All Posts Tagged With: "Pakistan"

Morale and will of the Pakistani military a serious question mark, and elements openly support the Taliban and al Qaeda, and are unwilling to fight their countrymen.

An unintended consequence of the devastating bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Islamabad last Saturday, September 20 has been provoking the Pakistani government to talk tough about taking on the Taliban and al Qaeda forces nested in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The latest attack, that killed more than 50 Pakistanis and foreigners and wounded over 270, is being described as “Pakistan’s 9-11.”

Whether or not Pakistan can deliver on its tough talk or not is a matter of considerable debate inside and outside of Pakistan. That could start to be answered soon as Pakistan news sources are reporting major operation have been underway since the 23^rd.

The Taliban / al Qaeda forces are not a rag tag bunch but a well armed force capable of fighting at the battalion level with good communications and weapons that Pakistan admits is often better they their own.

Pakistan has deployed 100,000 troops into the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The morale and will of the Pakistani military and intelligence services remains a serious question mark. Elements of the Inter-Service Intelligence are known to openly support the Taliban and al Qaeda, and portions of the military are either sympathetic to the Taliban or unwilling to fight their countrymen.

The Pakistani government, with its new leader, can rant and rave but unless it’s military has the will that is just worthless nattering.

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In 1947 it became an independent Muslim state with four provinces and federally administered tribal areas now controlled by radical Taliban and al Qaeda forces.

It is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Originally it was connected with East Pakistan on the other side of India that became Bangladesh in 1971.

During the Soviet-Afghan War Pakistan covertly supported the Afghan mujahideen and even shot down several intruding Soviet bombers.

In 1999, Pakistan was embroiled with India in the Kargil conflict and fought for several months in nearby Kashmir.

India has nuclear weapons detonated its first device in 1974. Pakistan detonated a fission device in 1998 and is believed to have numerous nuclear bombs now making it the only nuclear armed Muslim nation

I admit that I’m stealing from Pink Floyd on the title of this post. The name of the song is “Comfortably Numb,” and it’s an appropriate theme song for the American public. Nearly every day now I’m picking up the same pattern of misinformation on Iran that was fed to the American public about Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. I can’t figure out if the American people are just plain stupid or if they are completely desensitized. Either way, the American people certainly have become comfortably numb and the administration likes it this way. It’s like they put something in the kool aid.

In case you do not know what the photo is, it’s a Google Earth photo of Minuteman Missile silos (yellow dots) positioned in Montana. This is but one ‘field’ of silos, for lack of a better description. Montana is littered with these fields. Keep in mind that, even though we have a Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) that dates back to the seventies, precious little has actually been done to disarm (and destroy the missiles). It has taken too long and, in my opinion, the international community should be putting pressure on both the U.S. and Russia to pick up the pace. The American public is amazingly laid back when the subject of Israel attacking Iran is raised. Let’s remember that, while we will no doubt blindly stand behind Israel, Russia is likely to stand blindly by Iran. That’s not a good equation.

North Korea recently destroyed the tower at it’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, and George Bush was quick in attempting to take the credit. Know why it worked, asked King George? It worked because we took a firm stand. No, George, it worked because the United States didn’t handle it unilaterally. The process of getting North Korea to disarm involved negotiations with the U.S. as well as South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. I’m absolutely sure that they were ‘firm’ with North Korea (whatever that means), but there wasn’t any of this ridiculous ‘cowboy diplomacy’ that the Bush administration resorts to when it’s left to its own devices. The same cannot be said about Iran.

Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and there isn’t any evidence that they are working on one. Iran received its first nuclear reactor from the United States, yet today we are absolutely paranoid about what they are doing. However, the United States doesn’t seem to worry about the fact that Pakistan and India both have nuclear weapons. Rather than fixate on Iran, perhaps the U.S. should start thinking about what will happen in Pakistan should Musharaff be removed from office and a pro-Taliban government is put in place.

Iran is absolutely not in violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The NPT states that non-nuclear states have the right to develop and use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Yet, the Bush administration distorts the truth by stating that Iran is in violation of the NPT. By denying Iran the right to develop and use nuclear technology and agreeing to transfer nuclear technology to India, it is we who are in violation of the NPT.

Americans are once again ill informed by this administration and are remarkably uninterested in informing themselves.