Karzai: I'll send troops to Pakistan

[muse]

Agnostic


No US training for FC is net plus for Pakistan. What the US wants is to train the FC directly, have detailed info on the officer and NCOs that can be later used to destabilize Pakistan.

In this one dimensional relationship that Pakistan and the US have, the less US in the lives of Pakistanis the better of Pakistanis will be.

Pakistanis are just too eager, too much in a hurry, and never seem to get that a bad deal is worse than no deal at all.

This now have been the third time US and Pakistan have tried to make a go at a mature relationship, but we do not share the same objectives, we do not share the same strategic outlook -- as a matter of fact, with which muslic or Islamic county does the US share any kind of anything? Honestly, we do have any cultural relationship with US, does any muslim or Islamic country? -- now, don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting that Pakistan are ony about muslim or Islamic this or that, because they are not, on the other hand, US and Pakistan have repeated shown to each other that their objectives are not the same. Perhaps cannot be the same.

So, correct relations is the best we can hope for, and we ought to aim for that instead of involving them in our security paradigm in so intimate a way, as to see them as a weapons supplier or a power with whom we share a strategic outlook.

Should our economic relations reach a level that US and Pakistan feel comfortable with each, such that we can each state candidly to the other what we can and will not do, then perhaps we may want to revist the notio of a strategic alliance with US - A bad deal is worse than no deal at all, in business, in politics, and in international relations.

 

[cactuslily58]

War Against Pakistan

Pakistani military should have launched a retaliatory strike targeting the nearby Afghan army posts. The prime minister could have sanctioned the attack after seeking, and receiving, parliament’s consent on urgent basis, even after the operation. If a war is being imposed on Pakistan – and all indications are that this is the case – then Islamabad should retaliate. No more appeasement to Washington. Let Karzai and the rest of the Indian agents in Kabul help America in Central Asia.

By AHMED QURAISHI

Tuesday, 17 June 2008.



Brave words indeed !

Does anyone have the courage to back them up with actions ? Epically when the regime in Islamabad owes its existence & sustenance to the problem that exists on the West.

The utility of the General to Uncle Sam will last till the problem remains and till he does not cross the " thin Red line". Remember.. its the mango season once again.

 

[muse]

from today's The News International




America: dubious ally or outright enemy?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Shireen M Mazari

What have we been reduced to as a result of our successive leaderships' kowtowing to the US post-9/11? What many of us had feared and written about at the time seems to have come true -- be it the growing US intrusions into our territory or the periodic diatribes from the US against Dr A.Q. Khan whenever they feel Pakistan needs to be put under pressure. However, nothing reflects our state's sovereign bankruptcy as much as the audacious threats issued by Afghanistan's Karzai of sending in his Afghan Army into Pakistan to take out "militants" and "terrorists." Here is a man who barely has power in his own capital, Kabul, and has hundreds of occupation forces from the US and NATO -- not to mention some Arab contingents from the Gulf states -- and he is actually threatening Pakistan, a country with a massive conventional military, and nuclear capability to boot.

Herein lies the irony of Pakistan's predicament post-9/11. Our military seems to have no stomach for fighting the violations of our sovereignty by the US and its allies. That has emboldened the US and they now feel they can target the Pakistani security forces directly -- as they did in March 2008 in Bajaur, and more recently last week in the Mohmand Agency which left 11 FC men dead, apart from the civilians that are a constant target of US and NATO forces -- especially as their frustration has grown over their lack of success in Afghanistan.

Since the war began in Afghanistan, one has seen only whimpers of protest from the Pakistani military and the government in response to brazen attacks on Pakistani soil by US/NATO forces in which many innocent Pakistani civilians have died. Sheltering behind these forces are the ragtag members of the "Afghan Army" -- which Karzai now wants to send into Pakistan! Karzai, whose security forces stood helpless in the face of a massive prison break, actually thinks the Pakistani military is so weak that the same ineffectual security forces can simply march into our country and carry out military actions against our people.

Our government, and our military, have reduced us to a laughingstock --– a joke of a nation that can be pushed around militarily by all and sundry. The point is, if our military is unwilling or unable to fight those who violate our sovereignty and kill our people, then what is the purpose of continuing to beef up and support this expensive organisation? Here we were thinking our investment in nuclear weapons and updating of conventional weapon systems would ensure that our borders were secure and any military threat from anywhere would be dealt with effectively by the Pakistan military. Yet nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, we continue to be subject to US military attacks as and when they choose. From all accounts, they do not bother to inform us either till after the event. And all we do is whimper a few protests.

When will we realise that if the US targets our territory it must surely fall into the category of "enemy" and be given a military response -- even if it is symbolic to begin with. The "enemy" within -- that is the militants -- we have to dialogue with, since they are our people and we need to bring them into the mainstream. As pointed out in earlier columns, all other countries have done the same. But we must also be cognisant of the far more dangerous enemy outside -- that is the US with its long-term hostile intentions towards Pakistan. Our leaders, who are surviving, or have come to power on deals brokered by the US, must be exposed and compelled to disown these deals and respond to the needs of the nation.

Increasingly, the hostile intent of the US towards Pakistan is becoming more overt as the Americans become more emboldened in the face of the vacillating and whimpering Pakistani ruling elite.

President Bush effectively endorsed Karzai's threat by trying to rationalise it. Worse still, the US has now declared that Dr Khan must not be released. On what authority can they make such demands, except that we have given up much of our sovereign space to them willy-nilly? Our rulers, and little differentiates one lot from another in terms of their efforts to fool the people while catering to their own coteries of sycophants, can hail abuse and threats on their local rivals or oppositional forces, but almost no substantive backbone is visible in the face of abuse from external enemies disguised as "allies," such as the US.

Where else but in Pakistan would the defence minister simply declare that we cannot give a military response to US attacks against our country? He is the same man who also declared that the US was not attacking us because they were using pilotless drones! Yet his party leader, Zardari, also declared in Lahore, if the press report is taken as correct, that the PPP "had the potential to, both give and take life." So once again, more bombast and once again derision of the people's will that was clearly reflected in the Long March. As for Governor Taseer's or Rehman Malik's efforts to try and play a numbers' game in order to undermine the people's force that was displayed in the march, the less said the better, given that neither individual has much credibility. We, the people, know the strength and camaraderie of the nation that was present in the Long March since we were all there and had the privilege to feel the hope, commitment and faith even the most downtrodden, alongside the most privileged, have in the notion of an independent judiciary.

But coming back to the strange servility our rulers continue to show in the face of foreign abuse, it is not just the US and Afghanistan that feel they can ride roughshod over us. While Zardari sends flowers to V P Singh, and our human rights' groups advocate pardons and release of Indian prisoners, including Indian spies, the Indian state continues to kill Pakistani prisoners and send their dead bodies back through Wagah. So while Indian prisoners go across Wagah garlanded from the Pakistani side, Pakistani prisoners come in wooden caskets, often with their body parts missing. Is this what the Pakistani state regards as reciprocity? Why has the Foreign Office not taken a strong position on this count? If the foreign minister would take some time to be in Islamabad, perhaps he would be more effective in protecting the interests of the Pakistani people and nation -- instead of only showing concern for the Afghans, and so on. He should know that he has enough time to project himself internationally once he has taken care of poor Pakistani lives.

But it appears that, as always, Pakistani lives come cheap and no one in the state structures is prepared to fight for them -- not the leadership and, unfortunately, not the military. As for the US, there are many dangerous developments that need to be put together to understand the long-term threat from this power. Many of us have been writing for many years now that the US is seeking to destroy the organisation of the military in Pakistan, as well as breaking up the country, given that our nuclear capability and our ideological moorings in terms of historically supporting Muslim causes have never sat well with the US.

If anyone still thinks that the publication of "Blood Borders," in which the breakup of Pakistan and Iran was a central contention, in the US Army Journal a few years earlier was an aberration, what do you make of a US consultancy firm, Ergo Advisors, paying high rates to Pakistani analysts, to give them intimate data on Pakistani army officers of the ranks of major general and brigadier from the armoured, infantry and engineers. The questions they were asking were pinpointed and dealt with family backgrounds, views on "secularism" vs Islamism, foreign investment, war on terror, future promotion prospects, age and so on. Now one wonders who would want such extensive information and for what purpose?

It is time we re-examined whether the US is really an "ally" or a dangerous enemy.

The writer is a defence analyst. Email: callstr@hotmail.com

 

[maqsad]

If anyone still thinks that the publication of "Blood Borders," in which the breakup of Pakistan and Iran was a central contention, in the US Army Journal a few years earlier was an aberration, what do you make of a US consultancy firm, Ergo Advisors, paying high rates to Pakistani analysts, to give them intimate data on Pakistani army officers of the ranks of major general and brigadier from the armoured, infantry and engineers. The questions they were asking were pinpointed and dealt with family backgrounds, views on "secularism" vs Islamism, foreign investment, war on terror, future promotion prospects, age and so on. Now one wonders who would want such extensive information and for what purpose?

Quite a simple answer. The USA, even during the post-nuclear sanctions era of the late 1990s was still providing pakistan with hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid. Some of this aid is in scholarships to places like Westpoint where future pakistani military leaders are "groomed" subliminally to be pro-US leaders in the pak military. Musharaff is an odd exception to this rule even though he was pushing "enightened moderation". One of the reasons the US is keeping tabs on these guys is they want to ensure that no mullahs like Zia ul Haq become COAS in Pakistan. They would prefer people like Kiyani or even Musharaff to be in charge of the military rather than someone like Hamid Gul or another incarnation of Zia Ul Haw gaining power.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Agnostic


No US training for FC is net plus for Pakistan. What the US wants is to train the FC directly, have detailed info on the officer and NCOs that can be later used to destabilize Pakistan.

In this one dimensional relationship that Pakistan and the US have, the less US in the lives of Pakistanis the better of Pakistanis will be.

Pakistanis are just too eager, too much in a hurry, and never seem to get that a bad deal is worse than no deal at all.

This now have been the third time US and Pakistan have tried to make a go at a mature relationship, but we do not share the same objectives, we do not share the same strategic outlook -- as a matter of fact, with which muslic or Islamic county does the US share any kind of anything? Honestly, we do have any cultural relationship with US, does any muslim or Islamic country? -- now, don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting that Pakistan are ony about muslim or Islamic this or that, because they are not, on the other hand, US and Pakistan have repeated shown to each other that their objectives are not the same. Perhaps cannot be the same.

So, correct relations is the best we can hope for, and we ought to aim for that instead of involving them in our security paradigm in so intimate a way, as to see them as a weapons supplier or a power with whom we share a strategic outlook.

Should our economic relations reach a level that US and Pakistan feel comfortable with each, such that we can each state candidly to the other what we can and will not do, then perhaps we may want to revist the notio of a strategic alliance with US - A bad deal is worse than no deal at all, in business, in politics, and in international relations.

Muse,

While the US may want to train the FC directly and embed its soldiers with them, that is not what has been agreed to.

At the moment US trainers are training Pakistani Army trainers, who will then train the FC. So we do have good control over the process.

The GoP and the military at this point see the FC as taking the lead role in fighting the Taliban and maintaining peace in FATA, therefore the capacity building of the FC with US assistance makes complete sense.

I honestly don't see how this is a bad deal, so long as we set the conditions for how the training is conducted.

My argument is that it is US policy makers who are impatient and focused on short term objectives, in that the FC training program has barely started and you have comments like McNeil's.

With respect to the lack of a mature relationship with Muslim nations, I agree.

Throughout the Muslim world you see the US focused on propping up institutions or individuals, in an attempt to fulfill short term goals, rather than reaching out and developing a relationship with the people of those nations.

Listening to US policy makers demanding the GoP do this or that, and completely ignore what the Pakistani nation is demanding their leaders do, and not focus on the long term repercussions (next elections, increasing distrust and hostility towards the US, and sympathy for the Taliban) of their pressure, is mind boggling.

You have here a super power that is just utterly incapable of getting beyond the tunnel vision that has characterized its policy for so many years.

 

[peter chamberlin]

America’s Magnificent Failure
By: Peter Chamberlin

"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results." Attributed to Albert Einstein.

By this definition, the foreign policy of the United States in 2008 is clinically insane. The plan that has lately come into play, to persuade our allies into asking for US forces to come in and wage total war on their borders, would require that our allies also act in an insane manner, inviting massive destruction upon themselves, in order to further American goals.

After his pal Iraqi President Maliki refused Bush’s request to invite the US to fight a war with Iran upon his border (based on false evidence) his best buddy Ehud Olmert then refused to pick another fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon (even though the war would be fought for Israel, the cost extracted by 600 missiles/per day raining down upon Israelis would have been too high). It is complete idiocy on Bush’s part to think that either Karzai or Musharref will act any differently as he pushes them to respond forcefully to the recent provocative “false flag” attacks in their respective countries.

After the recent prison break at Sarposa prison in Kandahar, President Karzai, acting as America’s spokesman, forcefully threatened to send US forces into Pakistan. He blamed the attack upon the Pakistani Taliban, naming Baitullah Mehsud, leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as one of the key cross-border raiders, even though his base in Waziristan is hundreds of miles from Kandahar. This is keeping with America’s disinformation M.O. of taking two divergent themes and merging them into one PSYOP. Mehsud is being set-up as Bush’s “patsy,” the alleged figurehead (bin Laden-type) to be targeted for total war by American/NATO forces.

After Karzai’s threat, Bush tried to sound like the sane statesman, saying,

“It is in no one’s interests that extremists have a safe haven from which to operate. Obviously, it’s a testy situation there. We can help calm the situation down.”

For the sake of the long-suffering Pashtun people of both Pakistan and Afghanistan, Karzai had better figure-out that when Bush offers to “calm” the situation, he is referring to military pacification, on a scale not seen since World War II.

It seems as though the Afghan Taliban may have been allowed to seize the prison from under the noses of 2500 Canadian troops, who were less than twenty miles away at the airport (several hundred of them within five miles at Camp Nathan Smith). After starting the attack with a massive truck bomb that blew-out windows up to 1.7 miles from the prison (and was visible in the night sky for miles) the Taliban met no outside resistance from either Canadian or American troops, as they set-off more bombs and fought a half hour gun battle with the guards, taking up to “several hours” (according to CNN’s account) to empty at least 1,000 prisoners from their cells. In an act of military incompetence not seen since the hours-long failure to muster air support on 9/11, fifteen Afghan guards died, in the process of releasing several hundred key Taliban cell leaders and would-be suicide bombers and nobody seemed to notice until it was all over. This operation has “false flag” written all over it!


Pakistani President Musharref is having his own political problems, arising from US and other suspicious attacks, many of them are probably staged “false flag” attacks, as well. Unauthorized American policies in his destabilized Western Provinces have so stirred things up against him that he dare not appear to side with further US attacks, especially after American bombers killed 11 Pakistani troops at a border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region in Mohmand, a Predator attack that killed another Pashtun in South Waziristan (trying to kill Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud), while unknown assailants staged bomb attacks against Shiite mosques in Hangu and Dera Ismail Khan, killing four worshippers in each attack. Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar told the BBC after the attack on the government frontier outpost in Mohmand:
"The Afghan army and the US troops there were trying to set up a checkpost on the border...So we launched an attack on them from several sides and caused serious harm - and then the US and Nato forces began a series of air strikes."
So here we have public enemy number one, Baitullah Mehsud as our new focus, the rebel leader who reported that Bin Laden is dead, and denied the charge that he killed Benazir Bhutto, being targeted under “Plan B” by American forces in cross border raids. This is Washington’s go-it-alone revised version of its previously failed “Plan A,” which was attempted in partnership with Pakistan’s secret services (ISI). That plan involved pay-offs and intrigues centering on Mehsud’s rival Waziri clan leader Maulvi Nazir. Nazir was instrumental in staging the alleged Taliban split, where he formed a 900 man Taliban posse to eliminate Uzbek Islamists who were identified as “al Qaida,” in the process attempting to run Mehsud’s forces out of Waziristan. The Uzbeks were supposedly al Qaida remnants, who fled from the American assault in Afghanistan, taking up refuge in Waziristan, thanks to Muslim hospitality laws.

Nazir’s purpose was to undermine the peace deal that Mehsud had signed with the Pakistani authorities at Sara Rogha in February 2005, which ceded authority in the area to the Taliban. It is unclear to this writer whether Nazir was working for both the Americans and the ISI to undermine Pakistani attempts at diplomacy, or if he answered directly to the CIA, just as it is still unclear to me, writing here 7500 miles from the war zone, whether the foreign fighters who are playing the role of “al Qaida” these days are linked to Nazir or to Mehsud, or both. But I can make three observations about “al Qaida” with near certainty:

1) Al Qaida is a CIA/Mossad/ISI creation. 2) Terrorist groups “linked to al Qaida” by the Western media are key CIA tools for implementing American foreign policy. 3) Al Qaida attacks to force adherence to Sharia Law upon fellow Muslims (in Iraq and Pakistan) have always backfired, alienating the masses from terrorist enforcers.

In keeping with the theme of the three observations, it is apparent that some of these Muslim forces are American proxies who are attempting to open another war front for us, against the government and the people of Pakistan. Musharref really has his hands full, trying to pleasure both Bush and Cheney, while not igniting a revolution in his own country. According to researcher Hassan Abbas, Nazir’s entire anti-Uzbeki fight was commissioned by ISI, much like a previous shadowy attempt On October 23, 2006 to create a false copy of Tehrik-i-Taliban, before the real group had even announced its own existence:

“A credible newspaper in Pakistan disclosed that five militant groups joined hands to set up an organization named Tehrik-i-Taliban in Mohmand Agency with a goal ‘to flush out gangs carrying out criminal activities in the name of Taliban’.”

This policy of creating false “Taliban” fronts surfaced recently in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province (which is only about seventy-five miles from the prison break under suspicious circumstances in Kandahar), where a secret British MI6 operation to create a false Taliban front was exposed.

“Two European diplomats accused of holding secret talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan were thrown out of the country following a complaint by the US, intelligence officials in Kabul have told The Sunday Telegraph... The source claimed that the US alerted Afghan authorities after learning that the diplomats were providing direct financial and other support - including mobile phone cards - to the Taliban commanders, in the hope of persuading them to swap sides... These claims will reinforce perceptions of a rift between the US and its international partners in Afghanistan, including Britain.”

So here we have action to create a false Taliban in an area of Afghanistan under British control, next door to a Canadian controlled area, experiencing a spectacular attack, which will very likely provide the needed justification for an invasion of Pakistan. NATO is proving to be just another tool for fulfilling American imperial ambitions. This follows on the heels of other similar reports about a MI6 operation (or part of the same one) in creating a false Balochi group in Pakistan, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

Balochistan is home base for the also “al Qaida-related” Jundullah terrorist organization, which has been implicated in many cross-border raids into Iran, as well as sabotage attacks upon pipelines in Pakistan that will become part of the planned India/Pakistan/Iran pipelines. Pakistan’s recent turnover of four Jundallah terrorists to Iran who had fled there after staging bomb attacks is probably the last straw for Bush and Cheney.

Subtlety will no longer apply in America’s abuse of Pakistan; it’s time to kick down the door in this important “back door” into Iran. In the aftermath of Israel’s disappointing failure to trust Bush enough to turn Tel Aviv into the front line in a rocket war with Iranian client Hezbollah for him, Bush has to find a way to honor his commitment to God and Israel to eliminate Iran, without bringing ruination upon the Holy Land.

Bush’s insanity is caught-up in his messianic vision of fulfilling God’s vision for Israel. He has expressed his belief that he alone has the will to solve the Iranian problem, future presidents cannot be relied upon to carry this heavy load. It is no small thing to know that you are prepared to eliminate several million innocent souls to carry-out your divine mission. This is the source of his stubborn refusal to face reality about what he has done so far to millions of innocent people, and what he stands ready to do to millions more. This should serve as a warning to all those who keep prematurely celebrating the end of the threat to attack Iran, Bush is going to find a way to explode this war before he hands the entire mess off.

This insane denial of reality is contagious, having infected everyone in the Republican Party and most of the Democrats. In the delusional alternate reality, the “surge” has pacified Iraq, the Taliban are becoming desperate and in retreat, and we are winning the war of terror. Both presidential candidates share this infection, as reflected by Obama’s call for attacking within Pakistan and McCain’s likely running mate, Joe Lieberman’s castigating Obama for telling the truth, that Israel is in danger today because of American foreign policy.

In truth, all of us are in danger today because America’s foreign policy has failed so miserably. Our magnificent failure has come about because Israel’s foreign policy (that of manipulating our policies to use US troops to attack the enemies of Israel) has been so successful. In a circular logic that is unfathomable to normal minds, our trusted leaders are seeking to make our friends in Israel safe by bringing destruction down upon their heads, just as we are seeking to do to the same to all of our friends in the neighborhood, from Beirut to Islamabad.

In the biggest logic loop of all, we think that we can save the world by destroying it. For once, some American leader has to come along with enough balls to say, we intend to help the world by actually helping it, for a change.

I used to think that Ron Paul might be that leader, then I hoped that Obama could learn to be that guy. Now I know that such exceptional leadership must come from ordinary folks like you and me. It is up to all of us to become leaders and take a common stand together, as one united people. If we want to save this world, then we have no other choice than to do whatever it takes, to stop the insanity of George Bush.

 

[muse]

"Had there been real hostility towards Pakistan or Pakistanis in USA, the conditions would be very different for Pakistan and Pakistani Americans"


A most telling statement, from the mouth of babes -- indeed sir, in this new America, dissent brings FBI and email and telephone taps, in the old America it was a simply a right, one did not stand to lose one's citizenship or have one's patriotism challeneged by the govt.

You are welcome to the new America.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

The new America is the result of 9/11.

So, it was 9/11 that has changed the style of the US.

And who did the 9/11 and bring misery not only to their co-religionists, but also to anyone who wore a beard or had a brown hue?!

Therefore, one has to also take into consideration of the origin before condemnation is done.

 

[muse]

Rubbish! The new America is a deliberate creation of a particular political persuasion.

9/11 or Osama or Islam did not shoot the US in the foot, neither of these twisted the govt's hand to spy on it's on citizens, to question their patriotism, to create an orwellian bureaucracy, to present justification for war against an entire section of the earth, against entire peoples and civilization.

All this politicians and academicians did by themselves - devil made me do it??

Most do not know the half of what has been going on in the name of GWOT - but it will come out, it will be years from now and there will still be some who will imagine themselves more American than other Americans and therefore hold those Americans as lesser for one reason or other, but in the end it will come out - An America that spys on it's own, tortures, that maintains floating prisons, where laws do not penetrate.

Osama and 9/11 did not even make America forget friend from foe - that too AMerica did to herself - friends and foes are conscious choices, but when cannot tell friend from foe, it means one has willingly relinquished control for making those choices. Anybody who cares for America cannot but lament it's eclipse, it' self imposed estrangement from it's ideals and the world.

 

[su-47]

The kid did his part. One has to commend him for telling the US ambassador to shove it! A very good representation of the public opinion about US strikes inside of Pakistan.

indeed. it was brave and commendable of him to tell the US ambassador exactly what he felt about USA's double standards.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Rubbish! The new America is a deliberate creation of a particular political persuasion.

9/11 or Osama or Islam did not shoot the US in the foot, neither of these twisted the govt's hand to spy on it's on citizens, to question their patriotism, to create an orwellian bureaucracy, to present justification for war against an entire section of the earth, against entire peoples and civilization.

All this politicians and academicians did by themselves - devil made me do it??

Most do not know the half of what has been going on in the name of GWOT - but it will come out, it will be years from now and there will still be some who will imagine themselves more American than other Americans and therefore hold those Americans as lesser for one reason or other, but in the end it will come out - An America that spys on it's own, tortures, that maintains floating prisons, where laws do not penetrate.

Osama and 9/11 did not even make America forget friend from foe - that too AMerica did to herself - friends and foes are conscious choices, but when cannot tell friend from foe, it means one has willingly relinquished control for making those choices. Anybody who cares for America cannot but lament it's eclipse, it' self imposed estrangement from it's ideals and the world.

Balderdash!

So 9/11 is a figment of imagination! It never happened, right?

The sole global superpower was bearded in its den and you expect the lion to sit still and grin? Which world are you in?

America recognises friends so long as the friends allow US to call the shots. Pakistan allows. Pakistan is a friend.

The whole country was united in the GWOT. How many voices of dissension did you hear immediately after 9/11? They were baying for blood! Do you think that free wheeling Americans would accept the Patriotic Act lying down? No siree, they wouldn't.

Demise of America?

You must be on Afghanistan's best!

 

[muse]

Editorial from IHT
Singing a differnt tune:

Unfinished business in Afghanistan
Published: June 20, 2008


Five years after President George W. Bush largely dropped the military operation against the Afghan-based Taliban and Al Qaeda so he could invade Iraq, American and NATO troops are needed as much as ever in Afghanistan to hold back a resurgence of those forces. Yet Washington and its European allies still do not have an effective and comprehensive strategy to combat the threat.

Despite the presence of more than 50,000 NATO troops - most of them American - and some 140,000 Afghan troops and police, the Taliban and Al Qaeda have gotten stronger over the past two years. And Afghan forces are far from being able to defend the country on their own.

This week, hundreds of NATO and Afghan troops using helicopter gunships engaged in one of their biggest battles in years. The target was an estimated 400 Taliban fighters who had dug into several villages near the southern city of Kandahar, raided the main city jail and freed hundreds of their comrades.

A report by the Government Accountability Office this week concluded that after investing $16.5 billion, the Pentagon and the State Department still lack a "sustainable strategy" for developing the Afghanistan Army and the country's police force. To understand the full failure, read the fine print: only 2 of 105 Army units - and not a single police unit - are judged to be "fully capable."

Bush should direct the Pentagon and State Department to devise a plan that would ensure that American money is used to build a capable Afghan security force. He should work with European, Afghan and Pakistani leaders to put aside differences and develop a comprehensive military and political strategy to address the Taliban-Qaeda threat on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. International donors, who promised millions more for Afghanistan last week, must keep pressure on President Hamid Karzai to root out government corruption and coordinate closely with the new United Nations representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.

Meanwhile, NATO allies must beef up their forces - as Britain has promised to do. Allies who put inexcusable restrictions on where and when their forces can operate must remove them.

Afghanistan is scheduled to elect a new president next year, and more turmoil could result if voters are too fearful to go to the polls. An unstable Afghanistan in which extremists and narco-traffickers have a safe haven may well be another Bush legacy. His would-be successors need to explain how they would deal with it.

 

[Always Neutral]

Editorial from IHT
Singing a differnt tune:

Unfinished business in Afghanistan
Published: June 20, 2008




This week, hundreds of NATO and Afghan troops using helicopter gunships engaged in one of their biggest battles in years. The target was an estimated 400 Taliban fighters who had dug into several villages near the southern city of Kandahar, raided the main city jail and freed hundreds of their comrades.

Whats 400 men armed with AK 47 ? They will be wiped out.

Regards

 

[muse]

From todays The News international



Crisis in Pakistan-US relations



Monday, June 23, 2008
Khalid Aziz

A few days ago I had the opportunity to present a paper, “FATA: internal security and Pakistan’s international obligations,” to a conference in Islamabad. It included five proposals for tension reduction between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The conference came at an opportune time. NATO and the ISAF are dismayed at the peace negotiations Pakistan has decided to initiate with the militants, and charge that Pakistan’s peace deals transferred militancy to Afghanistan and raised the death and injury rates among allied troops.

President Karzai added a strident warning of military intervention by Afghan forces into Pakistan if the militants were not stopped from entering Afghanistan. The immediate cause of his wrath against Pakistan was the Kandahar jailbreak executed by the Talibans. It led to the escape of about 1,400 prisoners, including 400 Taliban. Karzai said that his forces would launch raids into Pakistan to hit the militants. It was “better for the Afghan troops to be killed during offensive operations in Pakistan than in militant attacks in Afghanistan,” he said.

A few days earlier, allied air force and unmanned Predators used precision-guided weapons to attack nine reinforced bunkers of the Pakistani Frontier Corps positioned along the international border with Afghanistan. The Frontier Corps, also called the Scouts, were reorganised after the Third Afghan war in 1919. They are lightly armed well trained soldiers who act as the political agent’s police force. It is a force known for its bravery and hard work. It operates in those parts of the tribal areas where government writ extends; about 1/8th of FATA. They are officered by regular officers of the Pakistani military.

All the tribal administrative agencies have either one or two units of this force. They are manned by the tribes, who normally serve in mixed configurations to prevent breakdown of disciple. Their officers are normally from the army. They have served with bravery and distinction so far. Today, they are tasked to assist the 90,000 strong army stationed in FATA.

The Scouts have a legendary history. A fact not generally known is that it was a unit of the Frontier Corps, the Gilgit Scouts, who under 24-year-old Major Brown and Captain Mathieson, both formerly of the Tochi Scouts, jointly fought in October 1947 to get rid of the Dogra governor of Gilgit, Brigadier Ghansara Singh. This action brought the Northern Areas into Pakistan. It is also true that if they hadn’t acted there would have been a bloodbath of Hindu and Sikhs in the Gilgit.

Today the Scouts have an impossible job of guarding more than 800 kilometres of Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan. They are occupying more than 18,000 positions on this dangerous border, most of them as bunkers. During the Taliban administration in Kabul Pakistan established a post at Gora Tai in Mohmand Agency at a location known as Spina Soka (white peak). The Afghans have been contesting the Pakistani claim to this area, and according to records, this portion on Pakistan’s western border and stretching along the Kunar-Bajaur watershed, is not demarcated.

On June 10 an Afghan army group with the support of the ISAF came to the region and started constructing a post on the same ridgeline as the Pakistani Scouts’ position. This was contested by the Scouts personnel but the Afghans continued to work. In the afternoon the Mohmand Rifles sent a senior officer, Major Akbar, to speak to the Afghans and to suggest to settle the matter at higher level. However, the parleys did not succeed since the rear Afghan headquarters did not agree. Before dusk, the Afghan forces withdrew. After about 45 minutes the sound of small-arms fire was heard by the Spina Suka post which later turned out to be a Taliban ambush. The Pakistani post was ordered to retain position and not to allow anyone near their security perimeters. At about 20.30, nine of the 11 bunkers of the Scouts suddenly and without warning came under direct attack by precision bombs and missiles. It was this unprovoked air attack which led to the death of Major Akbar and 12 others.

What has angered the Pakistani military is the fact that Pakistan had provided the exact GPS locations of each of the 11 bunkers as well as 22,000 other locations in FATA to the US forces to prevent casualties from friendly fire. It is not understood why the positions were attacked. This needs to be cleared up in the proposed joint inquiry by US and Pakistan.

I am afraid that the bad blood caused by this action will continue to sour relations between the two nations for some time to come; the alliance between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan has become brittle and, as they say, the compact requires mending; there is too much at stake.

One of the reasons for this tension is the new rules of the game which have emerged in Pakistan after the Feb 18 election. Instead of Gen Musharraf and the military making all the decisions as in the past, now a disparate group of people are involved. There are many more power centres and policy consultations have to be wider and time consuming; just as in the US. Secondly, both the NWFP and the federal government have opted for peace deals which are distrusted by the US and Afghanistan since they do not prevent militant action in Afghanistan.

The new army chief wants to act according to the Constitution and desires that directions must be given to the army regarding policy by the political executive. The US is not used to this method of working in Pakistan. It felt more comfortable with Gen Musharraf’s personalised approach. That is not possible any more. However, the allies have a serious cause of worry. Out of the many serious problems facing Pakistan, the most worrying is the deteriorating security situation within FATA and the NWFP. However, we neither have a central focal point for its redress nor a counter-insurgency strategy. This is Pakistan’s major weakness.

Since major policy revisions are underway, it would be worthwhile to keep the following five obligations in mind while we negotiate a new compact with the US and Afghanistan:

Pakistan must initiate a comprehensive consultation process with stakeholders for the formulation of a national counter-insurgency strategy. Such a strategy must be owned by the National Assembly. In the meantime, Pakistan should formulate a draft interim strategy based on international good practices for battling the militancy. Strengthening the state must be a goal of such a policy. It must contain indicators to monitor progress.

Second, Pakistan must undertake reform of Fata to mainstream it by extending the Political Parties Act, extension of empowered local government, reform of the FCR and finally the merger of FATA into the NWFP in phases. Third, Pakistan must prevent to the maximum extent possible the freedom of movement of militants crossing over to Afghanistan. Four, Afghanistan should not heighten tension on the international boundary and issues if any must be resolved at the diplomatic level. The allies should understand the sensitivities when they operate with Afghan forces on the international border. Fifth, the US Congress should pass a bill to place the US-Pakistani relationship on a strategic level committing itself to Pakistan’s economic and social transformation.

If the above recommendations are implemented the situation relating to militancy could improve considerably.

The writer is a former chief secretary of NWFP and heads the Regional Institute of Policy Research. Email: azizkhalid **********

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

The Scouts are a bum force!

They have let Pakistan DOWN!