There used to be a copy of the DIA military assessment of Iran at this link:
https://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/Military Power Publications/Iran_Military_Power_V13b_LR.pdf...
Americans don't care about backlash, but they will care if we cancel the deal. Hard bargain is the only way to negotiate with Americans, they always make insane threats of violence as their opening position, you have to see through it and play hardball with them to get anything. Smack them down...
Best case: If IK has any brain, he will cancel this deal and use public backlash as an excuse to gain more leverage and extract some real concessions like F16 upgrades.
Worst case: Rising ISIS insurgency in Pakistan and surge in TTP attacks. Taliban get very angry and radicals in Pakistan take...
Yeah this really explains so many things, ISI fiasco, Pak ambassador fired and replaced, etc.
Wasn't Lebanon in a similar situation some time back where US officials started interfering in their domestic affairs until a Lebanese court slapped an order that banned US officials from speaking...
There are way better ways to deal with this than allowing drone strikes, this much should be evident after US accidentally targeted 10 Afghans on its way out. And now it also makes Pakistan a target for ISIS which was not true before. This move will have major consequences.
This is CNN we are talking about, they don't publish big foreign policy news like this by accident. CNN probably got go ahead to publish this article from Pentagon itself.
The truth is I don't think we got any concessions from this since you have to start with very hard bargaining position like...
Nobody in Pakistan except Bajwa would be celebrating this. If anything many in the tribal areas are now fearing for their lives again.
We could shoot down one of their drones like Iran to send a clear message. People say Pakistan doesn't have the balls for that but really that is exactly what...
Even I am surprised by just how short sighted they were after witnessing utter carnage, destruction, and violent bloodshed of last 20 years that wreaked maximum havoc and chaos on border areas. As soon as there is light at the end of the tunnel and finally a chance for peace, they pull this...
Yeah that was my first reaction as well, it explains a lot. Seen it so many times, selling the nation's soul for some cheap goodies again. These guys never learn.
More important question is how incompetent were the Pakistani negotiators, judging by the fact we got slapped back on FATF list yesterday.
I'm sure US brought some nice biscuits and that was all it took to get Pakistan on board. Not bad, they didn't even have to give F16V upgrades, just some...
There will be no benefit from this, even if we do get benefits, it is not worth it to destabilize Afghanistan again for any price.
I cannot imagine who in Pakistan's military leadership was stupid enough to agree to this. Have they learned nothing from fiasco of last 20 years? Someone should be...
I wonder what happened about Imran Khan saying drones are the most insane way of fighting terrorism. That quote will not age well and for sure come back to bite him.