Islam as a political weapon in Pakistan

Re: # 208 the pashtuns can be hired but they cannot be bought.

i am not a taliban supporter but they are good fighters.they did arrest me for a few hours in 1999.i have seen them closely from 1999 till to date in chaghai district in pakistan and in helmand.even the NATO admits that they are good fighters.

#199 Posted by pavocavalry

“i am glad that u are a psychiatrist also”

There is nothing about psychiatry here. It is all about hard political realities. Political immaturity drives people to easy solutions for a long term problem. If you think suicide bombing is going to drive the US and NATO out of Afghanistan then you are totally wrong. The suicide bombing legitimizes their stay in that country as they have created a political thesis based on that and that thesis is helped by the suicide bombing.

I guess for a military mind what I wrote above is not easily discernible.

#204 Posted by pavocavalry
"Major General Aslam Zuberi was one of the best bridge players."

This is besides the point. I have never heard of him and I known some fine bridge players in Karachi Gymkhana and Sindh club. So you get one guy compared to 100s of civilians in Karachi alone.

Re: # 211 the americans need something more lethal than the suicide guys but in the interim its not a bad tactic.anyhow we can go on discussing all this for 100 years

Re: # 212 i am not current about bridge but i think bridge alone is no criterion.

#210 Posted by pavocavalry
"i am not a taliban supporter but they are good fighters'

A childish statement. How do you define good fighters? do they have sumo wrestlers shoulders and squash ball size heads?
Are they better than Chechnyan? In this day and age when people don't fight with scimitars, a suicide bomber could be a good fighter for you...

Thats why I said in one post you appear totally sane and in the next...you fill in the blanks!

#213 Posted by pavocavalry

"the americans need something more lethal than the suicide guys but in the interim its not a bad tactic.anyhow we can go on discussing all this for 100 years"

Look it is late for me but this sounds vengeful and there is nothing intellectual behind it. Imo, the talibans are totally incapable of devising any tactics and that is why they are fighting a bad war. There was more US army in Vietnam and they killed more in Vietnam too, still the Vietnamese fought a tactical war and made alliances with the right people and the right countries even though they did not agree with any of those countries. The talibans are master of alienating people and countries.

You really need to study more. I guess reading Marx in the college library did not help or you did not have a good teacher. Was Eric Cyprian alive then?

HP,
When Nehru announced Peaceful Co Existance and Non Alignment, Dulles termed it an immoral concept in face of communist threat. Tell me who was more moral.

The end result of the use of Daisy Cutters or nuclear Weapons or carpet bombing is indiscriminate killing and lots of collateral damage. Delivery sytems are a means to put the end. With that logic, whats the difference between a suicide bomber acting as a delivery system than a modern delivery system. I feel for those trained in violence, its the same.

Re:pavo#210
"i am not a taliban supporter but they are good fighters."

Sir, I was once discussing with an Indian army officer who had seen action in Kashmir. He told me that the Indian army faced Afghans, Pakistanis and Kashmiris in battle there. The Kashmiris were very easy to neutralize and in fact, they surrendered at the drop of a hat. The Pakistanis were more motivated and fought harder, but the Indian army was able to neutralize them without any problems as well. The Afghans were a different breed. They were ferocious fighters and put a very stiff resistance at first. However, they were very easily bought. The Indian Army would reach out to them via Pashto broadcasts and other backchannels, offering them money and safe passage if they stopped fighting. A lot of them took up those offers. They would put up a pretense of fighting, pocket the money and go back to Pakistan. As a result, the ISI policy of using Afghans from Afghan jihad in Kashmir failed miserably.

The Taliban fight in Afghanistan has less to do with ideology and more to do with the pak intelligence agencies using them to keep the pot boiling, so that pak remains a high value ally to the US.

Re: # 216 you are in the habit of juggling with words to prove every person wrong my dear.

in Vietnam the USA had more than 500,000 troops and about 12 % were killed in total thats about 60,000.In Afghanistan the USA has only 10,000 fighting troops with 20,000 supporting arms and about 11 % have been killed till now.In Vietnam USSR was still active.Here there are hidden Taliban supporters who are not like USSR.In Vietnam the US strategy was to annihilate .In Afghanistan the US strategy is to just occupy the air bases.

Re: # 218 since i am not in active service and while in service even on bad terms with the int guys i cannot comment on this statement.nevertheless in this situation int agencies have many multiple axes of double dealings.i like books , good scotch ,good hasish and the fair sex.this dabbling is a past time.

HP.
Instead of alluding that I am still into romanticism about soldiering do take time out and read Julian Lider, Bernard Brodie, Lawrence Freedman, Margantheu and Michel Howard. Pay special attention to the Sociological cause of war.

Re: # 221 what mr gul is stating is correct but discussion is conducted by many gentlemen on this forum like war.they lack civility and want to impose their ideas on everyone.

soldiering is not a bad occupation.its bad to brand all ex soldiers as persona non grata.all depends on the man.its all situational.we were in the army for fun not to get promoted.

#208 Posted by Ranjit,

Are you saying after the Sunnis ditched Al Qaeda (or whatever you call it), the americans are going to leave Iraq voluntarily and hand it to Sunnis and Shias living happily ever after?