Pakistan-Afghan Relations in Murky Waters

Why dont you admit the obvious? Pakistan is playing a diabolical double game in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Due to US pressure, it takes cosmetic steps against a few people in Pakistan and tries to pretend that it is no longer interested in Afghanistan. Similarly, in Kashmir it pretends that it is having a peace process. Under the surface, the Pakistani establishment is playing a vicious game of fueling militancy in both Aghanistan and Kashmir. Training camps have reopened in PoK and militant infiltration is increasing in Kashmir. Taliban have been given complete refuge in Pakistan and they are infiltrating into Afghanistan to create trouble. The entire process in both places is calibrated and fine tuned by Musharraf. When things are quiet, he turns on the militancy in both places. When things heat up like after the London blasts, he cools it down to take the heat off.

When will the world realize that the real problem is Pakistan? That is where the US and UK in parternship with India has to go in and clean house. It may mean a swift nuclear war to take out the Pakistani establishment and then cleaning the place up. Pakistan needs to be broken up into 3-4 small countries that have totally different policies from the present. That is the only way to have peace in this region.

While I would not advocate such an extreme position as ranjit in #1 has, the fact of the matter is that Pakistan`s complicity in the continuing strife in Afghanistan and Kashmir is as clear as daylight. When proven murderers like Maulana Masood Azhar of the JeM and Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed of the LeT, not to mention Dawood Ibrahim are enjoying state protection and patronage, any measures taken to clamp down on militancy is at best a cosmetic step and a total farce.

Musharraf`s innocent protestations notwithstanding, the elaborate drama that is staged in Pakistan, where hundreds are rounded up immediately after a major incident in the west in a `crackdown` and then quitely let go when the spotlight is off Pakistan, is not lost on anyone, least of all the cunning Americans. I`m sure when Uncle Sam has decided that enough is enough, he won`t hesitate to do an Iraq-style invasion.

Now most Pakis will say that Pakistan is not Iraq, but then, try telling that to Uncle Sam.

Wasn`t this BS published as an op-ed in ``the Nation``?

The taliban is now using pakiland for strategic depth...If they can`t have their way in Afghanistan, they`ll get their buddies to pass taliban like laws in Pakiland...

Fun to see pakis squirming...

If Pakistan stops supporting the occupation and the puppet regime, that acts as a front for the occupation, the puppet regime would fall in about 20 minutes or sooner. It is jsut as simple as that. Period.

Farooq,
Thank you for your timely and well-written essay about this third most fateful mistake in Pakistan`s history. The first was Partition and the second was alienating East Pakistan. By meddling in Afghanistan right from the late 70s, here is what Pakis have accomplished:

1. Alienated the Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek people against Pakistan for generations.
2. Played an unappreciated host to millions of Afghan refugees over 25 years.
3. Ruined Pakistan`s peace and tranquility with the introduction of a ``Kalashnikov`` culture
4. Worsened the already delicate Shia/Sunni relationship within Pakistan by importing anti-
Shia attitude of the Tally Bans.
5. Created the worst interpretation of Islamic values since Wahabbism by helping Tally Bans
6. Became identified with 9/11, Tally Ban, AlKayda, and other detested events and groups.

Next time we decide to help our Muslim brethren, let`s make sure that our actions will actually help them AND us. Otherwise, let`s mind our own business and clean our own house. BTW, this advice may also apply to Kashmir.

Thanks,
Salim

Salim, I agree with all your comments. They are very well pointed out. But I do not believe that partition was a mistake. Though, I do recognise that others were blunders.

#4 by Urstruly on August 3, 2005 9:32am PT


If Pakistan stops supporting the occupation and the puppet regime


Well...Pakiland is occupied by the current puppet regime so I don`t see how you have a choice...If the puppet master tells mushy to bomb the paki tribals, he`ll do it...

Urstruly #4

`` If Pakistan stops supporting the occupation and the puppet regime, that acts as a front for the occupation, the puppet regime would fall in about 20 minutes or sooner. It is jsut as simple as that. Period. ``

Nice try !!!

If Pakistan did not support the Taliban it would not exist in the first place. Half of Afghanistan is dominated by Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks. They have no desire to be under Taliban rule.

ranjit #1

`` When will the world realize that the real problem is Pakistan? That is where the US and UK in parternship with India has to go in and clean house. It may mean a swift nuclear war to take out the Pakistani establishment and then cleaning the place up. Pakistan needs to be broken up into 3-4 small countries that have totally different policies from the present. That is the only way to have peace in this region. ``

At some point in the future India might have to expend its resources on a potentially nuclear war to destroy the Pakistani establishment for good.

#9, bbabu {``Pakistan needs to be broken up into 3-4 small countries that have totally different policies from the present. That is the only way to have peace in this region. `` }

babu,
Stop being selfish! Please, just reunify these four provinces back into a united India. This single act will solve so many problems:
1. Kashmir impasse
2. Cross-border terrorism
3. Sectarian violence in Pakistan
4. Runaway defense expenditures
5. Communal strife
6. Threat of nuclear war

and the list goes on.

Salim

rsribhar #10

`` babu,
Stop being selfish! Please, just reunify these four provinces back into a united India. This single act will solve so many problems:
1. Kashmir impasse
2. Cross-border terrorism
3. Sectarian violence in Pakistan
4. Runaway defense expenditures
5. Communal strife
6. Threat of nuclear war

and the list goes on.

Salim ``

I am not a war monger. Given the attitudes in the Pakistani establishment, trajectories of the Indian and Pakistani states, prevailing geo-political trends it is almost a given that there will be a showdown between India and Pakistan. The only way for it not to happen is for the Pakistani elite to back off. If Pakistani elite is convinced that they will not get external help against India they will start negotiating. It is possible China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and America might persuade Pakistan to abandon their confrontation with India. I will believe it when I see it.

Re:bbabu#9

``At some point in the future India might have to expend its resources on a potentially nuclear war to destroy the Pakistani establishment for good.``

Bingo!! That is what we Indians need to understand and prepare for. The Pakistani establishment is obsessed with building an Islamic empire from Oxus to Srinagar. It does not have the means to do so and Pakistan as a country is little more than a pile of junk. Still it has a lethal strategy of using its own young people as jihad fodder to create chaos and havoc for other countries. This barbarism is now affecting countries all over the world. The Pakistani establishment will never back down because life is cheap in Pakistan. Unlike India where there are economic opportunities, people in Pakistan have no career prospects and prefer to die rather than live. Hence young people are in plentiful supply to be trained and sent as homicidal killers to other countries.

Thus a final war with Pakistan is inevitable. We have to have the fourth battle of Panipat to settle the communal question once and for all. The good thing is that world opinion will be on our side, because no one likes Pakistan. Even muslims countries like Iran and Afghanistan hate Pakistan.

#4 by Urstruly

[If Pakistan stops supporting the occupation and the puppet regime, that acts as a front for the occupation, the puppet regime would fall in about 20 minutes or sooner.]

And pray tell us what you are? You are just as much a puppet, living within a system that you loathe, yet paying taxes to the very government that bombs the living daylights out of your Muslim brethren. You, of all people, shouldn`t be talking about puppets and occupation.

babu #11,
After all the chest thumping is completed, both India and Pakistan will come to the realization that it is in the best interests of their nations and citizens to bury the hatchet. Economic cooperation, freedom of movement, and destruction of barriers will ultimately take over and we will all forget these ``bad old days.`` Religion should and will become a personal matter for individuals and no concern of the government. People will group themselves by economic, professional, and cultural affiliations rather than religious ones. Experience is the best teacher. The tolerant environment in the West and the US/Canada is a direct result of the horrors of religious persecutions and wars in Europe from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries - these gave rise to the Age of Reason in the 18th century.
Peace,
Salim

#14 by rsribhar on August 4, 2005 8:06am PT

India and Pakiland need to be like Israel and Turkey....get on with their lives...

Re: # 12
[We have to have the fourth battle of Panipat ]

...nananana na na...any place but panipat....;)...shall we say it has never been auspicious for indians... :-)