"I disagree and believe your army wasn't morally and physically prepared in late 2001-early 2002 to defend your western borders from an invasion by the ousted taliban gov't and its army." S-2
"What was this-a reply or just a slander?"
You contend that your troubles in Pakistan are the result of our "
mess". Hardly. You are the ultimate arbiter of who crosses your borders- ALL of your borders, to include your western borders.
Either you were invaded successfully by the tattered remnants of the afghan taliban army, its wounded, and it's core governmental leaders...
...or you accepted them.
One or the other. How else can their presence be explained?
"BTW, we never faced any threat from the Western border till the 'liberators' landed in Afghanistan with all their gadgetry."
Of course not. That was a taliban government sponsored and mentored by your ISI. How could such be a threat? All the more reason to suspect that your lands weren't invaded by these tattered remnants.
They were offered sanctuary to reconstitute and eventually return. So they have.
"The foremost victory for any terrorist is to compel the opponent to use force, which you already did by invading Afghanistan and which we are also doing today."
Odd, isn't it, that this war to date has produced 20-30,000 afghan dead over an eight year period? Particularly when the afghan civil war to unseat Rabbani cost 200,000 thanks to assistance from the likes of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E. (among notable others) and that the Afghan-Soviet war killed anywhere between 900,000 and 3,000,000.
"You kill one bad guy with 20 other innocents and you get 40 terrorist supporters who are ready to eat you raw!"
But, because of your overall excellence, never, ever experience such for yourselves? Further if so, not with the level of callousness and casual brutality with which we deliver tragedy? I see.
Well, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I personally think that my military has paid great heed to such given the penchant of so many here and elsewhere to exclaim of our "
overwhelming firepower".
The casualties suggest a marked change from Afghanistan's two previous conflicts. Further, we know that most are the product of the taliban...
...or at least the U.N. and HRW do. That must be factored. Finally, we're all aware that, however successful or not, we must improve. Clearly, it was specific orders from McChrystal to his field commanders that were issued only recently.
Our use of violence is about as measured as a force of our capability has ever exercised and challenge you to show the same or better when/if you enter the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan anytime soon.
Good luck.
"i know you still have a hard time digesting the truth that only a very few cross over on our side!"
Indeed. A very, very hard time.
"Let me correct you right here; you dont even know who the actual Talibans were!!"
You've no reason to write that. Of course I do. They arose out of Oruzgan and Kandahar in about 1994 led by Omar and a few others who had battle experience in the mujahideen and wished to restore order amidst the civil war.
They were spontaneous and initially well-received. Your ISI pulled its favor from Hekmatyar and tossed it behind a winner...
...and so it was in 1996 when they seized power but were recognized by only KSA, UAE, and yourselves.
"In my humble opinion most of them are dead since long..."
If killed in battle by us. Certainly not by you. Omar has been assiduous in controlling his forces and refugee camps on your land. No trouble whatsoever. He knows not to rock the boat and who's buttering his bread.
There's no reason to think young men in 1993 aren't capable of being mature leaders now. They've gone nowhere and added youngsters to the fold.
"...only a few lurk behind who turned tides when the little Jesus was scared out of you on 9/11."
I don't make light of terror in Pakistan. Are you being intentionally crude about 3,000 citizens and residents of America dying in the space of two hours?
"Please try to differentiate between Al Qaeeda, Pakistani Talibans, Afghan Talibans fighting against Occupation and the dudes who (according to yanks) are protecting people like UBL!"
I have no need to differentiate such. My eyes are open and recognize the heinous nature of all these men as fundamentally the same. I've no tolerance for such.
You, of course, are accustomed to using some of the aforementioned groups to serve your own narrow purposes. You are well aware of the misery the afghan taliban inflicted upon their own people but can easily accomodate such.
Yet these are the same charismatic men who infected your own susceptible youth when you permitted taliban residency on your lands in late 2001. Their message is the same and you've seen the remarkable symmetry between the suffering in SWAT, Bajaur, and Buner as was experienced in Afghanistan both past and present.
Unacceptable to believe, therefore, that those other forty countries who can't evidently see your truth can somehow endorse your "mentorship" of the afghan people.
Xeric, let's be fair here. Pakistan doesn't give a whit about the afghan people and only care about the pashtu so far as they can deflect pashtu nationalist aspirations onto hazara, tajik, uzbek, and turkic lands in Afghanistan and AWAY from the Punjabi heartland. If doing so allows Pakistan to diminish Indian influence as tajik and Uzbek influence is also diminished-
all the better, thus avoiding ANY remote chance that Pakistan shall find the Indian army encamped on your western borders.
Not that such would ever happen. Just a nice rationale to keep Afghanistan as your personal playbox.
Well, at least it's clear that you're a supporter of the afghan insurgency and a serving officer in your army. The sentiment is still clearly there as I highly doubt your views are isolated.
In fact, I'd suspect that those notions pre-dominate your officer corps still and are still part of your operational calculus.
"Us or may be you..let me think...it's such a difficult question, isn't it?"
Not for me. We didn't have a damned thing to do with them. You did, though. We didn't recognize them. You did though.
And you accuse America of creating these guys long (1993) after we were gone? Your baby all the way and you reap the dubious benefits now.
"Exactly, it's always their fault, they forgot that you the americans have been baptized with holy water! You cant do blunders (or may be they just happen)"
Now you rant. We blunder often. Few work as hard at uncovering blunders and bringing them to light. Perhaps you've been following the story of the battle of Wanat. If not, do so. But if you do, understand that investigating our mistakes isn't uncommon. Afterall, we did conduct a review of our afghan operations. Petraeus did the same in Iraq in 2007.
We don't stand still nor ignore matters which can be improved, IMHO.
"Now you changed your stance so blatantly that it made me laugh and then wonder about your credibility!"
I don't find where you could be confused? Please show me any post where I've said that the taliban don't exist in Afghanistan? I know that Agnostic muslim and I clearly discussed the fact that many mid and lower tier taliban soldiers remained in Afghanistan in late 2001 and simply returned to their neighborhoods to await reactivation and new instructions from their masters in Quetta.
"Yes they cross but then why would they cross when the arid Afghan terrain is at their disposal 24/7..."
Oh boy! Clearly you jest or don't understand the need for resupply, medical treatment, meetings with a command leadership, escorting opium to Pakistan, etc.
"as your Pet Karzai's govt and your own influences turns into ashes just outside Kabul!!"
Well, Pakistan certainly knows how to control its own lands so I suppose your criticism of ISAF/ANA control is justified.
Further, with a shining example of pristine governance offered by your civilian leadership and civil administration, the control and acumen of Karzai's government certainly pales.
Of course, they've been doing this for eight years. I think you'd be aware of the hurdles they faced even without a raging insurgency directed from your lands. That's certainly been a monkey-wrench in the works.
"Yes they reside, so what should be done..."
Thank you for admitting as much. What would you advise be done for these afghan taliban leaders and their minions on your lands?
"...why dont you stop ranting, attacking with drones, and complaining and fence the god damn border, you have the resources i bet."
As do you but it's not the correct answer. First, it's not practical. As a military man you know that any obstacle must be covered by direct, all-weather observation 24/7 and, at a minimum, pre-planned artillery fires if not direct fires. That's a lot of border because no obstacle is insurmountable.
Mine the length without such and you'll find your roads mined by the largesse left for the picking.
Secondly, it would be culturally destructive to the pashtu tribes as well as being a visible symbol of the nature of afghan-Pakistan relations.
I don't like it and find it not feasible myself.
"...why cant you just do something so that they dont escape, your military claims to be the most omnipotent kinda shyt on the planet!"
Really? That from an officer of artillery? We claim nothing in such terms.
"i'll put you through an exam after the classes are over"
Somewhat arrogant from an officer who's discussing the reclamation of your own lands. After all, maybe America can teach you a thing or two about keeping war off your lands and doing battle elsewhere. It can be beneficial, if wars must be fought, for your own population. That's always a good idea IMV.
"And yes these forty are being eating dust, oh may be not, you did get Mehsud, but no, he was not the prime target, so who was prime target, UBL or may Mullah Omer i guess."
Disparage as you will. Those are forty nations who form their own views of matters and are affected by your choice to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. How you value their perspectives is your affair.
"Sorry for hurting you, but yes we are obsessed with this stone-age thinking, if that;s what you want to hear..."
Saddens me, actually. You can't afford to believe that you've the right to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. You've done a piss-poor job of marketing your value to a stable and safe Afghanistan, sponsoring one of the most heinous regimes of modern history...
...and wish to do the same again.
Eventually, this ambition will prove impossible for others to ignore and will need to be addressed directly and firmly. I can only hope that those like yourself either recognize the futility of such ambitions or are eventually over-ruled by more sensible and accomodating perspectives.
India has earned nothing but praise by its work in Afghanistan, as near as I can tell. Nobody seems to see that which Pakistan claims. Repeatedly. Moreover, it's clear to most that your ISPR, Ministry of Interior, and ISI are engaged in a propaganda campaign of dissemblance and equivocation to justify your continued involvement in Afghanistan.
"And you have made Afghanistan a living paradise, not only Afghanistan but you have also made its neighbors heavens! The world sees that very clearly!"
Actually, what's clear to most, as it was during the Soviet-Afghan war, is that this insurgency holds no traction in Afghanistan without external sanctuary offered by Pakistan. Never re-constituted to begin with and not sustainable to boot.
Plain as day.
"Sorry but your President doesnt say that. Try to read his comments about the current operations. Sorry to wake you up, but let's keep pace with time."
Try providing them that I may read them in context and understand exactly to what you refer. Can you do so because I've got comments galore from Holbrooke, Gates, and Mullen referencing the Quetta shura just from this year.
"You'll never get what you want me to say."
Yes I have-
"Yes they reside, so what should be done..."
Crystalline and EXACTLY what I expected to read.
"If we go by your understanding, then anybody who can muster forty men to refute a truth should also be allowed to take decisions at will, irrespective of what the fact says."
Could be true but here there's sufficient questions about Pakistan's version of the "truth" to justify the presence of all these nations despite your wishes.
Get it?
These other nations know you'd prefer them to not be in Afghanistan, have considered your requests and the rationales behind such, and have decided that your vision of Afghanistan as a permanently retarded ward of yourselves isn't viable and actually quite dangerous to the rest of us.
Rejected.
Thanks.