Military Action Begins in Afghanistan

``...Statements by a top Indian official in interviews today and on Monday that suggested that India might, under certain circumstances, consider a military strike against Pakistan...``

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/international/asia/10INDI.html

What in the world are they thinking about? Bringing down Musharraf? Even if they succeed, they may have more trouble on their hands than with Musharraf. Who will manage a Talibanized Pakistan? I hope that the mandarins in Delhi think through the consequences. Short-term ego trips...long-term instability. It is best to let Musharraf handle this on his own.

You heard this first on Chowk 3 weeks ago.

US eyes Mazar to bring down Taliban

By Our (Dawn) Correspondent

NEW YORK, Oct 9: The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif has become pivotal in the US campaign to oust the Taliban regime from power says the New York Times in an analysis of American strategy. The Taliban forces hunkered down at Mazar-i-Sharif have been at the top of the target list for American forces.

The United States has already pounded a concentration of Soviet-made tanks, fighter aircraft and an SA-3 anti-aircraft missile site that the Taliban had placed there, Pentagon officials told the Times. If the Taliban forces near Mazar- i-Sharif are destroyed and the supply lines to the city disrupted, that could weaken the Taliban`s defensive line to the east. And that, in turn, could enable the Northern Alliance to punch through defences and extend its control over northern Afghanistan. ``If Mazar-i-Sharif falls, that would be a significant blow to the Taliban,`` a Pentagon official told the paper.

The Taliban have signalled their determination to beat back their rival, something they have succeeded in doing for years and if they do it again that would mean stopping the Northern Alliance from breaking through the front line in the north of the country that runs from the Tajik border to just north of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

More than 20,000 Taliban troops, including Arab fighters that Mr Osama bin Laden has recruited from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Chechnya, are aligned against the Northern Alliance along two long mountainous fronts north of Kabul, according to an overview provided by Defence Department officials, sources told the paper.

Some 10,000 to 15,000 troops from the Taliban`s 5th and 7th Corps are stretched along the front near Taluqan, a town east of Mazar-i-Sharif. Another 10,000 to 15,000 from the Central Corps are on the front north of Kabul. Mullah Omar directs the war effort from his headquarters in the Kandahar region, issuing orders by couriers, radio and cellphone.

A Pentagon official told the paper that the Taliban front-line positions consisted of trenches and dug-in artillery that were easily identifiable from the air. But it is not just the front line that is a potential target. Pentagon estimates that the Taliban has 40,000 to 60,000 fighters throughout Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials say they have received reports of ``pre-defection negotiations`` between tribal leaders allied with Pakistan and rival groups. Pentagon officials stress it is too early to tell if the Taliban will disintegrate as a fighting force but assert that much of the Taliban`s support is soft, the report says.(Dawn)

Before its capture by the illiterate Taliban -- Mazare Sharif University used to have 10,000 students -- 4 thousand of which were women students.

After the conquest and rape of Mazre Sharif (wholesale massacre of Shiites for months) all 4 thousand college girls were sent home to stay in house arrest -- good Muslim women don`t need to pollute their minds with even school education -- what to talk of college -- college is only for the infidels.

Pakistan Army Headquarters Burns

By MUNIR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Fire tore through Pakistan`s army headquarters early Wednesday, burning for more than five hours and gutting offices before it was brought under control, authorities said.

The president`s spokesman blamed a short circuit.

The fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m. at the Pakistani army`s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, just outside the capital, Islamabad, said spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi.

There were no injuries, and the extent of the damage was not immediately clear, Islamabad fire chief Mohammed Yaqoob said.

``The entire structure of the GHQ has been gutted. Furniture has been reduced to ashes. Dozens of offices have been burned completely,`` firefighter Abdul Qayum said.

Quereshi said a short circuit in a stationery store within the headquarters caused the fire.

Hundreds of army officers are based in the headquarters.

The fire came two days after Pakistan`s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, reshuffled his army leadership in an apparent attempt to strengthen his power base after deciding to support the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan.(AP)

A short circuit, eh?

Where is ex ISI General Mahmood? -- someone should smell his hand for kerosene.

nameless #59 ``Tomorrow, by the same token a search may be launched for foes among friends. ``

Men of violence are foes of everyone. If we in Pakistan continue to ignore the gun-toting mullahs seeking to impose a taliban government in Pakistan, then our fate will be no different from Afghanistan: first, these people will wreck society with their evil ways (as they did in Afghanistan, where millions of Afghans fled the country); second, their evil will overflow into other countries, and then these other countries will fix the evil for us. We will then count ourselves lucky, as any Afghan with any brains is doing today, that the other countries do indeed make the distinction between criminals and innocent civilians.

If we have not learnt anything from Afghanistan`s experience, then God help Pakistan.

Stepping away from the conversation, does anyone have contacts in the state dep`t to this guy out?

His letter was in the Nation newspaper. The Paper may have some contact info, or one can easily contact the Police Dep`t in Suffolk county to get details.

My younger brother, Khawaja Tariq Mehmood (US resident since long) was seriously injured in an assault by Smith Augustan on July 27 as per Case 01-333823/SPD registered by the Police Department of Suffolk County, NY, and is still unconscious in the intensive care unit in South Side Hospital Bay Shore, NY. Smith was a bank defaulter and his house was sold by the authorities for recovery. My brother purchased the house. The accused crushed Tariq by running a cab over him, throwing him ten feet in the air and 150 feet away. He reversed the taxi and ran its wheel over my brother`s head.

Smith was arrested but later bailed out after some days and is now harassing the family. This case was reported in both Press and on TV. My brother`s wife and children are residing at 40 Walbridge Avenue, Bay Shore, NY. The rest of our family is in Pakistan. We are an ordinary lower middle class Pakistani family and can do nothing except approach you. If timely arrangements are not made by the US Government, our family will suffer irreparable loss. The accused must be arrested immediately and punished.

I applied for a family visa to visit the US, to see to the health of my brother, which has been rejected, for reasons best known to the Embassy. I request you to kindly issue me a visa, so I can look after my brother, who is in hospital for the last three months, on humanitarian ground in the light of the sponsor letters from the NY Hospital.—A BROTHER, September 25.

Re: SameerJB

If not Musharraf, then certainly the ISI has indirectly supported sectarian violence by propping up the Taleban who give shelter to roughly 70 killers wanted in Pakistan. You can have one (but not both) -- (i) no sectarian violence, OR (ii) support the Taleban who acknowledge no creed other than their own, and find violence quite a convenient method. By making its choices, the ISI was implictly making many others as well. That is why civil control over such agencies is so essential. They can become a state within a state.

In his latest column -- Ayaz Amir is implying -- that from the very beginning -- Mr. Musharraf has worked ‘real hard’ -- to earn his personal power stint for 5 – 11 years -- as a payola -- for 5 star services -- rendered to the Americans of Easy Virtues -- (referendum an internal affair!)

The trickle down ‘benefit’ to Pakistan -- is an afterthought -- an accidental side bonus – a lame bid -- to legitimize the illegitimate.

Here is Ayaz Amir(excerpts):

“”If the obvious must be restated, Gen Musharraf`s coup was not a response to any threat to the country.

It came in response to a threat to his own position. And it arose from a feeling shared by the army high command that the cavalier manner in which Nawaz Sharif had tried removing the army chief was an insult to the army as a whole. This was it.

The army command was not out to save the country or establish anything like `real` democracy.

These were after-thoughts on Gen Musharraf`s part to justify his seizure of power long after the original impulse behind the coup had ceased to have any relevance.

But there is no cure for the fallacies of the innocent mind. Even when it was clear that Gen Musharraf was casting himself in the mould of the traditional strongman - for whom power becomes an end in itself - there was no shortage of well-meaning souls who ascribed all manner of pious motives to him.(romair, fuzair, hobbyty tahmed to note please)

The bankruptcy of such piety was never more evident than in the aftermath of September 11 when Pakistan`s caving in to every last American demand was hailed by broad strata of the newspaper reading public as a supreme gesture of statesmanship.

Pakistan had no choice, they chanted in unison, and Pakistan had been saved. A course of action embarked upon without much thought, and certainly without any awkward questions being put to the Americans, thus received the highest accolades.

In the first flush of our pro-American switch the nation was assured that both our Kashmir policy and our nuclear assets had been saved (presumably from certain destruction).

When only a short time later Pakistan was made to go through another switch, this time to renounce its `jihadi` policies, Gen Musharraf was once again hailed as a statesman who was turning his back upon the `extremist` policies of the past and returning Pakistan to the vision of the Quaid-I-Azam.

Cutting links with the Taliban (a good thing in itself) never entered the military`s mind before September 11.

Renouncing `jihadism` did not figure in our calculations prior to the international outcry which arose after the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament.

Both turnarounds came about because of external pressure. Such have been the elements of military statesmanship.

The outlines of the Faustian bargain we have made should, however, be clear.

In signing up with the United States, the military government, beyond any payola for services rendered, has won something more important for itself: American approval.

Not under the shadow of our Ghauri or Shaheen missiles but under the strategic cover provided by this American approval is this referendum taking place.

As long as we play ball and hand over every Abu Zubaydah that crosses the US`s line of fire, the military government can do no wrong in American eyes.

As for continuity of reforms and real democracy, let us ask for a break. (DAWN)

shammi #71 I think the goal of a 180 degree turn in Indo-Pak relations to one of friendship is nowhere closer than today. There is a common interest in curbing the jehadi elements in Pakistan too. It all depends on how the Indian and Pakistan governments are looking to the future today, or to the past. Let us keep praying for common sense to prevail on both sides.

Dost Mittar

The idiom, the medium(s) of liberation in Islamia cannot be stopped by repression, it will only become stronger, if it is repressed. Please the NYT editorial, to see that this liberation is not just a threat to the conservative, oppresive regimes in the Gulf and North Africa, but to American media and government`s monopoly of access and opportunity to shape the psychological and emotional terrain of peoples of the world.

Namesless

An even more dramatic turn of events is coming; wait till you see the OIC resolution on terrorism.

Shammi

Refugee camps is all Pakistan has to offer? Only because the mandarins refuse to allow these people access to the legitimate economy. The issues are really the same as with the Bihari and The Kutchi Abadi denizens;A needless struggle over the perception of a lack of resources.

Re: Tahmed321

I am hoping that the threats emanating from Delhi are just bluster. But, one never knows -- they could mean it just as much as Bush meant it when he delivered the ultimatum to the Taleban. It goes without saying that the situation is unstable (Hence Powell`s visit). The Indo-Pak military equation is not as lopsided as the US-Taleban is. If both sides can cool it, and keep it that way, there is hope. Otherwise, we have the example of France-Germany (1870s-1945) before us.

Tariq Ali in the current Outlook at:

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20011008&fname=ali&sid=1

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/detCIT01.asp

Fishy to say the least.

Shammi

I think there is something on the table between Pakistan and India regarding Kashmir - OIC resolution will be a start for everybody - Palestinians, Kashmiris, Europeans supporting Kurds in Turkiye, British supporting, MQM and Balouchi Sardars, etc.

This article hints at an aneurysm in the brain.

This is plausible to me; I know someone seemingly

quite healthy who was lucky not to die of this.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/011009/16/16b61.html

Still, why not have an autopsy ? What does

the death certificate say ? What does the

attending physician say ?

This article hints at an aneurysm in the brain.

This is plausible to me; I know someone seemingly

quite healthy who was lucky not to die of this.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/011009/16/16b61.html

Still, why not have an autopsy ? What does

the death certificate say ? What does the

attending physician say ?

-Arun Gupta

Re: Hobbyty

``...Only because the mandarins refuse to allow these people access to the legitimate economy....``

The refugees have already burdened Pakistan -- do you want to see it grow? Would it not be far better for the authorities to work towards creating conditions in Afghanistan to prevent this from happening in the first place (e.g. removing Taleban many years ago) than to provide them jobs in crowded Pakistani cities where they will compete with the locals? The refugees could pose a security threat in the future.