More fingers point toward Pakistan each day, blaming its security service for bombings in Kashmir, India, and Afghanistan, and for helping arm and train the Taliban. Some are suggesting that without Pakistan assistance, the Taliban would be a dead force.
From NATO to New Delhi, from killers to smugglers, Pakistan is being blamed as a force for instability to its neighbors.
Adding to the complexity is the fact that NATO and ISAF aircraft have been given over-flight rights by Pakistan. So, on the one hand NATO aircraft fly over Pakistan to attack Taliban and supply the NATO mission, while on the other Pakistan offers haven and support to those killing NATO troops. It’s unclear whether Pakistan’s security force is a state within a state and out of control, or if Musharraf himself is playing a dangerous game of monkey in the middle.
At MediaRight.ca, we have a number of articles that focus on Pakistan. From busting Pakistani smuggling rings to revelations of gruesome Taliban videos playing on Pakistani TV, there is not much good to report about this Muslim nuclear power.
cross posted @ Celestial Junk
So far Pakistan has not handed Al Qaeda or the Taliban a nuke.
Other than that the safe haven of Waziristan continues unabated. The Pashtun tribe are not your garden variety thugs, but rather, a group of committed tough minded warriors.
This will be far from a ‘cake walk’, in solving the riddle of Afghanistan. Either NATO goes in, in substantial force to Afghanistan or the whole thing just slips away into a greater disaster.
Maybe the Axis of Evil” is a little wider.
And from a long time, powerful Liberal. But one, I would think, with a concious.
“Calling them the Axis of Evil doesn’t seem so far-fetched any more, now, does it ?” .. Warren Kinsella.
No one doubts that North Korea’s nuclear test is a negative development.
But in terms of the reaction, consider today’s front page of the Vancouver Sun. There are photos and quotes from Bush, Harper, Moo-hyun, Blair and Putin, and a major headline “World condemns North Korea”.
Leaving out Canada and South Korea, couldn’t the headline have been “Nuclear Weapons States condemn North Korea”?
Who’s giving the ISI all the Money is the real question?
Listen to Sarah Chayes, former NPR correspondent who covered the US invasion of Afghanistan. She left journalism in 2002 to run an aid organization in Kandahar called Afghans for Civil Society. Sarah’s new book is “The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban.” She now runs a cooperative called Arghand that sells hand crafted products in Afghanistan.
And as the security situation continues to deteriorate, NATO’s top commander there has warned that the country is at a tipping point. General David Richards said that the Taliban could soon have the support of the majority of Afghans. He predicts that if life doesn”t get better over the next six months, 70 percent of Afghans could switch sides and support the Taliban. Richards comments come five years after the U.S. invaded the country with the stated intention of dismantling the Taliban. Suicide bombings are also up 600 percent this year while opium and poppy cultivation are at record highs.
She’s now telling what should’ve been told years ago.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/1355235
http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/2006/10/usual-suspect.html
Have to make a point here. It is less Pakistan, in the person of nominally pro-western President Pervez Musharaff, than individuals in the ISI and people like A.Q. Khan who are furiously stirring up the geopolitical pot here.
If Musharaff is removed from the equation, and there have so far been several attempts by radical Islamotards, we will truly be in the nuclear soup.
Musharraf and loyalty. You can surmise that Pakistan is certainly loyal to China and with that backing are feeling fiesty.
Consider oil supply for example.
ht tp /TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
= TG
Good one Budd, but why are you certain that neither Canada nor South Korea are “Nuclear Weapons States”?
Cheers
Ah, good old Bud the wild-eyed Dipper. We can always expect something which is either stupid or vacuous from him regardless of the topic. The world has problems? It’s the Americans! The Cubans are suffering through a hurricane? Only because of the US embargo. The hospitals have line-ups? It’s a Gordon Campbell right wing conspiracy. The BC economy is booming? Glenn Clark laid the groundwork. Etc, etc
Keep it up, Bud. You provide a laugh with every post.
i have said it b4…pakistan is not the real problem…just a conduit…and without musharef there, egad….IRAN is the primary source of money, with donations and laundered money from tinpot emirs and the west as number 2….cut off the money at the source, and watch them whither…you can’t fight a war with no ammo……GO ARMY
Kingstonlad,
Reading between the lines of your comment, I guess you meant to say . . .
Even though Pakistan has given a whole province over for sanctuary for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, they are not the problem.
Pakistan has huge pipelines that supply natural gas to Iran and there are additional multi-billion$ pipelines under construction that traverse across to feed oil and gas to China.
My view is that Pakitan*s loyalty may not be where you think it is. But that*s OK, you are free to arrive at your opinion.
I guess also by saying ** cut Iran*s money off at the source**, [and I agree with you here], you suggest we all make the effort to learn about electric vehicles and switch away from burning gas in the car as soon as we can afford to do so.
A link to the Tesla video on my site will get you hooked, but there are lower priced EVs on the market as well.
ht tp / TonyGuitar.Blogspot.com
Use [paste] the long link in your browser.
the href= [Tesla] link needs a / and Blogger is down on the *Edit* just now. Will fix later. = TG
AP, aka Associated Press, trots out the politically-correct euphemism: insurgents.
The insurgents are: Muslim Islamist terrorists, aka Taliban.
NATO spokesman says violence in southern Afghanistan subsiding [It’s Taliban Jack Layton’s fault.]
KABUL (AP) – The number of clashes between NATO-led forces and insurgents has dropped following intense combat that rocked the south of the country earlier this year, opening the way for reconstruction projects, a NATO spokesman said Wednesday.
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