NATO’s dirty little secret in Afghanistan

[unforgotton_man]

After spending the last decade spending more than $3 Trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Army has little to show for it except for a long laundry list of “do mores” and a stack of “blame others”. While 80% of Afghanistan is in the hands of the 38 insurgent groups incorrectly labeled as the The Taliban, the US leaders talk about bombing Pakistan because the “safe havens” are in FATA. Any exercise in logic would make the following facts evident to anyone with half a brain:

1. Why would the Taliban need a safe haven anywhere else, if they control 80% of the land mass of Afghanistan
2. Why would terrorists hide in a small confined space in FATA if they have almost all of Afghanistan to hide in

“Afghanistan is providing close to 95 percent of the world’s heroin,” the State Department’s top counternarcotics official, Tom Schweich, said at a recent conference. “That makes it almost a sole-source supplier” and presents a situation “unique in world history.” Washington Post

Pakistani analysts always wonder where the funding for the Taliban is coming from. Obviously the NATO and ISAF forces have been unable to destroy the Poppy Crop and the export of opium from Afghanistan is at an all time high. Conservative estimates project that the “Taliban” profits from opium exceed half a Billion Dollar. For this amount of money they can purchase as many arms as they want. Some analysts have also investigated the flow of Russian arms in the hands of the Northern Alliance. These arms find they way into the hands of the Taliban.


U.N. figures to be released in September are expected to show that Afghanistan’s poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world’s crop, 3 percentage points more than last year, officials familiar with preliminary statistics told The Associated Press. Washington Post

Pakistan has repeatedly asked NATO and ISAF to cut off the funding to the TTP. The TTP had US and Indian arms and plenty to cash to recruit young kids. Where is the money coming from?

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) — Pakistan defended its fight against Islamic extremism and called on Western governments to choke off funding and arms supplies to Taliban insurgents.

Sardar Tariq Azizuddin, the country’s ambassador to Turkey, said people should question how the Taliban grew strong enough to take on NATO and U.S. forces.
said in an interview with Turkish media, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported yesterday. “Nobody either talks about it or wants to talk about it.”Azizuddin“What is the source of Taliban funding and what is the source of their weapons supply?”



The Obama administration says Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions threaten the stability of the nuclear-armed nation and hamper the war effort by the U.S. and NATO in neighboring Afghanistan.

Turkey was hosting a meeting of the so-called Friends of Democratic Pakistan, which includes the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia and the World Bank. The group promotes international support for Pakistan as it aims to overcome security and development challenges.

was killed in a missile strike earlier this month.Mehsud BaitullahThe government in Islamabad says it is winning its fight against extremists and that the Taliban is in disarray after rebel chief



Mehsud led a force of 5,000 fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region, after forming the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan alliance in 2007, according to U.S. military analysts.



Swat Valley

The government also hails its 10-week offensive against insurgents in the northwestern Swat Valley as a sign of success, saying militants have been cleared from towns and villages.

“The armed forces secured the main areas and are mopping up some elements on the fringes,” APP cited Azizuddin as saying.

The anti-Taliban offensive by NATO and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan has pushed militants across the border and “aggravated the situation in our country,” the ambassador said, according to the report.

After a U.S.-led alliance toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, guerrillas fled to bases in Pakistan where they re-armed and trained, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. The insurgency has grown, with militants crossing back and forth across the frontier.

The illicit opium trade, worth as much as $470 million last year, is a major financial pillar for the Taliban, funding training bases and buying weapons and explosives, according to the United Nations.





Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN yesterday that Afghanistan’s security is getting worse as the Taliban insurgency grows “more sophisticated.” To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net. Pakistan Says West Must Cut Source of Taliban’s Funding, Arms By Ed Johnson

Sardar Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan’s ambassador to Turkey is raising the right issues. It is amazing that the so called doyens of politics and research–people like Ahmed Rashid, never ask the right questions