#5
I just watched the video of ISIS capturing unarmed truck drivers and executing them. I am at the point where I believe we should pull all of the Americans out. Then send in the B2 and work the nuclear option. From there put Iran and Soddie on notice or they are next. This Religious war is moving west, I do not want it in America.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/20/2014 11:35 Comments ||
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#6
Rather than try to play whack-a-mole wherever these terrorist organizations may pop up, what we have to do is to be able to build effective partnerships.
And you've been sooo effective at that, haven't you, Champ. Can you - or anybody! - name one 'effective partnership'?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/20/2014 13:24 Comments ||
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#8
So, the empty suit administration is about to recant on their positions about the "Global War on Terrorism"?
Geez, how are they going to spin that without admitting Bush was right about it all along and maybe his Iraq incursion and Afghanistan were the right thing to do at the time?
I wonder how San Fran Nan is going to spin that?
And the "George Bush is a war criminal" crowd how are they going to spin that now?
What is the empty suit regime going to call it? It has to be something that will not insult radical Islam.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/20/2014 14:02 Comments ||
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#9
and us laying down a more effective counterterrorism platform that gets all the countries in the region pulling in the same direction.
Yeah because we all know what a success that Unity of Vision stuff has been so far.
[DAWN] AS is regrettably usual in Pakistain, delays, confusion and obfuscation in government and administrative circles have left citizens facing an uncertain future. After months of back and forth over talking to the terrorists, it was the assault on Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport that apparently proved the fulcrum and prompted the state to send military forces into North Wazoo. Was the fallout on civilians fully thought through? Operation Zarb-e-Azb has been under way for just a few days and already the director of the Fata Disaster Management Authority says that some 92,000 people have fled the region since the military started launching air strikes, mostly going to the adjoining Bannu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... . On Wednesday, in the wake of authorities easing the curfew in some parts of the region to let civilians leave — taken by some as an indication that the campaign is likely widen into a ground operation soon — an exodus of around 30,000 has occurred. More continue to pour out, carrying with them whatever they can. Apart from fleeing to the provinces, thousands of people have also gone across the border into Afghanistan's Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... where, according to Afghan authorities, they lack basic facilities including food.
Some camps for these internally displaced people have been set up and reportedly registration points are also in evidence to deal with the influx of people. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the camps remain largely empty; it seems that many families prefer to make their own arrangements. This, unfortunately, is understandable to an extent since the plight of the tens of thousands of people similarly displaced during earlier military operations and who ended up in camps is fresh in the region's memory, even if it has been forgotten by the country on the lam. Overcrowded and underequipped, living conditions at these camps were far from satisfactory and led to the deaths of many. It took the state several years to sort out the problem of those displaced in earlier rounds; this time, the problem is likely to be far worse since the operation appears to be taking on bigger and more sustained dimensions.
In this regard, it is outrageous that the Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... governments have sent out signals that they will not allow internally displaced persons to seek refuge here. Certainly, there are valid concerns: violence-hit Balochistan worries about gunnies slipping through amidst the flood of refugees, while Sindh is concerned about the further spread of polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... — figures given a couple of days ago put the number of unvaccinated children poised to flee North Waziristan at about 300,000. But both matters can be resolved through an efficient registration and checkpoint system. It behoves the country and its provinces to square up for the challenge. Making citizens feel unwelcome is only going to exacerbate the alienation from the mainstream that many in the tribal areas already suffer.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] IT is among the many wonders of this land of the pure that charlatans renowned for their closeness to state institutions can spout rhetoric about the use of 'state terrorism ... any action taken by a non-Moslem state that constrains the violent impulses of Moslems or their allies ... ' against innocents. So it was earlier this week when Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... — and his various spokesmen — reacted to the government's use of force against his supporters.
Qadri is not wrong in noting that such incidents can trigger a chain of events that shake up the entire political order; it is another matter that what he suggested was the start of his long-prophesied 'revolution' seems much more like a shift in the wrong direction for Pak democracy.
This is not to suggest that the Sharif brothers are proving to be adept defenders of our extremely weak democratic foundations. To the contrary, they are giving their detractors, and, more crucially, the establishment and its lackeys, every opportunity to not just snap at their heels, but potentially cut them off entirely.
The use of such excessive force in an upscale neighbourhood of Lahore defies logic. Indeed, one cannot help but wonder whether or not the whole incident was engineered precisely so that the already under pressure government is pushed further into a corner.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The military-mullah nexus has become somewhat of a political aphorism in Pakistan, especially favoured by the country's beleaguered "liberals". Every now and then, you hear the odd journalist or politician claiming that this nexus is dented, fractured, or may even be crumbling. But rarely has the military's liaison with the mullahs received any critical scrutiny.
Lately, however, some scholars have questioned its theoretical and practical utility for making sense of national security politics and policy in Pakistan...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
A careful analysis of military publications, such as the different editions of the official Pakistan Army Green Book (2000, 2008, 2011) and the National Defense University (NDU)s journal and annual strategy papers (2000-2012), shows that the military still considers militants as Pakistans first line of defence against India as part of a strategy tripod, whose other two legs are conventional force and nuclear deterrence.
In fact, senior officers continue to take pride in the militarys capability to conduct proxy wars against India to offset its conventional superiority despite the disastrous blowback of that policy on Pakistan in the form of terrorism and international isolation.
That is interesting. Has any senior military authority written an article in NDU explaining the offensive against the criminals in North Wazoo? It would seem important to give guidance to the junior officers.
As we all hope, it will change the bully boy landscape of the country besides having a far-reaching impact on the political and strategic dynamics of conflict in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
So far, snuffies in North Waziristan were the ones least challenged by the state's counter-terrorism efforts. The tribal agency is (or was) considered the last resort of bully boys, which is why a comprehensive military campaign was required to establish the writ of the government.
But when news of the offensive first broke, one thing many Paks found themselves submerged in was questions:
How long, how large will this operation be?
What happens to the 'good Taliban', to those who reportedly wanted peace?
Will a successful operation mean an end to terrorism?
Below, I've sketched a picture of the security scenario which the ongoing operation might create. It may answer the questions above to some extent.
Comprehensive and all-out
It is an inbuilt compulsion in the North Waziristan operation that Pakistain should go after the snuffies comprehensively and objectively. It will make Pakistain's position difficult both on international and domestic fronts if snuffies continue using the tribal territories for hiding and launching operations both in Afghanistan and Pakistain or elsewhere.
The Arclight airstrikes going on in North Waziristan are mainly targeting foreign snuffies but boots will be on the ground soon in the second phase of the operation.
Good and Bad now hard to distinguish
The operation will eventually lead to termination of all the peace treaties made by the government with some of the bully boy groups in the past and distinction between the good and bad Taliban will become blurred.
Most importantly, it will become harder for Haqqani snuffies to stay in the tribal agency as their argument of having sought shelter in uncontrolled territories will no longer be valid.
Even during the operation, distinguishing between the good and bad snuffies would be difficult.
Just a day before the launch of the military operation, the government was trying to resolve some issues with a so-called good Taliban capoHafiz Gul Bahadur ...a member of the Madda Khel clan of the Uthmanzai Waziris. Educated in a Deobandi madrassa located in Multan, he is affiliated with the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Wazoo, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with the Mehsuds and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pak state.. , who heads local Taliban's council, Shura Mujahideen.
He had signed a peace agreement with the government in 2006.
Bahadur was not happy about military's surgical strikes, before the launch of operation, and warned the government of revoking the peace agreement. A tribal jirga mediated and tried to convince Gul Bahadur to clear the region of foreign bully boys.
Perhaps Gul Bahadur was among the few who were certain that the military was going to launch an operation in North Waziristan. He had asked the residents to leave North Waziristan before June 20. His announcement, which asked people to move towards the Afghan border instead of going to relief camps in Bannu, expressed his anger over pre-operation military strikes, which he declared a violation of the peace treaty.
Though considered a "good Taliban" commander, Bahadur is known to have provided sanctuaries to foreign snuffies from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Al Qaeda. His friendly attitude towards anti-Pakistain bully boy groups and special affiliation with the ETIM was frustrating for the security establishment.
Sajna's future hangs in the balance
Apart from Gul Bahadaur, the future of Said Khan Sajna has also become uncertain.
Sajna was recently trying to emerge as a new good Taliban capo. He was planning to organize a new Taliban alliance to replace Mullah Nazir group, which is currently headed by Bahawal Khan. In 2007, Mullah Nazir successfully threw out Uzbeks from South Waziristan; Uzbeks snuffies again started pouring in after Nazir's death in a drone strike in January 2013.
Though Sajna is trying his best to be bracketed with the good ones, his group's network in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... has become a matter of trouble for him. His faction is involved in criminal and terrorist activities in Karachi.
The Gul Bahadur episode reflected that the government considers it important to make the anti-state bully boy groups including the TTP weak enough before 2015 so that the Afghan Taliban would not be able to use them as a bargaining lever and should continue to look towards Pakistain for political support.
Lots to decide for the Army
Eventually it is the military leadership that will have to decide the fate of the bully boy groups based in North Waziristan during the recently launched offensive.
On the face of it, it appears as if the security establishment has decided to eliminate or push the bully boy infrastructure towards the other side of the Pak-Afghan border.
Now, when the operation has been launched, past peace deals with the snuffies have no legal and moral grounds. At the same time, allowing Haqqanis to live in and operate from Pakistain's tribal belt will not be strategically suitable as it will raise questions about the ability of Pak troops to hold its own areas after clearing them of the bully boys.
TTP elimination not guaranteed
The military operation in itself is not a difficult task. Pakistain army has capabilities to reclaim and hold the area in a minimum time-frame.
The post-operation situation seems hazy and subject to different scenarios. For example, a full-scale operation in North Waziristan cannot guarantee the TTP's elimination.
There are two reasons for that:
First, the TTP and its local and international affiliates have expanded their networks in other parts of the country, and the number of terrorist sleeper cells is increasing.
Secondly, the North Waziristan snuffies can relocate to Afghanistan like Fazlullah did after Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... operation. Some media reports suggest that the foreign and local snuffies from North Waziristan had already started fleeing to neighbouring Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... of Afghanistan, even before the launch of the operation.
It is not yet certain if the North Waziristan operation entails a strategic shift in the government's approach. Questions abound plenty, and we'll need more time for more answers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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