April 29,2008: Pakistan continues to negotiate with tribal leaders along the Afghan border. A deal is being reached to have some tribes shut down Taliban and al Qaeda bases. The government would pay the tribes lots of cash and goodies for their cooperation. In the past, the tribes would take the bribes, then offer lots for excuses as to why the terrorists were still there. The bad guys tend to make a more convincing offer ("mess with us and we will kill you") than the government. Many tribal chiefs refuse to even go through the motions of making an anti-Taliban deal with the government. The basic problem is that the tribes are mainly interested in there being no government control in the tribal areas. In the meantime, the Pakistani army and police continue to battle pro-Taliban tribesmen, killing 5-10 times as many as they lose (mainly to suicide or roadside bombing attacks).

April 28, 2008: Another three terrorist leaders were killed in Indian Kashmir. Over the last four years, peace negotiations with Pakistan has reduced terrorist support from their side of the border, and the Islamic terrorists, especially the leadership, have been hammered. Many of the 37 districts in Kashmir have seen their terrorist leadership wiped out. The Islamic terrorism campaign has been going on for 19 years, and killed over 40,000 people. The Kashmiris are tired of it, and the terrorists are running out of steam.

April 27, 2008: The Maoists in India are pretty blatant about how they finance their revolution. It's all about extorting cash from businesses ("revolutionary taxes"), and police are having a hard time shutting down this. The Maoists will kill businessmen who cooperate with the police, or refuse to pay, and the police cannot protect all the potential victims. Going after the local Maoists is manpower intensive, and the government is raising more and more special police for the task.

April 26, 2008: Pakistan announced that, after nearly a decade of development, its Hatf VI IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) is ready for service. The system, also called Shaheen II, has a range of 2,000 kilometers, can carry a nuclear warhead, and hit any part of India. At least a dozen of these missiles are being built, and moved around on mobile transporter/launchers. The Hatf VI will be a major part of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent against Indian invasion.

April 24, 2008: Pakistan is not likely to get the new JF-17 fighters from China, because of a patent dispute between Russia (which owns the tech) and China (which shamelessly steals it). The first two aircraft had arrived last Summer. Production is supposed to increase to 25 a year over the next three years. Pakistan has agreed to buy at least 150 aircraft, and possibly as many as 250. Over the next two years, most of the manufacturing (60 percent of the airframe and 80 per cent avionics) was supposed to shift from China to Pakistan. The first fifty aircraft will have Chinese avionics (much of it stolen Russian tech), but the rest will use equipment from Pakistan and Europe. The biggest problem is that the JF17 (also known as FC-1 and Super 7) uses a Russian engine, the RD93.

April 18, 2008: A group of Taliban attacked the Afghan side of a border crossing. Afghan troops pursued the attackers into Pakistan, and killed ten of them, as well as one Pakistani border guard that got caught in the cross fire.