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Obama makes a plea for Pakistan
NEW YORK - United States President Barack Obama's speech on Wednesday, the second day of the 64th summit of the United Nations General Assembly, was a strident challenge to world leaders - an ostensible rallying cry to join the US and its allies in the war in Afghanistan.
"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," said Obama, in what many see as preparation for an expected troop surge in Afghanistan.
An even clearer signal of Washington's quest for stronger participation from its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the non-NATO allies, was a secret meeting between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Central Intelligence
Agency director Leon Panetta at New York's Barclay Hotel earlier this week.
The meeting, reluctantly confirmed by Pakistani officials, was meant to review the next stage in the post-Afghan presidential elections and the regional "war on terror" theater. This next chapter in the war, many experts believe, will be its hottest time to date.
A formal request to Obama from the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, to send more troops in Afghanistan is likely to be made soon. The Pentagon's rationale for the increase is the upward spiral of Taliban violence - but some feel it has as much to do with protecting Pakistan.
Despite the excellent performance of the Pakistani armed forces against the Taliban in the Pakistani tribal areas and the Malakand area, Washington remains unsure over the level of the Pakistan army's cooperation. The Pentagon was quick to note that Pakistan army leaders recently refused a ground operation in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, McChrystal is expected to ask for at least 40,000 additional troops to be deployed mainly in the southern border provinces with Pakistan, such as Helmand and Ghazni, and provinces such as Wardak and Kapisa, in Afghanistan's northeast. The troops will reportedly undertake active operations against the Taliban as well as regular ground campaigns.
The Obama administration is worried that if Pakistan changes course and becomes inactive, US forces could be trapped along the border - resulting in an horrific casualty rate that would be catastrophic for the White House in the mid-term US elections next year.
The indications from different Asia Times Online sources are that next summer the battle between the Taliban and NATO forces will no longer be restricted to Afghanistan - it will expand inside Pakistan. The primary reason for this, sources say, is the deployment of coalition forces in Afghan border provinces such as Helmand.
The Taliban's main sanctuary in Helmand is Gereshk district, which borders the Pakistani district of Noshki. The porous border between Noshki and Gereshk serves as a haven for anti-Western Taliban fighters as well as anti-Pakistan Baloch insurgents.
Neither Afghan nor NATO authorities have any control in the region - and neither does Pakistan. As a result, it is inevitable that in hot pursuit of the Taliban through the area, NATO troops will cross into Pakistan and expand the war. This threat also looms over Afghanistan's Kunar province and Pakistan's Mohmand area and some other tribal areas, but to a lesser degree compared to Helmand.
In preparation for the anticipated military expansion, the US has revamped its embassy in Islamabad, taken over a five-star hotel in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, and procured other land in Pakistan. The US has also rented 200 bungalows in the capital - a move now under investigation by Pakistan - and increased the operations of controversial US contractors in the country. The US is seemingly intent on directly targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistani cities.
What is now a low-intensity insurgency in Pakistan may develop into a full-scale offensive which sweeps through the country. In this scenario, American resources would be insufficient and the US establishment is actively looking for international help.
It may be a tough sell; the UN has noted that the number of foreign troops killed in action so far this year is 334, the highest total since the invasion of 2001. The UN also reports the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan this year has jumped 24% compared to 2008 - making the coalition ever more unpopular. So far, only Britain has committed to sending additional troops to Afghanistan, and is unlikely to send more than 1,000 soldiers.
France, Germany and Italy - among other Western countries - have already been shying away from combat operations. The recent killing of six Italian soldiers raises yet another question mark about additional European support for the Afghan war.
Although the world's reaction to Obama's military plea has yet to coalesce, his administration was due to gather a blue-chip crowd in New York on Thursday to give a boost to Pakistan. Obama and five high-ranking US officials were to attend a summit-level meeting of the FODP - Friends of Democratic Pakistan - including a host of world leaders [1] as well as other European Union officials and officials of the Islamic development bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In all, it has been a week of unprecedented pleas for international unity with Pakistan - such support was not even seen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Still, pledges of support are not the same as boots on the ground - and as the war in Afghanistan spills into Pakistan, the US may find itself increasingly alone in Islamabad.
Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan
Is any truth in these allegations?
NEW YORK - United States President Barack Obama's speech on Wednesday, the second day of the 64th summit of the United Nations General Assembly, was a strident challenge to world leaders - an ostensible rallying cry to join the US and its allies in the war in Afghanistan.
"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," said Obama, in what many see as preparation for an expected troop surge in Afghanistan.
An even clearer signal of Washington's quest for stronger participation from its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the non-NATO allies, was a secret meeting between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Central Intelligence
Agency director Leon Panetta at New York's Barclay Hotel earlier this week.
The meeting, reluctantly confirmed by Pakistani officials, was meant to review the next stage in the post-Afghan presidential elections and the regional "war on terror" theater. This next chapter in the war, many experts believe, will be its hottest time to date.
A formal request to Obama from the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, to send more troops in Afghanistan is likely to be made soon. The Pentagon's rationale for the increase is the upward spiral of Taliban violence - but some feel it has as much to do with protecting Pakistan.
Despite the excellent performance of the Pakistani armed forces against the Taliban in the Pakistani tribal areas and the Malakand area, Washington remains unsure over the level of the Pakistan army's cooperation. The Pentagon was quick to note that Pakistan army leaders recently refused a ground operation in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, McChrystal is expected to ask for at least 40,000 additional troops to be deployed mainly in the southern border provinces with Pakistan, such as Helmand and Ghazni, and provinces such as Wardak and Kapisa, in Afghanistan's northeast. The troops will reportedly undertake active operations against the Taliban as well as regular ground campaigns.
The Obama administration is worried that if Pakistan changes course and becomes inactive, US forces could be trapped along the border - resulting in an horrific casualty rate that would be catastrophic for the White House in the mid-term US elections next year.
The indications from different Asia Times Online sources are that next summer the battle between the Taliban and NATO forces will no longer be restricted to Afghanistan - it will expand inside Pakistan. The primary reason for this, sources say, is the deployment of coalition forces in Afghan border provinces such as Helmand.
The Taliban's main sanctuary in Helmand is Gereshk district, which borders the Pakistani district of Noshki. The porous border between Noshki and Gereshk serves as a haven for anti-Western Taliban fighters as well as anti-Pakistan Baloch insurgents.
Neither Afghan nor NATO authorities have any control in the region - and neither does Pakistan. As a result, it is inevitable that in hot pursuit of the Taliban through the area, NATO troops will cross into Pakistan and expand the war. This threat also looms over Afghanistan's Kunar province and Pakistan's Mohmand area and some other tribal areas, but to a lesser degree compared to Helmand.
In preparation for the anticipated military expansion, the US has revamped its embassy in Islamabad, taken over a five-star hotel in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, and procured other land in Pakistan. The US has also rented 200 bungalows in the capital - a move now under investigation by Pakistan - and increased the operations of controversial US contractors in the country. The US is seemingly intent on directly targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistani cities.
What is now a low-intensity insurgency in Pakistan may develop into a full-scale offensive which sweeps through the country. In this scenario, American resources would be insufficient and the US establishment is actively looking for international help.
It may be a tough sell; the UN has noted that the number of foreign troops killed in action so far this year is 334, the highest total since the invasion of 2001. The UN also reports the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan this year has jumped 24% compared to 2008 - making the coalition ever more unpopular. So far, only Britain has committed to sending additional troops to Afghanistan, and is unlikely to send more than 1,000 soldiers.
France, Germany and Italy - among other Western countries - have already been shying away from combat operations. The recent killing of six Italian soldiers raises yet another question mark about additional European support for the Afghan war.
Although the world's reaction to Obama's military plea has yet to coalesce, his administration was due to gather a blue-chip crowd in New York on Thursday to give a boost to Pakistan. Obama and five high-ranking US officials were to attend a summit-level meeting of the FODP - Friends of Democratic Pakistan - including a host of world leaders [1] as well as other European Union officials and officials of the Islamic development bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In all, it has been a week of unprecedented pleas for international unity with Pakistan - such support was not even seen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Still, pledges of support are not the same as boots on the ground - and as the war in Afghanistan spills into Pakistan, the US may find itself increasingly alone in Islamabad.
Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan
Is any truth in these allegations?