Pakistani Taliban target female students with acid attack

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Education is instrumental in the development of any young nation. No one can deny that. Pakistan in the last few decades elected a woman prime-minister twice. Without education, would it have been possible for someone to hold the highest office in the nation? We’ve seen the Taliban abuse their power by banning girls from going to schools in Afghanistan and the Swat valley. It is surprising to still see some cynics indulge in conspiracy theories and blame the United States and insinuate that somehow they are supporting the terrorists or supporting their ideologies. I would like to spell that out clearly once again that the United States has no connection to any terrorist organization, and we do not support any of their twisted ideologies. In fact the United States has funded and supported girl’s education through US AID all over Pakistan. We believe in equal opportunity for all and that is what we support.

The terrorist are not only hurting Pakistan but they are also our enemy number one. We need to stand united against this common enemy who do not hesitate even a second to hurt our children.


Capt. Joseph Kreidel
DET-United States Central Command
U.S. Central Command

Captain Kreidel,

First of all, thank you for your message.

When the Afghanistan-based Fazlullah faction of TTP was disturbing the peace in Swat and the nation, the politicians and the army saw eye to eye on conducting an operation in Swat/Buner/Dir -- we saw the defeat of TTP in those areas for the most part b/c the military took action --oftentimes going beyond its job description to provide aid to residents, facilitate the internally displaced, open de-radicalization centers etc. (http://dawn.com/2012/04/25/mashal-de-radicalisation-centre/)

It's unfortunate however the western media seems to forget some of these facts you have brought up. All they report is acid attacks and what have you -- but never discuss how a lot of the schools that were damage or destroyed were rebuilt.

What we are seeing is Pakistan applying the same logic that the US has been applying on Pakistan....they accuse Pakistan of "not doing enough" (to combat those specific groups that are apparently attacking NATO/American interests in Afghanistan (the outgoing Adm. Mullen even accused elements of the STATE of supporting a certain group that supposedly carried out the audacious broad-daylight attack on US embassy compound and other such attacks)

And meanwhile, Pakistan is accusing the US of "not doing enough" to target Afghanistan-based TTP. We have plenty of intelligence that suggests that the Afghan government is WELL AWARE of the presence of Fazlullah and his faction in Afghanistan. I'm not in the position or authority to discuss that; but I can confirm that Pakistan's concerns have fallen on deaf ears.


40,000 civilians have been killed in this war, tens of thousands maimed. Over 4,000 soldiers of the FC/PA have been martyred in the line of duty, defending Pakistan. Offices and safehouses of certain intelligence agencies have been attacked (even as far down south as Multan) --inflicting material losses and loss of lives of personnel.

Don't you think we see them as our enemy number 1? I mean, is it really necessary for the Americans to tell us that?


What we can't be doing however is going gung-ho, trigger-happily wiping out the same population that we need on our side. We are in this for the long-haul; and obviously what happens in an increasingly troublesome Afghanistan DIRECTLY affects us. We are more affected by this than America or any other ISAF-member-state is affected let me assure you on that.

Our forces are already stretched thinly but actions speak louder than words. Which is why we've boosted security presence from the eastern sector to the northwestern sector. That also often goes unreported in your media.

2008/09 was a bloody year for Pakistan. Every day bombings in Peshawar, Kohat, DI Khan, Charsadda etc. Obviously our forces are doing something right. When will NATO its ANA allies ensure that Afghanistan territory is no longer being used as a staging ground for anti-Pakistan activity?

it's a sincere question which i think a lot of people would like to have an answer to