"...Moreover, the Pakistanis do not want to alienate Mr. Haqqani because they consider him an important player in reconciliation efforts that they would like to see get under way in Afghanistan immediately, the officials said.
Because Mr. Haqqani shelters Qaeda leaders and operatives in North Waziristan..."
Now this WOULD BE a source of tension given our feelings about A.Q. and, supposedly, your own expressed and parallel sentiments WRT to the same.
Implicit in this whole argument has been the sanctuary provided these organizations for over eight years. It's an accepted reality even among Pakistanis here and the shift has been notable over the last few weeks.
That establishment of sanctuary wasn't simply for lack of resources but reflects a calculated policy choice by the nat'l security apparatus of Pakistan.
As for Konar and Nuristan, I'm sure that the GoA and its forces will get to those regions if and when. I guarantee that if you can plead lacking adequate means to address the radicalization of your tribal areas between 2002-2006, then so too can the GoA who are a mere shadow of even Pakistani capabilities.
In any case, should the TTP be working closely with their afghan taliban brothers to rain misery on your souls from their own newfound sanctuary, don't say blowback of all this wasn't forewarned repeatedly.
We're heading south to Kandahar and Helmand-damnably close to the Baloch border. Hope to stir up the nests enough to run some HVTs back across your border and justify a PREDATOR strike or two.
If you're not a "banana republic" do something NOW instead of awaiting one more PREDATOR attack-wherever it may be.
If indeed US is looking for a solution then now is not the time to play tough guy with Pakistan...actually it is the worse time to follow this approach.
When Pakistan has suffered most in one year and when its Army has killed most terrorists in one year, it is highly ill advised to try the proverbial stick approach.
That our nation is fighting a bloody battle with terrorists is obvious to all but the most stubborn of fools both inside and outside Pakistan!!!
Give us some space and if truly your aim to fight terrorism then we are doing it and will slowly and surely will have to face all the terrorists since they shall all be denied space and either would have to stop their activities or unite against Pakistan Army. Our operations are not for show, we have lost many fine officers and soldiers who were specialists and had a great service record, we deployed our finest soldiers on ground and shed a lot of blood.
There is a reason our civilians are now paying with their lives...we did a serious unprecedented damage to the terrorists and that is why they had to target more and more soft targets...however the terrorists are clever and use the mistrust between our nations as their best propaganda weapon.
This mistrust is not eliminated when US diplomatic staff run amok and make a mockery of our law enforcement apparatus....i wish i had not seen these baboons near my home in Lahore Cantt where there was a serious confrontation between them and our security force manning a check point, i personally wanted to take the weapon from the security personnel and shoot the SOBs who were refusing to come out of their vehicle...the agencies rushed in and took them into safe custody but that is besides the point.
My point is of attitude, i did not expect this from our allies but have seen it now.
This kind of attitude has really resulted in a growing mistrust as it has been witnessed by all and sundry.
What has the US done in this regards, being a more mature nation fighting for democracy in the world, is this how your people are supposed to behave in an allied country?
To top it all there was the SWA operation, when US forces abandoned their posts adjacent to WA, it was very much seen in a negative light by all concerned in Pakistan and rightly so.
At a time when we launched an attack on one of the toughest terrorist stronghold, our allies deserted their posts...even if the impact would have been 5-10%, there is no denying that the timing of this was very much terrible to say the least.
So when US sees Pakistan take action, instead of increased coordination there was this despite the clear statements by GOP that next operation is in Wazirisitan.
Even if I assume this was preplanned by US then my next question is why would you carry it out when there was clear indication of an offensive by Pakistan Army?
All it did was create a justified confusion...a confusion which created many doubts about what is the commonality?
We heard do more but when we did more, our allies did something else...setting aside operational impact, the move was not at all positive in light of us being allies.
The AQ-TTP nexus is being fought in a most vicious fashion by Pakistan Army....that the TTP is being actively supported by AQ is clearly known to us.
If indeed all these groups are linked together and Haqqani is indeed supporting them, then they shall be taken to task soon because of their mutual support in face of a clean sweep in FATA.
If some groups are not against Pakistan Army and do not join the TTP in the operations, then that means they do not share the same goals and they need to be negotiated with to ensure peace and control of GOP. Negotiation does not mean willful surrender to the whims of some extremists, it means to make a solid arrangement to ensure stability.
Only if negotiations fail and terrorist activity evidence is there, should the Pakistan Army be launched against such groups.
However for now, chest beating is not required and it would be very stupid of our high command to make them all unite instead of eliminating the strongest group and waiting for the right moment to strike any other groups which are currently not helping TTP but are found to be AQ supporters.
Regarding the radicalization, i think the process is in good old third decade since its inception and that is the reason we cannot risk open too many fronts till we dominate the area.
A sweep of FATA as being done now would yield the necessary results regardless of who is supporting whom and any party which does not attack our Army during these operations is the one that can be negotiated with.
Regarding the drones, that shall seal the fate of any partnership we wish to have.
We shall see how strongly our government resists but i am afraid if they are unable to stop it and USA goes down than road then there will be a huge fallout in Pakistan and as a consequence the entire region.
Do not expect the people of Pakistan to sit quietly and take all sorts of nonsense, in face of terrorism we have hardened quite a bit now...
The nation has finally started coming out of the Zia era indoctrination in realizing that these so called fighters are not noble and pristine as they claim to be, we finally have majority of people hating militancy and supporting Army actions against all militants...
And here you guys are threatening us now...not good my friend.
I admire the USA as a country and many of its fine qualities, however the US government is probably making one of the worst decisions in not realizing what damage it shall do by persisting with such an overtly hawkish stance at a time when Pakistan is as anti terrorist as it can get.
I am really saddened by what clearly appears to me a deliberate attempt to make Pakistan do more than what it can handle at a single point in time.
When we have achieved some success, we suddenly are being bombarded with irresponsible statements to make Pakistan look like a fool...this has to stop.
We have matured more in the past 2 years than in 2 decades, Let us breathe as a nation and even if we take a slightly different route, eventually our overt goals will be the same, to eliminate terrorism.
Do not try to choke Pakistan, we shall honestly have no other choice but to come out in the streets if this attitude prevails.
In the end i hope sense prevails and the objective is to combat terrorism...it shall be sad to see otherwise.
