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2003-12-19 India-Pakistan

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Posted by Paul Moloney 2003-12-19 4:22:12 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Bah. It's either ignore these posts, or keep "Time to thin the crop, Perv" on the clipboard at all times.

Posted by Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-19 9:43:21 AM|| 2003-12-19 9:43:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 US intelligence officials were initially given a free hand in Pakistan to track down al-Qaeda members. But now they are directly involved with domestic politicians
The ISI and the Taliban are hand in glove. Anything we do in Pakland will anger one faction or another. Yes, we're "directly involved with domestic politicians", because they are the links between the Pak government and al Qaeda and the Taliban. Musharraf is caught between a rock and a hard place - he absolutely has to work with the United States, or his country will become the next Iraq. At the same time, working with the United States places him at odds with a significant portion of his military, the ISI, and a major part of the Islamic clerical heierarchy. The old boy definitely "lives in interesting times". The odds aren't good he'll survive the next ten years.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-12-19 1:07:27 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-12-19 1:07:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 "a German, Italian, French, British and US intelligence "cartel" that has been established to protect the strategic interests of the respective countries in Afghanistan as their troops are heavily threatened by Taliban attacks. Diplomats of these countries apparently visited places like Quetta on the border area and spoke to people there. The move is seen in Islamabad as nothing short of espionage"

Intell guys with thin diplo cover go somewhere and speak to people - this is seen as "nothing short of espionage" Ethel, my pills!

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-12-19 1:40:08 PM|| 2003-12-19 1:40:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Pakistan is the land of a million conspiracy theories. IMHO, it would be wise to keep Occam's razor handy when reading articles about Pakistan. I think the bomb was for real. Al-Qaeda has called openly for Musharraf's death (per the Al-Zawahiri tape.) Ditto for Pakistani jihadi groups.

As for the ISI and the Taliban, I don't think the ISI controlled the Taliban, as the conspiracy-theorist view implies. The ISI tried (but failed badly) to control them. They failed because they wasn't really enough of an overlap between their interests and world-views.
1. The ISI's officers come from Pakistan's mostly-liberal professional classes.
2. The ISI is not a career service. Officers are transferred in from military units, serve 3 years, then go back to military, never to return. This "term limit" rule tends to limit abuses of power. The ISI's known abuses of power mostly occurred during or shortly after the period (during the anti-Soviet guerilla war) when the "term limit" rule was suspended.
3. I believe the ISI was trying to use the Taliban to control Afghanistan, and this policy was a disastrous and embarrassing failure. The units that were involved were largely dismantled.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-12-19 4:49:54 PM|| 2003-12-19 4:49:54 PM|| Front Page Top

06:04 Mark Hart
15:33 ed
12:56 Daniel King
23:58 PBMcL
23:54 Les Nessman
23:37 OldSpook
23:09 Gasse Katze
22:56 Gasse Katze
22:55 Super Hose
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22:47 Alaska Paul
22:41 ed
22:40 Vic
22:39 Super Hose
22:30 JP
22:20 Super Hose
22:18 Super Hose
22:11 Super Hose
22:10 Matt
22:06 Glenn (not Reynolds)
21:56 True German Ally
21:55 Super Hose
21:52 Super Hose
21:47 Glenn (not Reynolds)