of Peace Official Website. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  45. ↑ "Philanthropist Mansoor Ijaz surprises with impressive commitment". World Peace Festival. 2011-09-23. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  46. ↑ Gellman, Barton (2001-10-03). "U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts To Capture Bin Laden or Have Him Killed". The Washington Post .
  47. ↑ "1996 CIA Memo to Sudanese Official". The Washington Post . 2001-10-03.
  48. ↑ Huband, Mark (2013). Trading Secrets: Spies and Intelligence in an Age of Terror. I.B. Tauris. p. 122. ISBN   978-1-84885-843-5 . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  49. ↑ Rose, David (January 2002). "The Osama Files". Vanity Fair . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  50. ↑ Ottaway, David B. (1997-01-23). "Sudan Exempted by U.S. From Terrorism Act". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  51. ↑ Krauss, Clifford (1997-09-28). "Slowly, U.S. Is Returning Some Envoys To the Sudan". The New York Times . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  52. ↑ "State Dept says it erred on Sudan envoys". The New York Times . 1997-10-01. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  53. ↑ "Executive Order 13067--Blocking Sudanese Government Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Sudan" (PDF). U.S. Treasury Department. 1997-11-05. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  54. ↑ Carney, Timothy M.; Ijaz, Mansoor (2002-06-30). "Intelligence Failure? Let's Go Back to Sudan". Washington Post Outlook Section. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  55. ↑ "Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing Bin Laden". CNN. 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  56. ↑ "9-11 Commission Report" (PDF). 2004-07-22. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  57. ↑ "9-11 Report, Section 4, Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults". August 2004. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  58. ↑ Risen, James (October 27, 1999). "To Bomb Sudan Plant, or Not: A Year Later, Debates Rankle". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  59. 1 2 3 4 Gopal, Neena (2005-05-11). "Architects and Wreckers of the Kashmir Peace Plan". Gulf News . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  60. ↑ Menon, Jaideep (Sep–Oct 2000). "The Hizbul-Mujahideen Ceasefire–Who Aborted It?". Bharat Rakshak Monitor. Archived from the original on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  61. 1 2 Ijaz, Mansoor (2000-11-22). "A Workable Peace Plan for Kashmir". International Herald Tribune . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  62. ↑ Constable, Pamela (2000-11-20). "India Announces One-Month Cease-Fire in Kashmir; Unilateral Move Aimed at Opening Talks With Rebel Groups". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  63. ↑ Kampani, Gaurav (2002-06-01). "Indo-Pakistani Military Standoff: Why It Isn't Over Yet". Senior Research Associate at Monterey Institute of International Studies. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  64. ↑ Gopal, Neena (2005-05-11). "Architects and wreckers of the Kashmir plan". Gulf News . Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  65. ↑ Ijaz, Mansoor (2011-10-11). "Time to take on Pakistan's jihadist spies" . Financial Times . Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  66. ↑ "Pakistan US ambassador offers to resign over 'memogate'". BBC World News Asia . 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  67. ↑ Linch, Greg (2011-11-17). "Secret memo on Pakistan to Adm. Mike Mullen". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  68. ↑ PTI Report (2011-11-21). "Former NSA James Jones says he delivered memo to Mullen". The Hindu . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  69. ↑ Tanveer, Rana (2011-11-28). "Memogate: Supreme Court admits Nawaz petition for regular hearing". The Express Tribune . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  70. ↑ Ahmad, Munir (2011-12-30). "Secret memo on Pakistan to Adm. Mike Mullen". Associated Press . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  71. ↑ Rashid, Haroon (2011-12-16). "Pakistan's 'memogate' bodes ill for Zardari". BBC World News Asia . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  72. ↑ Staff Report (2012-06-12). "Haqqani sought US support through memo". The News International . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  73. 1 2 3 4 Judicial Commission (2012-06-12). "Judicial Commission Report, Pages 108-121" (PDF). Supreme Court of Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  74. ↑ Judicial Commission (2012-06-12). "Judicial Commission Report, p92" (PDF). Supreme Court of Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  75. ↑ Khan, Azam (2012-06-12). "'Boss' Zardari had no involvement in Memogate: Commission Report". The Express Tribune . Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  76. ↑ Staff Report (2013-01-29). "Memogate case: Supreme Court issues notice to Interior Secretary". Pakistan Observer . Archived from the original on 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.