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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan not 'doing enough' to deal with radical Islamists |
| 2007-03-04 |
| “Pakistan is not doing enough to secure its borders, and the border regions are a safe haven for radical Islamists whether aligned with Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime or Al Qaeda and its affiliates,” Kathy Gannon, a veteran Islamabad-based Associated Press correspondent, told a discussion forum run by the Council on Foreign Relations. She wrote, “What’s the answer? Roaring in with all guns blazing, killing lots of people in the hopes that you get a few of the leaders? That hasn’t worked in Afghanistan and it won’t work in the tribal regions. It will make hundreds, maybe thousands more enemies. The problem is that the US put all its eggs in the one basket: the Pakistani military. Why are things so bad? It’s not because the military made an agreement in Waziristanin in 2006. It’s because the military gave a toehold in Pakistan back in 2002 to the very people who are at the root of the Islamic jihadist movement.” Gannon said that every single party that formed MMA was part of the coalition in Balochistan, as well as the official opposition in the federal government, had a “jihadist wing”. A key component of the ruling religious alliance in the NWFP government, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has sent its followers to Chechnya, Bosnia and northwestern China. Several Al Qaeda men were arrested at the homes of its party workers. In President Pervez Musharraf’s eight years in power, he has not found new civilian partners to replace the radical religious right. “They remain the military’s only partner working to quiet the Pashtun belt of Pakistan,” she added. The AP bureau chief in Islamabad said the US made allies with the wrong people. She said, “Think back to what happened the last time the US made allies of the Pakistan military. It got September 11. And on the Afghan side, the US has made allies with the mujahideen leaders whose radical Islamic vision is no different than Al Qaeda’s and who have links to Al Qaeda and its affiliates, including the likes of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. These groups were based in northwestern Afghanistan in the early 1990s by the mujahideen government, which offered safe haven when the US was pushing Pakistan to shut down its Kashmiri militant training camps. It just moved them next door to Afghanistan with the support of the mujahideen government there and the same people are back in power today.” According to Gannon, the situation in deteriorating because of the “political room to manoeuvre given by the Pakistani military when it turned (as it always does) to the religious extremists and sidelined mainline political parties. She said that the solution had to be a political one that put an end to the tribal regions having separate administrations from the state. The tribal area is Pakistani territory and should be subject to Pakistani law. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Council on Foreign Relations Discussants: Bill Roggio and Kathy Gannon This link is worth the read if you already haven't. Most of us Rantburgers know of Bill R. and respect his good works and great service. I confess I had only heard of Kathy Gannon a time or two before I read her bit here. [so solly, not very impressed] Of one fact I am certain: While multi-tasking in his sleep Fred could put the entire ISI Perv-aeous, One-eye-jacked up Wazoo Talibandit Tribals and Deoband Pashtun Dadullah farking Hek and al-Q Soddy Foggy Bottom Mess STRAIGHT in a paragraph or two. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-03-04 01:32 |