Crunch time: pick one, Haqqani network or the US

[Hyperion]

Choice between the devil himself, and it's spawn... What a ****** choice!

 

[blain2]

This article is a timely reflection of the real choices placed before Pakistan’s military rulers. On the one hand awaits a future confrontation with a Taliban proxy army going vindictive out of betrayal by turning their guns on the Pakistani state, while on the other stands the possibility of confronting American resolve. Yet if history serves to predict the future, I would say that the Pakistanis will cower before the more powerful. They have already perfected the art of internalizing former masters in place of their litany of historical submissions under their feet. This is the underlying reason for Pakistanis implying that Muhammad bin Qasim was the first Pakistani, followed by the glorification of military missiles with names borrowed from Afghan leaders such as “Ghorid”, “Ghaznavid”, and “Abdali”. Given their more recent servitude before Imperial Britain, it is also no coincidence that Pakistani leaders have been noted to behave more British that the British themselves.

What are the odds that two centuries from now, Pakistanis will be naming their spears after Bush and Obama, complete with Stetson hats and a twang in their English? The most probable outcome is a no-brainer…

What you describe is what I term "adapting". A smaller power has no choice but to maneuver and adapt. I understand the tendency to put down Pakistan on your part by using terms such as "cower", "servitude", "historical submission", when the factual reality is that Afghans have done the very same at different times in history and continue to do so with whomsoever dominates their affairs (be it British, Russians, Pakistanis or Americans nowadays.)

Pakistan will push her interests as much as the ground gives, where there is no room, then adjustments will be made.

As to your point about "Pakistani leaders behaving more British than the British", once again, I have seen some of the Afghan elite in the West doing very much the same, so not sure why you single out only the Pakistani elite?

Somehow the Afghans have fancied themselves as the only "self-respecting" (what we call "Ghairatmund") nation of the World and the rest, especially the dark Pakistanis, are subject to loathing.

Do realize that Pakistanis do not all think alike or act like you describe. Pakistan happens to be in a tough neighbourhood with many different competing powers operating. In this space, calculations are going to be made, found lacking and then adjusted. All others do the same. Pakistan gets the flak because it currently is going against the grain and the reason for it is because it finds its national interests do not align with what other regional powers are pushing for. Now if that requires some cowering, so be it. I'd rather Pakistan be ruled and guided by intelligent cowards than idiotic suicidals.

 

[tarrar]

US is not Pakistan’s friend & it’s time Pakistan ends all ties & relationship with the US & strengthen their ties with China & Russia.

Much needs to be done such as Pakistan needs to shut US Embassy & US Consulates down who are the main source of terror & chaos in Pakistan, it is from here where CIA & Blackwater are operating & are hurting Pakistan.

By doing this we all will see some but good stability in Pakistan. The corrupt politicians, corrupt media & the corrupt people will be left vulnerable & completely exposed. It’s time to do something which is good for Pakistan.

 

[ajtr]

US undecided about blacklisting Taliban: Hillary

WASHINGTON - The United States is still undecided about placing the Taliban on its list of foreign terrorist groups, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, while denying that blacklisting of Haqqani network was about sending a message to Pakistan that it was not doing enough.
In an interview with Bloomberg Radio, Hillary asserted that the US will use every tool to pressure the Pakistan-based Haqqani network.
The US has been pressing Pakistan to launch an action in North Waziristan to target militants of the Haqqani network.
Haqqani network was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by Hillary Clinton last week.
Asked if the Taliban should be blacklisted, Clinton did not give a direct answer.
“We do very intensive analysis before we designate someone as a foreign terrorist organisation, and I think I’ll let the designation speak for itself. We have reached that conclusion about the Haqqani Network and we think it’s the right decision,” Clinton said.
In the interview, Clinton said that blacklisting the Haqqanis wasn’t a message aimed at Pakistan.
“No, it is about squeezing” the Haqqanis, she said.
“It’s part of the continuing effort to try to send a message to them — not to anyone else, but to them — because of the really incredibly damaging attacks they have waged against us, against other targets inside Afghanistan, and it’s important that we use every tool at our disposal to go after them,” she said in the interview in Vladivostok, Russia, at the end of an 11-day trip through the Asia-Pacific.
Adding the Haqqanis to the group blacklist “gives us much greater reach into any financial assets or fundraising that they may engage in, it gives us better knowledge about assets that they might own,” she said. “It’s important that we use every tool at our disposal to go after them.”
Opponents of blacklisting the Haqqanis had argued that slapping them with a label might hinder prospects for engaging them in reconciliation talks to take them off the battlefield. The same may be said of the Taliban.
The US is seeking to engage the Taliban in negotiations to renounce violence and accept the Afghan Constitution to better the chances of peace following the planned withdrawal of US combat troops in 2014.
Another concern about blacklisting the Haqqanis — which can also be said of the Taliban — is that affixing a terror label to the group may affect US relations with Pakistan, experts said.
Some US officials, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, have said Pakistani intelligence and security forces have aided the Haqqanis in order to wield influence in Afghanistan.