Crisis and Opportunity

W has painted himself in a corner. He`s declared war against ghosts. This ill-defined `war on terrorism` is an unwinnable war, like the `war on drugs` or the `war on cancer`. One really misses the `cold war` now more than ever.

Nothing good can come out of this. It is going to turn much uglier. Violence will breed more violence and innocent people on all sides will pay the price.

The war mongerers and control freaks in America will now have a field day. Reason and moderation will take a back seat. The fascists will finally get their chance to build Fortress America on the justification of two main pillars: DRUGS and TERRORISM. That inconvenient document called the US Constitution will finally be cut down to size and brought under control and its most irritating component, the Bill of Rights, will be thrown out of the window at last. Guns, Guts and Glory will fully triumph.

God Bless America...

...SR

Dear SameerJB:

You`re 100% on the target with your observation:

``Najib Ullah government was better than any of the Afghanistan government ever since (now on hindsight -- indeed it was thousand times better).

They actually had a functioning state with electricity, water, schools, hospitals, colleges etc equal to that of any poor country-none now.``

At least they were allowing the girls to go to schools!



The folliest of the folly of the geopolitically ignorant peanut farmer and -- the demented B actor of USA -- was to destabilize and destroy the (the fratricidal) progressives of Afghanistan and replace them with these fanatic illiterate lunatics.

Isn`t it a little incongrous for Pakistanis to be so vociferously against the NY attacks, when their own govt. was allegedly involved in similar attacks on Bombay? What is different between the two? Only poor Indians Vs powerful americans as victims?

-narain

Romair: Sorry for not being able ot respond to several of your posts here and other boards, one of them directed to me. Taking the advantage of Friday night, let me respond many of the issues you have touched upon recently.

One of the issue often brought about, and you alos brought up is that of unfaithfulness of USA towards Pakistan with Afghan War as an example. I happen to have a different point of view. It is true that USA withdrew from Afghanistan issue once Russia withdrew their troops from Afghanistan. It was Pakistani expectation and not USA promise to rebuild Afghanistan and help Pakistan militarily and economically in addition to USA using their influence in solving KAshmir problem. To the best of my knowledge, USA never promised, on the record, to indefinitely supporting Pakistan after the end of cisis. Whose fault is it to expect what was never promised? Pakistani government expectation actually played minor role in Pakistani government`s decision to side with USA in Afghanistan war.

Each Pakistani government has been foremost interested in prolonging their rule including the current regime of Musharraf, with Musharraf keeping all powerful positions in his own hand. Their second interest have been to keep their party or organization happy in terms of ideology as well as material terms. Let us analyze Zia`s decision to jump on the USA bandwagon. He saw it as a mean to provide longivity to his regime as well as his organization, the military and his ideology, Islamic. All of his interests and ideology have backfired on Pakistan as they say, chichens coming home to roost.

There were four parties to Afghan war, USA, USSR (Russia), Afghanistan and Pakistani government. [Notice, my clear separation of Pakistan and Pakistani people from Pakistani governments because I see the Pakistani government`s decisions independent of the interests of Pakistan and Pakistanis, often exactly opposite. ] Out of four parties, USA and Pakistani governmetn were the winners and Russia and Afghanistan losers. As sson as USA realized the gain, they left the table whereas PAkistani government`s table was overturned by a C-130 crash in Bahawalpur. All the gains of Pakistani government went up in flame with the cradh of C-130. Afghanistan came out loser because they lost everything in addition to more than a million people. Najib Ullah government was better than any of the Afghanistan government ever since. They actually had a functioning state with electricity, water, schools, hospitals, colleges etc equal to that of any poor country-none now. While Pakistani government was a winner, Pakistan and Pakistanis were losers in every which way you analyze. The drug culture, the kalashnikov culture, the sectarian culture and ecenomic difficulties resulted from our involvement in Afghanistan war.

So when you say that USA did not help Pakistan or Afghanistan after the Russuan withdrawal, you are assuming many things. In addition to false expectations, you are assuming that it was a right decision to side actively with USA as well as Afghan war was a justified jehad or freedom struggle for Afghanis. I do not buy that argument. I opposed the Afghan war because I felt that 1) Russians can be persuaded to leave Afghanistan, 2) Afghans will end up paying too heavy price with no benefit or 3) Russia will find Afghanistan a useless piece of real estate and leave on themselves, once communist government in Afghanistan is stable enough. USA, Pakistani government`s desire for logivity and Islamic bent of Zia, illiterate mullahs leading illiterate masses to horrific sacrifice (much worse than Jonestown or Waco events). How can you expect for USA to keep aiding stupid Afghans and selfish Pakistani government? They were not worthy of any aid. They were mere pawns in the cold war game between superpowers. More stupid and more selfish are always easy to buy and dumped. So at personal level, I dispised Afghan war and did not see it as righteous cause that should have benefited Pakistan or Pakistanis.

Another issue many chowkies and you are raising is unfairness of USA in dealing with Iraq. Could you please refer to any of my or another person`s post who is supporting bombing campaign ten years since the war officially ended. Just to be for the record, I am opposed to it because it is hurting Iqaqis and Iraq with doing nothing to hurt Saddam`s government. I was strongly opposed to Saddam`s invasion as well as Gulf War to teach Saddam a lesson. I thought that Saddam can be persuaded to get out of Kuwait by other means, short of going to war against him.

I am supporting the end of Taliban now because I feel they can not be persuaded to civilize and that tragedy has hit my city. I know from personal experience about the difficulties of changing a midset from religious to rational. To expect a whole regime (Taliban) to change their mindset is next to impossible. So I am not expecting any great benefit from USA when I support Pakistan siding completely with USA, I am actually looking at the long term benefit to Pakistan and Pakistanis by reversing the trends of Afghanistan war mentioned in the begining-Islamic laws, sectarianism, drug and gun culture etc. I suggest people to make sure before accusing ba ba black sheep or being negative about Pakistan, to either know more about the history of the person being accused or better-just think the implications five, ten or twenty years down the road.



On a different tbut related topic, I think USA has decided to do away with Afghanistan as a nation-ending states by Paul Wolfowitz. My feeling is that after prolonged bombing USA or proxy military will take over Kabul with Uzbek area given to Uzbekistan, Tajik area to Tajikistan and remaining Pashtun area to Pakistan since Pakistan has already agreed to cooperate ``fully``.

Some USA experts were already landing Islamabad yesterday and today Pakistan has fully backed USA. However, the test will be to close Torkham and more importantly Trucking of gasoline from Quetta to Kandhar. It appears, Pakistan has laso given landing rights (bases) away from major cities-near the Afghan border. Although I do not like the logivity it will provide to Musharraf regime but to me, it is lesser of two evils-deal with Taliban/ talibanization now and Musharraf later. Perhaps the trump card in Pakistani affairs, Saudis have convinced Pakistan to dump Taliban, at least until dust settles. By the time dust settles, there will be no taliban government to worry about.

ylh,

Saw a Indian/Pak lady showing a photo of a guy (I think she said she was Indian).

Below the photo it said: Salman Hamdani.

Anyone close to you?

best regards,

Dear Ali Minai:

Past is past. Follies were committed by all parties -- no use harping on them. For the present -- your prescription is the remedy:

``Regardless of whether bin Laden was directly behind the terrorist attacks, forces of a broad international alliance, led by the US,

should build up bases of operation in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and elsewhere in the region, systematically --- and over a considerable period --- wipe out the terrorists and their trainers in Pakistan, install UN peacekeepers in Afghanistan, and provide long-term financial support for the whole region to steer towards a more secure future``.

And this is exactly what is under review currently -- China and Russia will participate -- because they have their own fanatics to deal with.

With this -- insanely disproportionate -- monstrous overkill -- the Islamist Extremists have overplayed their hands -- and this time those criminal hands dripping with blood of so many innocent people -- will not escape the chopping block -- they will get a taste of their own medicine.

Dear Author,

Agree with you except one point:

``At this point, I would also like to point out the further complications created by criminally inept Pakistani policy-makers. In their zeal to fight India, they fed the Frankenstein monster of militancy for years. Now the monster threatens Pakistan too. It is quite sad to watch as the current government struggles to control the forces it helped unleash in a previous incarnation.``

I would like to bring your attention to the fact that none less than Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari has informed me on another post that Pakistan has nothing to do with kashmir militancy, for which I`m thankful.

Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari, please write in detail explaining everything for edification of Mr. Ali.

Thanks Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari.

As-Salam-O-Alaikum Ali Minai

I agree with your thoughts presented in this article. While it is true that the people responsible for the Sept 11 attack should be punished, it is also important to look into the causes that provoked these attackers to go to this extreme.

Simply bombing Afghanistan and killing OBL will not solve the problem. The 1993 bombers of WTC were brought to justice but that did not stopped what happened on Sept 11. The real solution to the problem is to curb the environment that produces terrorists.

Asfand Siddiqui

Sacramento CA

Nameless,

`The RAW, CIA, MOSSAD etc are involved in this conspiracy according to the young pup from Delaware or is it New Jersey or whereever he is now. He thinks this is all fun and a good debating room. Hey, he aint in Oxford, else like the young BB he might even have tried to be the Union President. `

I hope the abovementioned was not an attack on me because I never said India, CIA or Mossad were involved. As a matter of fact I only today found out that there is some serious speculation about the role of the Mossad.

I think I made it clear from the first moment that in my opinion the only real perpetrator was

Ossama Bin Laden. The bone I have is with Indians trying to gain some mileage by attacking Pakistan unnecessarily.

Why would you chaps even go so far as to lie about me eh? Are all Indians without honor?

-YLH

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Pakistan President Faces Dilemma

By STEVEN GUTKIN

Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ If he cooperates with Washington, he risks the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists. If he doesn`t, he risks the fury of Washington.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf faces a dilemma in what could be a major U.S. assault on neighboring Afghanistan and the suspected terrorists it harbors.

Pakistan asked for more time Friday to consider Washington`s requests in the wake of this week`s terror attacks in the United States. That reportedly included a request to use Pakistani air space in the event of an attack on Afghanistan, and the closure of the Pakistani-Afghan border.

Militants on Friday threatened ``jihad,`` or holy war, if Musharraf caved in to U.S. demands.

Some liberals urged the government to place itself squarely on Washington`s side.

But in its editorial Friday, The News daily recalled Pakistan`s Cold War alliance with the United States, which it said helped plunge the country into chaos by bolstering banditry and religious radicalism. The United States allied itself with many religious militants in the region while trying to drive the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

``Participating in any U.S. operation will be just as hazardous as not participating in it,`` the editorial said.

Since taking office in a bloodless coup nearly two years ago, Musharraf has performed a balancing act between seeking to modernize his poverty-stricken nation of 140 million people and keeping the fundamentalists at bay.

Pakistan has maintained close ties to Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban militia, which is accused of sheltering terrorists who might be behind this week`s terror attacks, the worst in U.S. history. Those relations have strained ties with Washington but earned Pakistan a measure of security on its western border.

For now, Musharraf has pledged full cooperation with Washington.

``Pakistan ... will assist in the eradication of terrorism,`` Gen. Rashid Quereshi, Musharraf`s chief spokesman, told The Associated Press.

Responsibility for the attacks has not yet been established. But U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, say the prime suspect is Osama bin Laden, a Saudi exile hiding out in Afghanistan.

A major U.S. attack on Afghanistan would likely place heavy burdens on Pakistan, which could be called upon to provide air and ground space and to share the intelligence it has collected on both bin Laden and the Taliban.

On Friday, a senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that the Bush administration is asking Pakistan for permission to fly through its territory if airstrikes are ordered against Afghan targets.

The official also said Washington has asked Pakistan to close its 1,560-mile border with Afghanistan, presumably to prevent bin Laden`s operatives from leaving.

A top Pakistani official said Friday that Pakistan has asked the United States for time to consider its demands. Musharraf met with his military high command Friday to discuss Pakistan`s options, though details of that meeting were sketchy.

``In the mood they are in, the Americans are not going to indulge fence sitters,`` former Pakistani senator Shafqat Mahmood wrote in a newspaper column Friday.

The potential price of cooperating with Washington was illustrated during Sabbath prayers at mosques throughout Pakistan on Friday.

The terror attacks were ``punishment from God for what the Americans have done to Muslims,`` prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz said from a pulpit in the capital of Islamabad.

``We will join the jihad against the West if the Americans dare attack Afghanistan,`` said Muslim cleric Hasan Jan in Peshawar, a city on the Afghan border. Hundreds of his followers responded with chants of ``Jihad! Jihad!``

``We shall be on the streets. We will be shouting against Americans and the whole Muslim world will be shouting against Americans`` if Pakistan caves in to Washington, said Munawwar Hassan, General Secretary of the Muslim Party Jamaat-e-Islami.

History has shown that fundamentalist threats against Americans in Pakistan are not hollow.

In 1979, protesters burned down the U.S. Embassy here following the takeover of holy sites in Saudi Arabia by Muslim dissidents. In 1989, demonstrators attacked U.S. offices in Islamabad during a protest against author Salman Rushdie`s ``Satanic Verses

RDesikan 34,

The RAW, CIA, MOSSAD etc are involved in this conspiracy according to the young pup from Delaware or is it New Jersey or whereever he is now. He thinks this is all fun and a good debating room. Hey, he aint in Oxford, else like the young BB he might even have tried to be the Union President.

No, seriously, people and pakistan has to take this issue very seriously. This is not a India-Pakistan or hindu-muslim issue and neither can it be reduced to this. It is above that. And unfortunately, it is being reduced to that.

It is time the real pakistanis, stood up and said enough is enough and take pakistan down a better trajectory, a trajectory where it is at peace with itself and prosperous. For the tracjectory it is in right now is taking it down disaster way.

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More involvement of pakistan - its really sad. I must say that this is getting to be more bizarre by the minute. I am unable to fathom the stupidity of it all.

from Agencies

Fourteen youths, aged between 18 and 22 years, have been given ``full-fledged`` training to become professional commercial pilots, capable of handling sophisticated aviation instruments. These youths have also been trained in guerrilla warfare and have honed their hijacking skills to strike in countries where Muslim fundamentalism has been on the upswing in recent years. Recruited from West Asia and East European countries, these youths have been given training by the Afghan and Pakistani Air Force personnel, according to the British intelligence. Sources also said they have been told by the Britishers that these youths have been trained ``to strike not only the US, but India, Russia and Israel.``

Re nameless

As the brilliant young loutish hoodlum would point it, this is nothing but a hindu right wing conspiracy. These alleged paki individuals are actually marathi thugs from the shiv sena who are traveling on fake passports provided by the sinister RAW to tarnish the secular name of Pakistan. Have you been spending too much time reading the postings of osama bin gowardhan, the hindu terrorist?