Clausewitz

Defence, security and diplomacy

Pakistan's security state

Reading the Taliban

Feb 1st 2012, 16:21 by M.S.

THE secret NATO report on the Taliban leaked to the BBC is full of fascinating stuff, but it mostly confirms what was already known rather than shedding new light on the conflict in Afghanistan. The report, called “The State of the Taliban” and based on interrogations with more than 4,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees is, however, rich in anecdotal evidence about the way that Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, controls and sustains the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan.

The semi-comforting belief that only “rogue elements” in the ISI have close connections to the Taliban never had much basis in fact and it has less now. A senior al-Qaeda commander in Kunar province (in the wild north-east of the country) says: “Pakistan knows everything. They control everything. I can't [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching. The Taliban are not Islam. The Taliban are Islamabad.” The report also states: “Senior Taliban representatives, such as Nasiruddin Haqqani, maintain residences in the immediate vicinity of ISI headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan.” Nasiruddin, a son of the Haqqani clan’s leader, Jalaluddin, and its most prominent fund-raiser, was arrested by Pakistani agents in December 2010 as a sop to American pressure to take action against Taliban leaders in Quetta. If Nasiruddin is indeed free and living in the same neighbourhood as the ISI, suspicions that his detention was a sham will be confirmed. 

Gauging how seriously to take the bullish view of the Taliban’s prospects reflected in the report is a bit more difficult. In an unusually direct response to the leaking of a secret document, Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for ISAF (the NATO-led international coalition in Afghanistan), said: “This document aggregates the comments of Taliban detainees in a captive environment without considering the validity of or motivation behind their reflections. Any conclusions drawn from this would be questionable at best.” It is hardly surprising that the detainees want to project an air of confidence in their cause. But some of the things they say are hard to argue with. The report states: “Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over GIRoA [Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan], usually as a result of government corruption, ethnic bias and lack of connection with local religious and tribal leaders.” Particularly in Pashtu-speaking areas in the south, swift (and often brutal) Taliban-administered “traditional” justice is sometimes deemed preferable to the sluggish and corrupt courts provided by the state. 

Other claims are more questionable. For example, the statement that “almost without exception Taliban members do not receive salaries or other financial incentives for their work”, directly contradicts the experience of Afghan and ISAF officials working with the (admittedly not hugely successful) reintegration programme. They find that even low-level Taliban fighters get a salary of around $120 a month, which is not bad by Afghan standards. Nor is the boast that despite the heavy losses the Taliban have suffered over the past 18 months in Helmand and Kandahar, “commanders and fighters are easily replaced, at least initially, with minimal impact on operations”. The evidence is that the attrition of mid-level commanders has had an effect, with a big decline in complex attacks on security forces, both local and ISAF, and an increase in the indiscriminate laying of roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that kill and wound civilians disproportionately—a tactic that does little to sustain local support for the Taliban. 

The report is, however, a timely reminder that despite the mood of (contained) optimism over peace talks, the insurgency remains resilient and confident and is likely to stay that way for as long as Pakistan believes it is in its strategic interests to give it material and moral support. That does not mean that a Taliban victory, in the sense of a Taliban-dominated government returning to Kabul, is inevitable once the bulk of ISAF combat forces have departed, as many of the interviewees claimed to believe. Most of Afghanistan remains firmly opposed to such an outcome and determined to resist it. But it does mean that the strength of the Taliban’s negotiating position should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, the announcement by America’s defence secretary, Leon Panetta, on February 1st that America would end its combat role in mid-2013 rather than towards the end of 2014 as had previously been expected, can only bolster that position further. The previous timetable was not without risk. For reasons that have little to do with the future security of Afghanistan, Mr Panetta may have triggered an unseemly rush for the exit.

The post has been updated to reflect breaking news

Readers' comments

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Omricon

Considering the fanfare that came with the anouncement of this blog I Q dissapointed to see it is only updated every three months.

Reluctant Polluter

The fact that there are "more than 4,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees" demolishes another 'half-comforting' myth - that these two organizations belong to the extremist fringe.
.
Detainees are what... about 0.5%, 1%, or 1.5% of the membership? So it's minimum 150 000 strong gang of crazy Islamists out there, probably close to half million.
.
Sounds fairly mainstream to me. I mean, Mohammedanly mainstream.

OLDIE

Why is that US and particularly CIA is always considering that you can simply buy things and people?
Mac Namara and the neocons were very proud to boast that the war in Afganistan against the taliban had been won by buyin a few warlords for a mere 2 Million bucks. What they had not foreseen is that all was required from Ben Laden was a small amount of money to buy his way out. It was thought very clever to bring a pashtun as the head of Afganistan whose brother was the worst warlord in the south, and the best drug producer and exporter. One can wonder who was buying whom at the time. Remember CIA financing its operations with drugs at the time? Corruption is not the American way of life. Or am I mistaken? When hearing about subsidies of biofuel and the like by senators, one starts to wonder...

LandofIndus

Pakistan must ensure that India loses all it's influence in Afghanistan. That will not be so difficult. US/NATO should support Pakistan to bring stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan has the forces available to guard BOTH sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

US/NATO should transfer their border security equipment to Pakistan and fund the security of the border. This way, Afghanistan will have a credible chance of maintaining internal security which they need for development. Taliban should be dismantled by Pakistan so that a secular, democratic Afghanistan can emerge.

'Taliban should be dismantled by Pakistan' - ISI is the one controlling the Taliban,and this is a known fact.Mr.Osama was near the Pakistan Military head quarters.More so,The famous Pakistani Terrorist who is now guarding India Mr. Kasab belong to Pakistan.
Now,with all these known facts to the entire world,its ridiculous that Pakistan will ever want Taliban to be broken.

India and the West on the other hand are trying to do development works in Afghanistan.India's historical friendship with Afghanistan has always been respected by both sides.

Its a known probability too that the day US/NATO leave the land of Afghanistan,Taliban will emerge as Rulers of Pakistan too.

Rather grass root level economic development is the need of the hour now.People have to be made educated that WAR will not feed their own families,but development and education will.

Promote Universal Peace ..Promote Healthy Earth !

FlameZ in reply to LandofIndus

Just by military restrictions Pakistan cannot end Indian influence in Afghan. Pakistan's influence is with NATO and US forces but Indian influence is directly on every Afghan citizen and government.
The entire economy of Afghan stands on Indian mercy. Even the healthcare sector is under Indian monopoly.
Pakistan will never bring stability to Afghan unless it stops its aid to terror groups.
The real problem is that Pakistan needs the military budget that the NATO/US is providing so the Pakistanis are using the Afghan crisis. As long as there is a Taliban problem in Afghan there will be no military budget problem in Pakistan.

Intrepid-British

After a decade of senseless war, the US policy makers have finally decided to engage Talibans in negotiations. Complementing the hypothesis presented in the article I can assume that it is the “rogue elements” in CIA and US government who are in contact with the people who spread terrorism is the world. The US have spent 1.414 Trillion dollar of taxpayer’s money in the war which has no end. Should I believe that the “surge” was a wrong decision by Obma’s administration? The ground reality is that nothing has changed in Afghanistan after 11 years of war; the Talibans are still at large and have certainly no weakened. Their resilience has compelled the US policy makers to reconstitute the strategy.

"the people who spread terrorism in the world"

That's Al Qaeda, not the Taleban who've been content with terrorizing their own fellow countrymen. There's no love lost between the two. Confusing the two is a sure sign of Western intelligence failure - reminiscent of Iraq. The West has in fact no interest at all in containing the Taleban, who are just another bunch of unsavoury would-be rulers. Hence the stark lack of appeal of this war, which has lost all legitimity after OBL was summarily processed.

Liveinhope

What does one do with a Gangrenous hand ?
I wonder what these Paks are going to do when the Welfare from the USA dries up ?
And eventually, what are they going to do when the Northern Alliance rebels against the Taliban - and rebel they will- now that they have had a taste of a more liberal culture.?

sizzlin

Alexander the Great had to leave Afghanistan, too. Nothing's changed.

Loneshadow

This is getting nowhere. USA is not an innocent child. It knew, and kept quiet if not supported, when Pakistan was supporting the Mujahiddin through the ISI and other state agencies. It was okay then since the enemy was the Big Red Bear. It was okay even when Afghan veterans were used in Chechnya and Kashmir.
Now the USA, hit by terrorists at home and entrapped in an un-winnable war in Afghanistan, has to face the genie it has helped to escape from the bottle.Pakistan will always support the Sunni Pashtoons. A third of Pak senior army ranks is Pashtoon. Pashtoons will help the Punjabis to keep the Balouch, the Sindhis and the Mohajirs in their place. Pashtoons also control the lucrative drug traffic and the transport system,incl in Karachi.
Afghanistan faced intervention from the Iranians, Uzbegs, Mughals and the British. Lets not make bones about the fact that strong players try to extend their influence over weaker ones, not just the old imperialists of 19th century. Morality and equality of nations are nice words. India did the same with Pakistan in Bangladesh. USA has done this across the globe. China is accelerating in same direction.
USA will have to leave Afghanistan because the human and money cost of staying on is horrendous. There will be no sole winner, but Pakistan supported Talibaan Pushtoon faction will be the strongest by far. And why not? The Pushtoons are the largest ethnic group, there are millions of them across the Durand Line, and keeping them engaged otherwise helps Pakistan to keep the Pashtoonistan demand sealed tight. If someone doesn't like their fundamentalist social norms, why should that matter? Many don't like the US way of life also. Does it bother the Americans?

A. Mod. in reply to Loneshadow

As an American who has traveled to and lived in other countries. I will say that I do not like the American way of life and at times even find to be disgusting. The Latin lifestyle is by far the best I've known and multiple Asian societies have a much better way of life.

S Pularu in reply to Loneshadow

History is dynamic i.e it flows. Therefore any snapshot tahen at some point in time cannot be extrapolated into future.
If that was possible a snapshot taken in 1775 would show the U.S. as a British protectorate, not vice versa, as it is now.
Where will the Pakistanis find the money if and when U.S. aid dries up, as it surely will if Afganistan becomes another Vietnam.
Without this deficit being financed by someone the nature of Pakistani government shall have to change. The Saudis and the Chinese wouldn't like the change, but will they pay? And if they will pay, will they match U.S.? The future is bound to be interesting.

tXwa8gvq6m in reply to A. Mod.

As an Englishmen who has lived in the US and Asia and traveled extensively to more than 50 countries, to describe the American way of life as "disgusting" is ignorant at best and mendacious at worst. "multiple Asian societies have a much better way of life"....er, let me think about this. Singapore, may be the only place I'v been to that has a better way of life!

Safronite

Nice to read about this one KALABAGH from Kabul, reading this story and responding to many comments.That is the sense of being aware of what is gong on.And what is going on is not very good.First, the Americans and NATO made the biggest mistake by announcing the exit with dates and all.Whether you win or loose a war, you don't make such announcements, even for your voters back home.Having done that, now Talibs are dreaming of a " repeat" along with Pakistanis.If they did that, Afghanistan would be in more serious trouble,post 2014.There could be more fratricidal killings,more blood letting.Dear KALABAGH would want to leave Kabul and would not know how to.Better way for Talibs is to patch up with rest of 52% of Afghans,tell Pakis that Afghanistan does not belong to Paki Generals,befriend India for aids and training,open up trade routes further north,lay pipe lines to evacuate gas... in short, peace and presperity through co existance with your own brothers.

scribeappu

Rupee-coin of Pakistan, has two faces. One face is of progressive looking & captivative Fra Hina Rabbani at Davos both preaching Islam and lambasting its poorly educated clergy; the other the centuries old rugged Jihad sponsoring international & un -parallel genocide funded by innumeral sources like 'donations in the name of charity for war-victims, quake victims and Soudi Arabia and Pakistani army ISI

happyfish18

The Hegemon could either partner the Pakis or the Caste intelligence services to handle the Talibs problem. So far, the CIA has leaked a file that ISI has been double-dealing with its partner. Maybe now, the Hegemon could have better lucks working with RAW.

Winston Fawkes

Pakistan has been all along the real enemy in the region.

If you consider that evidences of their involvement in the 9/11 (if this was really a foreign conspiracy) puts them as the trigger of the crisis.

And they fomented the war, because a steady flow of dollars began to the coffers of the corrupt bureaucracy and the military.

America fed the hand that was beating them...

Sad, very sad, seeing the American suckers...

happyfish18 in reply to Winston Fawkes

I would rather say that the Pakis' economy and society were torn apart when the Hegemon forced the Musharaff government to join it in its War on Terrors using a gun pointed at Musharaff head.

The Bushshit Asst Secy of State, Armitage told Musharaff either to join in or face bombing back to the stone-age.

Winston Fawkes in reply to happyfish18

I don't quite buy the idea of Pakistan being a victim of the Bushit et caterva.

Before 2001, there was already instability in the region due to clashes with India, disputes over Kashmir, water; everything under the threat of nukes.

Mushraff and his gang saw a business opportunity and took it.

Kalabagh

So you judge the Pakistanis by what the detainees in Afghan prisons are saying? Neat. So should we judge the Americans by what the detainees at Gitmo are saying? No? I see. I get it. Logic has no symmetry when Anglos are involved. One often gets confused.

souvik_gd

After reading this I'm feeling at least safe by recalling the fact that I was born as a Bengali. We have witnessed great social reformers like Ramkrishna Dev during the nineteenth and twentieth century who has lead our race out of religious conservatism and taught us to make ourselves ego-less human. Without leaving ego behind we will never become truly human. And we should celebrate the fact that we are lucky to emerge as a conscious life in a hospitable planet like Earth within this vast Universe.

souvik_gd in reply to Kalabagh

Yes, the word should actually be "ethnic group" and not "race".

Bengali
-------
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal (now divided between Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) in South Asia. They speak Bengali (Bangla), which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. With nearly 300 million total speakers, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages (ranking sixth) in the world.
Sources - Wikipedia.

FlameZ in reply to souvik_gd

Come on man even I'm an Indian and respect your love for your mother.
But why did Bengali come here? I mean the discussion is about the Pakistani involvement with the Taliban, and what has Bengali got to do with it. Please debate on topics related to the issue

souvik_gd in reply to FlameZ

I mean to give a real example that if any society has gone through religious reform movement then extremist groups will never make a foothold in that society. This goes for other things too. Any extremism actually hampers the ethnic group to which it belongs. Pakistan will be much more damaged by these groups. Since GREED will eventually creep in, through time, in the highest level of leadership of these groups, so in future they may even become foreign tools in hampering the internal affairs of Pakistan. And without the reform, empowerment and economic advancement of the Muslim nations (and even many other nations including India) the world will not be wholly a good place. We have to develop ourselves in the line of free society, representative democracy and liberal economic model as the West has done through centuries and now China is doing in the economic front. Then only the whole world be powerful and can preserve their own distinct cultures in the long run.

FlameZ in reply to souvik_gd

Pakistan too has a representative democracy, Its a Federal Republic.
Its constitution is inspired by the American and Chinese constitutional models.
Pakistani ideology is quite similar to Indian ideology.
The real problem lies not in their religious reformations, but in their political and military reformations.

If you have recognized, most of the powerful nations have made their ground and their leaders have become world leaders in one or the other way. Like Nehru became the third world leader, Mao became the communist leader etc. But Pakistan and its leaders have not made this significant effort.

It started with Yahya Khan, what he thought was to use the general fear of Pakistanis about India being a dangerous enemy to them and to Islam and could bring anti-Indian policy. By this he could become the world leader for Islam. This created a notion that India is indeed an enemy for Pakistan and Islam. This led to the ideas of Anti-Indian policies, National security state policy etc. In those times India was perceived as the next Imperialist state so the west supported Pakistan with these insane ideas.
These ideas and feeling remain alive even today but have not achieved anything.
The otherwise friendly nations(India and Pakistan) have turned into the world's most dangerous enemies because of these ideas with 3 devastating wars.
Where Islamist movements or movements against non-believers of Islam start, the Al-Qaeda and Taliban comes in.

So this Islam in Pakistan is more of a political and a military factor than a religious one.

souvik_gd in reply to FlameZ

If this is the real situation then I must admit that Pakistan is in a state of almost failed democracy. Monarchy, Oligarchy, Theocracy, Authoritarianism has not delivered humanity with good government with an exception of few. Democratic Republicanism has delivered humanity with lots of good, average and bad governments. Only Democratic Republicanism with strict law and order enforcement, good accountability (or you can say Democratic Republicanism with a light dose of Authoritarianism and good accountability at every corner)has tend to deliver good and average governments.
The military must be kept away from power and democracy must be made fully accountable. Religion must be separated from politics and power play. And people must start questioning authority at every corner. Secular Common Law with strict enforcement must be in place.
And widespread economic reform resulting in a agro, industrial and service sector revolution must creep in.

FlameZ in reply to souvik_gd

I personally don't think that democracy is an answer to all social and civil problems.
democracy or authoritarian govt. or even a full fledged dictatorship, all have equal advantages and disadvantages.
All depends on what the situations demands and how the leaders perceive it.

You being a Bengali I don't need to remind you how prosperous Bengal and its people were under the authoritarian princely rule and what economic hazards have the democratic leader brought upon you.

souvik_gd in reply to FlameZ

Till date no other forms of government have served humanity better than democracy. During the Monarchic times (in Bengal) whether he was a Hindu Monarch or Muslim Monarch or Non-Democratic British Rulers, ordinary people in Bengal was far far and far away from aristocracy. The Bengal Renaissance movement
elevated our literature, made us free from the confines of religious extremism, taught ordinary citizens that they are humans too, made the women free from the ruthlessness brought upon them by the religious leaders and taught us democracy and to fight for independence. Its true democracy have not given us what we desired but it is not true that it is worse than the princely times. Its a way forward for humanity. And Democracy is the basic need of human beings. Humans need freedom and not be caged. And after that the second fight has begun - people now wants the political leadership more accountable, government employees fully accountable, police and military to be fully accountable, stricter disciplines on roads, full accountability of the share markets and big businesses, less and less family control of big business, less and less divide of managerial and rest of the lot pay packets, more opportunity, more jobs, more education and research, more wealth creation, more progressive taxation and a more free society. This way economic in-equality will go a lot.

FlameZ in reply to souvik_gd

Your claim that no other forms of government have served humanity better than democracy is a symbol of ignorance.

The French had put away with feudalism under Napoleon's dictatorship rule and became the strongest empire in all of Europe.
China had always seen an economic and social boom under the many long lasting dynasties.
India many a time united by the super power dynasties like the Mourys, Guptas, Moguls etc. had transformed into a heaven on earth, together it had become the most richest and the most powerful nation.
Germany's dictatorship rule gave it a base on which it built itself as a superpower.

Dictatorship and authoritarian rule had their share of the world now its time for democracy to take it's share. So far so goo, but lets see where the democratic rule takes us.

FlameZ in reply to souvik_gd

Your claim that no other forms of government have served humanity better than democracy is a symbol of ignorance.

The French had put away with feudalism under Napoleon's dictatorship rule and became the strongest empire in all of Europe.
China had always seen an economic and social boom under the many long lasting dynasties.
India many a time united by the super power dynasties like the Mourys, Guptas, Moguls etc. had transformed into a heaven on earth, together it had become the most richest and the most powerful nation.
Germany's dictatorship rule gave it a base on which it built itself as a superpower.
Iraq had a dictator who made Iraq a notable place on earth and the Iraqi people lived in progress until the American war started.

Dictatorship and authoritarian rule had their share of the world now its time for democracy to take it's share. So far so goo, but lets see where the democratic rule takes us.

souvik_gd in reply to FlameZ

Are you serious?
Do you really think ordinary people were happy at monarchic times? Do you know how cruel were the fuedal lords of europe and china or how oppressive were the fuedal lords of India? How cruel were the religious leaders (for example how brahmins use to treat the lower caste of hindu people)? Some blips of happiness were of course there during monarchic times but they were so small in comparison to the darker times that people revolted and put an end to main pillars of monarchy. And Democracy came in. You are right to say that even democracy is not delivering good results but if you compare Best monarchies with best democracies, Average Monarchies with average democracies and Worst Monarchies with worst democracies then you will see democracy will have a better edge than monarchy. Democracy in the form of Representative democracy has a edge over Democratic centralism preached and practiced by the communist states. But China is an exception where democratic centralism is going through a huge development. Maybe in future we will see a merging of representative democracy and democratic centralism. Democracy has many flaws but it is dynamic and has the power to change or heal itself step by step.

indica

'Empowered Pakistani woman'

Pakistan has assisted the USA and NATO in many ways, true. The use of Karachi port and letting supplies through to the Coalition forces has been the main item of assistance. That has been stopped now, as you may know. For all of that assistance Pakistan has extracted a good 'price' from the USA - several billions of dollars.

The toughest price the USA and NATO have paid has been an acquiscence to Pakistan acquiring nuclear bombs. Compare the lack of any protest for Pakistan doing so, to the protest and tough stand in relation to Iran manufacturing a few atomic bombs of its own.

The Pakistani army and police casualties you mention were incurred while fighting the 'Pakistani Taliban' not the 'Afghan Taliban'. Pakistani army and ISI have never fought the 'Huqqani Net work', the main source of attacks on US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. There are a few illiterate Afghans in the pay of the ISI, who are also used now and then to undermine the Karzai government and the US forces.

'Osmani'

Yes, growing poppy and the drug trade are important elements in the Af-Pak equation. The drugs, it is speculated, are moved mainly through Eastern Europe. Some come through India, but, my information is, it is a lot less than what goes through the land route into Easter Europe via some of the Central Asian Republics.

The land route in India is not as safe for the traffickers. The air route smuggling of drugs depends upon the 'bribe-taking' habits of some customs officials. Not all have the habit, believe it or not.

You say Pakistan has not got rich because of this drug trade. Have you looked into how affluent your army and ISI folks are?

indica in reply to Kalabagh

Yes, it is a matter of degrees of dishonesty. India's corrupt politicians are now seeing changes in Indian society that would make it difficult for them to carry on the way they have behaved.

I hope, in your country similar changes have occurred to check the army's and ISI's officials from holding your country to ransom.

Finally, India's politicians can be 'sent home' through the ballot box. Can you do something similar to your military leaders?

Liveinhope

Oh for god's sake - just take away the foreign aid and let them all eat grass.

S Pularu in reply to Liveinhope

LOL! That is exactly what their poor shall be forced to do, but what about the Army, especially it's officer class. What will they eat?
Maybe canabalising their own people(read owned slaves), may look like a good bet. This may not be such a outlandish idea, they already recruit sucide bombers for money.

Ashatru

At core this will always be an India Pakistan Issue. The Central Asians -Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara, and most educated northern Pashtun have always had good ties to India (and Iran) and have been schooled there. The rural Pashtun (50% of the country) have always been the majority without a majority. In addition an equal amount of their brethen are in Northern Pakistan living in an Autonomous zone.

The Soviets and the US just took up sides in this long running battle. And the Pashtun have not always been the more religious - its just that the Taliban got things done.

Contrary to popular belief, this country has not always been at war - it was a peaceful and safe place to live for 200 years before 1979. Unfortunately there is no combination of political parties that will bring back the unity that was here before. The country should be officially split. The last time it was unofficially split from 1995-2002 was the period when it had the least civilians deaths.

Kalabagh in reply to Ashatru

Divide and rule. The Indians are simply taking up lessons learnt from their British masters. Except that the Brits did not leave behind all the instructions. So now the Indians are all at sea. Let's see how all this plays out. Perhaps Pakistan should take a hand in the Naxalite civil war still raging across Sentral and North east India. Nice ! I'll write them long letter. Thanks for the tip. Two can play that game.

FlameZ in reply to Kalabagh

Naxals and Pakis, if they unite, India will have all the ground needed to deem the Naxals as terrorists and initiate army attacks on them putting aside all the human rights issue which have tied the hands of Indian defence forces. For now it is only the police who are fighting the Naxals. Just imagine a million military guns fired at the ill equipped Naxals.
What about Pakistan? First India will economically destroy Pakistan and then a small war is enough to rip the country apart.

Go ahead please write to the Paki army chiefs and they will reply you that hey have no intention to dance with the Indian devils. For us its just a dance but for the poor Pakis its simply more than what they can take.

I believe that you are an Afghan or at least an Afghan supporter. So I'l give you an information.
Currently India is the only nation which is providing the what little economy and health care Afghan has.

happyfish18

The Hegemon should try to negotiate rather than trying to force their liberal ideology of "Either with Us or Against US" on the Talibans. In fact, the Talibans were not complicit in the 9/11 attacks which was carried out by Egyptian Jihadis on Wahhabi payrolls.

Gene Jacquet in reply to happyfish18

Not Complicit? Say again? Sure, if the Taliban had only known where the 9/11 mastermind was hiding, they surely would have arrested him. Get real, they were quite happy to hide and shelter Bin Laden so that he could go on plotting murder and mayhem. Their actions, and your commentary by the way, are those of people who put frighteningly little value on human life, or at least on the lives of those who do not toe their line. May my children live in a better world.

Cxx3ZmUhZy in reply to happyfish18

The (circa 2001) Taliban were not direct participants in 9/11 but they were complicit. According to a Janes article at the time, the al-Qaeda assassination of Shah Massoud on Sep 9 was explicitly intended to fuse the two organisations in preparation for the inevitable response.

Sustainable Sphere

I think America should focus on Economic development programs in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.Instead of merely donating money to Pakistan,if USA does some grass root level development works their,slowly but surely things will change.For making a Sustainable change Positive Impact has to be made within hearts.This is the bottom line for any development work.
After-all every human being needs development for feeding his family and himself.

Promote Green ..Promote Healthy Earth
http://aamthoughts.blogspot.in/

Sustainable Sphere in reply to FlameZ

Problem is USA is not realizing that fighting their so called enemies has brought their Economy down.More so,these so called Enemies are not permanent.By doing proper developments America will win long term friends rather than giving birth to short term Enemies.
India is not America's backyard. Many Indian Companies are giving economies for Americans in America and its a mutual relation well respected.
After all nothing is permanent in this world except the impacts of once Deeds. We all want and are working towards a healthy Earth that is the bottom line.

Promote Green Promote Healthy Earth ..

FlameZ in reply to Sustainable Sphere

American economy is not damaged by its war on terrorism. American banks, I mean the major investment banks have their share of mismanagement and the American policy makers in their federal bank made some enormous property bonds to evade from the 2008 economic recession, but in actual those properties do not exist. So America is now in debt which exceeds their purchase power.
India and China offer cheap labor and raw materials, so these are the countries which are the focus for American industrialists. That is the reason I called India as their economic backyard. Pakistan too has the potential but given the inhospitable condition and anti-American feeling in Pakistani citizens, America has not been able to establish itself there.
Where America has nothing to gain economically from Pakistan, it is obvious that they will not back Pakistan's growing economic insecurity, when Pakistan does not vow any economic relations with America there is plenty of room for military disputes.

TS2912

What else would one expect from a country that is illiterate, has no human rights, is broke & living on foreign-aid, ruled by the secret service and driven by tribal loyalties and religious fundamentalism?

About Clausewitz

In this blog, our correspondents provide reporting and analysis on the subjects of defence, security and diplomacy, covering weapons and warfare, spooks and cyber-attacks, diplomats and dead-drops. The blog is named after Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian soldier and military theorist whose classic work, "On War", is still widely studied today.

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