Shocking news: Pakistan is going against its own foes, not ours
Mr. Obama, officials said, has expressed similar concerns about Pakistan's willingness to attack Taliban leaders who are operating out of the Pakistani city of Quetta and commanding forces that are mounting attacks across the border in Afghanistan. While Pakistan has mounted military operations against some Taliban groups in recent weeks, one official noted, "it's been focused on the Taliban who are targeting the Pakistani government, but not those who are running operations in Afghanistan."
Sorry, not really shocking, but someone must be surprised at this information, since it is one of the linchpins in our war strategy in Afghanistan that Pakistan's Government needs help from us in stabilizing its border.
Maybe they don't want our help.
Sorry, not really shocking, but someone must be surprised at this information, since it is one of the linchpins in our war strategy in Afghanistan that Pakistan's Government needs help from us in stabilizing its border.
Maybe they don't want our help.
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Maybe if we kill enough pro-Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan, that will cause pro-Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan to switch sides, and then Pakistan will help us?
November 11, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
In case there is a lemma or two here, I'l make it as perspicacious as possible:
1) If pakistan needs a stable Afghanistan to stabilize itself;
2) If our own war against Taliban in Afghanistan will prevent them (Taliban) from seizing control of the country again;
3)if a Taliban-led Afghanistan will threaten Pakistan (this restates 1 in slightly different terms);
4) then WHY is Pakistan unwilling to consider our cause its own, out of self-interest?
November 11, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I realize that all this is too obvious to be said, except to Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates.
November 11, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
given the truth of all this, as well as the points re Karzai, I am very glad Obama is taking time to reflect on the war.
November 11, 2009 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
A better question why isn't India helping? I know they are having a civil war right now, but 40,000-100,000 troops out of them to clean out their enemy isn't all that much to ask.
November 11, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, it depends on what you mean by "helping." According to the Pakistanis, India is "helping:"
"India is engaged in creating disturbance in Pakistan. It currently has an extensive diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. It includes the Indian embassy in Kabul and four consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. These Indian diplomatic missions serve as launching pads for undertaking covert operations against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Particularly, the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and their embassy in Kabul are used for clandestine activities inside Pakistan in general and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Baluchistan in particular. Indian consulates in Afghanistan are printing fake Pakistani currency, using it to recruit poverty-stricken Afghans to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism on Pakistani territory. "
http://pakobserver.net/200911/09/Articles02.asp
Since the region including Afghanistan, and all of Central Asia, is now undergoing a Cold War (see
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6913250.ece )
so we can expect lots of such 'proxy war' games, myths, propaganda, and consulates blowing up.
Meanwhile the news is obama's going to send 34,000 soldiers over. Sounds like a lot to sacrifice for a cause no one in this country understands- we are not used to being Proxies in somebody else's Cold war- but fair's fair-
November 11, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink