"The success of the militants in Swat has caused new concern in Washington about the ability and the will of Pakistani forces to fight the militants who are now training their sights directly on Pakistan’s government..." Of course many don't have the will to fight the "militants," because they share their ideology.
"Militants Gain Despite Decree by Musharraf," by Jane Perlez and Ismail Khan for the New York Times (thanks to Hot Air):
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov. 15 — Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, says he instituted emergency rule for the extra powers it would give him to push back the militants who have carved out a mini-state in Pakistan’s tribal areas.But in the last several days, the militants have extended their reach, capturing more territory in Pakistan’s settled areas and chasing away frightened policemen, local government officials said.
As inconspicuous as it might be in a nation of 160 million people, the takeover of the small Alpuri district headquarters this week was considered a particular embarrassment for General Musharraf. It showed how the militants could still thumb their noses at the Pakistani Army.
In fact, local officials and Western diplomats said, there is little evidence that the 12-day-old emergency decree has increased the government’s leverage in fighting the militants, or that General Musharraf has used the decree to take any extraordinary steps to combat them.
Instead, it has proved more of a distraction, they said, forcing General Musharraf to concentrate on his own political survival, even as the army starts its first offensive operation since the Nov. 3 decree.
The success of the militants in Swat has caused new concern in Washington about the ability and the will of Pakistani forces to fight the militants who are now training their sights directly on Pakistan’s government, not only on the NATO and American forces across the border in Afghanistan, Western officials said.
Things eventually always come down to Lawyers, Guns, and Money;
it’s nice to know that the lawyers end up in prison.
Maybe we will read in 30 years time, after the Islamic threat has ended, because it imploded in upon itself through in-fighting, etc that the amazing military leaders blair and bush were indeed of the calibre of Churchill because they were cleverly assisting the uncivilised hate filled mohammedans in their quest to kill each other.
Then again it is more likely, as we mourn the loss of our children, that we will ponder the missed opportunities of our lame leaders and all the elite who found it ever so easy to sell their friends and country for profit since they had sold their own souls on the alter of mammon.
This gets more interesting. If the rebels of the Northwest Territories declare themselves independent of Pakistan, the USA will not need Musharraf's permission to act against them.
(We will still need a Commander-in-Chief.)
I recently saw two articles on the net they are dense packed with information on the Pakistan issue and background, would like very much to hear your critique on the content.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/238378._.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/238744._.html
Surprised? Taliban is loaded with heroin money, from the Helmand Poppy crop. Afghanistan was NEVER a heroin producer until Bush allowed Karzai's Pashtos a free hand at drug dealing.
Where is the media on this folly? Where are the politicians?
One of their nukes is eventually going to light up the night sky and that will put an end to all conflict there and seal the argument re Iran. It's down the road in a condition of chaos.
During Regan's presidentcly I said that history will remember him as one of the greatest. This was during the Iran contra flap. The press then was murderous. In 2006 I had the last laugh.
Nuclear weapons are the talibans goal. America needs to destroy these areas where they have gathered. But we won't, and therefor this war with the islamic terriosts will continue foe years to come. And when the United States is attacked again, it will be all Americans fault for not comming togeather as one to destroy the enemy.
Anyone with any sense sees that Pakistan is the most dangerous situation in the world. The best trained and most militant terrorists have been operating from that region for years.
Pakistan is Iran on steroids.
How long can we continue to count on a strategy of paying off the guy (Musharaff) who sits on a nuclear pile?
Well, Musharraf aint Attaturk.
And he aint got conservative lawyers.
And he's got the ultacorrupt Bhutto clipping at his heels.
And he's our better friend in the whole bad mix.
And we sure got problems.
But we have one dousing stick guide: figure out what the Dems are calling for (thus calculate the wrong course), and do something different and enlighteningly reasonable.
(Thank you Dems for helping guide us this way.)
OT: does Dems assonance with dumbs ?
Supercargo is not quite right about Afghanistan and its poppy crop. It was mostly used for opium production until shortly after WWII. Then it slowly morphed into an intermediary in the heroin trade. It has been a major cog in the Mid/South Asian opium and heroin trade for at least 40 years.
Supercargo Said: "Surprised? Taliban is loaded with heroin money, from the Helmand Poppy crop. Afghanistan was NEVER a heroin producer until Bush allowed Karzai's Pashtos a free hand at drug dealing."
Whatever happend to napalm? That would make short work of clearing the poppy fields.
We have all those aircraft. Just find a poppy field, drop some napalm and go onto the next. If the farmers complain tell them that if they replant poppies we will do it again. Plant something useful.
Pakistan is really beginning to smell like Iran, circa 1978.
Supercargo:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1590827.stm
Before the war! Do you suffer from BDS?