December 26, 2008: Pakistan has moved two brigades to the Line of Control (which divides Pakistani and Indian portions of Kashmir). No reason given, although the Pakistanis may want to help keep the Islamic terrorists from crossing into India. That would be nice.
The Pakistanis continue military operations against the Taliban along the Afghan border, but things have slowed down because of the Winter weather. Pro-Taliban tribal gangs continue to threaten U.S./NATO truck routes into Afghanistan. This is seen more as an extortion scam, than an attempt to cut NATO supplies lines. The groups attacking the truck traffic are asking for more money to stop the attacks. Doesn't sound like, as some pundits have speculated, that the attacks are retaliation for the many successful missile attacks on terrorist leaders recently.
The Pakistani government continues its crackdown on illegal banking. These operations are used to finance terrorist groups, but in this case, the Pakistanis are more interested in the illegal movement of billions of dollars out of the country. This occurred as the Pakistani economy got hit with the effects (smaller export orders) of the current world-wide recession. The illegal movement of such large amounts of foreign currency makes it more difficult for the government to finance imports, and get foreign aid. On the other hand, the wealthy families that own the exported billions are getting a higher rate of return overseas, and avoid the risk of any of their money being seized (for unpaid taxes or criminal activity.) The endemic corruption in Pakistan makes it difficult to run a business, or an economy, efficiently.
Pakistan has sent counter-terror officials to Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, to see if successful counter-terror methods used there could be useful against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan. There may be some useful techniques that can be borrowed, but Pakistans situation is quite different from that in Saudi Arabia or Sri Lanka. Pakistan, for example, has a weaker and more divided government, and is faced with a much larger and aggressive terrorist threat. Despite the Mumbai attacks and the Islamic terrorism along the Afghan border (and occasional attacks in non-tribal areas) the government refuses to shut down all the "charities" and other organizations that belong to the terrorist groups. The Pakistanis get away with this because most of them believe that their nuclear arsenal stops India from attacking, or doing anything, to coerce a real crackdown on the Pakistani terrorists groups
The Pakistanis continue military operations against the Taliban along the Afghan border, but things have slowed down because of the Winter weather. Pro-Taliban tribal gangs continue to threaten U.S./NATO truck routes into Afghanistan. This is seen more as an extortion scam, than an attempt to cut NATO supplies lines. The groups attacking the truck traffic are asking for more money to stop the attacks. Doesn't sound like, as some pundits have speculated, that the attacks are retaliation for the many successful missile attacks on terrorist leaders recently.
The Pakistani government continues its crackdown on illegal banking. These operations are used to finance terrorist groups, but in this case, the Pakistanis are more interested in the illegal movement of billions of dollars out of the country. This occurred as the Pakistani economy got hit with the effects (smaller export orders) of the current world-wide recession. The illegal movement of such large amounts of foreign currency makes it more difficult for the government to finance imports, and get foreign aid. On the other hand, the wealthy families that own the exported billions are getting a higher rate of return overseas, and avoid the risk of any of their money being seized (for unpaid taxes or criminal activity.) The endemic corruption in Pakistan makes it difficult to run a business, or an economy, efficiently.
Pakistan has sent counter-terror officials to Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, to see if successful counter-terror methods used there could be useful against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan. There may be some useful techniques that can be borrowed, but Pakistans situation is quite different from that in Saudi Arabia or Sri Lanka. Pakistan, for example, has a weaker and more divided government, and is faced with a much larger and aggressive terrorist threat. Despite the Mumbai attacks and the Islamic terrorism along the Afghan border (and occasional attacks in non-tribal areas) the government refuses to shut down all the "charities" and other organizations that belong to the terrorist groups. The Pakistanis get away with this because most of them believe that their nuclear arsenal stops India from attacking, or doing anything, to coerce a real crackdown on the Pakistani terrorists groups
