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| India-Pakistan |
| From Pakistan, With Jihad |
| 2007-01-23 |
| NY Times Opinion page To learn why a resurgent Taliban is fighting American and NATO troops to a military draw in Afghanistan, you have to go to the frontier region on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Our colleague, Carlotta Gall, did just that last month and what she learned led to a physical assault on her by Pakistani intelligence officials and five hours in custody for her photographer, Akhtar Soomro. The Pakistani agents broke into her hotel room and copied her notes and computer files. They then tracked down and questioned everyone she had interviewed in Quetta, a border city. We now know why. Ms. GallÂ’s reporting has determined that Quetta is an important rear base for the Taliban, and that Pakistani authorities are encouraging and perhaps sponsoring the cross-border insurgency. That is a role that PakistanÂ’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, denies. But residents of the border area, opposition figures and Western diplomats point to specific cases of Pakistani involvement. Americans need to know more about this collusion and to demand better answers from General Musharraf. There are many reasons that things are now going badly for the American-backed Afghan government. America shortchanged AfghanistanÂ’s security in its rush to invade Iraq. European allies have inexcusably failed to provide NATO with enough soldiers to carry out the expanded Afghan security mission it took on last year and have imposed hobbling restrictions on the activities of those they did send. The government of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is rife with corruption, and the regional warlord allies it depends on to control outlying areas are even more thieving as well as shockingly brutal. These problems all need to be addressed. But the positive results will be limited as long as AfghanistanÂ’s much more populous and powerful neighbor, Pakistan, provides rear support and sanctuary for the Taliban insurgency. It is simply impossible to believe that this support takes place without the approval of the Pakistani military, the countryÂ’s dominant institution for a half-century. Pakistan is now the third-largest recipient of American foreign aid. Yet more than five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has still not been able to secure PakistanÂ’s active and consistent support against the Taliban. The very least Washington should be demanding of President Musharraf is that he enforce an immediate halt on Pakistani military support for the Taliban insurgents who are crossing the border and killing American troops. |
| Posted by:john |
| #4 Did they become pod people at the NYTimes? This op-ed runs completely contrary to the "What war" party line over there. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-23 17:27 |
| #3 Perv was in charge of the Kargil attacks and the slow down of those attacks was one of the reasons he overthrew the previous government. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-01-23 10:50 |
| #2 So much for the rogue elements within ISI.This is Government policy with Perv in charge of It!!! |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-01-23 07:31 |
| #1 Islamabad delenda est. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-01-23 07:21 |