[Dawn] NAWAZ Sharif was recently heard saying that if the Americans can talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan then why can't Pakistain talk to the TTP?
Political leaders that adopt this line of reasoning betray a limited understanding of how the world works. The American constitution, their civil rights and the American way of life is not being negotiated in NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... 's backchannel talks with the Afghan Taliban. Not long ago the Taliban was the de facto regime in Afghanistan. NATO may see some merits in co-opting them back into the power structure in Kabul.
Let's get one fact straight. The Americans are not in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban. They are not there to occupy or stabilise or rebuild that country. Regardless of the motives that misinformed conspiracy theorists in this country may attribute to them, the Americans are in Afghanistan (together with the military contingents of 40 other countries) to ensure that Al Qaeda and its affiliates are rendered incapable of launching spectacular attacks against the US (and other countries).
Since September 2001, there has not been an attack like the one on USS Cole, or like the ones on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, much less like 9/11 itself. It would seem that the US military is delivering on at least one key objective. This is what Congress has authorised it to do and has agreed to pay for it, over the years, with $700 billion of American taxpayers' money.
As it withdraws from Afghanistan, the US will leave behind an elaborate intelligence apparatus as well as precision strike capability in the region. This is a long way from 1998 when the US Navy fired (and misfired) Tomahawk cruise missiles -- from warships at sea -- aimed at Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan (and Sudan).
Today it has a bevy of choices -- among which armed drones, fixed wing aircraft, Navy SEALs and attack helicopters -- with which to ensure that beturbanned goon religious forces based in this region do not raise their head again and strike at targets worldwide.
Now the calculus of achieving a complex objective like that may involve negotiating with the Afghan Taliban. What the Taliban may hear from NATO at the negotiating table would be this: 'Back in October 2001, you were asked to hand over Bin Laden. You ruled Kabul then. We not only got Bin Laden but most of the top Al Qaeda leadership as well. You however, no longer rule Kabul.'
From this posture they may go on to offer the Taliban a back door into Kabul. Set a thief to catch a thief goes the old dictum; and so the Afghan Taliban in return would have to hold out an assurance that foreign, jihadi and beturbanned goon forces will not use sanctuaries in the Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan to stage spectacular attacks against the United States.
There may be other quid pro quo offered to the Taliban. Last week Al Jizz reported that Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... had sent a message through Norwegian interlocutors to the Taliban in which he offered them the ministry of justice and the position of chief justice. It is conceivable that the Taliban will ask, and Karzai will agree to let the Taliban's moral police operate in the Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan with powers to scrutinise people's lifestyles and appearances and to punish offenders.
To understand what the Taliban want one only has to look at the Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... in Afghanistan where they rule. "Democracy and western ideas of women's rights are against Islam," the regional Afghan Taliban capo tells Al Jizz and "there can be no alternative to Sharia, which is God's law". Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... the footage shows squads of the vice and virtue police at a checkpoint, one turbaned official holding a cane and half a dozen others, armed with assault rifles, hooded and wearing balaclavas, checking cars to make sure they don't have music players and that cellphones do not have cameras and video footage.
Kunar is also the hiding hole of Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullahs Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... and his Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Taliban who escaped Operation Rah-e-Raast in Swat in 2009. From Kunar, every now and then they will sneak across into Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... and from there into the mouth of the Swat valley where they force the closure of schools. Last October Mullah Fazlullah's gunnies barged into a school bus. They asked for a student who they identified by name to stand up otherwise all of them would be shot. A 14-year-old girl stood up and took the bullet to her head. Her name is Malala Yousufzai.
The refusal to acknowledge the existence of the Punjabi Taliban has created a security bubble in Punjab, and whilst the province may have been "spared" it continues to sit on a sectarian volcano. You cannot endlessly sweep things under the carpet.
Pakistain is home to the world's largest jihadi infrastructure (and there are many more Mumtaz Qadris within the Punjab police). This factory of jihad needs to be systematically dismantled. Such things do not happen without force. The longer we delay, the more protracted and bloodier it will be. It is like delaying an operation for fear of surgical pain. Things get more complicated.
In 2007 an beturbanned goon assassinated Punjab's minister for social welfare, Zil-e-Huma in Gujranwala. A little while later there was an liquidation attempt on interior minister Aftab Sherpao. The operation against Lal Masjid followed and there were widespread retaliatory attacks across the country. Yet Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... chose to return that year. Elections were held in 2008.
Politicians that are fearful of, or complicit with, the beturbanned goon religious forces are Pakistain's Achilles heel. This is the time to stand up and fight. Running away from this war is no longer an option.
A strategy tip to the PPP and allies: sway the women's vote in urban Punjab in your direction and away from right-wing parties.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Let's just keep giving them money to kill each other and maybe they will leave us alone...NOT.
I think the comment about Pakistanarchy being a "jihad factory" is spot on.
What do you do with a place like that?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/11/2013 10:55 Comments ||
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#2
Get them to fight themselves, a net gain.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/11/2013 18:44 Comments ||
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I have just returned from briefing a high-ranking official of country X on the Middle East. We kept coming back to a vital theme: the incredibly shrinking power of the United States. Try to explain American behavior to neutral, open-minded third parties for whom US policy activities have become just plain bizarre!
...You have to understand, I tell the diplomat, that there's been for all practical purposes a revolution in the United States, at least in terms of its governance. Regarding foreign policy, all the old rules don't apply -- credibility; punishing enemies and rewarding friends; deterrence; don't leave your men behind to die; don't appoint a muddleheaded fool to be secretary of defense. In each case there is a nicely crafted rationalization for going against centuries of diplomatic and security practices. But so what? It's still wrong.
Obama is too busy in apologizing for real or imagined past US bullying, proving he only believes in multilateral action, has so much respect for local customs, and trying to demonstrate to those that hate it that America is their buddy in order to win them over.
The language above is harsh, but it is also true.
Once upon a time there were two superpowers, the United States and USSR, in the Cold War. Then there was one superpower, the United States. Now there are none.
And yet what this means from Israel's standpoint may be very different from what you'd expect.
Israel can cope with this situation, especially since it continues to receive US military aid, some diplomatic backing, and nice rhetoric about the ironclad special relationship between the two countries.
And those assets rest on a foundation of public and congressional support for Israel in the United States.
Indeed, it is clear that Israel is the only -- the only -- factor that Obama doesn't like that has been able to preserve its interests while other seemingly far more powerful forces -- the health industry, the energy industry, the National Rifle Association, for example -- have been battered into defeat or are hard-pressed.
Moreover, Israel can defend itself. It is willing to take unilateral action and can succeed in doing so.
...Obama is the president of the United States twice elected by the American people and he will be president for the next four years. It is not the task of Israel's government to interfere with America's internally made choices. It is the job of Israel's government to live as best as possible with those rulers, minimize the disadvantage, and wait out this period by agreeing, smiling, giving in on small things, and doing everything possible to protect the nation's security.
And thus Israeli leaders should applaud Obama, say what a good friend he is, and do everything possible to maximize cooperation on the critical issues that both countries face. These include continued military and intelligence cooperation as well as the maximum possible support on Iran and other issues. In this context, Israel -- like every other country friendly with the United States able to do so -- retains its independence of action while minimizing friction.
People like me are free to express our views about the damage he is doing. That damage is first and foremost to US national interests; second to the lives of people in Arabic- speaking countries, Turks, and Iranians; and only in third place to Israel.
#1
Israel can cope with this situation, especially since it continues to receive US military aid, some diplomatic backing, and nice rhetoric about the ironclad special relationship between the two countries.
You realize he's trying to break the ability of future US administrations to provide the military aid and diplomatic backing he's pretending to enthusiastically support?
#4
"the damage he is doing. That damage is first and foremost to US national interests"
That's Bambi's intent. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/11/2013 13:23 Comments ||
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#5
It is interesting: and once you accept the premise, what Israel is doing makes perfect sense. Stand tough on the big things, because Champ can't move them and gets frustrated. Yet give on little things so that Champ can think he's gained a victory somehow.
It's how you deal with narcissistic thugs. That's something Israel knows a thing or two about.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2013 13:28 Comments ||
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#4
He makes the point that the boycott, dating back, he claims, to 1945, significantly harms the Palestinians, is more observed in the breach in the Middle East, and has no impact on Israel. And finally, the Palestinians don't want it, as they themselves don't observe it, and it sure would be a brotherly gesture of solidarity if Muslims came and spent money in Palestinian shops, hotels and restaurants.
Clearly the man went native after he settled in the U.S.
The Times writer had to have searched far and wide for the most unappealing anti-gun gun owners on the planet and found two living in the same household in Washington state. From TFA:
Mr. Kundu is a master marksman from rural Washington who owns pistols and assault rifles for self-defense, all while claiming to detest the presence of guns in his life and in the broader American culture.
"I'd love to see all guns destroyed," he said. "But I'm not giving up mine first." The link in the title points to a refutation of the bonifides of the individuals in the Times article:
This is not the first time Kundu has been in the media pitching himself as a self-hating, anti-hunting gun owner. CNN has taken the bait too.
So who is Michael Kundu?
Well, he was School Board President for Marysville School District who ended up in hot water in the past for writing a racist e-mail as a school board president. Also, as School Board President, he attempted to censor dissenting viewpoints on global warming from being discussed in schools. You mean that didn't make the Times article?
Perhaps more telling, Kundu's associated with Sea Shepherd, who were recently declared pirates by the 9th Circuit:
Johnston's 1997 stock donation included shares of a company named Northern Development Associates, a for-profit business which is now 100-percent owned by Sea Shepherd.
Corporate records show that the company's officers include Watson's ex-wife Lisa DiStefano and longtime associate Michael Kundu.
Sea Shepherd's own web site says he was Pacific Northwest coordinator for the group in 1997. You can see a profile of him here. Additionally, his activities have earned him the ire of native Americans. As the blogger notes:
How stupid does the New York Times think we all are? A gross enough adverb has yet to be invented, I suspect
And are we to believe that no one at CNN, or the New York Times, are aware that the new, moderate voice of gun ownership is in fact a radical activist with a group that has been accused of engaging in piracy on the high seas? There is nothing ordinary or moderate about this guy.
#3
Mr. Kundu, the competitive sharpshooter, agreed. Ive always thought the Second Amendment is secondary to everyone being able to feel safe and secure in their lives.
Heh, thats what NYTs considers as the unexplored middle ground viewpoint.
#4
I don't know about you but I am stocking up on .45 ACP and .45 Long Colt Ammo myself.
If this mess doesn't get straightened out pretty soon, the State of California will be Dodge City or Tombstone in another year.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/11/2013 10:52 Comments ||
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#5
Mr. Kundu, the competitive sharpshooter, agreed. "I've always thought the Second Amendment is secondary to everyone being able to feel safe and secure in their lives."
What's missing here is that Mr. Kundu and his ilk get to define for you and me what it takes to feel safe and secure in their lives. For me, the idea that patriotic men & women around the country are armed makes me feel much safer & more secure then I would being at the mercy of the Black Shirts & Brown Shirts that would support the wannabe tyrants in Washington.
Just one more claim that shows what people like this really don't like is the idea of OTHER people having freedom to live as they like.
In a nation of 300+ million could you find a crackpot like this? Sure. Does that imply anything at all in a wider sense? Of course not. Even a NYT reader should know that.
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[Dawn] NAWAZ Sharif was recently heard saying that if the Americans can talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan then why can't Pakistain talk to the TTP?
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
