Issues, Part 6: The War in Afghanistan

After we have left Afghanistan, the Taliban will grow stronger, and, sooner or later, either 1) the government in Afghanistan will reach an accomodation with them, until ultimately the Taliban, in some form, simply take over, or 2) the Taliban will win outright.

Thus, to win the war in Afghanistan, all the Taliban have to do is survive until America pulls out.

This, they are accomplishing.

The reason for this is that the Taliban's powerbase is not being effectively attacked.

The Taliban powerbase is in Pakistan.

Pakistan has long defined itself by its Muslimness, as opposed to Pakistan's main potential enemy, India. India is, of course, larger, and would presumably prevail in a conventional war, if that war were allowed to play out until one side or another achieved absolute victory.

Pakistan has tried to offset India's advantages in various ways. For example, Pakistan long sought, and finally developed, its own nuclear weapons (though there is a story behind this, which winds its way into China and all the way back to espionage at key US facilities).

But, a main way in which Pakistan has sought some leverage against a presumed Indian victory is by means of militarized Islamic schools, called madrassas. Madrassas have been prevalent in the Islamic world for centuries, but in Pakistan they took on a peculiar twist, serving as military training centers for jihadists who would fight the infidel world. Of immediate concern has, of course, always been India; graduates of the madrassas could be expected to fight a guerilla war should India ever overrun Pakistan in a conventional war, ensuring that a conventional Indian victory would not be the last word in the conflict. However, once trained and indoctrinated into the ways of Islamic holy war, such militants are hard to keep on a leash.

For years, Pakistani-trained militants have crossed into Jammu and Kashmir, conducting terrorist attacks against Indian forces there. Pakistan has for years been a state sponsor of Islamic terrorism.

When Afghanistan fell into chaos in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal, these Pakistani-backed militias went into Afghanistan and stabilized it under Taliban rule.

Once established in Afghanistan, these jihadists slipped off their leash, seeking war against all infidels and against all Muslims who oppose the jihadists (whom the jihadists refer to as takfir); their jihad took on a life of its own.

First of all, under the Taliban, fellow jihadists found they could use Afghanistan as a base of operations against any infidel enemies, without so much as the minimal restraints placed upon them by Pakistani sponsors. This is why we invaded Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 - to oust the terrorists that were based there under Taliban rule, and who had attacked the United States.

Additionally, Pakistani-trained and -based jihadists have continued attacks against India, as well.

However, most significantly for Pakistanis, these jihadists are not going to settle for less than victory against all infidels and takfir, worldwide, and that starts with takfir closest to home - Pakistani Muslims who do not support the violence.

Pakistan has been pulled in two directions. There is of course the Islamic militants. But, there is also a modern society in Pakistan, a Muslim society that fits peacefully into the world around it. This segment of Pakistani society is, of necessity, targeted by the militants and those who support them. For the militants to win their global jihad, the "Land of the Pure" must be cleansed of these corrupted takfir elements.

Pakistanis have at least tolerated (and significant elements of Pakistani officialdom have actively helped) the growth of militant Islamic extremists in Pakistan as a counterweight to India. This counterweight was powerful when the Taliban ran Afghanistan. However, it is now out of control, and now less extreme elements in Pakistani society may find that they get roasted in the fire they have allowed to be kindled.

The invulnerability of the Taliban's base in Pakistan is why the Taliban have not been extinguished in Afghanistan; it is why American troops have not yet come home victorious.

The base's invulnerability lies in the fact that it is on the other side of the Durand Line (the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan).

Understandably, Pakistan does not want US troops crossing the Durand Line into Pakistani territory to attack the militants; Pakistan is a sovereign nation, and the views of its people and government should be respected regarding Pakistan's territorial integrity.

However, assuming the political will exists in Islamabad to clean out the Taliban strongholds, these bases can be difficult to get to from Pakistani territory.

That political will needs to exist in Islamabad, because the Taliban will not compromise; their version of Islam means they will fight to the death against all takfir, and takfir is anyone who disagrees with them, and that most emphatically includes moderate or Westernized elements of Pakistani society.

If that will does not exist in Pakistan, then Pakistan is with the terrorists, and needs to be treated as an enemy of all civilized nations.

However, any society has its criminal element, and Pakistan should not be condemned because of its criminal element, even though that criminal element has strong support in Rawalpindi.

There is an answer that will allow for the civilized world to prevail over the terrorists, and for civilized Pakistanis to retain control of their great nation, while maintaining Pakistani territorial integrity against infringement from foreign troops.

In conjunction with Afghanistan and the US and international forces in Afghanistan, Pakistani troops need to be brought into Afghanistan. From there, Pakistani troops attack across the Durand Line into Pakistan, while simultaneously more Pakistani troops attack from deep inside Pakistan into the border areas. Across the border in Afghanistan, Afghan, US and international forces will conduct their own offensives toward the Durand Line, but not crossing it. Military operations against the Taliban on Pakistani soil will be conducted exclusively by Pakistani troops; any exceptions to this will be at the behest of Islamabad. Taliban militants will be caught in the middle, their bases will be sandwiched out of existence, and the militants will be exterminated or scattered.

On top of this, Pakistan needs to shut down all terrorist training bases in Pakistani territory, not just the ones in proximity to Afghanistan, and Pakistan needs to work to end terrorism from Pakistani territory. Pakistan needs to do this to keep from being overrun by the militants Pakistan once saw as insurance against India.

Once Pakistan has accomplished this, the international community needs to help promote peace between Pakistan and India, including offering guarantees of Pakistan's existence and territorial integrity.

The Land of the Pure, Part 6

In the previous parts of this series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) I had a very consistent message: elites in Pakistan supported the extremists and, if this didn't change, Pakistan was going to be roasted over its own fire.

We see this happening.

Under the heading of "Pakistan's Fight with the Taliban" at The Economist, we have the following article: The crumbling centre: Pakistan's religious mainstream makes common cause with militants:

THE assassination on January 4th of Salman Taseer by Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a commando in his security detail, contained a chilling message: the Barelvi sect of Islam has become a militant new force in Pakistani politics. Most Pakistanis are Barelvis. They have traditionally disavowed violence, followed the peaceful Sufi traditions of the subcontinent, and paid homage to scores of saints, big and small, at tombs across the country.

Mr Qadri is also a Barelvi. But when he determined to “punish” Mr Taseer for supposedly committing blasphemy—the governor of Punjab province had campaigned against Pakistan’s blasphemy law—Mr Qadri seems to have been influenced by the rise of firebrand Barelvi mullahs calling for all blasphemers (on their definition) to be killed. After Mr Qadri’s arrest, Barelvis marched in their thousands, along with co-religionists of other sects, parties and persuasions, shouting “death to blasphemers”. Lawyers showered rose petals on the murderer, and the policemen guarding him have uploaded approving videos of him on YouTube. A full-blown, all-party religious revival has erupted, a disturbing turn for both state and society.

Let's just be clear about this: the sky isn't falling. But, any pretense of secularism in Pakistan is falling, and if it should fall completely, it will be replaced with Islamic militant extremism.

The main underlying problem is Islam. Anyone who reads Islamic texts close enough realizes that peaceful, "moderate" Muslims are not true Muslims, as the word and deed of the prophet, Mohammed, point the way toward violence - merciless, and often sadistic. Muslims who are "moderate" are apostates by the standards of the rest, and ongoing events call attention to the differences which, in turn, call attention back to Islamic scriptures.

The Taliban — who hail from the hardline Deobandi sect of Islam, close to the Wahhabism espoused by Osama bin Laden — have stoked the mainstream resurgence. Facing defeat by Pakistan's army in the tribal areas of the north-west, the Taliban struck urban targets, including police stations and the army's general headquarters. When the government persuaded Barelvi mullahs to condemn suicide-bombings as "unIslamic", the Taliban assassinated them and bombed their mosques and Sufi shrines.

Wahhabism comes from Saudi Arabia. In fact, the House of Saud made a deal with Wahhab to promote his version of Islam - a "Deal with the Devil". A key idea of Wahhabism is that Muslims who aren't "Muslim" enough are takfir; like infidels who refuse to submit, they can be killed and their possessions taken.

To be fair, many mainstream Muslims would refer to such extremists as khawarij, but, in a way, that just makes takfir out of the extremists; would turnabout be fair play?

Finishing The crumbling centre: Pakistan's religious mainstream makes common cause with militants:

Yet the trauma has made the Barelvi leaders more militant, not less. The anti-blasphemy bandwagon makes common cause with the Taliban. Other groups have sensed an opportunity for an Islamic political revival, including non-Taliban Deobandi and Wahhabi groups. Two such groupings play a critical role in Pakistani politics.

The Jamiat i Ulema e Islam (JUI), a Deobandi outfit, is led by a pragmatist, Maulana Fazal ur Rehman. The JUI contests elections in the tribal areas, and is a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. But Mr Rehman must heed hardliners inclined to abandon parliamentary politics and switch loyalties to the Taliban. So the JUI is against the "war on terror" because it is an "American" war. It has also condemned Mr Taseer.

The other grouping represents Lashkar-e-Taiba, notorious anti-India jihadists. The organisation is banned, but "charities" front for it. Both groupings hate America, retain close links with the ISI, Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency, and detect Western plots behind Mr Taseer's campaign to amend the blasphemy laws.

Anti-American sentiment, in turn, provides the excuse for the government and army not to do more against the havens in North Waziristan of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Taliban associates in the Haqqani network. The army says that, apart from being stretched by having to hold former Taliban areas and to defend its border with India, it cannot go into Waziristan without full public backing. This week America's vice-president, Joe Biden, was in the capital, Islamabad, urging action. Pointing to a rising tide of anti-American passion, the government and army appear to have shrugged their shoulders.

The US needs to back out of this some. Pakistanis need to decide what kind of country they want. If they decide they want an extremist Islamic state, then the infidel world might just have to destroy such a country in self-defense.

It should be noted that there are many, many good people in Pakistan who are more at risk from Islamic militancy than even we are - and not just the Christian minorities. But, unless they can take control of their country, they will be politically irrelevant; it should be recalled that there were many good people in Russia, Italy and Germany when the communists, fascists and Nazis took over, and the ineffectiveness of those good people helped lead to the destruction of those nations.

This point brings me to an important question:

What is Pakistan, really?

Stay tuned!

The Colonel Imam Situation

The Counterterrorism Blog has a post linking to Flashpoint, which received a video and posted its transcript dealing with the kidnapping of retired Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer Colonel Imam Sultan Amir Tarar.

First, here is the English transcription, with the vid below:

Today is July 24, and tomorrow, it will be July 25. I am Sultan Amir, son of Ghulaam Amir, and people know me as Colonel Imam. I am in the custody of Lashkar Jhangvi Al Alami, Abdullah Mansoor. I sent my statements and CD messages to the government several times, but no attention has been given until now.

You know what mentality these people have and what are they up to. Khalid Khwaja has already been killed and we might receive an even harsher treatment, which will be damaging for Pakistan.

They cannot be pressured by anyone. They are well organized. According to them, my previous statements have not been released to the media either. I appeal, Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, DG ISI Jahangir Gul and Jasim Baig, to accept the demands of Lashkar Jhangvi Al Alami as soon as possible.

You people know about the services I rendered for my country. If the Pakistan government does not care about me, then I don't have any reason to care about the nation either, and [I] will reveal all the weaknesses of our nation.

Whatever game is being played with Afghanistan, India, Russia, and America, I know about all of it. It is now for the Pakistani government to decide. Four months have now passed but you don't care about me. I am fed up of spending my whole life all the time in a basement.

It should be conveyed to my family to pray for me and to take care of the children. I also want it to make it clear to my son Nauman Umar to resign from his government post. At the moment, they don't seem to care about me, so why would they make a fuss over him in the future either.

Wasalam, your well wisher, Sultan Amir.

But, who is this Colonel Imam? From Former Pakistani Officer Embodies a Policy Puzzle, dated March 3, 2010 (shortly before Col. Imam was captured):

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — With his white turban, untrimmed beard and worn army jacket, the man known uniformly here by his nom de guerre, Col. Imam, is a particular Pakistani enigma.

Once a promising protégé for the United States, Brig. Sultan Amir, who is known as Col. Imam, has taught insurgent tactics.

A United States-trained former colonel in Pakistan's spy agency, he spent 20 years running insurgents in and out of Afghanistan, first to fight the Soviet Army, and later to support the Taliban, as Pakistani allies, in their push to conquer Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Today those Taliban forces are battling his onetime mentor, the United States, and Western officials say Colonel Imam has continued to train, recruit and finance the insurgents. Along with a number of other retired Pakistani intelligence officials, they say, he has helped the Taliban stage a remarkable comeback since 2006.

In two recent interviews with The New York Times, Colonel Imam denied that. But he remains a vocal advocate of the Taliban, and his views reveal the sympathies that have long run deep in the ranks of Pakistan's military and intelligence services.

Despite Pakistan's recent arrest of several high-level Taliban commanders, men like Colonel Imam sit at the center of the questions that linger around what Pakistan's actual intentions are toward the Taliban.

American and NATO officials suspect that retired officers like Colonel Imam have served as a quasi-official bridge to Taliban leaders and their rank and file as well as other militant groups.

The group that kidnapped Col. Imam is Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami - classified by both the US and Pakistan as a terrorist organization, and which follows Deobandi/neo-Wahhabi Islam. This is the group that killed journalist Daniel Pearl in early 2002, and the suicide bomber that killed Benazir Bhutto and 20 others in 2007 was said to belong to this group.

In other words, these guys are reputedly hardcore fanatic freaks.

So, why are they holding a retired Pakistani intelligence officer who is reputed to have essentially founded the Taliban, and to be a rogue element continuing to support the Taliban despite the fact that his country, Pakistan, is supposed to be allied with the US fighting against the Taliban?

Because, if this Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami is who everyone says it is - a terrorist organization - and if this Colonel Imam is who everyone says he is - a guy who founded the Taliban and has been treasonously supporting them despite the fact that his government is now at war against them - then Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami and Colonel Imam should be allies.

Perhaps the explanation can be found in a blog post. From US "Trapped" By ISI, August 4, 2010:

The following article apparently sounds like ISI being demonized, but reading between the lines, it actually reflects the fear and frustration they have in their hearts, the way they are terrorized of the genius of ISI strategists and that how badly are they trapped in the same labyrinth they have been trying to build to achieve their covert goals in this region. The "ISI Terror" is becoming a nightmare for the open and covert enemies of Pakistan. They didn't learn from history and didn't see whats coming, hence falling in their own trap. This region is sure to become the graveyard of another superpower. ISI did it once, they can do it again. Soon the Americans will be seen being "farewell-photographed" with Pakistani officials.

PKKH

================================================

T. J. S. George

The leakage of 92,000 secret military intelligence documents is sensational anywhere any time. When the documents pertain to the war against Taliban-Al-Quaida, it is also disturbing because it shows (a) that America is in a trap and is unlikely to win this war, and (b) that India is in for trouble, big trouble.

Let's not forget that the information now leaked is new only to us, the lay public. To the top echelons of leadership in America, the facts were known all along. They also knew that the records had leaked. Two months ago, in May, the US Army Criminal Investigation Command had arrested an intelligence analyst in the army and charges were filed against him early this month, well before the leaked documents hit world headlines.

The arrested man, Bradley Manning, is 22 years old. If he is indeed the man who leaked the secrets, he must have done so as a matter of conscience, appalled by the atrocities American troops were committing. This is a "problem" with American democracy. One man with conscience will always be around to do the unexpected.

Remember those pictures of Iraqi citizens being humiliated and tortured by fun-loving American soldiers? Earlier, Vietnam war secrets were published by Daniel Ellsberg, another military analyst then working for the Rand Corporation.

The latest documents had much to reveal about Pakistan's complicity in terror network in the region. This led to some patriotic drum-beating in India — as if Pakistan had been caught with its pants down and now America would be forced to act.

Nothing of the kind will happen. America has been seeing Pakistan with its pants down for quite a while. For example, it said more than once in recent weeks that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan. Blandly, Pakistan denied it. And America let it rest at that. Pakistan is for America, a pill that is too bitter to swallow and too sweet to spit out, a classic diplomatic trap.

Pakistan's military leaders, especially the smart strategists of the ISI, know this very well, hence their audacious policy of helping al-Quaida and the Taliban. Some of the terror outfits the ISI trains and equips are fighting America. Knowing this, America goes on giving Pakistan one billion dollars in aid every year. That is how smart the ISI is.

I'm wondering just how "kidnapped" this Colonel Imam really is.

What I think is going on is this:

Bhutto understood quite well that Pakistan was supporting the terrorists that we are supposedly fighting, as does everyone else who is paying attention. (In fact, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Russian leadership immediately pointed out that such an operation could only be carried out with the support of a state intelligence apparatus.) Bhutto commented on how dictatorships (such as that of General Pervez Musharraf, who was running Pakistan while Bhutto was campaigning) need terrorists, and terrorists need dictatorships.

Considering Pakistan's long-standing support for the Taliban and other Islamic terrorist groups, it is not surprising that Pakistan was unable to provide adequate security for Benazir Bhutto, and so Bhutto ultimately wound up assassinated by the same kind of terrorist group that Mushy's government had been supporting.

Now, for the first time in years with a civilian government - one which likely does not know the full extent of involvement of Pakistan's own military intelligence in everything from nuclear weapons proliferation to supporting terrorism - there is a definite possibility (however slight) that the civilian government might rein in Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI).

To keep this from happening, guys like Colonel Imam need to be out of reach of legitimate authorities who might want to investigate this terrorist support network.

What better place to keep him than "in a basement" supposedly "kidnapped" by the terrorists?

If he should ever get "released" (i.e., captured, for example, in a covert operation), his cover story and alibi are intact - he was, after all, not collaborating with terrorists, he was their hostage.

I close with another excerpt from Former Pakistani Officer Embodies a Policy Puzzle:

If Colonel Imam personifies the double edge of Pakistan's policy toward the Taliban, he also embodies the deep connection Pakistan has to the Afghan insurgents, and possibly the key to controlling them.

Once a promising protégé for the United States, he underwent Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 1974, learning in particular the use of explosives, and he went on to do a master parachutist course with the 82nd Airborne Division.

On his return to Pakistan, he taught insurgent tactics to the first Afghan students who fled the country's Communist revolution in 1978, among them future resistance leaders Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmed Shah Masood. He then worked closely with the C.I.A. to train and support thousands of guerrilla fighters for the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Army throughout the 1980s.

Once the Soviets were pushed out, the Taliban emerged and Colonel Imam, then serving as a Pakistani consular official in Afghanistan, provided critical support to their bid to rule the country, Western officials said.

By his own account, he was so close to the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, that he visited him in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, and left only when the American bombing campaign began later in 2001. He says he has not returned since. His parting advice to Mullah Omar, he said, was to fight on, but stick to guerrilla tactics.

The Land of the Pure, Part 4

From Pakistan cracks the whip, by Syed Saleem Shahzad, July 15, 2010:

ISLAMABAD - Despite repeated warnings by Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, under American pressure the government has begun a risky crackdown on extremist religious organizations as well as the essentially inactive remnants of banned jihadi organizations.

Over the past few days, more than 200 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar have been detained, while in the eastern province of Punjab about 100 members of banned militant organizations have been arrested. The banned extremist Sunni Muslim group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan - now known as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat - was among those groups targeted.

The crackdown is similar to the one in 2004-2005 following unsuccessful assassination attacks on then-president General Pervez Musharraf. Hundreds of jihadis were arrested, including heroes of the Pakistani establishment such as Ilyas Kashmiri and veteran jihadi Abdul Jabbar. The crackdown led to a split between the militants and the Pakistani military and made Pakistan very much a part of the Afghan war theater by 2007. Top guerrilla commander Ilyas Kashmiri's 313 Brigade is now an operational arm of al-Qaeda.

The crackdown is a joke until Pakistan's politico-military elite realize that they need to stop supporting the militants. Until this happens, the militancy is a fire that threatens to cook the goose of those who stoke it:

The latest crackdown sharpens the schism between the two largest Sunni sects and adds fuel to the fire of conflict between Shi'ites and Sunnis.

Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat is an anti-Shi'ite political party that wants to have Shi'ites declared non-Muslim through legislation in parliament. In the early 1970s, Ahmadis suffered this fate.

The only thing bloodier than Islam's borders is Islam's interior, and Pakistan's elite will, sooner or later, be declared takfir, overthrown and killed.

This process will be seen as purifying the Land of the Pure.

Skipping down:

Following the twin suicide attacks this month in Lahore on a Sufi shrine in which more than 40 people were killed and nearly 200 injured, the Punjabi Taliban were brought into the spotlight. They are considered responsible for changing the dynamics of the Afghan war theater as they have vast expertise acquired while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s and Indian forces in disputed Kashmir in the 1990s.

The Taliban originated in Pakistan.

Skipping down again:

Anti-Taliban sections of the government have tried to elicit support from Sunni anti-Taliban organizations. In the southern port city of Karachi in Sindh province, organizations from the Brelvi (Sufi) school of thought have seized some mosques previously operated by the pro-Taliban Deobandis. This has provoked serious tension between the country's two largest Sunni sects.

"We warn against any intrigues or conspiracies against Deobandi madrassas or mosques. Otherwise, we reserve our rights to strongly react," said a representative of all Deobandi schools, mosques and religious parties.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the Land of the Pure is eventually "purified". Until then, the purification process continues. From Suicide bomber misses target in Swat; five die, dated July 16, 2010:

They said that militants were on the run but the operation against them would continue till their elimination.

That'll be the day.

From US calls India-Pakistan talks helpful for region, July 16, 2010:

WASHINGTON: The United States welcomed Thursday's meeting of top diplomats from India and Pakistan, and said the healing process between the two neighbors would benefit all of south Asia.

"We certainly welcome this high-level meeting," said US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

"It's expressly the kind of dialogue that we think will help to address and resolve issues of interest between the countries and have consequence in the region as a whole," he added.

Foreign ministers S.M. Krishna of India and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan met in Islamabad, in the third high-level contact in a six-month thaw since New Delhi broke off peace talks after gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in 2008.

Again, certain elements of Pakistan's officialdom are behind the system that produced the militants that did the 2008 Mumbai attack and the more recent attack in Swat.

To be sure, a stable Indo-Pak peace would remove much of the perceived need for Pakistani support of militants for strategic depth against India. The trouble is, as these militants discover the meaning of Islam and jihad, they lose their focus on the infidels in India.

The Land of the Pure, Part 3

Ah, Pakistan...

From Attack on Lahore shrine raises concern about sectarian violence in Pakistan, by Issam Ahmed, July 2, 2010:

Thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets on Friday demanding better security for places of worship and a crackdown on extremists following twin suicide bomb attacks at the country's most famous Sufi shrine that have raised concerns about an increasingly sectarian cast to the country's violence.

But some analysts said it would be a mistake to characterize the recent spate of attacks as sectarian, given the one-sided nature of attacks thus far.

"We don't see violent attacks coming from the other groups. They are coming from one community," says Rasul Baksh Rais, head of political sciences at the Lahore University for Management Sciences, adding that the militants are finding themselves increasingly unpopular for carrying out such strikes.

[snip]

"Punjabi militants are sectarian in origin, and when they find themselves unable to attack government or security targets, they will lash out at other sects," says Ashaar Rehman, the Lahore editor of Dawn, a leading Pakistani daily.

The extremists in Punjab are integral to Pakistan as it currently exists.

When the Indian subcontinent was maneuvering for independence in the 1940's, Muslim leaders demanded their own state. Possibly intended as a bargaining position, suddenly the wish was granted and Pakistan owed its existence to Islam.

But, it was a trap. Having called attention to the differences between Muslims and Hindus in India, with an eye toward ensuring Muslim representation in political processes, the situation was now exasperated by international boundaries dividing places like Punjab, and by significant Hindu and Muslim minorities facing the choice of relocation or being on the "wrong" side of a line; the Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir chose to hook his Muslim majority realm up with India following an invasion by Pashtun tribal militias.

Immediately, there were simmering hostilities. Though Pakistan is the world's sixth most populous country, India's numerical superiority is perceived as a threat - a powerful Indian military thrust could cut Pakistan in half, fairly quickly isolating the bulk of the population from ports along the coast.

Consequently, it has been the de facto policy of Pakistan's government to support and promote Islamic militants - both for a proxy war against India in Punjab and beyond, and to provide strategic depth stretching across the Durand Line into Afghanistan - real "boots-on-the-ground" infringements which have sparked border skirmishes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This situation was intensified as Pakistan became more militantly Islamic supporting the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980's, under the rule of Islamist Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a general who seized power and became Pakistan's sixth president.

Closely intertwined with Pakistan's officialdom - especially the military and Pakistan's military intelligence - the Islamic militant movement took on a life of its own, and gained momentum, even after the Soviets left Afghanistan. Skipping forward to today (and down in the article):

"The government must crack down on all terror being committed against all sects," said Fazl-e-Kareem, a prominent Barelwi scholar, to a crowd of some 2,000 people. The Barelwi sect accounts for the majority of Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, and its traditions and beliefs are closely associated with Sufism.

Others were keen to point out what they called government hypocrisy. "This is all the fault of the Deobandi extremists whom the government continues to support," says Muhammad Saleem, a businessman and member of the Sunni Tehrik, a Islamic political organization affiliated with the Barelwi sect.

"They pay the salaries of Jamat-ud-Dawa but fail to protect us," he added, in reference to the provincial Punjab government's lack of action against the charitable arm of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was officially proscribed by a United Nations Security Council resolution but remains a legal organization in Pakistan.

The result is that Islamabad is now hostage to its own policy, threatened to be roasted over the Islamic militant fire that its politico-military elite have been stoking.

From Hiding In Plain Sight, by Ahmad Majidyar, July 2, 2010:

Pakistan's Punjab province is not usually cited among the areas in danger of imminent takeover by terrorists, but that will likely soon change. On July 1, suicide bombers had no problem launching a triple attack on a famous Sufi shrine in Lahore, its bustling capital city. At least 35 were killed and over 175 injured in the assault. In fact, it was only the latest in a string of terrorist attacks that have rocked Pakistan's densely populated heartland over the past year. Last month, Taliban gunmen torched 50 U.S. and NATO supply trucks headed for Afghanistan just outside Islamabad in northern Punjab. And the problems are likely to get worse in Punjab before they get better.

While U.S. and Pakistani military strategists focus on the terrorist threat in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Taliban and al Qaeda are expanding into Punjab and teaming up with local terrorist organizations such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, the alleged recruiter of Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.

Punjab is an attractive refuge for the Taliban for two reasons. First, the area allows a convenient strategic retreat as the Pakistani military recaptures key Taliban strongholds in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan and mulls a further offensive into North Waziristan, the key power base of Pakistani Taliban groups, the Afghan Taliban's Haqqani network, and al Qaeda. The Taliban has reason to think of Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 20,000 madrasas, many of them incubators for radicalism, as an accommodating new home.

The second reason is that militants know that in Punjab, with its dense cities and a population of more than 90 million, they can hide in plain sight, safe from U.S. drone strikes, which according to CIA officials, have killed more than 500 militants, including high-profile Taliban leaders, in the past two years. After all, with the international community already harshly criticizing drone strikes in which a dozen Pakistani civilians are killed, al Qaeda calculates correctly that the White House would never risk hundreds of civilian casualties by ordering a strike in the heart of Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi, or "Pindi" as it is called, is home to many key government and military institutions, including Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI).

Suicide attacks in Punjab doubled in 2009 from the previous year, and this year will likely be deadlier. In a March interview with Rediff.com, Qari Hussain Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban's deputy commander, promised, "A new series of suicide attacks will take place soon" and said, "The focus would be on Punjab, where policies are made." Al Qaeda's al-Jihad Punjab group claimed credit for the March 8 assault on the Special Investigation Agency in Lahore, as well as a series of attacks there in May that killed 80. In some villages, the extremists openly demand Islamic law, ban video and music shops, and urge the local population to prepare for an Islamic revolution, the same process that preceded the Taliban's seizure of Swat.

The Pakistani government's willingness to turn a blind eye to militancy exacerbates the problem. The Punjabi-dominated Pakistani Army is unwilling to fight its brethren. In a June 24 interview with the BBC, Pakistani Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas ruled out a Waziristan-style military operation in Punjab. "There needs to be a political decision to crack down on the jihadi organizations," he noted. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League runs the provincial government and openly courts the terrorist groups for political support.

In Urdu and Persian, "Pakistan" means "Land of the Pure", and Pakistan's desire to be purely Muslim is generating serious blowback. Once a nation is defined by the purity of its ideology, no one is safe, as there is always someone to accuse others of not being pure enough.

In Islam, a person who is not Muslim enough is takfir, an apostate, and the penalty for this is death.

Skipping down in the article:

The fight in Pakistan will not end when the U.S. and Pakistani armies expel terrorists from the border regions with Afghanistan. For Pakistani leaders, violence in the tribal areas is an irritant; they seem not to realize that the same type of militancy in Punjab threatens to rock Pakistan to its very core. Barring effective action in Islamabad, Washington must plan for a greater terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan over the horizon.

The only thing bloodier than Islam's borders is Islam's interior; either Pakistanis deal with their militancy problem now by renouncing Islamic militarism and ending jihadism within Pakistan's borders (and elsewhere), or the militants will take over in a bloodbath, and an infidel world threatened by a land of pure, militant and nuclear-armed Islam will be forced to destroy Pakistan in self-defense.

As final commentary, I offer a blog post entitled "Be the Change" which I copied completely, as is; there is a moral to it both real and immediately applicable:

It was a 13- 15 year old girl, standing on a narrow walkway by a crowded pharmacy right opposite Ashfaq manorial Center, waiting for her mother to return with the medicines. I spotted two men, probably masons, they had their tools in their hand, walking towards this girl, their unfriendly gaze, fixed on her. She panicked, and tried to press herself to the wall so to give these men space to pass by her without getting near to her while they kept walking with broad chests, dead center of the aisle. As they walked closer, and were about to pass by her, I moved quickly forward them from the opposite side, looking at these men right in the eye, there was anger on my face. I was truly going to retaliate only if they would have made one wrong move, but as soon as they saw me approaching them from the opposite direction their posture suddenly changed, they suddenly moved their eyes downwards, they walked away from the girl and quickly past me, while i continued to follow them with my angry gaze.

in the mean while the girl's mother too was back from the medical story, and now they were walking away to get a rickshaw for their next destination.

if you may have realized, i am not at all a well built person, actually i am quite skinny, and was no match for these culprits, but what scared them was the feat that if i could have raised alarm, and the shop keepers and passers by would probably have beaten the crap out of him.

people keep asking me how they can bring a change in the society, i tell you, It takes not much to do so, if you want to see a change, the next time you spot a man gazing a women, ask him out loud what his problem is. If you are a men looking at this culprit alone will be enough to get him back to his senses. Be the change you want, feel and take the responsibility of the society you are a part of, and you will see the change coming.

The Land of the Pure, Part 2

Well, this is funny.

Actually, it's not.

Look, you decide.

First, let's take a look at a May 12 article from the World Socialist Website - a place guaranteed to find some reasonable (and some unreasonable) flaws in how America does business (though they don't seem to have the guts to after the real problems, like drug money in the campaign coffers of big politicians and American government officials on the payroll of foreign organized crime).

The Obama administration has seized on the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square on May 1 to insist that the Pakistani military step up its war on Islamic militants and extend its operations into North Waziristan. The US demand is being backed by thinly disguised warnings of economic reprisals and military intervention.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an explicit public threat during a CBS interview last Sunday. After accusing some Pakistani officials of knowing the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, she insisted on more Pakistani cooperation and warned: "We"ve made it very clear that if, heaven forbid, an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences."

Speaking to ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Attorney General Eric Holder accused the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, of being behind the Times Square incident. He claimed that the Taliban directed the suspected bomber, Faisal Shahzad, a naturalised American citizen of Pakistani descent. Under interrogation, Shahzad has allegedly admitted training in Taliban camps in North Waziristan, although the amateurish character of the bombing attempt indicates otherwise. A Tehrik-e-Taliban spokesman has denied any involvement.

Publicly, the Obama administration has been cautious, not wanting to further destabilise the already fragile Pakistani government. Under US pressure, the Pakistani military has already launched major offensives over the past year into the Swat Valley, Bajaur and South Waziristan, in which thousands of civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan, US drone attacks have killed hundreds of civilians and reinforced anger toward what many Pakistanis regard as a US puppet government in Islamabad.

Behind closed doors, however, the "very severe consequences" have been spelled out in no uncertain terms. An article in the New York Times last Friday described "the new pressure from Washington" over the Times Square incident as "a sharp turnabout from the [previous] relatively polite encouragement". "And it comes amid increasing debate within the administration about how to expand American military influence—and even a boots-on-the-ground presence—on Pakistani soil," the article added.

Is the Obama Administration really threatening Pakistan? Pakistan has a large, professional military - it wouldn't go like Iraq did. Yes, they have nuclear weapons, but they wouldn't have to use them. In any case, use of nukes might be counterproductive: could Pakistan deliver a nuke on a target defended by the US military? The attempt would certainly not go unnoticed, though it would be applauded in many parts of the world.

Or, is the WSWS just trying to stir up trouble for Washington? The world's socialists don't seem to like anything America does or stands for.

Either way, Pakistan should learn a lesson from its ally Saudi Arabia: establish your country on oil-rich land, and you can literally get away with murder. After all, Sheikh bin Laden and how many of the 19 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia? The Sandbox has sent how many jihadis to battle infidel forces in Iraq? The KSA funds how many radical mosques worldwide? But, they are our "staunch allies" in the War on Terror.

Well, an article from today's CBN News tells us of events in Chile, of all places:

SANTIAGO, Chile - Traces of explosives were found on a Pakistani man who was summoned to the U.S. Embassy because his U.S. visa had been revoked, authorities said Tuesday, and a Chilean judge ordered him held in a high-security prison under anti-terrorism laws.

Mohammed Saif-ur-Rehman Khan, 28, was detained Monday after the embassy's detectors were set off by traces of bomb-making material, said Mario Schilling, a Chilean prosecutor's spokesman. Schilling did not elaborate on what kind of explosives were involved or provide more details about the case.

U.S. Ambassador Paul Simon said there was not any indication that the embassy was a target of a attack.

A judge agreed on Tuesday to keep Khan behind bars for five more days under Chile's anti-terrorism law to give more time for the investigation. Khan has not been charged with any crime.

Before being taken to jail, Khan was driven by police to a hospital for a medical checkup and was able to briefly speak to reporters from a window of the police vehicle.

The guy denies being a terrorist, and an investigation seems to be underway. Regardless of this situation, we know two things: terrorists are getting involved down south, including in Venezuela, and Pakistan is a hotbed for terrorist training.

A nice summary of the current situation - and a nice lead-in for the rest of this series - can be found in an article at a major Pakistani news service (dated May 12):

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he was "encouraged" by Pakistan's anti-extremist efforts, but warned the operation to flush out militants would take time.

"I think what you have seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst," Obama said. "I am actually encouraged from what I have seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months.

"But just as it's going to take some time for Afghanistan's economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it's going to take some time from Pakistan, even if there is a will, to find a way in order to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are fairly loosely governed from Islamabad.

"You know, part of what I've been encouraged by is Pakistan's willingness to start asserting more control over some of these areas. But it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said. — AFP

It's not going to happen overnight, because this system of extremists, trained for terrorism and guerrilla warfare, was not established overnight. It was built over the course of many years, to serve as a counterweight to India's numerical superiority, and to provide a means of waging a proxy war against India. The system of madrassahs and militant/terrorist training camps was invented to provide relatively small Pakistan (by population, it's the second largest Muslim nation and the sixth largest overall in the world, but smaller than rival neighbor India) strategic depth against the Indian infidels.

More on that to follow.

The Land of the Pure, Part 1

By now I'm sure that, unless you've been living in a cave, you are aware of the failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square. And, even if you have been living in a cave, you might still know about it, if you have the right roommates. ;)

Let's take a closer look at this situation.

We begin with Accused bomber believed to have acted alone in US, dated just minutes ago as I write this:

NEW YORK – The Pakistani-American accused of the failed Times Square car bombing is believed to have been working alone when he began planning the attack almost immediately after returning from a five-month visit to his native land, authorities said Wednesday.

They said they have yet to find a wider link to extremist groups.

It is important to parse the words of our mainstream media.

The title of the article is "Accused bomber believed to have acted alone in US", with emphasis added. Then, the second sentence leads us to believe that there are no other links at all:

They said they have yet to find a wider link to extremist groups.

But, that's misleading, isn't it?

Skipping down to the fifth paragraph, we have:

One law enforcement official told the AP that authorities don't believe there are any other suspects in the plot and that several arrests in Pakistan in the past two days were not related.

Not related?

We now consider Pakistan arrests suspects linked to Times Square bomber, dated May 5, 2010:

ISLAMABAD, May 5 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of the arrest of a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin in New York, Pakistani law-enforcement agencies swung into action on Tuesday and nabbed several suspects, local newspapers reported Wednesday.

The arrests came when the special investigation group of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was tasked to investigate the car bombing plot in which Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen arrested Monday late night, was allegedly found guilty.

The friend Tausef and father-in-law Iftikhar Mian of Shahzad were picked up by intelligence personnel from a house in southern city Karachi, the DAWN said.

According to the report, Faisal's immediate family, his wife Huma Mian and two children are also in Pakistan, but it could not be confirmed if his wife has also been detained.

Sources said that Faisal Shahzad had come to Karachi in 2009. He is son of Air Vice Marshal (retd) Baharul Haq, who retired in early 1990s. Later, he got a senior post in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and his family moved to Karachi, the sources said.

Here is a militant in the US, a terrorist wannabe, whose dad happens to have been a big shot with the Pakistani Air Force.

(Here's something for you to research on your own: What Pakistani big shot military officer helped pass money to Al Qaeda immediately prior to 9/11? Here's a hint: his assistant had a daughter working as a translator for the FBI in Washington. Still not ringing any bells? Just pick any link, maybe you'll get lucky.)

Continuing with Pakistan arrests suspects linked to Times Square bomber:

Air Vice Marshal (retd) Baharul Haq has two sons. The elder son is settled in Canada.

Faisal had been living in the United States. His father lives in Hayatabad area of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.

The Nation newspaper said Shahzad received militant training in Kohat, quoting an intelligence official. The area around Kohat is a stronghold of Tariq Afridi, the main Pakistani Taliban commander in the region, it said.

Meanwhile, the News reported that officials said several people had been taken into custody in Karachi since the failed attack Saturday. They said no charges had been filed.

According to the report, security officials in Karachi said they had arrested a Pakistani man who had spent time with Shahzad during a recent visit there. Investigators said they arrested the man, Muhammad Rehan, in Batkha Mosque in the North Nazimabad area just after morning prayers. The mosque is known for its links with the militant group, Jaish-e-Muhammad.

So, this son of a retired Pakistani Air Force general is arrested in the US for this bomb plot, Pakistani security forces take others into custody - admittedly without filing charges - and the investigations show this guy appeared to have been trained in Pakistan.

Our news services tell us that a authorities "have yet to find a wider link to extremist groups" and that the arrests in Pakistan are "unrelated".

Hmmm....

Finishing Pakistan arrests suspects linked to Times Square bomber:

Investigators said Rehan told them he had rented a pickup truck and driven with Shahzad to Peshawar where they stayed from July 7 to July 22, 2009. The account could not be independently verified.

Karachi police officials, however, expressed disassociation with the developments and said they had not received any orders in connection with Faisal Shahzad.

"We didn't get any order, but at our end we have collected information which confirms that a young man by the name of Faisal Shahzad did arrive in Karachi in April 2009 and left in August the same year. We have received information that some of his relatives live somewhere in North Nazimabad and police are trying to locate the house," Capital City Police Chief Waseem Ahmed was quoted as saying.

In the eastern province of Punjab, police and intelligence personnel picked up a few suspects from different parts in connection with the recovery of explosives from a vehicle in New York, reports said.

Informed sources in the Punjab police said that the arrests had been made in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Arrests in Rawalpindi....

Did you know Rawalpindi is to Pakistan kind of what Langley, VA, is to the US? Langley is home to the CIA headquarters, and "Pindi" is home to Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI). Oh, yeah, it's kind of like their "Pentagon", too: home to Pakistan's military headquarters.

Hmmm....

From No indication of long grudge in Times Square suspect, official says, dated May 5, 2010, the fifth paragraph into the story:

Additionally, the official suggested, detentions in Pakistan over the past two days were carried out to collect information and were not because officials had reached any conclusions about their guilt or ties to any groups.

"They are reaching out to people, bringing them in and doing their due diligence, but 'arrest' suggests a strong connection to the guy. While anything is possible, they haven't arrived at any conclusion," the source said.

Fair enough. Skipping down:

A senior U.S. official said investigators were looking into possible links between Shahzad and Pakistani groups and had found none, "but that doesn't say there is no connection."

The official added that there was nothing to indicate that Shahzad is from an extremist family.

The suspect is the son of a big shot with the PAF, Pakistani security forces are sniffing around Rawalpindi.... but "nothing to indicate that Shahzad is from an extremist family."

I don't think they want to find that this guy is from an "extremist" family, because once they do, the extensive ties between the Pakistani military - especially the ISI - and the militants near the Afghan border will come to light, and then our government is going to have to explain a few things to us about our ally.

Just like they would have to explain a few things about our "ally" Saudi Arabia if people ever realized how Saudi-funded mosques are spreading the hatred of Wahhabism around, radicalizing Islamic communities worldwide, turning them into breeding grounds for anti-US jihadists.

Finally, from a really useful news source, Asia Times Online, an excerpt from an article entitled Terror roads lead back to Pakistan - and dated tomorrow, no less! (The embedded map is not from the same article.)

Shahzad, who became a US citizen in April 2009, spent five months in Pakistan before he returned in February, according to reports and law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Shahzad has clearly denied any links with any militant outfit, saying that he worked alone.

Shahzad was born in June 1979 in the southern port city of Karachi, but his family hails from Pabi, a town in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province - formerly known as North-West Frontier Province. His father is a retired air vice-marshal. Reports in the US media describe Shahzad as giving the impression of a quiet family man, with a wife and two small children - a girl of about four and a boy of about one - and telling neighbors he worked on Wall Street.

Pakistani officials are reported to have made at least eight arrests on the basis of information obtained during Shahzad's interrogation. These include Mohammad Rehan, taken in Karachi, who is said to have recruited Shahzad and taken him to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, and then to North Waziristan, where he was introduced to Qari Hussain Mehsud, the chief of the TTP's suicide squads and an expert in explosives.

Remember: Shahzad worked alone (he has said so), and the arrests in Pakistan, which are based on Shahzad's interrogation, are "unrelated" according to the "free press" in America - connections to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban - TTP) and their bomb-makers who recruited and trained Shahzad not withstanding.

I smell a cover-up to bury connections between Pakistan's military and Pakistani-trained jihadists whose training camps are in Pakistan in places Pakistan's military supposedly can't get to.

(Did you catch that?)

And, it wouldn't be the first cover-up of such links. From For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets, January 6, 2008:

The Turks and Israelis had planted "moles" in military and academic institutions which handled nuclear technology. Edmonds says there were several transactions of nuclear material every month, with the Pakistanis being among the eventual buyers. "The network appeared to be obtaining information from every nuclear agency in the United States," she said.

They were helped, she says, by the high-ranking State Department official who provided some of their moles – mainly PhD students – with security clearance to work in sensitive nuclear research facilities. These included the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico, which is responsible for the security of the US nuclear deterrent.

In one conversation Edmonds heard the official arranging to pick up a $15,000 cash bribe. The package was to be dropped off at an agreed location by someone in the Turkish diplomatic community who was working for the network.

The Turks, she says, often acted as a conduit for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's spy agency, because they were less likely to attract suspicion. Venues such as the American Turkish Council in Washington were used to drop off the cash, which was picked up by the official.

Edmonds said: "I heard at least three transactions like this over a period of 2½ years. There are almost certainly more."

The Pakistani operation was led by General Mahmoud Ahmad, then the ISI chief.

Intercepted communications showed Ahmad and his colleagues stationed in Washington were in constant contact with attachés in the Turkish embassy.

Intelligence analysts say that members of the ISI were close to Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. Indeed, Ahmad was accused of sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks.

The results of the espionage were almost certainly passed to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist.

Khan was close to Ahmad and the ISI. While running Pakistan's nuclear programme, he became a millionaire by selling atomic secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea. He also used a network of companies in America and Britain to obtain components for a nuclear programme.

Khan caused an alert among western intelligence agencies when his aides met Osama Bin Laden. "We were aware of contact between A Q Khan's people and Al-Qaeda," a former CIA officer said last week. "There was absolute panic when we initially discovered this, but it kind of panned out in the end."

It is likely that the nuclear secrets stolen from the United States would have been sold to a number of rogue states by Khan.

Edmonds was later to see the scope of the Pakistani connections when it was revealed that one of her fellow translators at the FBI was the daughter of a Pakistani embassy official who worked for Ahmad. The translator was given top secret clearance despite protests from FBI investigators.

Edmonds says packages containing nuclear secrets were delivered by Turkish operatives, using their cover as members of the diplomatic and military community, to contacts at the Pakistani embassy in Washington.

Following 9/11, a number of the foreign operatives were taken in for questioning by the FBI on suspicion that they knew about or somehow aided the attacks.

Edmonds said the State Department official once again proved useful. "A primary target would call the official and point to names on the list and say, 'We need to get them out of the US because we can't afford for them to spill the beans'," she said. "The official said that he would 'take care of it'."

Not the first? Maybe it's just a continuation of the same cover-up.

Watch for Part 2!