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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan's army trains Taliban: ex-guerilla |
| 2008-07-01 |
| KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A former Taliban fighter has provided a gripping first-hand account of being secretly trained by members of the Pakistani military, paid $500 a month and ordered to kill foreigners in Afghanistan. Mullah Mohammed Zaher offered a vivid description of a bomb-making apprenticeship at a Pakistani army compound where he says he learned to blow up NATO convoys. He's one of three former Taliban fighters introduced to The Canadian Press by an Afghan government agency that works at getting rebels to renounce the insurgency. Zaher insists he was neither forced to go public with his story nor coached by Afghan officials, whose routine response to terrorism on their soil is to blame neighbouring Pakistan. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #10 Pakistan's border troops are local. The Federal government faces internal subversion, every time they enter the frontier and tribal districts. I agree that there is considerable Punjabi support for Taliban, but it is nearly 100% in Waziri and Pashto areas. And that support extends to al-Qaeda. Prediction: some US government - probably after 4 years of Obama stupidity - will make southern Afghanistan look like the Moon. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-07-01 21:16 |
| #9 Pakistan's army trains Taliban: ex-guerilla You don't say? It's the most profitable industry Pakistan has. $100,000 from the ISI director to fund the Sept 11 attacks has generated over $10 billion in US aid and climbing. It rescued the Paki economy from a freefall to robust growth. Direct US gov aid alone pays for 1/2 the entire Paki military budget. Then there is the skim from the resupply of western forces in Afghanistan. It's another case of the west stupidly funding their enemies. Develop the Turkmenistan and FSU supply lines, turn over the majority of combat responsibility to Afghan forces, cut off Pakistan from aid and trade and make the first 30 miles from the Afghan border east uninhabitable. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-07-01 18:23 |
| #8 John, I was in a bit of a hurry to meet the employees this am when I cobbled together #6 & #7 "comments". rather poor... Your input is way more informed than any insight I might have.... Would you mind telling us your take on this article and video, por favor? Thanksinadvance! ~:) |
| Posted by: RD 2008-07-01 18:09 |
| #7 I should add that everyone one knows that the Pakis are NOT trustworthy and always serve themselves first and last. VIDEO: But this business of being paid $500 per month plus room and board for his family by the ISI is questionable to me. ..and then leaving Pakistan's largess taking amnesty from Karsi's Gubmint and resettling back in A-stan to what? ...War is the only thriving business in South A-stan. Inspite of the flaws is there any useful Intel here? new or confirming Intel? |
| Posted by: RD 2008-07-01 13:13 |
| #6 note the snipet [before & after] the Talib Video at the Link. The Canadian Press Canada's Trusted Online Media [NOT] Ex-guerillas who killed Soviet-skis, Afghanis, Pakis, Amerikis, and Canuck-skis and have retired even tho NATO [AMERICA] bombed their villege and one of their Families.... yea right. shave and a haircut |
| Posted by: RD 2008-07-01 12:52 |
| #5 ...whose routine response to terrorism on their soil is to blame neighbouring Pakistan. Maybe they might just do that because it's...true? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-07-01 12:18 |
| #4 " He said he remembers only the last name of the man in the khaki uniform, Khattak, who presided over the orientation session." What an original Pashtu name .. |
| Posted by: Mad Eye 2008-07-01 10:19 |
| #3 this little gem from orbat: Part of a Pakistani answer at orbat * This is the one thing you have alluded to. People ask why is Pakistan not supporting (and allegedly going against) the ISAF and NATO ops in Afghanistan. Very simple, its not in Pakistan's interests to do so, beyond a certain point. The ISAF and NATO operation there have an objective which is against Pakistan's. USG wants the Northern Alliance government to succeed, a government which is inherently hostile to Pakistan. * And it has been Pakistan's policy since its formation that their can be no hostile or even strong government on the western flank. This has been the policy of all Pakistani governments, civilian and military. Its like the policy that Britain had about not letting there be one power on the continent. And Pakistan is merely following that. Anybody who studied Pakistani history and strategy for about 10 minutes would know that. Yet the legions of analysts in the USG and private media and think tanks have missed that. I mean Pakistan never gave the Taliban enough support to let them take all of Afghanistan for this very reason. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-07-01 00:34 |
| #2 lots more in the latest arguments at Orbat.com link |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-07-01 00:32 |
| #1 That Afghanistan is really a proxy war between India and Pakistan is something I don't have trouble believing. We train and equip the Afghan Army and India bankrolls it to sustain it and they duke it out with Pakistan across the frontier. Neither the Pakistani Army nor the Indian Army need send troops directly into the battle. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-07-01 00:21 |