Seeking a way out of the 'war on terror'

WAR FOR TERROR MOTIVES by FM Shah

“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.�
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

US initial official motive of WAR FOR TERROR was bringing evil forces like Al-Qaeada and master minds of 9/11 to justice. This motive was later on changed to fight for democracy and liberty against dark forces of Taliban and extremism. USA critics have stated various motives of WAR FOR TERROR which vary from Iraq/Afghanistan occupation, sectarian/regional violence, oil monopoly, denuclearization of Pakistan, map redrawing of Pakistan and clash of civilization. However WAR FOR TERROR architects will try their best to conceal the real motives till final conclusion and achievements of their objectives. At the same time, Pakistan state and its establishment has tailored US official version WAR FOR TERROR for its own interests. These interests vary from economic aid, military hardware, legitimacy and opportunities for corruption loot/plunder, dealing with iron hand to any political, economic issues, crisis or rival.
US banks and financial markets during last century have been designed and structured around cycles of wars, chaos and violence across the globe away from US mainland. Starting with WW I (initiated by Non-state agents), each US recession/depression alternate with some war in some other part of the world away from US main land. USA during last century planned thoroughly and laid the necessary groundwork for the growth of the most powerful defense/aerospace industry worth trillion dollars. As a result if we sum up today technological might of US, it includes only Banking/Finance, IT and Defense/Aerospace Industry. In these industries US firms have monopoly and do not have ant parallel/equal competitor in whole world (including G8 countries). Each war, conflict or crisis creates direct consumption for US defense/aerospace industry. Each war/crisis is followed by construction and public work, which is mostly done by US firms/cartels. Examples are Europe (after WW II) and Iraq reconstruction recently. Each war, conflict and map redrawing has created new US dependant states. Examples are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is depended on USA for last seven decades for all external and internal threats. Pakistan during its existence for last six decades is dependant on USA for military hardware and financial aid due to similar on going wars, crisis and breeding violence across its Western and Eastern borders. Wars, crisis and violence also create favorable and monopolistic business/trade conditions for most of US firms and MNCs. Similarly wars, violence and crisis also result flow of capital from whole globe to US main land, which has remained safe from any war, violence and crisis during last century. Whereas US has been remained direct/indirect sponsor and actor in each war, violence and crisis during last one century. Therefore wars act as agents for pulling US economy out of recession due to enhanced public spending, reconstruction work after war and preferential monopolies over trade/resource. Transparency international Bribe payers index 2002, ranks defence industry as the 2nd most corrupt business sector- just ahead of oil and gas sector but behind the public works and construction sectors. On domestic front, wars also divert attention from structural flaws in US economic/financial system. Unemployment and inflation in US reached record heights during great depression of 1930s. Great depression was followed by World War II (in 1940s). Similarly in economic recession, US embarked wars and adventures away from main land like Korean, Vietnam and Kuwait Wars. (For relationship between US economic depression and Wars, kindly refer to Fig 4.4 Page 73 & Fig 6.6 Page 116. The Economy Today-8th Edition by Professor Bradley Schiller).
Oil is traded in dollars and most of the Arab oil dollars are saved in US banks considered to be safe havens. WAR FOR TERROR resulted turmoil and chaos in Arab countries, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This turmoil escalated oil and commodities prices exponentially during last several years. Hence WAR FOR TERROR was indispensable and crucial bailout package for US Banks and Financial Markets. As an example Pakistan oil import bill was US $ 2 Billion in 2000 whereas in 2007 Pakistan oil import bill shoot upto US $ 12 Billion. So in this way additional US $ 10 Billion were diverted to US Banks and financial markets through Arabs from Pakistan economy. Just consider oil import for whole world and billions/trillions US $ directed from the whole globe toward US banks due to escalating oil prices. Without WAR FOR TERROR and oil price escalation US Banks and Financial Markets would have been failed much earlier than 2008. Moreover required bailout package would have been much greater than US $ 700 Billion. Recent decline in oil prices after US bank bailout package also give an idea about structural flaw in US banking/financial markets and its dependency on oil dollars. At domestic front, fear environment of WAR FOR TERROR also made US $ 700 billion unobjectionable to US Taxpayers. Similarly after Arab-Isreal 1973 and Kuwait War oil prices escalated, which helped US banking systems and financial markets. WAR FOR TERROR regional turmoil had also resulted drag on US rival economies of China, Russia, India, Arab and Iran. These countries are almost half of the globe. As US economy was unable to remain competitive and correct its own structural gaps. Therefore WAR FOR TERROR was initiated for restricting and limiting US rival economies growth. Hence the basic motivation of WAR FOR TERROR is chaos and anarchy in the whole globe through Islam and Muslim regions which are safest, vulnerable and easiest targets for US. Other various factors ranging from Al-Qaeada, Taliban, extremism, violence, oil monopoly, denuclearization of Pakistan, map redrawing of Pakistan and civilization clash are not root causes of WAR FOR TERROR rather these all are natural outcome/effects of the WAR FOR TERROR. Therefore these are secondary in nature and mostly misleading. As an example if there is car accident due to brake failure. After accident wind screen, complete body and wheel steering system are damaged. Now in this case wheel steering system is not the root cause rather it is affect of the occurrence.
Pakistan political, defense decision makers’ and military commanders committed suicide by joining US WAR FOR TERROR for saving Pakistan from direct US confrontation and carpet bombing. PPP political leadership in Islamabad is claiming that during last seven years, WAR FOR TERROR has become Pakistan war for state survival. These claims, doubts, fears, conspiracies and assertions have been debated at multiple levels in Media, parliament and mass level. Various explanations, justifications, motives and reasons are presented for WAR FOR TERROR. Disinformation/disorientation campaigns for local/international establishment agenda has increased exponentially during recent times. Such disinformation/disorientation campaigns are paid, sponsored and engineered by local/international establishment for creating justification of ethnic cleansing of Tribal Pathans on one hand by Army and other side by US Drones. Pakistani press/electronic media like establishment considers/present themselves as CHAMPIONS OF TRUTH, DEMOCRASY, and JUSTICE. Various anchors pretend asking tough/hard questions and saving Pakistan from Western/India. However media at best are manipulating and comprising the truth by showing half picture of crisis. Most of the time media avoid context and conceal motives of the ongoing crisis and chaos in Pakistan. Media can never tip-toe out of the false perception minefield that they have allowed themselves to be lured into by the CIA, Pakistani ruling establishment and architects of WAR FOR TERROR. TV Anchors most of the times are bounded by policy, life threats, job fears, temptations, easy going attitude, incompetence and lack of quality research on social science. Any TV channel prime motivation is money, revenue, coverage, ads and sponsors not truth. As an example, Media have never been able to ask simple questions about worst case scenario if Pakistan is invaded by US just like Iraq/Afghanistan. Are there any war plans for such worst case scenario? Will Pakistanis suffer same fate of Abu Gharaib and Bagram Jail? Avoiding confrontation with US is understood, however it does not exempt Pakistan State and Armed Forces from preparing War Plans for emerging war threat similar to Iraq/Afghan. In 1990s, none in whole Islamic world could imagine about possible US occupation of Afghanistan. However it is almost impossible to fight two wars simultaneously, thousands miles away from mainland, without military and strategic planning spanning over decades. One of best known example is 1967 Arab-Israel War. Israel Air Forces were practicing offensive air operation against Arab since 1957 for almost 12 years. Whereas Arab Media and their puppet leadership were sleeping like prostitutes.
Now question arise will dramas similar to so called terrorism 9/11 and weapon of mass destruction be staged for invading other countries. Will US invade Pakistan or sponsor civil war in Pakistan. Has India committed suicidal mistake like Pakistan (in September 2001) by joining WAR FOR TERROR for settling scores against Pakistan? Will India be able to pull out itself toward safe/straight policy of Iran or Turkey by not sponsoring civil war along its 1800 KMs long border alongwith Pakistan? These are hard and tough question. It is not possible to precisely answers in white and black. Nonetheless temporary failures/setbacks in Afghanistan or Iraq may only delay US aggressive plans against Pakistan. Pakistan and whole regional actors overall interests should provide the framework for rethinking about evolving philosophy of war and changing enemy/threat perception. Pakistan should prevent conflict/war with US or India as a strategic priority since this would allow concentrating more on socio-economic development.

If you know the enemy and know your self, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle. SUN TZU
Pakistan war plans, threat perception, security policy and defense doctrine have been revolving around India as traditional enemy during last fifty years. It was based on two pronged policy of conventional military buildup and nuclear deterrence. However past fifty years Pakistan conventional threat perception is incompatible with evolving war philosophy and battle planning after 9/11. Iraq and Afghanistan have totally changed war initiation patterns and rules of engagements between various states and non-state actors. Therefore in short term, Pakistan as deterrence should adopt a simple war strategy of Guerilla Warfare for responding to any US design for expanding WAR FOR TERROR into Pakistan. Pakistan have to revamp all its war games/plans accordingly. In long term Pakistan has to gear up its defense policies and boost air power as future wars initiated by hypothetical non state actors will be exclusively between asymmetrical adversaries. This fear of facing US will not only boost our national integrity but in long term it will also add new dimensions and life to our defense industry in private sector and self indigenization. Perception of strong enemy means strong commitments for nation survival and history is full of example where nations excelled only due to fear of some strong enemies just. Further it will send a new form of message to super powers and their policy makers while planning invasion on Pakistan. It will delay any possible aggressive plans against Pakistan. Germans after humiliating defeat and strict restrictions on Defence/Aviation industry as result of WWW I were able to raise quite effective/capable Defence/air power during WWW II supported by its aviation industry based in private sector within short span of 5 to 7 years only. The same engineering and technological base is still helping German industries, which are best in the world. By capturing of only 2 % of world aircraft/Defence market, Pakistan will have foreign exchange worth billions, create thousands jobs and make us self reliant in Arms Power capabilities. After capturing 2 % of the Defence world market, we will not need IMF, World Bank or conquering music, dance and film industry.

The purpose of the article was to discuss the WAR FOR TERROR and options for Pakistan Defence. This discussion is important, most critical, to the future of Pakistan and whole region. It should be reiterated that this is not intended to be a stand-alone study. Rather, these comments and suggestions are meant as a contribution to the continuous work of a doctrine and in particular to respond to evolving philosophy of war and new threat perspective for Pakistan and whole region in terms of economy and security. As such, while the article seeks to highlight issues that were considered to be of the most importance, there is no pretence towards comprehensiveness or detail. However, while it is not possible to get into the nitty gritty of every particular suggestion, attempt were made to define options and solutions at level of detail that underscores the practicality of the suggestion. However, it should be stressed that most important element are the broad directional changes recommended in the article.

In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected. SUN TZU

Various explanations, justifications, motives and reasons are presented for WAR FOR TERROR. US stated official motive of WAR FOR TERROR is fight against Al-Qaeada, Taliban and extremism. Many corrupt/de-facto colonial third world countries like Pakistan and Indian governments and establishment always tailor US official version WAR FOR TERROR for its own interests. These interests vary from economic aid, military hardware, legitimacy and open liberty for dealing with iron hand to any political, economic issues, crisis or rival.
Al-Qaida is the top secret code name of special covert operations of the U.S. CIA, Israeli Mossad, British SIS, Indian RAW and Pakistani ISI. Al-Qaida is a fake name, an imaginary illusion, a deceptive fraud, a fictitious hoax and a fraudulent scam of the unlawful war for terror, which is still being cunningly and clandestinely supported and promoted by the CIA, Mossad, SIS, RAW, ISI and the Corrupt Mercenary Media (CMM) to frame, blame, defame, harm and kill innocents Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Indians, Afghans, Arabs, Muslims/Hindus and other innocent humans by falsely and maliciously labeling them as the Al-Qaida militants, extremists, or terrorists. Actually, Al-Qaida or Al-CIA-da is the CIA. Al-Qaida is the Mossad. Al-Qaida is the SIS. Al-Qaida is the RAW. Al-Qaida is the ISI. Al-Qaida is the CMM. The CIA, Mossad, SIS, RAW, ISI and the CMM are the real Al-Qaida or 'the Evil 6'. For the sake of international peace, reform or abolish the CIA, Mossad, SIS, RAW and the ISI; oppose and expose the CMM; and end the illegal war of terror now to reduce global terrorism. Indeed, imperialistic military occupation of any country, state, or nation is state terrorism. Civil terror is a natural reaction to government terror."
Al Qaeda and Taliban is an “imaginary force� created by CIA, through which third world countries like Pakistan and Indian governments, ruling elite and establishment interest converge with USA. Pakistan state, military/political ruling elite and establishment have been trapped and addicted to US dollars/support for last fifty seven years. These dollars are shifted to safe havens of same Western Banks, from where these dollars started journey. Hence it’s a zero sum game for Western economic system. It is for the same reason various crises in third world countries are created for commissions and omissions. Third world countries like Pakistan and Indian ruling establishment and state composes of various political, army, economic, business feudal, bureaucratic, metropolis cartels controlling/manipulating various financial and power hubs in like Bombay, Karachi, Lahore and Delhi (all British era colonial metropolis). Rest all masses (99 %) are non state agent and actors. These masses are typical mouse from Mumbai and Karachi. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, these mouse travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but they don't even do that.

Pakistani and Indian ruling establishment have been using wild cards like Al Qaeda, Taliban, Sectarian, Ethnic Violence to their advantage. Whenever CIA or Pakistani or Indian ruling establishment wants to kill people or target someone, they send in an Al Qaeda or Taliban cut-out to start the cycle of violence. Disinformation/disorientation campaigns for local/international establishment agenda has increased exponentially during recent times. Such disinformation/disorientation campaigns are paid, sponsored and engineered by local/international establishment for creating justification for military actions, extreme brute measure and corrupt practices. the Corrupt Mercenary Media (CMM) present themselves as CHAMPIONS OF TRUTH, DEMOCRASY, and JUSTICE. Various writers and anchors pretend asking tough/hard questions and saving world from war, extremism. However media at best are manipulating and comprising the truth by showing half picture of crisis. Most of the time media avoid context and conceal motives of the ongoing crisis and chaos in India, Pakistan and whole Muslim world. Media will never tip-toe out of the false perception minefield that they have allowed themselves to be lured into by the CIA, various ruling establishment and architects of WAR FOR TERROR. TV Anchors most of the times are bounded by policy, life threats, job fears, temptations, easy going attitude, incompetence and lack of quality research on social science. Any TV channel prime motivation is money, revenue, coverage, ads and sponsors not truth.


Al-Qaeda is a front organization of CIA and MOSSAD : Mumbai based group of intellectuals and human rights activists
India Daily-Jun. 13, 2007

The Mumbai based group alleged that Al-Qaeda is a front organization of CIA and MOSSAD. "There is enough evidence that the Al-Qaeda is a front organization of the CIA and MOSSAD. The Bush junta has used the bogey of terror and of Al Qaeda to justify his unending and ever expanding Global War on Terror, which is only a means of capturing the resources of the world and of establishing the sole hegemony of Israel in West Asia," said the group of activists and intellectuals. The group is holding a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday to "expose the links between Al-Qaeda and the CIA-MOSSAD".
Holding American-Israeli operation accomplices of the 9/11 attack on the WTC, the spokesman of the group said that this has been widely written about in USA and Europe itself and more than 50% of the American people and far more Europeans, now believe and are convinced about this fact. He said that sections of the Indian ruling political and military elite are importing the same Bush-Olmert formula into India. "The increasing terror attacks only serve the cause of the Indian elite and divide the masses along communal lines. It is only the ordinary Indians who are the victims of terror either in temples, mosques, buses or trains," he said adding that practically no political leader suffers a similar fate, where the terrorists are apprehended and killed in "encounters".
"Every terror attack is meant to push and drag the Indian masses further into the waiting arms of Uncle Sam and the Israeli Goliath. Every terror attack spreads further hatred for Muslims and Islam and weakens the Indian Muslim community," he said.

Re: # 12

Arjun Mian,

If they cannot import guillotines then they would then stone the munafiqoons ......


they have a perfect Bedouin solution for such things.....

More Beena othhe kon sure baji...( Majumder please translate)

There is no way out...it will continue for long time...This is almost end of kaliyug, madam....

#10 Posted by Ally on October 23, 2008 6:29:27 am


we need to desperately have secular education in Pakistan


If chowk wasn't broken, i'd be posting a flying pig icon here..

#11 Posted by Urstruly on October 23, 2008 7:18:12 am

maulana urstruly...your industrial bases sucks so much you'll have to import guillotines

oh..wait..you don't have $$ to import anything...

Ms. Sarwar,

I think you are misreading the queues thrown out by Pakistan's ruling elite. The talk of the "talk with Taliban" is meant only for the local masses to pacify their concerns whereas the other side of their forked tongue is literally begging Western cursaders to stay in Afghansitan and keep fighting and hence keep paying them their salaries. The flip side of the coin is that as the Crusaders manage to get out of Afghanistan whether through a negotiated peace with freedom fighters or by declaring victory and getting out like in Vietnam it is a given that the ruling elite in pakistan will have to face guillotines. It is an inevitability written on the wall.

Beena,

If we have these negotiations what will be the outcome? As well as stopping the war we need to desperately have secular education in Pakistan and have a decent education poicy that is across the board. The only reason why India is doing well is because of its education. We dont give any priority to our kids' education. But also the education should not have intolerant views in it, inculcating kids with hatred for other nations. The Taliban and what is happening in Pakistan is a natural progression of our flawed education. We created so much intolerance in our society not only for others but even amongst ourselves, all these mullahs calling others kafirs etc.

There is no short haul solution this has to be a long term approach and this screwed up ideology has to be removed and countered which can only be done through education.

It was great to see baluchi and other tribal elders killing these Talibani mullahs..... we also need to eliminate Pakistani educated sympathizers and supports in the Pakistani political parties and government........

From the UK independent..

karma..it's what's for dinner...


Exclusive dispatch: Pakistan's hidden war
War has come to the world's only Muslim nuclear state. Not just terrorist bombs, but pitched battles bringing refugees down from the mountains and even into Afghanistan. In a powerful dispatch, Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich report on the conflict which has left 200,000 people caught between the Pakistani Army, the Taliban and the tribal warlords

There was a loud, sharp sound followed by flames and massive blast of wind that threw the young boy twenty yards through the air. It felt as if he had fallen off the mountain.

When he pulled himself to his feet, dazed and battered, he discovered nine members of his family were dead and that his mother was badly wounded. All were victims of a deadly artillery shell fired by the Pakistani military battling with Taliban fighters in the country's mountainous border region. As soon as they were able, the boy's remaining family and the rest of his village fled.

That was two months ago. Now 12-year-old Ikram Ullah sits with thousands of others in a wretched, fly-ridden refugee camp close to the north-west city of Mardan, his face streaked with dirt and tears as he tells his story and wonders what will happen to him. The food is poor, there are few proper facilities and there is nothing to do. "Life here," he says, crouching in the dust among rows of canvas tents, "is filled with sadness and grief."

Ikram is not alone. Aid agencies estimate up to 200,000 desperate people have been forced to leave their villages as a result of the fighting. Scattered in camps across northern Pakistan, they offer a glimpse into a deadly conflict largely overlooked by the West but which has created chaos and misery for the region's civilian population. All the while, as the Pakistan Army bends to pressure from the US to do more to confront the Taliban militants building strongholds and extending their influence in the tribal areas, so the fall-out for the civilians gets worse. Every day their lives are threatened both by the pounding jets that sweep into the valleys on bombing runs and by the clattering helicopter gunships that the Pakistan military is using to spearhead its assaults. The people sitting in the dust are the so-called "collateral damage" of Pakistan's own war on terror.

But the danger goes far beyond that. The spread of the Taliban and the seemingly endless cycle of violence they have created threatens the very fabric of Pakistan, an unstable nuclear-armed state that at times appears on the very brink of unraveling. Were that to happen the consequences both for the country and the region would be unthinkable. The civilian administration elected earlier this year, pulled back and forth by the various pressures upon it and its stalted, stuttering approach to confronting the militants, at times looks ill-prepared to tackle this most pressing of problems.

Until now, the conflict - which can trace its roots to the 1970s and 1980s when the Pakistani military and US government funded and encouraged Islamic mujahideen fighters to wage guerilla war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan - has largely played out in remote tribal areas located along its north-western border. For those in the West it has been a conflict easy enough to ignore, should they choose. The tribal agencies have long been considered an area all but outside the control of the central government.

But that has started to change. In recent months, militants have escalated their attacks on targets linked to either the Pakistani military and police or the West in what they say is a direct response to the government's decision to bow to US pressure. The most stunning of these was the truck-bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September that more than 50 people dead, including half-a-dozen foreigners. There have also been attacks on the country's prime minister and the Anti-Terrorism Police's headquarters, while in August the Taliban claimed responsibility after two suicide bombers killed around 70 people at a munitions plant at Wah, 20 miles from the capital. A Taliban spokesman said afterwards: "Only innocent people die when the Pakistan army carries out airstrikes in Bajaur or Swat."

At the same time, areas outside of the tribal regions have seen the increasing influence of the Taliban. There was panic earlier this summer when it was claimed militants were threatening to lay siege to the strategically important city of Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province. (NWFP). In the province's Swat Valley, once a leading tourist attraction and considered the "Switzerland of Pakistan", the army has also stepped operations against militants. And last week shopkeepers in Lahore, long considered a bulwark against extremism, began publicly setting fire to DVDs of pornographic movies after receiving threats from militants.

* * *

The tribal areas are a world apart. Officially known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), they are squeezed in between Afghanistan and Pakistan's NWFP in a strip that runs north to south-west and contain some of the most mountainous and inhospitable terrain in the region. Large parts of these seven rugged agencies - North and South Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur - are also utterly lawless.

Peopled by Pashtun tribes famous both for their fierceness and code of traditional hospitality, the area has only ever nominally been in the control of the central government and has instead been governed by tribal leaders and their traditional jirgas, or community meetings.

The region's virtual autonomy dates to the creation of Pakistan. After the British left the subcontinent following Partition, the tribal areas technically became independent and it was up the tribal chiefs or maliks to agree whether or not to become part of Pakistan. As part of the deal that was agreed, the tribal chiefs managed to ensure they would retain the large degree of autonomy they had enjoyed under the British empire.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, it was through these tribal areas that dictator Zia ul-Haq - with funding from the US and Saudi Arabia - dispatched thousands of young fighters to join Afghan militias opposing the Red Army. Training camps were set up by the ISI intelligence agency along the border to prepare these fighters for battle. Praised by Ronald Reagan as "freedom fighters", these mujahideen, or holy warriors, were a crucial factor in the Soviet's decision a decade later to withdraw.

In 1994, following years of civil war in Afghanistan, the government of Benazir Bhutto, provided financial and military backing to a group of Afghan fighters based in the city of Kandahar and calling themselves "the students" or Taliban in their efforts to take control of the country. Bhutto argued that stability in Afghanistan and a government of its own sponsorship would help Pakistan. "I don't know how much money they were ultimately given," she later recalled. "I know it was a lot. It was just carte blanche." Two years later the Taliban seized Kabul and set in place an increasingly authoritarian rule that only ended when the US invaded following the 2001 al-Qa'ida attacks on New York and Washington.

When the Taliban and al-Qai'da fighters they had given refuge to were forced from Afghanistan, it was into the tribal areas of Pakistan that many fled. Bin Laden himself managed to slip away in late 2001 through the White Mountains after apparently having been surrounded by Afghan militia at Tora Bora. Eversince, he and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have been linked to both the South Waziristan and Bajaur areas.

In these tribal areas, among fellow Pashtuns, the Taliban received warm welcome. As they were able to regroup and rebuild and to again take up battle against US and Nato forces inside Afghanistan. At the same time, their influence spread and increasing number of Pakistan Taliban were recruited to an anti-American jihad. A number of Pakistan Taliban leaders are now firmly established in the tribal areas.

It is these fighters that have been the focus of on-and-off operations by the military since Pakistan signed up to George Bush's war on terror. Both Pervez Musharraf and the recently elected civilian government have backed both negotiated settlements and military force to try and deal with the militants.

But in August, after constant pressure from Washington to do more to stop the flood of militants crossing into Afghanistan and attacking US and Nato troops, the Pakistan military launched a major operation in the Bajaur agency - home of the 12-year-old Ikram and his family. The effect has been devastating.

"When the fighter jets came into our valley four people were killed," says Abdul Rauf, a creased-faced 50-year-old refugee from a Bajaur village called Tauheedabada. "All the people were crying, we were frightened. After that we started to run away."

There are thousands of people like Rauf, thousands who have suffered tragedies like endured by Ikram. Aid agencies say a little under 200,000 people have been forced from their homes, but that is partly guesswork. "Since mid-August, we've seen an exodus of about 190,000 people from areas bordering Afghanistan. This includes Bajaur and Swat," said Vivian Tan of UNHCR. "The government tells us over 168,000 people are internally displaced in NWFP, while the Afghan authorities in Kunar province have reported about 20,000 people arriving since mid-August. We have no access to most of these border areas, so we're relying completely on government figures."

* * *

Pakistan's army is headquartered in the neat and well-tended cantonment district of Rawalpindi, the garrison city located near Islamabad. It from here that the fight against the militants is overseen and officers bristle at the suggestion that the military's efforts to root out the militants is only half-hearted.

On the wall of Lt Col Haider Baseer's office, beneath of photograph of Pakistan's founder, Mohammad ali-Jinnah, is pinned a photocopied map showing the location of some of the ongoing operations. A total of 120,000 troops are currently deployed. "We are operating in Swat, in Bajaur, in

Darra Adam Khel and North and South Waziristan," says the colonel, a military spokesman, whose office is located in a quadrangle containing sweet-smelling roses.

The colonel admits the military has been surprised by the resistance offered by the Taliban. A total of 1,400 soldiers and paramilitaries (from the Frontier Corps or FC) have been lost in operations since 2001. He says the Taliban is fighting a classic guerilla war and that both the terrain and the enemy is difficult. "Everybody has a gun," he says. "It's their culture."

The situation is made more difficult by the fact that this conflict pitches Muslim against Muslim and often - in the case of the FC - Pashtun against Pashtun. There have been reports of desertion and surrender. One military officer who has been based in Swat and Warisistan admitted this was, at least initially, a problem for many troops. "At the beginning, before we were inducted into this war, it was troubling. We asked ourselves, how are we going to fight against fellow Muslims? In the Pakistan army we were motivated to fight against India and if we die, we were told we become martyrs who go to heaven," he says. "Now I am convinced that I am fighting this war for my country and my religion. When I arrived in the tribal areas, I saw how the militants, the terrorists were working against the country and the religion. Now we see all the criminal elements getting into their fold. They do not represent Islam in any way."

What has certainly complicated matters in recent months is the involvement of US forces in the battle against militants. For a long time, the US has been using unmanned drones flown out of Afghanistan to attack suspected militant hideouts. Sometimes they claim to kill al-Qa'ida members, often they kill civilians. In June, a US airstrike killed 11 members of the FC.

Such unathourised air strikes have steadily fuelled popular sentiment against the US. But the situation was brought to boiling point in early September 3 when it was revealed US special forces had entered Pakistan and attacked the village of Jalal Khel in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan. Up to 20 people were killed, including women and children. The incident triggered angry protests from both villagers and Pakistan's political and military leaders. There were also a series of incidents of Pakistani and US troops exchanging fire along the border. "Obviously this is difficult. No-one wants to see foreign soldiers entering the country," says Col Baseer. "We have asked the US to stop the border incursions."

Yet the most serious allegation concerning Pakistan's seemingly lacklustre effort to confront the militants is that parts of the military establishment do not wish to. In particular, the shadowy ISI intelligence agency (whose director was recently changed) has been accused of maintaining operational links with the Taliban, the organisation it helped create three decades ago. Such allegations are nothing new; in 2002, for example, critics seized on a decision by Musharraf to arrest up to 2,000 militants in a purported crackdown only to release them all a few weeks later.

But this summer the CIA's deputy director, Stephen Kappes, travelled to Islamabad and presented what is said was evidence that mid-level ISI officials were involved in a suicide bomb plot hatched by a veteran Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani that targeted the Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 54 people. Haqqani had previously been described by an ISI official as an "asset".

Remarkably, members of Pakistan's government agree with the US assessment that such links remain. One recent afternoon in Islamabad, seated on the kind of overstuffed sofa so commonly found in South Asian sitting rooms, one minister said Pakistan had always considered Afghanistan its "fifth province". Such a view had created the problems the country was now facing. "The Taliban was created by the Pakistanis and the CIA. All the problems were created here. Who do you think created these people?" said the minister, who asked not to be identified. "That is why they are not prepared to take them on. They consider them their assets."

Even military officers who reject such claims admit that the US and Pakistan have different priorities when it comes to confronting the militants. This could explain why US military operations inside Pakistan using unmanned drones have largely targeted militants blamed for attacks inside Afghanistan, such as Jalaluddin Haqqani, his son, Serajuddin, and members of their network including brothers Daud Jan and Abdur Rehman. This network has been blamed by Washington being largely responsible for a 40 per cent increase in attacks in eastern Afghanistan this year.

The Pakistan military, meanwhile, has focused its efforts on militants believed responsible for attacks inside Pakistan such as Baitullah Mehsud, who operates out of South Waziristan and who was blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December, Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban leader in the Swat Valley and Faqir Mohammed, a Taliban leader in Bajaur.

"The priorities are mismatching," concedes the military's chief spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas. "We cannot risk opening up another front while we don't have the resources." And while Maj Gen Abbas strenuously denies the charge of supporting the re-energised Taliban, he admits too, that indirect links are maintained. "Which agency in the world would break its last contact with them?"

* * *

One morning in mid-August, the day crisp and clean, up to 4,000 Pashtuns from the town of Salarzai in the Bajaur agency gathered to talk. Some had come from up to 10 miles away to attend the meeting, arriving in pick-ups and trucks. The younger men were dressed in Salwar Kameez and vests, while some of the older tribesman wore rough woollen clothes. Many were wearing traditional Chitrali turbans, worn only for special occasions. Almost everyone was armed with many carrying Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-launchers - "a gift from the Soviet jihad".

The jirga had been called by tribal elders after Taliban militants attacked and killed two chiefs, or maliks, and a Muslim priest just days before. One of the slain maliks was Shah Zarin Khan and it was his supporters who addressed the jirga first.

For centuries, the system of jirgas - which women are not permitted to attend - have been used by the Pashtun tribes to decide important issues and make rulings. On this morning, the meeting had been called to discuss setting up a defence force or lashkar, to take on the Taliban, who had increasingly been vying for power with the tribal elders.

arjun,
Taissez vous

The only way to resolve the problem is to blow holes in the Al Qaeda ideology!!

Now wha is this Al Qaeda ideology??

It is Global TNT.

It is also known as Pan-Islamism.

This can only be blown to bits again by dividing Islamic States like Pakistan into Ethnic Entities.

Divide Pakistan on Ethnic lines if we have to give a mortal blow to Taliban!!

#4 Posted by ijaz_gul on October 21, 2008 1:54:46 am

Did you tell Beena about the Indo-Israeli radar being used to jam paki army communications..

"Finally, a positive new strategy necessitates seeing the world as multi-dimensional, recognizing inherent subtleties rather than the current ‘us vs them’ or ‘east vs west’ thinking. Democracy means dialogs and negotiation, compromise and flexibility, not self-righteous stands that only serve to divide".
Well Said!!

I feel they are not willing to see it. Security situation is being seen through the LENS of Al Qaeeda and the ultimate objective is not Al Qaeeda. Even a fool knows this now.

Nazar,
I agree fully.

Beena

``USSR is not telling NATO to wind up....''

Now we are talking about how to tackle the threat.

USSR is following the Option `A':

A- Let US get struck in Afghanistan, stew in its own juices & meet the same fate as I did.

Iran is happy that US is being roughed up in Afghanistan. But it also hates the guts of Taliban. It has already made very positive avertures towards Pakistan - its relief zone -when Pakistan refused any overt/covert support to US against Iran. It has accelerated the Pipeline issue, offered oil facility & electricity.

India is still in the deciding mood. So far it was locked on to getting the nuclear supply group status & kept Afghanistan in cold storage. But it is in its long term interest to be with Pakistan on the Taliban issue & to be with China on US issue.

As for China, it is far too wise to let its intentions known. But China is not unhappy about the only super power's helpless to almost lose another War after Iraq. But it does not love the Taliban either - the Uigher connection.

As for Pakistan, it had been digging too many holes - & finally that has caught up. Neither it can sit idle nor it can go full force against the Talibans (Pashtuns???)So far no one has won an open War in Afghanistan. Why Pakistan should be an exception!

NHK

Re: # 1
Naz...

"Both the Taliban & Americans are too close for comfort & are unwanted by all Regional States - Pakistan, India, Iran, China & even Uzbekistan...."

But the real regional power, USSR is not telling NATO to wind up....

Apart from Pakistan ( to some extent China), nobody ( Iran or India) is responsible for the current state of affair in Afghanistan. Still India and Iran is doing their best...