“For too long has Pakistan provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those days are over. President Trump has put Pakistan on notice. As the President said, so I say now: Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with the United States, and Pakistan has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists.”
Bravo. We can only hope that these don’t prove to be empty words. Pakistan for years has collected billions from the U.S. in order to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and has given much of it to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. How long must the U.S. be played for a fool in the spurious interests of realpolitik?
“‘Trump has put Pakistan on notice,’ US VP Pence warns in surprise Kabul visit,” by Anwar Iqbal, AFP, December 22, 2017:
United States (US) Vice President Mike Pence during a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday issued a warning to Pakistan that it has allegedly provided safe haven to terrorists for too long but those days are over now, as President Donald Trump has now “put Pakistan on notice.”
This is so far the harshest US warning to Pakistan since the beginning of the Afghan war more than 16 years ago and follows several recent statements, indicating US indignation with Islamabad.
The US vice president made the remarks as he addressed US troops at the Bagram airfield, becoming the most senior Trump administration official to visit the men and women fighting America’s longest-ever war.
Pence’s remarks earned wild applause from the 15,000 US troops who were excited to see the vice president among them on a surprise Christmas visit.
“For too long has Pakistan provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those days are over,” Pence told the troops.
He reiterated word for word President Donald Trump’s warning that Pakistan must stop offering cross-border safe havens to Taliban factions and armed militant groups fighting US troops and their Afghan allies.
“President Trump has put Pakistan on notice. As the President said, so I say now: Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with the United States, and Pakistan has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists,” the US VP added.
In August, President Trump outlined a new strategy to win America’s longest war.
The new US strategy for Afghanistan shows that Pakistan’s strategic position stokes Washington’s desire for a close relationship with Islamabad but it also undermines the relationship between the two countries.
This key element in the US approach to Pakistan is highlighted in the national security strategy that President Trump released this week and also in the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress on the situation in Afghanistan.
The national security strategy questions Pakistan’s ability to protect its nuclear assets, asks it not to indulge destabilising behaviour in Afghanistan reminds and insist that Islamabad is obliged to help Washington in Pakistan because it receives “massive payments” every year….
RichardL says
How about getting the guy out of a Pakistani jail who told the US where OBL was?
Georg says
That would be a start.
sidney penny says
The medical doctor
Georg says
Right. The only thing Pakistan can think to do with a medical doctor who pointed to bin Laden’s whereabouts is to put him in a cage. Lynch mobs targeting Christians based on spurious hearsay? They’re free to roam. At least Facebook’s happy to oblige them.
Bezelel says
“Pakistan that it has allegedly provided safe haven to terrorists ”
Where was bin laden hiding while we were fighting ignorant savages in afghan? Who most had never heard of 911.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWrwEyqMizU a 6.30 min video on wasserman schultz’s IT man’s behavior. Whadda mess.
elee says
High time.
CRUSADER says
Geo-Politics, baby!
Pakistan is right next to Iran and to China.
That’s a potential funnel tunnel there….
Let’s give more praise to India at this time!
It’s a game of chess…
Voytek Gagalka says
Right after “Pakisran,” Saudi Arabia should be put on notice, too. For a way far too long they supported spreading building new madrasas and mosques all over the Western world and spread Wahhabi Islamic propaganda there, say nothing that they fully support current hijra invasion to the West while admitting ZERO refugees to their country. It all MUST STOP and NOW!
M says
There have been huge changes in KSA recently. The new prince is looking like he wants to turn the country more secular. I think good things are happening with KSA. Hopefully…….
Its Iran, Yemen and Lebanon that needs to be looked at right now I think. Also Somalia. What a strange world.
gravenimage says
I think most of this in KSA is window dressing for the West. We’ll see.
Philip Copson says
“Sounding the Last Trump for Terrorism ?”
DFD says
I can envision it: Medieval doctor spots a pest-boil and puts it on notice. That will stop the disease and may even cure the… What’s wrong with this picture?
Georg says
Our embassy in Jerusalem. Pakistan told to make a choice whether to be a terror state or country. Jihadists named as such in our agencies. Trump strolls into Riyadh and tells them to cut the &*^#. Affirms our shared cultural and historic ties of democracy and freedom in Warsaw. And for anyone worried about China or Russia he even spoke their name and deed in the National Security Strategy.
Shaping up to be a Merry Christmas and ensuing three, perhaps seven years. Could get used to this!
Older Canadian says
Good!
Ray Jarman says
If I were to make one change in Afghanistan, it would be to defend the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with aircraft. Any civilians along the border would be told to vacate as their safety could non be guaranteed. The U.S. Air Force should run bombing runs across the border areas at unspecified times and particularly if any terrorist group is trying to return to Pakistan. Also if the Pakis are found to provide refuge to terrorists as they cross the border, make an announcement that such actions would be considered as an act of provocation and even war.
I am sick and tired of hearing anyone speak of innocent civilians in the tribal areas of Pakistan that the Pakistan government considers autonomous regions meaning that the Pakis have no jurisdiction. One could take that to mean that it really is not part of Pakistan and as far as innocent civilians, they should not be considered civilians if they proved shelter to enemy combatants; they are complicit and like bombing the civilian population in Köln, Dusseldorf, Berlin and other cities in Germany where material for the war was being produced. If WWII were fought using today’s rules, we would be saying Heil Hitler or some other Nazi leader. Generals like Gen. Eisenhower, Mark Clark, Patton, McArthur and Montgomery would be tried as war criminals. I would like just once to watch the US fight to win a war viz. the hearts of the enemy.
Daniel Triplett says
Here’s a quote from General Curtis LeMay, America’s longest serving 4-Star in history; father of Strategic Area Bombing, and later the Commander of USAF Strategic Air Command. He’s the one American credited with the deaths of more people than any other; over 350,000 enemy soldiers and civilians at a minimum:
“I think there are many times when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons. However, the public opinion in this country and throughout the world throw up their hands in horror when you mention nuclear weapons, just because of the propaganda that’s been fed to them.
As far as casualties were concerned I think there were more casualties in the first attack on Tokyo with incendiaries than there were with the first use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The fact that it’s done instantaneously, maybe that’s more humane than incendiary attacks, if you can call any war act humane. I don’t, particularly, so to me there wasn’t much difference. A weapon is a weapon and it really doesn’t make much difference how you kill a man. If you have to kill him, well, that’s the evil to start with and how you do it becomes pretty secondary. I think your choice should be which weapon is the most efficient and most likely to get the whole mess over with as early as possible.”
— General Curtis LeMay
LeMay also said:
“I’ll tell you what war is all about. It’s about killing people. If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting. There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn’t bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders.”
— General Curtis LeMay
Here’s a quote from our Allied friend, Sir Arthur Harris, Commander of RAF Bomber Command during WWII:
“The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naïve theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.
The aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive…should be unambiguously stated [as] the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilised life throughout Germany.
… the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories.”
— Sir Arthur Harris
General William T. Sherman:
“War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
— General William T. Sherman
Ray Jarman says
Daniel, thanks. It seems that since WWII, the United States has not fought a war to win which began with the Korean War (not conflict) when President Truman adhered to a UN war policy of not winning. I remember being in Phan Rang, Viet Nam in the late sixties when the 101st Airborne Division was told to clear highway one from Cam Ranh Bay to Chu Lai but had both their hands tied behind them and the idiot Westmorland wondered why the mission was not fulfilled. The let the Korean Tiger Division clear the highway by letting them have a free hand in the battle. The cleared the highway of almost anything that moved twelve miles on both sides and everyone said they must be better than the 101st. That really p***ed off a lot of us. In both Korea and Vietnam if the objective had been to win, we would have lost a lot less troops in both arenas. President Bush had not learned the lesson as he let the UN dictate the rules of engagement and when to stop rather than saying to the generals like Gen. Schwarzkopf wipe out Saddam’s entire military and install a government under US supervision. There would not have been a second war and probably no 9/11. I just hope that President Trump listens to Gen. Mattis viz. McMasters, a person I do not trust.
Daniel Triplett says
Ray
You have my respect. All the stories I’ve heard from my Vietnam Vet friends, mentors, and instructors have the same story to tell. The problem was the ROE. Johnson once said, “Those boys can’t hit an outhouse without my permission.” A tragic waste of life. The outcome would have been much different had WWII ROE been in place.
You don’t have to convince me Ray, there is no finer ass-kicking force that’s ever existed on Earth than the 101st Screaming Eagles; I’ve had the privilege of knowing hundreds. You’ll always have my respect. Thank you for your service Sir.
The bottom line is that the elected CINC should state on a half-sheet of paper what he wants the National Objective to be: Such as — “Force the Imperial Japanese and Nazi parties to surrender unconditionally.” or, such as, “Criminalize the ‘practice and promotion’ of Islam, Worldwide.”
Then he should get out of the way, and let the Military do what the Military has been trained to do; and do what’s best to accomplish the National Objective
The CINC should unleash the dogs of war to do what we what we know needs to be done. There is no war we can’t win, in short order, if we’re allowed to win it.
Dan
Ray Jarman says
Dan, Thanks for you follow up.
Mark Berlinger says
Pakistan, the country created for Muslims, has been warned. But what will impress me is when U.S. dollars to Muslim terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan is ended. The globalist’s Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama aid to enemies policy must end before the terrorism stops.
DHazard says
History has proven that there is no such thing as a true alliance between a democratic country and a country ruled by a con man, thief, rapist and murderer who died hundreds of years ago. Trump is the first Western ruler (outside of Israel) who understands that trying to buy the good will of Muslims only emboldens them to act on the evil that lies at the roots of Islam. The days of “pay us or pay the price” diplomacy are over.
Singh the Sikh says
Pakistan is Islamist. It can never truly partner with the US, the ‘Great Satan’, according to warped Koranic interpretations. Pakistan will pretend to be a partner while using and deceiving the US and undermining it from within. It will stick to the US like a parasite sticks to its host, with the intention of weakening it and eventually sucking it dry before destroying it. Look how Pakistan and Pakistans celebrated 9/11; how they paid homage to Bin-Laden – the United States enemy number 1 – by sheltering and protecting him. Pakistan reviles the US. It never was, and never will be, a friend of the US.
sidney penny says
Pakistan is double-faced.
You will hear ” Death to America” after Friday prayers in Pakistan.
There is plenty of other evidence so…
Why the Notice?
as Nike says “just do it”
gravenimage says
Vice President Pence: “President Trump has put Pakistan on notice”
…………………….
*Good*.
Proud Anti-Islam says
Do not trust Pakistan. It is also an ultra-fanatic Muslim country. Trump should stop diplomatic relations with Pakistan, because of their evilness to make safe havens for Muslim terrorists. I do not trust Muslims.
Lorensacho Byzantine says
Pence is a fool to think that the U.S.can abandon Pakistan for the simple reason that Pakistan has nukes and the more unstable it becomes the more dangerous our world is.