US lawmakers strongly oppose weapon sales to ‘snitch’ Pakistan

[I S I]

Irrespective of throwing tons of money at them, US legislators are expected to take educated potshots but what these Legislators said was outright stupid and idiotic. I was commenting on the intellectual and critical thinking of such legislators. What's the difference b/w them and rednecks and hillybillys ? These days most of US so called educated legislators take their geo politics lessons from Fox news instead of researching diligently and properly.

It could be the case of Indian media putting own words in some one else mouth. Happened before too.

We should wait for reliable source..

 

[Vyom]

Do u know, u still dont have a shred of evidence which tells we support anyone in afghanistan.

Your Quote in the signature.

 

[xyxmt]

US lawmakers strongly oppose weapon sales to ‘snitch’ Pakistan
Tashfeen Malik – studied at a Pakistani school spreading a particularly fundamentalist message,” committee chairman Ed Royce said in his opening remarks.

A naturalized US citizen married an innocent Pakistani woman and converted her into a terrorist to commit a heinous crime of shooting innocent civilian that happens very so often in the US....another version of the same incident, for stupid US law maker's review

 

[Vyom]

Congrats on disowning your own faults by going now back to 1977. lol - You guys are a riot.

"look ameriki you funded an Ak47 and helped USSR from taking over us too in 85, and everything we as pakistan have done since then is your fault."

A bit of history.

Pakistan’s Islamist Addiction:
To manage the myriad threats that emanated from Afghanistan, Pakistan turned to a cast of allies that would become the centerpiece of Pakistani foreign policy: Islamists and Islamist militants. By 1960, Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, acting under the auspices of the army, were encouraging Pakistan’s Islamist parties to advance the country’s pursuit of strategic depth by forging ideological allies in Afghanistan. As Afghanistan came increasingly under the influence of the Soviet Union, Pakistan’s Islamist parties and their Afghan allies became the principal foes of Afghan communists. The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), founded in 1965, was itself divided between rival wings. While the Communist factions competed for power and influence, Islamists were also responding to the spread of leftist ideology. By the mid-1950s, Islamist politics had become firmly entrenched in Kabul, with Islamists gathering at Kabul University to debate campus Marxists. These Islamists were Pakistan’s earliest allies, largely due the mediation of Pakistan’s own Islamist parties, most notably the Jamaat-e-Islami. By 1973, the Islamists conducted their first shura (leadership council) in the home of Burhanuddin Rabbani, a junior member of the Sharia faculty at Kabul University. The shura elected Rabbani as its leader and Ghulam Rasul Sayyaf, also at the Kabul University, as deputy leader. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was a student, assumed command of political activities. The latter became known as the
Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic Society) which would form the nucleus of the various mujahideen groups that Pakistan began to instrumentalize in its efforts to manipulate Afghanistan’s internal affairs. As events in Afghanistan began to churn with the pro-Pashtunistan Sardar Mohammad Daoud ousting King Zahir Shah in 1973, Pakistan’s insurgency in Balochistan intensified and Pakistan responded with brutal military force. Afghanistan vigorously opposed military action in Balochistan while simultaneously prosecuting its claims upon Pashtun territories in Pakistan. In 1973, the authoritarian civilian leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, exhausted with Afghanistan and its varied policies, ordered the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) to lead covert actions in Afghanistan. The Inspector General of the Frontier Constabulary and the Director General of the ISI jointly conducted intelligence missions inside Afghanistan. Islamist leaders such as Hekmatyar and Rabbani routinely met with Pakistani intelligence. Bhutto, as well as all subsequent Pakistani leaders, chose Islamists as their instruments of interference in Afghanistan. Pakistan feared using ethnicity-based opposition because of the potential backlash such an approach could have for its own restive ethnic groups on the border areas.

By 1973, many Islamist leaders were already ensconced in militant training camps that the ISI established for them in North and South Waziristan agencies in the FATA. This laid the foundation for a larger anti-Soviet, so-called jihad effort in the 1980s, with American, Saudi, and other funders. These Pashtun-dominated agencies in FATA were a black hole, inaccessible to the press and conveniently located on the border with Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Paktia, Logar and Paktika. Moreover, Pakistan’s military had a large garrison at Razmak (in the northern part of South Waziristan, near the southern boundary with North Waziristan). Pakistani security forces were also stationed in Mohmand agency abutting the northeastern, Pashtun-dominated, Afghan provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar. Pakistan’s leadership ordered the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary organization whose recruits come from FATA, but whose officers are seconded from the Pakistan army, to organize and train the Afghans. The unit’s inspector general, Brigadier (later Major General) Naseerullah Khan Babar oversaw the entire operation to train the Islamist militants. Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud (who would later become an enemy of Pakistan and a target of the Taliban in the mid-1990s) were among the first to receive Pakistani training. Between 1973 and 1977, Pakistan’s armed forces trained some 5,000 militants to fight the Daoud regime. During their time in Pakistan, Afghan Islamists forged ever-deeper ties with Pakistan’s Islamists, in particular members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami, both of which were closely tied to the military and received funding from Saudi Arabia, among other donors. Hekmatyar would go on to form Hizb-e-Islami-Afghanistan, which had ideological ties to JI leadership in Pakistan (R. Hussain 2005; Haqqani 2005; Rubin 2002). Contrary to popular perceptions, Pakistan undertook these initiatives well before the Soviets crossed the Amu Darya and long before the United States became involved. In other words, when the United States and others became involved in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion on Christmas Day, 1979, they were augmenting and resourcing a policy that Pakistan had developed and funded on its own, driven by its own security imperatives. Throughout 1978, Lt. General Fazle Haq, of the ISI and operating at Zia’s orders, managed to collapse about fifty Afghan resistance groups into a more manageable cadre. Other ISI operatives worked to foster deeper ties between Pakistani and Afghan Islamist groups while the Frontier Corps was tasked with training the burgeoning Islamist militias. These collective efforts resulted in seven major Sunni Afghan Islamist militant groups, in addition to a few important Shia militias that enjoyed more support from Iran. These groups were developed solely under Pakistan’s direction and with Pakistani funds; in fact, American assistance to the mujahideen effort did not begin to flow until 1982 because the United States had sanctioned Pakistan in April 1979 for developments in its nuclear weapons program. The United States was unable to overtly fund Pakistan until Ronald Reagan became president in 1981 and worked with Congress to get those sanctions waived.

 

[Blue Marlin]

A naturalized US citizen married an innocent Pakistani woman and converted her into a terrorist to commit a heinous crime of shooting innocent civilian that happens very so often in the US....another version of the same incident, for stupid US law maker's review

dont say it to me, im just a messenger

 

[Wolf]

165 Million dollars for one F-16. How could that be?

 

[GURU DUTT]

165 Million dollars for one F-16. How could that be?

corruption

 

[MilSpec]

Remind me again how Abu musab al zarqawi was killed in Iraq ?

Not by Aim 120C5's for sure. unless there was a riveting flying carpet chase involved in the equation.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Your Quote in the signature.

i know, but what does amerrica has? from there side as a proof.

 

[ganesh623]

'The clique that runs that country is treating us like suckers. We are very foolish, giving people money who involve themselves in activity that's harmful to America.'

'When you look at the cold hard facts, Pakistan is not an ally to the United States. They have been a protector of our enemies.'

Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC.

Almost every member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, December 16, slammed Pakistan for its alleged treachery of declaring its strategic loyalty to the US, but simultaneously providing safe havens for and colluding with terrorist groups attacking the US, India and Afghanistan.

Led by Committee Chairman Congressman Ed Royce, California Republican, the members expressed concern over Pakistan's unrelenting development of its nuclear weapons arsenal and pilloried the Obama administration for its policy of continued to provide Islamabad with military and economic largesse, even as its plays this 'double game.'

At a hearing titled, The Future of US-Pakistan Relations, Royce fired the first of several salvos, noting, that 'The committee has repeatedly urged Pakistan to take meaningful action against key Islamist terrorist groups operating within its territory. Unfortunately, Pakistan, which is now home to the world's fastest growing nuclear weapons programme, has remained a fount of radical Islamist thought.'

'It was no surprise that one of the San Bernardino attackers, Tashfeen Malik, studied at a Pakistani school spreading a particularly fundamentalist message,' Royce added.

'Looking back,' Royce recalled, 'the 9/11 terrorist attacks transformed US-Pakistan relations overnight. After more than a decade under sanctions for its nuclear proliferation, Pakistan was to be a key ally in combating Islamist militancy, becoming a leading recipient of US aid in the nearly 15 years since.'

But 'while the US was quick to embrace Pakistan,' Royce stated, 'Pakistan has hardly reciprocated. Pakistani governments have come and gone, but its northwestern frontier has remained a terrorist haven, with its security services supporting what it considers to be good Islamist terrorist groups.'

'These good groups, under Pakistan's calculus, destabilise Afghanistan and threaten neighbouring India, while the government simultaneously opposes what it considers the bad Islamist groups.'

'Today,' Royce said, 'Deobandi schools create an infrastructure of hate -- 600 Deobandimadrasas, funded with Gulf State money, teach intolerant, hate-filled rhetoric that inspires the foot soldiers of jihadist terrorism.'

'I've made three trips to Islamabad to press this issue,' Royce said. 'Pakistan must do the work to register schools and close those creating new generations of radicals. And those are the schools that are being funded with Gulf State money -- the Deobandi schools, and they need to be closed.'

'Pakistan's nuclear arsenal,' Royce said, 'is on track to be the third largest. Its addition of small tactical nuclear weapons in recent years is even more troubling. This is a country which spends a fifth of its budget on the military, from long-range missiles to F-16s, but under 2.5 percent on education.'

'Through all of the double-dealing, US policy has essentially stood still. Security assistance, cash, and arms has continued to flow under the occasional temporary delays. Indeed, despite some Department of Defence assistance for Pakistan being held because of inadequate efforts against the Haqqani network, the State Department is currently seeking more arms for Islamabad.'

'We want a strong partnership with the country, but a new policy is long overdue,' Royce said. 'One option, as (Eliot) Engel (New York Democrat) and I proposed earlier this year, would be to target those officials who maintain relationships with designated terrorist groups, with travel and financial sanctions.'

'This would make it clear,' Royce argued, 'he US and Pakistan cannot have a true strategic partnership, until Pakistan security services cuts ties with terrorist organisations.'

Congressman Ted Poe, Texas Republican, pointed out that the US 'has given Pakistan $30 billion since 9/11,' and asserted, 'Pakistan is a Benedict Arnold ally to the United States. Even going back to May the 2nd, 2011, when there was the raid on -- in Pakistan, on Osama bin Laden, we didn't tell the Pakistanis we were coming, because, frankly, they would snitch us off and Osama bin Laden would have left.'

'And the near confrontation that took place between the US and Pakistan after the raid, Pakistan scrambled two US-made F-16s, and were headed to the area where the raid took place, and a possible confrontation with two US-made jets against American helicopters at the raid didn't happen, but it could have happened,' Poe said.

'I think we need to be very concerned about providing armaments for Pakistan, who seems to play all the sides,' Poe added.

'When I was elected 28 years ago,' Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said, 'I think most people considered me Pakistan's best friend in the House of Representatives. And let me just say that I -- over the years-- have been deeply disappointed that those people who I considered to be my friends were betraying the trust of the United States, and were committing acts that were only the acts that an enemy would commit, even though we continued to have a facade of friendship
'We've given $30 billion -- $30 billion since 9/11 -- to Pakistan, yet we realised that since 9/11, we still see that there's ample evidence that Pakistan is still deeply involved with various terrorist networks, including supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and radicals who kill Americans.'

'Frankly, our relationship with Pakistan has been a disgrace,' Rohrabacher said. 'We have a government that gave safe haven to Osama bin Laden, the murderer of 3,000 Americans -- 3,000 Americans slaughtered in front of us. I don't think anybody believes that the high-level people in the Pakistan government didn't know about that.'

Rohrabacher complained that Islamabad also 'continues to hold Dr Afridi (who provided the US intelligence with information about bin Laden's whereabouts) just to rub it in our face the type of relationship they have with us.'

'And to their own people, they're slaughtering people, they're slaughtering people in Balochistan, and the Sindhis and others who are being brutally oppressed by a clique in their government.'

'It's not all of Pakistan,' Rohrabacher said, 'but the clique that runs that country is treating us like suckers, and they should, because we are. We're acting foolish. We are very foolish, giving people money who have continually to involve themselves in activity that's harmful to the United States of America, is not going to win their friendship.'

'As an Indian American and the only Indian-American member of Congress,' Dr Amerish 'Ami' Bera, California Democrat, said, 'the stability of the region is incredibly important to me.'

'On the counter-terrorism side, I think post-Mumbai in 2008, India demonstrated incredible restraint in its approach to Pakistan.'

'I would have expected Pakistan to have a much more robust crackdown on the terrorist threats, on the LeT (Lashkar-e-Tayiba) and the Haqqani network and others,' Dr Bera said. 'From the perspective of the Indians, there is almost this side-by-side relationship in in Pakistan with some of these terrorist networks that's almost symbiotic. They live side by side.'

'In some ways,' Dr Bera pointed out, 'it is almost as though they allow these networks to exist in Pakistan to destabilise the region, or to have this constant threat on India.'

'Pakistan -- let's be truthful about this -- plays a double game,' Congressman Brian Higgins, New York Democrat, asserted. 'They are our military partner, but they are the protector and the patron of our enemies. And this has been going on for 15 years.'

'Since 2002,' Higgins said, 'United States aid to Pakistan, economic and military, has averaged about $2 billion a year. Pakistan's annual defence budget is only about $5 billion a year.'

'Also, Pakistan is involved in an arms race against what it believes is its existential threat with India,' he added. 'In fact, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Pakistan could have 350 nuclear warheads in the next decade, becoming the world's third biggest nuclear power, outpacing India, France, China, and the United Kingdom.'

'We have to call them out on this double game that they have been playing, not this year, not last year, not five years, but for the past 15 years.'

'When you really look at the cold hard facts, Pakistan is not an ally to the United States. They have facilitated, they have encouraged, they have been a protector of the very enemies,' Higgins reiterated.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii Democrat and the first and only Hindu American serving in Congress, brought up the role of the ISI and noted that 'there has been evidence time and time again of their direct and indirect connections with the Haqqani network.'

'In 2011,' Gabbard recalled, 'then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen called the Haqqani network a veritable arm of the ISI.'

'I think one of the greatest concerns as we look at how closely connected the Haqqani and others are to Pakistan,' Gabbard said, 'is the safety of the nuclear weapons that they have.'

'When you have the Haqqani network being an arm of the ISI,' Gabbard said, 'there was concern that that they could gain access to these nuclear weapons or traffic them or get them into the wrong hands.'

US Congress attacks Pakistan: 'Acts only an enemy would commit' - Rediff.com India News

 

[vayudoot]

Now people will comment about, US + Modi Nexus to contain Pakistan and..Pakistan should get close to Russia and China.

___ end of debate__

 

[Tameem]

Now people will comment about, US + Modi Nexus to contain Pakistan and..Pakistan should get close to Russia and China.

___ end of debate__

That for diplomacy........in private we Pakistanis enjoys milking that fat silly bull(US) no matter how hard it flungs its head in Air

 

[vayudoot]

how hard it flung its head in Air

through US drones in Air

 

[Tameem]

through US drones in Air

And that technology too ends up in Pakistani inventory eventually

 

[ConcealCarry]

and where did the other (352+) terrorists involved in 352 mass shootings during 2015 studied? and what kind of message those schools are spreading?


Mass Shootings in 2015 - Mass Shooting Tracker

“I doubt that anyone who follows Pakistan closely was surprised to learn that one of the San Bernardino attackers – Tashfeen Malik – studied at a Pakistani school spreading a particularly fundamentalist message,” committee chairman Ed Royce said in his opening remarks.