Fightingn the fanatics in their heartland
March 30, 2009
Article from: The Australian
The first front in the war on terror is again the main game
CRITICS who argue Iraq was always a second-order issue in the war on terror should be pleased with Barack Obama's emphasis on defeating Islamist terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan. With the struggle against unrepresentative insurgents in Iraq now going better than anybody could have imagined two years ago, the US President is able to emphasise action against terrorism in the south of Afghanistan and the adjacent Pakistani provinces, where the writ of the central Government no longer runs.
In addition to already announced reinforcements for the existing deployment of 70,000 US and NATO troops, plus 1100 Australians, Mr Obama will now send an extra 4000 soldiers to train the Afghan army. Equally important, he proposes increased economic aid and political assistance for Pakistan and Afghanistan. That Mr Obama has also set a specific objective, to destroy the terror networks that are intent on creating a religious redoubt in the two countries is an excellent outcome. While there is no doubting the moral and strategic sense of the war to liberate Iraq from the despicable despotism of Saddam Hussein, the campaign there took resources and attention away the first front in the war on terror. The theocratic Taliban regime in place in Afghanistan at the turn of the century provided safe haven for Islamist terrorists intent on waging war against people of all religious faiths, and none at all, who do not adhere to their perverse interpretation of the Muslim faith. It was the Taliban that provided inspiration and assistance for al-Qa'ida in the September 11, 2001, surprise attacks on New York and Washington. And despite the US removing the Taliban from control in Kabul in a short, sharp war, the confederacy of feudal warlords, opium-dealing drug barons and religious fanatics which supported that gangster government fight on.
There are three unassailable objectives in fighting the terrorists and their allies in Afghanistan: to protect the rights of ordinary Afghans, to stop Taliban-style terror undermining Pakistan and to deny the terrorists a victory that would convince fanatics all over the world that democracies lack the stomach to fight for freedom. The best way to achieve all three is to end the terrorists' ability to murder officials who defy them, intimidate communities where girls are allowed an education and train suicide bombers. Certainly, Mr Obama's immediate objectives do not include establishing a stable democracy, which is a setback. There is no doubting the desire of ordinary Afghans for democracy. In October 2004, some 85 per cent of the 10 million eligible Afghans went to the polls to elect Hamid Karzai President in the country's first legitimate election in a generation. The desire for democracy was so strong then that despite blood curdling threats, the Taliban did not attempt to sabotage the poll, recognising it would cost them what little popular support they possessed. But thanks in large part to the doubtful competence of Mr Karzai's Government, times have changed for the worse and the Taliban is now more of a force to be reckoned with. In deciding to defeat terror first, Mr Obama has unavoidably accepted a practical objective that must be achieved before Afghanistan's long march towards democracy can continue. And unless Afghanistan is secured there is a real risk of both countries collapsing into fiefdoms ruled by Islamist warlords. We are still a while away from the risk of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into terrorist hands --
the country's political establishment is in chaos but the army is disciplined. However, the relationship between Pakistan's security service and the Taliban is a real risk to the country's stability. While responsibility for the Mumbai terror attacks in November and the murder attempt against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore this month is shady, it seems certain the attacks were sanctioned by the security establishment. Mr Obama is correct to see both countries as a single front in the same struggle.
But while Mr Obama is right to recognise the challenge in the two countries must be met, whether his strategy will work depends on the ability of Mr Karzai, or his successor after the next election, to win the country's confidence,
as much as the presence of 100,000 allied troops plus more aid and advisers. Expanding and improving the Afghan army and police are the foundation of the new strategy, but all the assistance in the world will not work unless the Afghan people decide there is a chance of defeating the Taliban once and for all.
There is no denying the difficulty of the task but it is by no means impossible. The success of President Nouri al-Maliki's Government in Iraq is not assured, but with US assistance the Iraqis have made enormous progress in defeating sectarian insurgents and creating a stable state. With money and good management, Afghanistan may yet be the front where terrorism is decisively defeated.
Pakistan under attack
Tuesday, 31 Mar, 2009 | 01:01 AM PST
IT should be clear by now that we are at war with ourselves as the enemy within grows more audacious by the day. Yet there are educated people in this country who continue to blame American foreign policy and the ever-potent foreign hand for the wave of terrorism sweeping the country. This argument is deeply flawed on several counts. For one thing, the Pakistani state threw its weight behind Americas Afghan policy in the late 70s and after 9/11, and as such we are equally responsible for the fallout. It is also common knowledge that Pakistani intelligence agencies once provided logistical support to militant organisations that could further our strategic depth interests in Kashmir and across the Durand Line. It is argued that those behind the storming of the police training centre in Lahore on Monday, and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team earlier this month, were so sophisticated in their methods that they must necessarily have had the backing of a foreign power. Such reasoning overlooks the fact that those who were freedom fighters a few years ago and are now labelled as terrorists were trained by the best in the business.
Let us assume for a moment, even if the truth lies elsewhere, that the terrorists who attacked Lahore on Monday were in the pay of an antagonistic neighbour. Does that absolve the Punjab government and the Pakistani state of the charge of gross negligence? Does it in any way disprove those who maintain that such incidents point to monumental intelligence failures and security lapses? It doesnt matter who the paymasters might be. What we have now are Pakistanis killing Pakistanis, Muslims killing Muslims. And while we are at it, let us discard once and for all the absurd notion that the people who carry out such dastardly acts cannot possibly be Muslims. They are Muslims. In fact, these terrorists and militants consider themselves to be far truer Muslims than those who oppose them.
The militants involved in Mondays siege may have been overcome but it is time to hammer out a political and social consensus on this issue. It is time to show the kind of fervour the obscurantists demonstrate in abundance but the well-meaning couch in carefully chosen words. This is a fight and it cannot be won without throwing punches. The countrys mainstream political parties need to draw a line in the sand and show the people, with no room for ambiguity, where they stand in this battle for the soul of Pakistan. The religio-political parties must also make their positions clear. President Obama says that US ground forces will not enter Pakistan. We would be well advised to not give them the chance. If we cant do the job ourselves, others might do it for us. And that way lies disaster.
Editorial: Police targeted at Manawan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
www.Daily Times.com
At 6 am yesterday, a gang of terrorists stormed the Police Training School at Manawan near the Wahga border in Lahore and seized it, taking hundreds of unarmed trainee policemen hostage. Several hours later, police commandos, backed by the Rangers, flushed them out, killing four of the eight or ten terrorists and capturing the others. It was a great relief that no more than a handful of policemen were killed in the operation, even though many more were seriously injured by indiscriminate firing by the terrorists on their innocent hostages. The terrorists had hand grenades and automatic weapons.
That the training school normally has around 850 trainees on its premises tells us something of the significance of the attack planned by the terrorists. The idea was to strike at the root of a force that is in the process of being expanded and made more deadly for the terrorists. That the attackers were no more than half a dozen makes us think of the parallels with the earlier attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. There is also the comparison with the Mumbai attacks where only nine terrorists were able to create the kind of havoc that normally takes a full regiment to inflict.
The attackers hunkered down inside the school building and returned fire while surrounded from all sides.
This clearly indicates that they are fidayeen or suicide-bombers sent out to do as much damage as possible before laying down their lives. This is in pattern with the Mumbai attacks although in that case the operation did not run according to plan and one of the attackers was caught and made to confess the origin of the attacks. Unfortunately, however, the easiest speculation that will emerge in the days to come will be that an Indian hand is involved in the attack on the police. Mr Rehman Malik, the interior minister, alluded in a press conference later that the sophisticated weapons with the terrorists pointed to a foreign hand. That the training school is right next to India on the Wahga border will convince many that RAW is at it again.
When it comes to India, there is very little to go on. Most incidents of this sort have been blamed on India before, only to discover later that they had their origin inside Pakistan as a part of the ongoing war with Al Qaeda and its local foot soldiers. And some of them have been owned by the commanders of Baitullah Mehsud,
the warlord who sits at head of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). There are other signs too.
In Khyber Agency, the TTP has been attacking the khasadars at their checkposts. Not only were the paramilitary levies attacked and killed inside a mosque in Jamrud on Friday but in Bara a dozen of them were kidnapped and taken away after a series of threatening letters asking them to leave their jobs. This technique of discouraging men from taking employment with the security forces has been tried in Swat too, and those who did resign were actually given some money before they left for their homes.
The thinking behind the killing of the security personnel has crystallised over time. Our army, police and intelligence personnel have been regularly targeted by the terrorists. In Lahore and Peshawar, TTP terrorists bagged the highest number of police officers in their suicide attacks. As for the army targets, it has killed our commandos; and the highest rank they have been able to reach was when they killed a general in Rawalpindi. The FIA building in Lahore was a police establishment and the War College suicide-bombed by them belonged to the Pakistan Navy.
One must wait for the final verdict
when investigation into the attack at Manawan is concluded, but the footprint of the TTP is quite clear on the basis of past record. Just as President Asif Zardari announced a beefing up of the police in all the provinces, the message from the terrorists is: dont join the police and those who are already employed should resign and go home
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This should be read together with the widely accepted observation that terrorism is best countered by the police and not the army.
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i really belive that we need a new force, which can provide security to the forces & its personals who, are involved inthe "counter insurgency" or "counter terrorism" & can be able to investigate all kind of terrorists sources & can gather intell with its own solid wings , . a force which can carry out all kind of SO,s & can be a multiplier to the regular troops in any kind of situations?
