| It's times like this that I wonder if Bambi is right to walk away from Afghanistan. Seems like the Afghans and the Paks deserve each other at some fundamental level. |
ISLAMABAD -- Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Afghan President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
said in an interview to a private Pakistani TV channel broadcast on Saturday.
Hamid is back on the hard stuff, obviously.
The remarks were in sharp contrast to recent tension between the two neighbors over cross-border raids, and Afghan accusations that Pakistan was involved in killing the chief Afghan peace envoy, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani,
... the murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
by a suicide bomber on September 20.
Wouldn't want to see another president of Afghanistan, maybe even a current one, meet somebody whose head explodes...
"God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan," he said in the interview to Geo television. "If Pakistan is attacked and if the people of Pakistan needs Afghanistan's help, Afghanistan will be there with you."
"Just like you've been there for us!"
| Granted, that just may be for consumption by the Pashtun rubes. Problem is, there are a lot of Pashtun rubes... |
Such a situation is extremely unlikely, however.
Not really. Hillary's been hinting pretty loudly that if the Paks don't clean out the Haqqanis we will. Since the only way to get to the Haqqanis is through Pakistain and since Pakistain is in the habit of sticking its national chin out in defense of their "sovereignty" and demanding that we hit it, there's a statistically significant chance of a nice little border spat between NATO and the Paks. I don't think anybody would be surprised if Karzai ordered a stab in the back, especially if he's been hitting the hard stuff again. I'm assuming the intel community does have some institutional memory, which would lead to the Pandjir Valley Tadjiks or the Uzbeks or somebody disposing of Hamid and replacing him with either somebody more pliable or somebody more intelligent.
Despite months of tension and tough talk between Washington and Islamabad, the two allies appear to be working to ease tension. Pakistan is seen as a critical to the U.S. drive to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
Our supply routes lead through Pakistain. Period. Without the supply routes they'd be merely a target. Their worst nightmare would be a pro-American Iran, if they could imagine such a thing.
Pressure on Islamabad has been mounting since U.S. special forces found and killed Osama bin Laden in May in a Pakistani garrison town, where he apparently had been living for years.
In comfort, within walking distance of a major Pak military installation.
Karzai said tensions between the United States and Pakistan did not have any impact in his country's attitude toward Pakistan.
"What?... Huh?... Whoa! No way, man!... Wow! Listen to the colors!"
Afghans have long been suspicious of Pakistan's intentions in their country
... since Pakistain regards them as a colony, to be controlled through a Pak Pashtun raj...
and question its promise to help bring peace.
The bin Laden kill did kinda throw some doubt on their protestations of innocence. The Quetta shura doesn't help. And the fact that the Haqqanis and their al-Qaeda masters control North Wazoo makes the entire concept laughable.
Karzai repeated that concern in his remarks.
"Like I said..."
"Please brother, stop using all methods that hurt us and that are now hurting you. Let's engage from a different platform, a platform in which the two brothers only progress toward a better future in peace and harmony," he said.
The Paks would rather be addressed as "sahib" than as "brother." Just a little point of protocol there, Hamid.
Following the murder of Rabbani, Karzai said he would cease attempting to reach out to the Afghan Taliban and instead