Pakistan !

[PoppingTom]

This topic needs his own thread.

The key to solving the puzzle of Afghanistan is Pakistan

.......Taliban’s new leader, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. It turns out that Mansour lives part time in Quetta, the New York Times reports, “in an enclave where he and some other Taliban leaders . . . have built homes.” His predecessor, Mohammad Omar, we now know, died a while ago in Karachi. And of course, we remember that Osama bin Laden lived for many years in a compound in Abbottabad. All three of these cities are in Pakistan.
...

Pakistan has mastered the art of pretending to help the United States while actually supporting its most deadly foes. Take the many efforts that U.S. officials have recently made to start talks with the Taliban. It turns out that we were talking to ghosts. Omar has been dead for two years, while Pakistani officials have been facilitating “contacts” and “talks” with him. This is part of a pattern. Pakistani officials, from former president Pervez Musharraf down, categorically denied that bin Laden or Omar was living in Pakistan — despite the fact that former Afghan president Hamid Karzai repeatedly pointed this out publicly. “I do not believe Omar has ever been to Pakistan,” Musharraf said in 2007.

The Pakistani army has been described as the “godfather” of the Taliban. That might understate its influence. Pakistan was the base for the U.S.-supported mujahideen as they battled the Soviet Union in the 1980s. After the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan in 1989, the United States withdrew almost as quickly, and Pakistan entered that strategic void. It pushed forward the Taliban, a group of young Pashtun jihadis schooled in radical Islam at Pakistani madrasas. (“Talib” means student.) Now history is repeating itself. As the United States draws down its forces, Pakistan again seeks to expand its influence through its long-standing proxy.

And no, I don't hate Pakistanis.

 

[JackLuis]

If the Paki's didn't have Nukes, they would have been bombed long ago!

 

[PoppingTom]

If the Paki's didn't have Nukes, they would have been bombed long ago!

Not sure about that. The Pakistan intelligence service, the ISI, was established with help from the CIA, so ties are very strong between both.

And Pakistan isn't a clear enemy, like Saddam was. Musharraf seize power by a coup d'état, but was a good friend of Clinton.

 

[JackLuis]

Not sure about that. The Pakistan intelligence service, the ISI, was established with help from the CIA, so ties are very strong between both.

And Pakistan isn't a clear enemy, like Saddam was. Musharraf seize power by a coup d'état, but was a good friend of Clinton.

The CIA isn't really an "American Principle" supporter. Look at their record.

 

[PoppingTom]

The CIA isn't really an "American Principle" supporter. Look at their record.

The CIA is Mother Theresa against the ISI.

Al-Qaeda
Main articles: Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–92) and Soviet–Afghan War

The ISI supported Al-Qaeda during the war along with CIA against the soviet regime, through the Taliban, and it is believed by some that there are still contact between Al-Qaeda and the ISI. An assessment by British Intelligence in 2000 into Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan showed the ISI were playing an active role in some of them. The leak in 2012 of e-mails from Stratfor claimed that papers captured during the raid in Abbotabad on Osama Bin Laden's compound showed up to 12 ISI officials knew where he was and that Bin Laden had been in regular contact with the ISI.

Drugs trade

Joint Intelligence/North(JIN) are responsible for the control of the heroin trade used to finance ISI operations. They have control over opium production and refining and also control all smuggling operations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

If the CIA does shit, they face at least a committee of inquiry.

 

[Hard_Rom]

If the Paki's didn't have Nukes, they would have been bombed long ago!

You want to solve some Afghanistan issues. Let the Pathans have their own country. Not stick the Durrand line down the middle of them. No wonder they succumb to radicalism and tribal loyalties. They aren't even recognized as their own people in their own country. There are 42 million Pathans split between Pakistan and Afghanistan. That's a lot of people. Enough to populate may a European country.

Bomb Pakistan! That's about as brilliant an idea as GW going into Iraq.