Whose side is Pakistan on in fighting the Taliban?

[Neo]

Whose side is Pakistan on in fighting the Taliban?​

By Irfan Husain
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Immediately after 9/11, when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced into a famous U-turn over his support for the Taliban, many in Pakistan heaved a sigh of relief. To liberal, secular Pakistanis who had watched the creeping Talibanization of the tribal areas with dismay, the military ruler's about-face raised the hope that his government would now halt the growth of fundamentalism. Alas, this proved to be a false dawn.

Musharraf, despite the lip service he paid to Washington's "war on terror," drew a fine line between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The former group, with its foreign leadership and global agenda, was hunted with reasonable effectiveness. Many of its operatives were killed or captured and bundled off to Guantanamo. But official policy toward the Taliban has remained deliberately ambiguous for the last eight years. Just as the Taliban were nurtured by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at the inception of the group in 1996, they have been secretly armed, shielded and guided by elements in Pakistan's elite intelligence agency ever since.

When Western allies first entered Afghanistan in December 2001, the Taliban were broken and scattered. Routed by unrelenting aerial bombardment and the fighters of the Northern Alliance, they sought shelter in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Here, they were beyond the reach of Western forces and the Pakistani Army. Traditionally, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) enjoy a great degree of autonomy and are outside the jurisdiction of the law. Instead, they are governed by tribal law administered by elders and village councils known as jirgas.

Taking advantage of this power vacuum, the Taliban found sanctuary and established training camps. Financing came largely from the rapidly growing opium and heroin production in the bordering Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kunar. With a weak government in Kabul, drug production has soared, and with it the coffers of the Taliban have swelled. Young fighters with no prospects of employment in these dirt-poor areas are recruited for as little as $5 a day, with a bonus if they kill a coalition soldier.

Where there were a number of extremist groups on the Pakistani side of the border, today they have consolidated their efforts under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and are led by Baituallah Mehsud, the man widely believed to have masterminded the murder of Benazir Bhutto last December. In 2007, the TTP and its allies within Pakistan launched some 50 suicide attacks in which nearly 1,000 Pakistanis were killed. The recent attack on the prime minister's car along a heavily guarded route near Islamabad indicates how freely they have begun operating.

Musharraf himself, despite his tight security, has been targeted at least three times. What is even more worrying is the number of Taliban sympathizers within the armed forces and intelligence services. According to reliable reports, many retired army and ISI officers are helping extremist groups.

Ethnicity is a factor often overlooked by Westerners when assessing the conflict. Virtually all the Taliban are Pashtuns who make up the population of much of the border areas. In fact, they constitute Afghanistan's largest single ethnic group, and in Pakistan they populate virtually all of FATA as well as the North-Western Frontier Province. Since they are strongly represented in Pakistan's armed forces, police and the bureaucracy, it is difficult to portray them as the enemy. Traditionally, tribesmen come and go over the ill-defined border without let or hindrance, and attempts to limit this free access are fiercely resisted.

Military action in the tribal areas triggers protests orchestrated by conservative groups across Pakistan. The recent raid by US Special Forces into Pakistan resulted in the deaths of a number of women and children and has been widely criticized, with the government coming under pressure to cut off military links with Washington. This is bound to escalate give the news last week that President George W. Bush had authorized US Special Forces units to conduct raids inside Pakistani territory.

Another factor that has thwarted a more effective response to the Taliban threat is Pakistan's preoccupation with India. Generations of army officers have been taught that Pakistan's giant neighbor is the real enemy, and this doctrine is reflected in the disposition and concentration of the country's half-million-strong army. Troops have been trained to fight a conventional war on the plains of Punjab and Sindh. After 9/11, around 80,000 troops were deployed along the Afghan border, but even this number was insufficient to seal it. Currently, a military alliance between Afghanistan and India is Pakistani military planners' worst nightmare. To thwart such a possibility, the Pakistani Army wants to retain the Taliban as proxies and is therefore reluctant to crush them.

Finally, Pakistan has not yet worked out a political consensus about who the real enemy is. Until the day he left office in early August, Musharraf was regularly castigated in the media as Bush's poodle doing America's dirty work by killing his own people. Pakistani TV networks are forever churning out talk shows in which so-called experts criticize the government for fighting fellow Muslims. They conveniently overlook the fact that these same Muslims are responsible for killing hundreds of innocent Pakistanis and Afghans.

In post-Musharraf Pakistan, the newly-elected government is struggling to find its feet. The coalition of the two largest parties has already split up. Nawaz Sharif, leader of his faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, has made clear his intention to talk to the Taliban rather than fight them. But Asif Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto and now president of Pakistan, has declared his intention to take the fight to the terrorists who threaten to seize control. In a recent article in The Washington Post, Zardari called this the "battle for Pakistan's soul." Clearly, this is a battle Pakistan cannot afford to lose.

Irfan Husain writes two columns a week for Dawn, Pakistan's widest-circulating and most influential daily. After a career in the civil service spanning 30 years, he was president of a university in Pakistan for five years. This commentary first appeared at bitterlemons- international.org, an online newsletter.

 

[niaz]

Irfan Hussain echoes my sentiments 100 percent. The real reason why PA has been unable to control Taliban and other extremist elements is that many in PA as well as in civil bureaucracy covertly support Taliban. Urdu Media especially Geo TV has anchors like Hamid Mir who are out and out supporters of Taliban.

I find it hypocritical that a suicide bombs killing scores of innocent Pakistani civilians in crowded Pakistani cities hardly merits a headline in most of the Urdu press and conveniently ignored by the media anchors; even though possibly carried out by foreigners (Afghan nationals); whereas a much smaller action with co-lateral damage by the US is debated in the national media for days on end.

I have come to the conclusion that a large percentage of Pakistani public, this is reflected in a fair portion of the members of this august forum as well; have sympathetic feelings for the Talibanization of Pakistan. Taliban masterminds realize this and they are deliberately creating conditions that will coax US to attack Pakistan. Basically PA will be fighting US on behalf of Taliban.

My view is reinforced when I hear comments by well educated people such as Imran Khan openly condemning PA actions n FATA and Swat. To my mind this is a skewed way of thinking. Waziristan is under little or no control of GOP. The area is ruled by Talibans and the writ of Baitullah Mahsood holds sway. Is it Pakistan? Technically yes but in actual fact no. When PA is attacked and killed every day, it is fooling ourselves to think that this area is still Pakistan. It is actually a mini state ruled by Baitullah Mahsood, independent in all but name.


Irfan Hussain appears to be a lone voice of sanity in a multitude of emotional outbursts. It appears that many Pakistanis want Talibans to control more and more areas of Pakistan and force their ideology down everyone else's throat. Do people realize that result would not be the Pakistan that they know and love, but a war torn piss poor land such as present day Afghanistan where there will be no female education and people accused of unproven minor offences be shot in the football grounds as spectator sport. (This actually happened in the Taliban Afghanistan with bigots such as Hamid Gul praising Mullah Omer to no end)

What is the point of having Al Khalids, F-16's and J-17’s; we would have nothing left to fight for. This may be a doomsday scenario but very likely within a couple of years if Pakistan takes on the US and NATO in an armed conflict. Indians on the other hands are rubbing their hands in glee; US will do the job which India has failed to do in 60 years.
However, if this is what my countrymen want, so be it.

Lastly, this post doesnot imply that I condone US actions, I would like the matter to be resolved through diplomatic means instead of confrontation

 

[muse]

Niaz Sahab, Some of our countrymen want just that, but a majority does not, thought it is politically inactive and apathetic.

A very small number are supporters of Taliban; however; it is not so much support of Taliban as much as their disappointment with the governments of Pakistan which seem to offer no vision and no practical steps towards that vision. People are looking for a way, however; politicians and government have not offered any persuasive vision. Talian and AQ offer, well we all know what they offer - they are vocal and active and offer supernatural justification - Pakistani politicians and government offer nothing but disappointment and empty promises.

That the U.S can be goaded into attacking it's own ally by the AQ or Taliban is stretching it a bit - it speaks volumes about the quality of the leadership and about the thinking behind the WOT if indeed the U.S has been goaded.

I can only speak for myself, but I can say that my thinking with regard to the U.S has made a 180, not because of some sympathy for Talib or AQ but because of the thinking and behaviour of the U.S.

few in Pakistan would have ever thought of the U.S. as an enemy, in fact they always thought of it as a "traditional ally" - But we do not control the thinking and behavior of the U.S.

Few want the U.S as an enemy but if the U.S want to be any enemy, what choice is left but to view it as one.

 

[IceCold]

Even though i doubt what Irfan Hussain has written about Musharaf differentiating between Taliban and AQ, but even for one second if we agree with it, then i guess considering the situation that has risen now over our borders, with Karzai spitting venom against Pakistan and making sure that the territory under his control is used in every manner to destabilize Pakistan, US supporting anti Pakistan elements, elements like Baitullah Mehsud and his ilks, i think it was Musharrafs far sightedness that he did so. Reason being that the west in paticular the US character in this WOT is openly exposed, then why in the bloody hell should we care who or what kills Yanks in afghanistan. For us Pakistan comes first and if thats the way it is then so be it. That is why i said in my one of my previous posts that Nation will soon realize what they have lost once Musharraf is gone. The far sighteness that he possessed and the way he lead Pakistan trough trouble times, there is no other example found in our history, not one either military or democratic and frankly nation should not have high hopes with our present rulers to lead us and take us out from this crises that we are in. God Bless Pakistan and give some sense to our ***** Awaam to understand the difference.

 

[lionheartsalahudin]

In my opinion our army based on islamic ideology can't fight muslims and when they have their moral has been drained.Thats why a year or so back many posts were abondaned by our soldiers when they faced taliban without a fight so 1st off all the army's motivation is islam and the whole army beleives in it one way or the other due to the legacy of 65's war FATA how ever it is the part of pakistan they joined pakistan with their own will and told quid-e-azam not to worry abt this side of pakistan any foreign aggression on pakistan will be dealt by them .So basically they were sort of a defense force on western border.Beleive me media does not exaggerate this terrorism in pakistan would never have happened if we had not entered "war on terror" basically our army is like an assasin getting paid to kill now that also effects the pride of our soldiers they will follow orders but disheartedly bcuz they r fighting someone else's war.
Yes,no doubt taliban are extremists in their interpretation of islam but they never wanted to impose or even if they wanted so their fighters would never do so killing another muslim(unless munafiq or traitor to muslim ummah).But with this war on terror they can justify their actions as vengence for innocents killed by pak army on american call.So basically if u wan't ceasation of hostilities one will have to stop show some patience hold talks sort out this matter .On both sides our brothers and sis are dying for who? AMERICA.and in this chaos india is using northern alliance to send in terrorists armed by raa into pakistan portreying as taliban attackers so we r basically being crushed from all sides may ALLAH help our nation and its people.
Diplomacy! beleive me or not one thing we r worst at is diplomacy we may win the war on ground but we lose it on table that's how we are.first off all if we had to enter thewar on terror as GEN.HAMID GULL says "we should have used the proper channels have let the parliament taken the decision delay it and should have bargained on kashmir the unbeleivable haste with which pakistan agreed even the americans could not beleive that and cond and bush braged abt the only thing they acheived submission of pakistan from war on terror" thats what i recall him sayin and in my opinion he is right we should have got something off americans like refrendum in whole kashmir or more fighter jets atleast zia-ul-haq got f-16s in return for menace of ak-47 in pak which are physically there to see for the people what can musharaf say other then economy and still there were tonnes of cases he has left us in debt more then ever if he had bargained for kashmir he could point that oky war on terror messed upbut we got our 60 year old demands the usd's musharaf got who knows how much made it to the treasury and how much into swiss accounts.and in return pakistani people are in debt .
Now what course of action should be taken strictly my opinion the current wave of american intrusions in to pakistan without permission is bringing into question the actual existence of our army and its honour.so what to do for this we have to look at the current world affairs Russia's stand off with the west ,gliimpses of a new cold war russia eagerly looking for full support to it's actions in georgia,countries cautious abt there support to russia ,only few Venesuella,syria fully supporting and some what iran,it's the best time for pakistani officals to pay a visit to moscow and show limited support to its actions and if it were any other time moscow would have been suspicious but with the current happenings home and abroad we would be received well in mocow,and this would ring bells in american media accusing Republicans of pushing an ally to the other side, this would really make Pakistan hard to mess with and west will think twice b4 entering our territory so if we play our diplomatic cards right we can exploit current world standoff into our on benefit and beleive me russians don't attack allies no matter what thats the difference b/w 3000 old civilisation and 300 years old civilisation ,so thats how i see a solution to this prob,don't worry india is now more neutral then ever it did not support russia openly as syria ,venesuella,or iran due to west,but what do we have to lose we r already under threat from west so we should maneuver wisely and beleive me russians won't bother if we buy weapons from russia too it just needs buyers for its weapons they are not bothered by the russian engine used in jf-17 or j-10(for pakistan) thats a sign or they could have taken legal action against china if they wanted so moscow is the best choice if we want west to awaken up and treat us fairly and on equal terms.
This is strictly my opinion but i may be wrong please tell me what else can we do i see this option only which can revive the respect and honour of our nation other then western diplomacy which will degrade us further more and i don't trust Zardari a bit he will sell pakistan to america they only need to show him dolls.PEACE AND OUT!

 

[Patriot]

In my opinion our army based on islamic ideology can't fight muslims and when they have their moral has been drained.Thats why a year or so back many posts were abondaned by our soldiers when they faced taliban without a fight so 1st off all the army's motivation is islam and the whole army beleives in it one way or the other due to the legacy of 65's war FATA how ever it is the part of pakistan they joined pakistan with their own will and told quid-e-azam not to worry abt this side of pakistan any foreign aggression on pakistan will be dealt by them .So basically they were sort of a defense force on western border.Beleive me media does not exaggerate this terrorism in pakistan would never have happened if we had not entered "war on terror" basically our army is like an assasin getting paid to kill now that also effects the pride of our soldiers they will follow orders but disheartedly bcuz they r fighting someone else's war.
Yes,no doubt taliban are extremists in their interpretation of islam but they never wanted to impose or even if they wanted so their fighters would never do so killing another muslim(unless munafiq or traitor to muslim ummah).But with this war on terror they can justify their actions as vengence for innocents killed by pak army on american call.So basically if u wan't ceasation of hostilities one will have to stop show some patience hold talks sort out this matter .On both sides our brothers and sis are dying for who? AMERICA.and in this chaos india is using northern alliance to send in terrorists armed by raa into pakistan portreying as taliban attackers so we r basically being crushed from all sides may ALLAH help our nation and its people.
Diplomacy! beleive me or not one thing we r worst at is diplomacy we may win the war on ground but we lose it on table that's how we are.first off all if we had to enter thewar on terror as GEN.HAMID GULL says "we should have used the proper channels have let the parliament taken the decision delay it and should have bargained on kashmir the unbeleivable haste with which pakistan agreed even the americans could not beleive that and cond and bush braged abt the only thing they acheived submission of pakistan from war on terror" thats what i recall him sayin and in my opinion he is right we should have got something off americans like refrendum in whole kashmir or more fighter jets atleast zia-ul-haq got f-16s in return for menace of ak-47 in pak which are physically there to see for the people what can musharaf say other then economy and still there were tonnes of cases he has left us in debt more then ever if he had bargained for kashmir he could point that oky war on terror messed upbut we got our 60 year old demands the usd's musharaf got who knows how much made it to the treasury and how much into swiss accounts.and in return pakistani people are in debt .
Now what course of action should be taken strictly my opinion the current wave of american intrusions in to pakistan without permission is bringing into question the actual existence of our army and its honour.so what to do for this we have to look at the current world affairs Russia's stand off with the west ,gliimpses of a new cold war russia eagerly looking for full support to it's actions in georgia,countries cautious abt there support to russia ,only few Venesuella,syria fully supporting and some what iran,it's the best time for pakistani officals to pay a visit to moscow and show limited support to its actions and if it were any other time moscow would have been suspicious but with the current happenings home and abroad we would be received well in mocow,and this would ring bells in american media accusing Republicans of pushing an ally to the other side, this would really make Pakistan hard to mess with and west will think twice b4 entering our territory so if we play our diplomatic cards right we can exploit current world standoff into our on benefit and beleive me russians don't attack allies no matter what thats the difference b/w 3000 old civilisation and 300 years old civilisation ,so thats how i see a solution to this prob,don't worry india is now more neutral then ever it did not support russia openly as syria ,venesuella,or iran due to west,but what do we have to lose we r already under threat from west so we should maneuver wisely and beleive me russians won't bother if we buy weapons from russia too it just needs buyers for its weapons they are not bothered by the russian engine used in jf-17 or j-10(for pakistan) thats a sign or they could have taken legal action against china if they wanted so moscow is the best choice if we want west to awaken up and treat us fairly and on equal terms.
This is strictly my opinion but i may be wrong please tell me what else can we do i see this option only which can revive the respect and honour of our nation other then western diplomacy which will degrade us further more and i don't trust Zardari a bit he will sell pakistan to america they only need to show him dolls.PEACE AND OUT!

LET ME CLEAR SOMETHING FOR YOU.Talibans are not ISLAMIC.They're just dumb uneducated ***** who just wants to fight and they cant work on a real job.All they do is fight for money.They will go in hell, no doubt.

 

[muse]

Sep 17, 2008



In Pakistan, sympathy for the Taliban
By Mustafa Qadri

Tehrek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan) , the umbrella organization for Pakistan's multiple Taliban movements, seeks to spread its strict Deobandi interpretation of Islam to all of Pakistan.

"They don't just want to control FATA [the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where they are based], but want to control the entire country," says Ayesha Jalal, one of the foremost historians of Pakistan who recently wrote a book on the history of jihad in South Asia. The Taliban claim they fight in the name of Islam.

But if the Taliban are judged by actions and not words, their primary targets are ordinary Muslims.

A Taliban suicide attack on the Wah army munitions facility in August killed 70 and injured over 100 more. All those killed were ordinary, working Muslims, as were the people killed by a Taliban suicide bomber when he blew himself up at the casualty ward of a hospital in the city of Dera Ismail Khan on August 19. The Taliban said the attack was justified because the hospital was administering polio vaccinations, something it considers prohibited by Islam.

The nearly weekly attacks on girls' schools - such as the more than 100 destroyed in Pakistan's northwestern and mountainous Swat district in the past 10 months - are justified in the same way.

Such acts against fellow Muslims seem unconscionable even to conservative Muslims not affiliated with the Taliban. "The people who planned the assassination attack on me are not Muslim," declared former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto after she survived the first attempt on her life in October last year. "No Muslim can attack a woman. No Muslim can attack innocent people."

After the Wah blasts, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani told parliament, "We cannot allow terrorists to challenge the writ of the government."

Yet the Taliban manage to retain the sympathy of many Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A major reason for this is the presence of foreign troops that do not appear to understand the dynamics of local tribal politics. Another is the insecurity that most civilians exposed to the conflict face. When foreign forces kill civilians, the Taliban are able to avoid responsibility for the atrocities they commit.

Long line of occupiers

Pakistan's political and religious leadership, while routinely condemning their violence, has generally avoided challenging the Taliban's credentials as a Muslim movement. Many leaders, like the Jamiat-Ulema-Islami's Maulana Fazal Rehman, prefer to focus on deaths caused by Western forces in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Afghanistan. The inescapable message is that the Taliban may not be loved, but the real criminals are foreign interlopers.

This double standard is partially explained by popular antipathy toward the involvement of Western armies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) follow in a long line of foreign armies that have claimed to bring order to the region but have instead killed many civilians while serving their own interests and failing to respect local traditions.

US and NATO attacks have increased in 2008, as have civilian casualties, and US officials recently admitted that their forces conducted what may have been the first US ground assault against the Taliban in Pakistan in early September. NATO forces also stand accused of taking part in the operation in which up to 20 civilians, including women and children, were killed.

Some Pakistanis believe the Taliban insurgency is the latest in a long line of anti-colonial militancy stretching back to the mid-19th century uprisings against British rule. The Pakistan army, in contrast, is seen as an agent of the United States. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf exacerbated this perception with his unquestioning support for US intervention in the region. Under Musharraf, the US established a massive air base near Quetta, just south of NWFP, from which it launches air strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan with impunity.

Nor have people forgotten that Pakistan was the conduit for America's proxy war with the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s. That war developed the infrastructure that the Taliban now uses to prosecute its war. Moreover, Pakistan's war with the Taliban in the NWFP has displaced up to 300,000 citizens. US and NATO missile strikes have also displaced tens of thousands of people. This has helped nurture sympathy for the Taliban at a time when many Pakistanis feel besieged by the US and India, an old rival that's developing greater regional power.

Another factor is that the conflict isn't merely between the Taliban and the armies of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the US and NATO. That conflict is but one strand of a complex web of conflicts that includes militant groups either supported or opposed by Pakistan's military establishment, and rival tribes involved in regional disputes that have been co-opted into the wider conflict, such as the inter-tribal and sectarian clashes currently occurring in the Kurram Agency region of NWFP.

The lack of clearly distinguishable friends and foes has made it difficult for both Pakistan's politicians and the general population to single out the Taliban for the atrocities they have committed. As a result, many in Pakistan live in denial of the existence and motives of Tehrek-e-Taliban-Pakistan. "There is no Tehrek-e-Taliban-Pakistan," says Asif, a musician from Lahore. "This is a civil war [but] they don't want to tell people that."

Others like Mahmoud, a Karachi rickshaw driver, are openly supportive of the Taliban. "They are holy warriors, true Muslims," he said. To people like Mahmoud, the Wah suicide attacks were justified. The people killed or injured "deserved their fate for serving the interests of America and the Jews. The [Pakistan] army has killed so many in [NWFP] and in the Red Mosque [during a Pakistan army siege that killed many hundreds including women and children] ... according to our faith, those who do not obey Islam are no longer Muslim and it is lawful to kill them."

Growing understanding

But such sentiments don't go unchallenged. Many understand the Taliban as a violent, extremist organization whose targeting of girls' schools and civilians is inimical to the sub-continent's traditionally moderate Muslim traditions.

"Islamic faith spread [in the sub-continent] through the Sufi tradition [of] inclusiveness, embracing local traditions and religious concepts," notes Pakistani historian Jalal.

A large demonstration took place in Wah after the suicide attacks and shops closed the next day, also in protest. In several parts of NWFP, people are forming armed squads to take on the Taliban. The tide may be starting to turn against the Taliban, much as it did for Islamic militants in Algeria during the 1990s.

Without adequate political leadership, eradicating sympathy for the Taliban may prove more difficult than eradicating their hideouts in frontier Pakistan. But as long as NATO and the United States continue unilateral strikes in Pakistan that kill civilians, the real battle - for hearts and minds - will be lost.

Mustafa Qadri, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is a freelance journalist from Australia reporting from Pakistan. His website is mustafaqadri.net.

 

[TOPGUN]

LET ME CLEAR SOMETHING FOR YOU.Talibans are not ISLAMIC.They're just dumb uneducated fucks who just wants to fight and they cant work on a real job.All they do is fight for money.They will go in hell, no doubt.

Lol nicely said yaar i wouldnt have said it any other way cuz of these ***** we are in this **** today !!

 

[fatman17]

^^^MODS--> why are we allowing such foul language!!!

 

[RabzonKhan]

A very honest assessment.


Taliban’s anti-state agenda needs early response: Afrasiab

* NWFP govt peace envoy says Taliban repeating Afghanistan experiments in Pakistan
* Nizam-e-Adl will be enforced in Malakand by the end of Ramazan

Staff Report

September 17, 2008. PESHAWAR: The Taliban are pursuing an ‘anti-state struggle’ and Pakistan must take this threat seriously before it causes an irreparable damage to the country, NWFP government’s Peace Envoy Afrasiab Khattak said on Tuesday. “They (Taliban) want to defeat the state and their success starts where the state fails,” Khattak told Daily Times in an interview on Tuesday.

Experiments: He said the Taliban were trying to replicate the same model in Pakistan they had experimented in Afghanistan. “Mullah Omar could become ameerul momeneen after the failure of the Afghan state and that is what they are trying to do in Pakistan,” he warned. “Those who support them for ‘strategic reasons’ should think 100 times before going ahead with this policy,” Khattak said, but did not elaborate.

Asked how he views the US incursions in South Waziristan, the peace envoy said Afghanistan had long been ‘complaining’ against “sanctuaries of militants on Pakistan’s soil”. “The real problem is that we have not taken those complaints seriously. We face a serious situation and we have to deal with it seriously,” Khattak, who also heads the ruling Awami National Party at the provincial level, said.

“While we are justifiably sensitive to US incursions into our territory, we should be equally sensitive to the loss of sovereignty to the militants in FATA.” “A myth has been created that the violence we have is because we support the US. This duality has created the problem. Militant sanctuaries should be disbanded. They are the root cause,” Khattak said.

The peace envoy said the Tribal Areas had ‘literally exploded’. “The military operation in Bajaur has resulted in massive dislocation of civilians. There is no military operation in Kurram Agency, but fierce fighting is going on in that tribal region. Parts of Kurram are worse than Somalia.” He conceded that a peace accord with the Swat Taliban in May last year had helped militants reorganise and re-equip. “They have got new weapons coming from Waziristan, including sniper rifles,” he said.

Nizam-e-Adl: The provincial government has almost finalised arrangements for the enforcement of Islamic laws and the focus of new courts in Malakand is to ‘shorten process’ for dispensation of justice. “Nizam-e-Adl will be enforced [in Malakand] by the end of Ramazan,” Khattak said. He said the current military actions in Swat district and Bajaur tribal region were ‘harder’ than the previous ones, adding that good results would soon follow.

 

[niaz]

While it pains me deeply each time I read of US strikes in Pakistan with impunity. Like most peace loving Pakistanis I am at a dilemma. I have always believed that Taliban don’t give a fig for Pakistan State or her boundaries. Their main objective is to establish an Afghanistan style state in Pakistan. Even the orthodox KSA and Iran have a far more moderate interpretation of Islam than Taliban. These people are not elected and would never get in thru peaceful means; their only option is to exploit deep seated religious feelings of the Joe public.

Taliban and their supporters have been playing the Sharia card in the subcontinent for the last two hundred years. I for one don’t believe in the kind of Islam they want to enforce. IMO these people are anti Islamic. Thus at least I would have no hesitation in eliminating this evil in any way possible. War against Taliban is not a US war but a war for the survival of Pakistan. What will happen to Pakistan's sovereignty, if an Islamic Emirate is established in FATA or Malakand?

Regret to say that many of my countrymen fail to see this. Lal Masjid is a case in point; there was a state within a state in the heart of Islamabad and many so called patriots included many renowned Urdu press and TV presenters criticising GOP action and the crazy CJ releasing all the suspected suicide bombers so that they can kill more innocent civilians. Why is all sympathy is for the innocents killed in Waziristan and nothing for the innocents killed by the suicide bombers?

There is little doubt that these attacks are in contravention of the international law and UN charter. US is behaving as the worst bully. But looking at US point of view, if PA and FC along with Cobra gun ships have failed to eliminate this evil, what is US to do?

There are a lot of Taliban sympathizers in PA and in the security agencies. Pray tell me, why don’t we bomb and eliminate all the anti Pakistan Radio stations for a start. Also no action has so far been taken against the madrassahs. . Madrassahs provided an unending supply of brainwashed manpower to Taliban. Even the female students of Jamia Hafsa refused to leave the premises when offered a free passage and openly stated in TV (where else but Capital talk of the Taliban agent Hamid Mir) that it was a fight between good and evil. GOP being evil!


While I hate US attacking inside Pakistani territory, as long as bigots such as Hamid Gul (hero for some of the members) and his cronies retain influence in PA and ISI, Taliban will get inside info of PA's movements and PA jawans will keep getting killed in ambush and roadside bombs. Fact is that Pakistan polity is now polarized between those who want to see an Islamic Emirate in Pakistan and those who want a progressive and enlightened Pakistan. Misguided Pakistanis keep supporting anti state elements in the hope of a mythical utopia of Islamic Emirate. If Taliban Afghanistan type state is what these supporters yearn for, I pity them.

This is a critical stage in Pakistan’s history. We need to analyse the situation dispassionately and debate the matter in the National Assembly before we decide on the course of action.

 

[RabzonKhan]

I have to repeat myself that time has come for our establishment to give-up the good (Afghan Taliban)........bad (Pakistani Taliban) policy, because of this policy today in the entire international community we our totally isolated even our Arab and Chinese friends are getting fed up with us.

Excellent article!

VIEW: Pakistan on the brink —Ahmed Rashid

September 21, 2008

For the past seven years, the Bush administration studiously ignored the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership gathering in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and now scrambles to make up for lost time. US elections are looming, and facing the humiliating prospect of Osama bin Laden outlasting a two-term presidency and even expanding his reach, President Bush has pushed the Pentagon into a do-or die-hunt for bin Laden. Whether the search for an “October surprise” for the election succeeds or not, the radical threat is now beyond easy military solution.

It’s a sign of desperation that on September 16, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was in Islamabad meeting the Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, his boss Secretary of Defence Bob Gates was in Kabul, while Pakistan’s newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari was in London begging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get the Americans off his back and deliver aid to a beleaguered country rather than angry ripostes.

Pakistan is at the centre of a gathering firestorm engulfing south and central Asia in the most volatile confrontation since 9/11. Pakistan, Afghanistan, the US and NATO all bear heavy responsibility for the crisis. President Bush had neither the inclination nor urge to do right by Afghanistan, despite pleas by President Hamid Karzai to eliminate cross-border terrorist strikes from Pakistan and effectively rebuild the country. Senior US officers serving in Afghanistan say they begged the White House and the State Department for action in 2006, but Bush was cosy with Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf and Iraq occupied US attention. Meanwhile, veteran John McCain flails in effectively playing the national security card against Barack Obama because Republican policies failed to secure the homeland against future Al Qaeda attacks.

The Pakistan military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) saw Bush’s lack of attention as a free pass to re-engage the Taliban as a Pakistani proxy force. As outlined in detail in my book, Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, the army hedged its bets against possible US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan or danger of India becoming too influential in Kabul, by moving pro-Pakistan Afghan leaders into Kabul and carving out a dominating position in Afghan politics.

Until this year, Pakistan appeared to be winning the game. Then the Afghan Taliban launched an unprecedented offensive against US, NATO and Afghan security forces, attempting to paralyse the country by cutting all major roads to urban centres, thereby depriving the people of supplies and Western forces of fuel and ammunition — 80 percent of which is trucked through Pakistan — and killing aid workers so what little development work is taking place comes to a grinding halt.

Catching the Pakistan military off guard was dramatic growth of the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen in the border region were quickly radicalised by their Al Qaeda guests. Last year, Pakistani Taliban militias developed their own political agenda — to Talibanise northern Pakistan and create a new “sharia state” that would lead to the balkanisation of Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban now control all seven tribal agencies that make up the autonomous region bordering Afghanistan called the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). They have spread across the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) through brutal terror tactics and threaten large towns. Poised on the borders of Punjab, the largest province, they’re joined by Punjabi and Kashmiri extremist groups.

US forces in Afghanistan launch almost daily attacks against suspected Al Qaeda hideouts in FATA and also target Afghan Taliban leaders such as Jalaluddin Haqqani. Pakistan’s military first denied the strikes, then virulently protested them. However on September 3, US Navy Seals put boots on the ground in FATA to demonstrate US seriousness and perhaps to also blackmail Pakistan to own up to US missile strikes and gain greater cooperation from the army. As a result, the army now says it allows US missile strikes despite public anger over Pakistan losing its sovereignty.

The army’s policies over the past fateful seven years led to Pakistan losing much of its territorial sovereignty. Heavily armed militant groups run wild, crime is rampant, paramilitary and police morale has plummeted with a stream of desertions. The country is in the throes of an economic meltdown. Foreign exchange reserves have halved in the past three months to less than US$8 billion, inflation runs at 25 percent, power shortages cripple industry and agriculture, and massive unemployment fuels a resentful populace.

Musharraf resigned, replaced by the ever-controversial Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto and leader of the country’s only national party in the country, the Pakistan People’s Party, winning elections with overwhelming support from the three smaller provinces of NWFP, Balochistan and Sindh. But Punjab, with 65 percent of the country’s 160 million people, remains out of his hands, run by rival Nawaz Sharif, who refuses to take the terrorist threat seriously and befriends right-wing Islamic parties. Cleavage between the smaller provinces and Punjab has never been greater.

Zardari’s first tasks are to deal with the faltering economy and get a grip on the war against terrorism while satisfying international concerns. So far he has not much to show. Since the new PPP-led coalition government took office in February, it’s been locked in interminable battles with Sharif. If Zardari continues on those lines, Pakistan is sunk. Promising economic aid and demanding ISI reforms, a lame-duck Bush administration cannot rescue Zardari.

Zardari needs to develop a partnership with the army to fight the terrorists, but so far the army lacks strategy or coherence — one day bombing villages in FATA, the next day announcing ceasefires and offering compensation to militants. It has failed to protect the people of FATA — some 800,000 of a population of just 3.5 million have fled the region since 2006 — terrified of both the army and the Taliban.

The army has still not made the necessary strategic U-turn, giving up on the Afghan Taliban leadership who live in Balochistan. The ISI still attempts to separate the favoured Afghan Taliban from the disfavoured Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda. But the truth is that all operate under a common strategy and guidelines set by Al Qaeda. The aim for Al Qaeda is to use the coming months to take serious territory in the NWFP where it can re-establish safe bases and training camps it once had in Afghanistan.

The American answer is to send more troops to Afghanistan — 4500 are due to arrive soon and another 10,000 by next year — and pressure Pakistan. However the solution no longer lies in a single country. The Taliban are now a regional problem and the next US administration must generate a regional strategy that encompasses Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and the five Central Asian republics.

Western forces cannot win in Afghanistan without dealing with Pakistan, but the military will only change its colours when it feels more secure vis-à-vis India, which has warm relations with President Karzai and the Tajiks in northern Afghanistan. Likewise Iran, now arming groups in Afghanistan, needs to be addressed directly by the Americans. Going back to the UN Security Council to get a new mandate for a major regional diplomatic initiative, coupled with a massive regional aid programme and widespread public information campaign that portrays the Western coalition as a regional problem-solver rather than a warmonger, are the needs of the hour.

However, the issue is whether the next US president, Europe and NATO will have the courage and the will to take the bull by the horns and attempt something new rather than continue with a policy that has clearly failed.

Ahmed Rashid is the author of Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, and a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. This article originally appeared in the Yale Global magazine and is reprinted with permission. Copyright 2008, Yale Centre for the Study of Globalisation

 

[muse]

The aim for Al Qaeda is to use the coming months to take serious territory in the NWFP where it can re-establish safe bases and training camps it once had in Afghanistan

Western forces cannot win in Afghanistan without dealing with Pakistan, but the military will only change its colours when it feels more secure vis-à-vis India, which has warm relations with President Karzai and the Tajiks in northern Afghanistan. Likewise Iran, now arming groups in Afghanistan, needs to be addressed directly by the Americans. Going back to the UN Security Council to get a new mandate for a major regional diplomatic initiative, coupled with a massive regional aid programme and widespread public information campaign that portrays the Western coalition as a regional problem-solver rather than a warmonger, are the needs of the hour

Mr. Rashid ought to be, (maybe he is) Mr. Zardari's foreign policy advisor - Mr. Zardari has pretty much the same plan, to involve regional players in Afghan security.

In the 7 years that the US has occupied Afghanistan and set up the "democracy" of Karzai - what progress has been made towards accepting the Durand line as the border??? Do you think that it is a coincidence???

Iran, Mr Rashid says is arming "groups" -- "groups"??? Which groups??

Why ought Pakistan or Iran or Russia assist US and NATO??? Exactly why??

In the 7 years of US occupation what has the US managed to do for these governments??? They have made shindand ready for a air assault on iran, they have encouraged and aided the Indian to train supversives to create mayhem in balouchistan and Pakistan in general - and of course they have antagonized the Russian in the Black sea.

What exactly is Mr. Rashid's prescription short of the US prescription, in which all advantages accure to US and NATO and all pain and disadvantage to regionals such as Pakistan and Iran.

We are told by Mr. Rashid that the Pakistan army distinguishes between good taliban and bad taliban - however; it seems to me that whom ever Pakistan nominates as their ally in Afghanistan, should he have a beard, he will automatically be a bad taliban to Mr. Rashid (who himself sports a beard, but he has a lefty wefty English education).

According to Mr. Rashid a political opinion such as that of the Talib not only does not have the right to express itself, it does not have the right to even exist and that it is the duty of the Pakistan Fauj to kill it. He is wrong on both counts.

A sober presentation must accept and implement Pakistani security concerns in Afghanistan, these include the acceptance by treaty accord of the durand line and the agreement not to curtail Pakistani busniess enterprises and the use of the Pakistani currency as a medium of exchange.

 

[dabong1]

Same old bs....trying to make out as if the taliban of afghanistan is somehow the same as the terrorist/crimminals running riot in FATA.

If you ask most people they support the taliban in afghanistan but totally reject the terrorist/crimminals who operate out of FATA.

Should we defeat the terrorist....yes

Should we help NATO defeat the afghan taliban....no

"Currently, a military alliance between Afghanistan and India is Pakistani military planners' worst nightmare. To thwart such a possibility, the Pakistani Army wants to retain the Taliban as proxies and is therefore reluctant to crush them."

Its going to be funny when the indians do get a military alliance between Afghanistan they only have a foothold yet and look what has happened.
When similar attacks to mumbai start taking place in karachi islamabad and lahore who is pakistan going to send to sort the problem out....is the army going to attack afghanistan or will it be better to send the taliban.

 

[Lockheed F-16]

I will certainly join the PA and won't hesitate to givve everyone a bullet in his head. I don't consider the Talibs as Muslims and don't consider tham as Pakistanis. They are the same enemies for me like Indians.

And an advice to everyone who thinks that they are muslims and shouldn't be killed: Always keep in mind that these people are killing scores of Pakistani innocents and are supported by the RAW. That should be a good reason to destroy them!