Afghan Mujahideen: NOT FOR SALE

Kabul’s Western allies want to pay Taliban fighters to quit the insurgency. Lots of luck.

Ron Moreau

Representatives from nearly 70 countries showed up in London on Jan. 28 for a one-day conference on how to save Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai was there, gamely offering “peace and reconciliation” to all Afghans, “especially” those “who are not a part of Al Qaeda or other terrorist networks.” He didn’t mention why the Taliban would accept such an offer while they believe they’re winning the war. Others at the conference had what they evidently considered more realistic solutions—such as paying Taliban fighters to quit the insurgency. Participants reportedly pledged some $500 million to support that aim. “You don’t make peace with your friends,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. True enough. But what if your enemies don’t want peace?

My NEWSWEEK colleague Sami Yousafzai laughs at the notion that the Taliban can be bought or bribed. Few journalists, officials, or analysts know the Taliban the way he does. If the leadership, commanders, and subcommanders wanted comfortable lives, he says, they would have made their deals long ago. Instead they stayed committed to their cause even when they were on the run, with barely a hope of survival. Now they’re back in action across much of the south, east, and west, the provinces surrounding Kabul, and chunks of the north. They used to hope they might reach this point in 15 or 20 years. They’ve done it in eight. Many of them see this as proof that God is indeed on their side. The mujahedin warlords who regained power in the 2001 U.S. invasion have grown fabulously wealthy since then. The senior Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani could have done the same. Now he and his fellow Taliban are gunning for those opportunists.

$500m for ‘Safe Exit’ from Afghanistan’s Unforgiving History

“Those who do not learn from history, are condemned to repeat it” -George Santana

Dan Qayyum | Editor, PKKH

After 9 years of maintaining an expensive presence on Afghan soil, thousands of lives and billions wasted in aid and reconstruction efforts, not to forget bribes to warlords and drug barons, the US and its allies have come up with a real gem of an idea – trying to buy themselves a safe exit from the Afghan mess for a cool $500m.

The world leaders gathered at the Afghanistan Conference in London seem to have realised the only hope left is to save face and exit Afghanistan with some dignity intact. Their offer of cash to the Taliban, laughable as it is, is a last ditch effort to save Hamid Karzai’s government by attempting to buy out his only real opposition in Afghanistan.

Taliban today control 33 out of 34 provinces of Afghanistan and are under no pressure to negotiate with the ‘Governor of Kabul’ – as he’s mockingly called in Afghanistan due to his rule being limited to parts of the Afghan capital. The momentum is with the Taliban and they are in a position to dictate terms. Therefore the plan to rope in ‘moderate’ elements of the Taliban by promises of cash and power is a non-starter.

The decision reached at the conference to invite Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to mediate with the Taliban and Kabul’s Government seems to have little point, even though it confirms what Pakistan has been saying for years – that there will not be a solution to the Afghan problem until the Taliban – who represent Afghanistan’s Pashtun majority – are ignored.

Pakistan Army ‘Not Impressed’ With US Offered Drones

“Too Little, Too Late, We Already Have Superior UAVs”

Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military sources say they are not impressed by the offer of the United States to supply RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as they already have superior quality UAVs, which they have upgraded, and which are in use.

The disappointment is understandable since unlike the drones that fly and take out targets inside Pakistan’s Fata region, the ones being offered to Pakistan are unarmed and commonly used for intelligence gathering.

Later, when DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas was asked about the overall weapons being provided to Pakistan for counterinsurgency and other military supplies, he remarked, “Too little, too late”.

It was US Defence Secretary Robert Gates who, in a meeting with the media at the residence of the US ambassador, said the US was enhancing Pakistan’s intelligence capabilities. He said the offer comes because Islamabad had requested for them. “We have a lot of information on the Afghan side that we share … we also help Pakistan build its own capacity. We will be providing them with UAVs (Shadow) together with equipment and training,” he said.

Terrorists Preparing To Declare Independent Balochistan, Pakistani Politicians Mum

The Politicians – Zardari, Gilani, Rehman, Nawaz – Refuse To Condemn The Terrorism Of Akbar Bugti’s Grandson & His US/Indian Backed Terrorists In Afghanistan

Terrorists claiming to represent Pakistani Balochis are planning to declare ‘independence’ on 11 August 2009, according to BRASSTACKS. It will not change much on the ground but these terrorists and their supporters in Kabul, New Delhi and within CIA will score a major point against Islamabad. The pro-US government in Islamabad and even the Pakistani opposition are courting Washington and are silent against this emerging threat to the Pakistani state. No Pakistani politician is ready to call Akbar Bugti or Kabul-based Brahamdagh or London-based Harbyar Mari by their real designation as terrorists. Both President Zardari and Mr. Nawaz Sharif are silent accomplices in what they believe is a good opportunity to weaken the grip of the Pakistani military. Plans are also underway to create a ‘Pakistani Kurdistan’. Interior Minister Rehman Malik is yet to accuse Britain of giving safe haven to terrorists.

Read Full Report | Ahmed Quraishi

The ‘Am-Brit’ Mess

Forget ‘Af-Pak’. Let’s talk about the ‘Am-Brit’ mess in Afghanistan. The Anglo-American media won’t cover this. But we will. If America occupies Afghanistan and uses that country as a base for covert operations against neighbors, that’s not meddling. But if Pakistan, a next door neighbor, tries to protect its legitimate interests, Washington calls it meddling. We have no problem with Afghan Taliban. And we don’t want to see Hoolbrooke or any other ‘Special Af-Pak envoy’ stepping on Pakistani soil again. Pakistani government and military should shut down CIA stations in the country. Pakistanis don’t want an alliance with a country that is stabbing us in the back and supporting terrorists against us.

Ahmed Quraishi

You have to give it to the American propaganda machine. U.S. officials and America’s long list of self-styled ‘Pakistan experts’ are advising Islamabad to stop meddling in Afghanistan. But it is kosher for the U.S. military to travel half the world to occupy Afghanistan and that’s not meddling. Well guess what, Pakistan has more pressing interests as a next door neighbor of Afghanistan and it will protect its interests. Who says CIA’s interests in Afghanistan are more sacred than ISI’s?

Is Pakistan Really Double Dealing?

Eric Margolis

The US has ignored intensifying efforts by India, Iran, and Russia to expand their influence in Afghanistan. Washington sees Pakistan only as a way of advancing its own interests in Afghanistan, not as a loyal old ally.

President Barack Obama announced that more US troops and civilian officials will go to Afghanistan, and more billions will be spent sustaining a war against the largely Pashtun national resistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan. None of this will benefit Pakistan. In fact, America’s deepening involvement in what is now called ‘Afpak’ in Washington brings the threat of growing instability and violence, even the de facto break-up of Pakistan.

Pakistan has advantage over India

Delhi’s hot air proved doubly insipid. It did not frighten Pakistan one bit, but it scared the wits out of Washington and London, who rushed to Delhi and leaned on it. Delhi succumbed. India has lost twice over through Mumbai. It has become a laughing stock at security conferences. And it has allowed what could have been a diplomatic coup against Pakistan to become a diplomatic coup against India. This is incompetent governance, not just abysmal security.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was audacious enough to contradict India’s prime minister on Indian soil, by saying that the terrorist attack was not sponsored by the Pakistan government, and that India had better do something about the core cause, Kashmir. Instead of snubbing him, Rahul Gandhi, Congress’ proxy prime minister, took Miliband for some private tourism of poverty. British correspondents in Delhi have applauded Miliband for telling it like it is, throwing in a sentence that this is going to be Obama’s line as well.

India war deployment details

Pakistan has no choice but to fight

War is inevitable in South Asia. Pakistan has no choice but to fight. Bharati (aka Indian) intransigence and insistence on war mongering will inevitably lead to war which surely will escalate to a nuclear exchange. Bharati insistence on punitive sanctions on Pakistan and a host of boycotts is not reverberating with Washington or London. While both capitals are empathetic to towards Delhi, both capitals are unwilling and unable to take action against Islamabad. Bharat’s military strategy banks on archaic and pre-1998 philosophy does not take into account the new realities in South Asia.

Read Full Article | Moin Ansari

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Musharraf Nailed Top Pakistani Terrorist and Kidnapper As MI-6 Agent

December 19, 2008 (LPAC)–The British-Pakistani terrorist who was tried and convicted for the kidnapping and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl, was identified as an MI-6 agent in 2006 by the then-President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.

The British-born terrorist in question, Omar Saeed Sheikh, is also featured in the article by Jeffrey Steinberg, “Shut Down Anglo-Saudi Global Terror Apparatus Behind Mumbai Attack,” appearing on the LPAC website and the Dec. 19 issue of EIR. 

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