[:::~Spartacus~:::];3485796 said:
you brought balochistan to an afghanistan thread??
Yes! Because the next target for the US is Balochistan.
Three marine divisions are to be stationed permanently in Afghanistan with one division in Southern Afghanistan for contingency operations in Balochistan.
Hardline American analysts have suggested that Washington help the Baloch break away from Pakistan so that American and Nato forces can have unfettered access to landlocked Afghanistan, given how Pakistan has been holding the US to ransom.
The Rohrabacher resolution introduced by California Republican Dana Rohrabacher and co-sponsored by two other Republican Congressmen Louie Gohmert (Texas) and Steve King (Iowa), says that the Baluchi nation has a "historic right to self-determination."
Stating that Baluchistan is currently divided between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan with no sovereign rights of its own, the resolution explains that
"in Pakistan especially, the Baluchi people are subjected to violence and extrajudicial killing," and therefore, the Baluchi people "have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status."
Placed next to the oil lanes of the Persian Gulf and covering a common border with Iran and Afghanistan,
Balochistan is strategically very significant. The Gwadar Port, being the third largest port of the world, is situated at the doorway of the Persian Gulf (180 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz through which 40% of World’s Oil passes) and at the largest trade route of the world.
It is due to this fact that makes it geo-strategically more important to the world powers. The emergence of new Central Asian Republics (CARs) has added to its value, as it will provide the shortest route (Quetta to Chaman) to Central Asia.
America has an eye on Gwadar as being its future “Potential Military Base”.
Considering the above,
the withdrawal from Afghanistan is not going to put an end to American meddling in South Asia. In fact the focus would then shift to Balochistan. And Pakistan can ignore this only at its own peril. It needs to be prepared for big power rivalry there especially between China and the US of A, jockeying for geostrategic space and the potential economic advantages.
And those who think that the US of A would withdraw all forces by 2014 are mistaken.
America has come to stay there permanently, or at least for the next 30 years with a so called 'Stabilization Force'. Afghanistan is too important a country to be left to the wolves to play ducks and drakes that would lead to a civil war sooner than later that will not be in the interests of the US of A.
So that's the connection between Afghanistan and Balochistan.
My two bits.