Pakistan has been playing us all for suckers
‘Pakistan has been playing us all for suckers’ Britain is spending millions bolstering Pakistan, but it is a nation in thrall to radical Islam and is using its instability to blackmail the West Christina Lamb Published: 10 April 2011 (Sunday Times) An injured child is carried from a Peshawar mosque hit by a suicide bomber W hen David Cameron announced £650m in education aid for Pakistan last week, I guess the same thought occurred to many British people as it did to me: why are we doing this? While we are slashing our social services and making our children pay hefty university fees, why should we be giving all this money to a country that has reduced its education budget to 1.5% of GDP while spending several times as much on defence? A country … Read entire article »
Filed under: Great game, Pakistan
NPR: CIA Fight Against Communism Bolsters Radical Islam
by NPR Staff http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127500908&ft=1&f=1004#127500197 The CIA’s determination to roll back communism during the Cold War inadvertently allowed radical Islamists to gain a foothold in Europe, according to a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Johnson. A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West details the Nazis’ attempts to create a fifth column within the Soviet empire by becoming allies with Muslim minorities living in the Soviet Union. “The Soviet Union had oppressed Islam, closed many mosques and mistreated many minorities in the Soviet Union, including Muslims,” Johnson tells host Guy Raz. “After the Germans ended up with literally millions of Red Army POWs in the war, they began to realize that many of these were potential soldiers to fight the Soviet Union.” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Great game, History, Islam, Religion, Terrorism, USA
The Economist: Pakistan's role in Afghanistan
The Economist Print Edition, March 18, 2010 A HIGH-LEVEL delegation of Pakistanis is due to sweep into Washington for the restart on March 24th of a “strategic dialogue” with America. The Pakistanis have muscled their way to the table for what looks like a planning session for the endgame in Afghanistan. The recent arrest of the Taliban’s deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and a clutch of his high-ranking comrades, has won them a seat. The Pakistani team, led by the foreign minister, will include both the army chief and the head of the army’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). America has upgraded its own representation at the talks, last held in mid-2008, from deputy-secretary to secretary-of-state level. The dialogue is supposed to cover the gamut of bilateral issues, including help … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, FATA, Great game, India, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Speculation surrounds Pak arrests of Taliban
Junaid: Rumors are flying that Pakistan’s arrests of Taliban leaders may signal secret negotiations. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4863 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Great game, Islamabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, state, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, war
Moving Towards a Global Afghan Taliban Settlement
Stratfor Analysis January 25, 2010 will be remembered as the day when much of the planet buzzed about diplomatic talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban movement. The chatter comes in the context of a number of conferences that will be held over the course of the next week that focus on dealing with Afghanistan’s jihadist insurgency. The countries being represented at the meetings — including the United States, the Central Asian states, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India and China — have a stake in what happens in Afghanistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Great game, India, Iran, Islam, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, quetta, Religion, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Our Commitment to Pakistan
By Robert M Gates, US Secretary of Defence Exclusive to The News, Pakistan Published on January 21, 2010 We are including the link to an important op-ed by US Secretary of Defense Mr. Robert M. Gates. Mr. Gates repeats the message given by Hillary Clinton, that reaches out to the Pakistani population deeply suspicious of the US motives in the present war against extremism. The message looks to repair the trust deficit that has developed over time between Pakistan and the United States, and is a welcome step for the uneven relationship between the two countries who fight the common enemy in this present war. For the full article, please follow the link at the end of the post (Editor) Nearly 25 years ago, in 1986, I arrived in Islamabad for my first visit … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, FATA, Great game, History, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA
Defining "Strategic Depth"
By Kamran Shafi From Daily Dawn, Published 19th January, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/14-defining-strategic-depth-910 And how does it help us? We are engaged in the Great Game in Afghanistan, we are told, because ‘strategic depth’ is vital for Pakistan due to the fact that our country is very narrow at its middle and could well be cut into half by an Indian attack in force. Strategic depth, we are further informed, will give respite to our armed forces which could withdraw into Afghanistan to then regroup and mount counter-attacks on Indian forces in Pakistan. I ask you! I ask you for several reasons. Let us presume that the Indians are foolish enough to get distracted from educating their people, some of whom go to some of the best centres of learning in the world. Let us assume that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Great game, India, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Punjab, quetta, state, Taliban
Pakistan And US – A Balancing Act
By Yasser Latif Hamdani There are some fundamental truths that both Pakistanis and Americans need to understand about our mutual relationship especially in Afghanistan : 1. Pakistan and US are natural allies. I know the fashionable in India and the US like to talk of a “natural alliance” between their two countries but both India and the US must realize that theirs can be at best a mercantile relationship. Natural alliances are not necessarily based on hollow idealism and grandiose but ridiculous propositions like the “arcs of democracy”. If this was true, Pakistan and Russia would be natural allies but they are not. Natural alliances are based on convergence of geo-strategic objectives and in the case of Pakistan the long term interests of Pakistan and US will always coincide in this region. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Great game, Imperialism, Pakistan, strategy, USA, World
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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