Thread: Pirates & Emperors
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Old 02-15-2007, 04:17 AM   #34 (permalink)
hkbajwa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tadpole256 View Post
I just spent a year in Afghanistan, and I have been to Pakistan, and I can say with a good deal of authority that Pakistan certainly isn't "helping". The Pakistani OSI is the most corrupt agency of any government in the region, and is directly supporting the Afghan insurgency. It's ridiculous. Where to the terrorists come from? Pakistan. Where do they flee to? Pakistan. Who magically can't stop 150 known Taliban from crossing the border into Afghanistan right near their own border control point? Pakistan. Pakistan's help in the effort in Afghanistan is on paper only. There is no sincerity in Pakistan's actions. As for the refugees, Pakistan does not keep them out of pure intention either, they keep them for the huge amount of money the global community pays Pakistan to allow them to stay. How much of that money actually makes it way to the refugees? Very little.
Yeah i suppose my eyes are clouded by a lot of the propoganda still spewed. For instance nobody really dares mess with the ISI i'll admit.

However you also need to understand the fragmentation of Pakistani society.

I am a Punjabi. THe tribes that border Afghanistan are all Pushtun and Balochi. FOr many years now the Pushtun have wished independence fromt he Pakistani nation ( of course no government wants to give them that .. several reason like the Gwadar port and Sui gas field ). Anyhow there has always been conflict between the Government ( dominated by Punjabis, owing to the fact that they are the majority of the total population ) and the Balochis and Pushtuns.

Waziristan where most of the Taliban hang out is only nominally in the control of the government. These areas truly are ruled by the tribal elders. These areas are denoted as Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The government has continously tried to enforce its writ there but its jusdt not happening.

Secondly, the religious right movement in pakistan is dominated by the Pushtuns. Many sit in government an d bureaucratic posts. No matter how strong a leader, Musharraf cannot set the agenda for all the powerful individuals in Pakistan. SOme individuals sympathize with the Taliban and support them covertly.

i don't think it is correct to say that the help is on paper only. Fact is that Pakistan is so fragmented and the Pushtun feel more loyalty towards the Taliban ( who are pushtun ) so they will even openly take up arms against he Pakistani government for the sake of their afghani brethren.

It's not easy for Musharraf, and it is made even worse by the fact that islamabad and Kabul have crappy relations ANYWAYS.
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