"First-hand accounts from locals in the lawless areas of Pakistan close to the Afghan border, combined with those of Pakistani officers in the region, suggest that there is no shortage of Islamic foreigners willing to join the fray." Here is yet another indication that Islamic belief is what fuels jihad activity around the world, not nationalist sentiment. Otherwise, what would Arabs and Uzbeks be doing waging war in Afghanistan? "Arabs throw in their lot with 'global terrorists' in war against the infidel," by Anthony Loyd in The Times, March 20 (thanks to Kris):
They have been attacked from the air by American drones and on the ground by the Pakistan Army. Hundreds have been killed or injured on the battlefields of Afghanistan -- but the foreign fighters, or "global terrorists" of the North West Frontier Province, remain a formidable presence.First-hand accounts from locals in the lawless areas of Pakistan close to the Afghan border, combined with those of Pakistani officers in the region, suggest that there is no shortage of Islamic foreigners willing to join the fray. Britain claims that these fighters are still the source of 75 per cent of terror plots against it.
Among this disparate group are al-Qaeda's Arab fighters, with a reputation for being well heeled and well mannered; Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), regarded as tough, rough and poor; and the Punjabis of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), viewed by their hosts as arrogant but militarily competent.
One Pakistani brigadier told The Times last week that his men had encountered more than 1,500 Uzbek militants during operations last autumn in South Waziristan. Another brigade commander said that 10 per cent of the 300 militants that his men had recently killed in Waziristan were foreign, including Arabs. [...]
However, not everyone is happy with their presence. "It's because of them that the army has come to our land and destroyed our homes," one local tribesman said. "Because of them our businesses are wrecked. Because of them we live as internal refugees.
"I've met ordinary people who say that they'd even welcome Israel or India if they helped us get rid of these Arabs and their friends."
Yikes! Even Israel or India?
The Reagan administration plan to recruit the "islamic" world to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan worked well. It however created the nidus for the Al-Qaeda, and now that there is no Soviet Union, an infusion of Uzbeks is not to be unexpected. But ofcourse, this Frankenstein monster was not a part of the original calculation.
Hey Datta,
Stick to the current president, who is very busily turning Afghanistan into Viet Nam.
I too did laugh at "even Israel or India". In the muslim mind, we, Hindu polytheists, along with jews, are the very dregs of human kind and this Muslim community exclaims as an expression of how "low" they are willing to go, that they are ok if "EVEN Israel or India" come and rescue them.
How would one expect them to feel. The Europeans don't like combat and Barracks Obama pretty much said no killing allowed, so who exactly is left to do the job?
This articles content seems to fly in the face of much of what we are currently feed by the Media. Have we all not been lead to believe that WE are the problem?
Robin Datta sez:
"The Reagan administration plan to recruit the "islamic" world to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan worked well."
And the current Obama Administration activities weaken Americas allies and to make the US a nation submissive one are going well also......
"...no killing allowed..."
It's worse than that. We're not even allowed to hurt their precious feelings, and if we do we must apologize, pay reparations and give them our first born sons, er, I mean, daughters. Hell of a way to fight a war, eh?
I had a Professor at one time where he was quite up front about his dislike for his Students thoughts, opinions or feelings. Just the facts mattered.
Boy, have times changed.