.
“But, in a nod to my point, they also talked about the threat of instability in Pakistan that is presented by the Taliban movement on both sides of the border.”
There is no border in this Af-Pak area and it’s one people. They don’t like Pakistan’s government butting into their lives and least of all some infidel foreigners. Any deeper US involvement will create more blow-back for Pakistan and it’s people. The Pakistan military is on the right track for the first time in eight years, but this takes time … a decade or more. The drone attacks is most the US is permitted to do in this border region. And of course the Taliban was funded and supported by Pakistan’s ISI. Pakistan’s truce with India over the Kashmir province is very fragile as we have seen with the Mumbai attacks originating in Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group. One of many Islamic terrorist groups involved in Kashmir is Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in remarks to business executives in New York, stressed that the administration’s strategy is to go after not just the al-Qaida terror network but also the Taliban militants allied with it in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“As long as Afghanistan and Pakistan struggle to control their borders and extend their sovereignty to all their territory, the door is open to bad actors, and the result can be an environment in which terrorist groups thrive.”
U.S. military cross-border operations from Afghanistan into Pakistan have become increasingly overt and unilateral since the spring. More than a tactical shift, these operations are meant to address the strategic problem of Pakistan’s lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where Taliban fighters from Afghanistan rest, recuperate and resupply and where other jihadists mount a growing Islamist insurgency in Pakistan.
REMINISCENT OF VIET CONG SANCTUARIES
… developing and implementing a new strategy for Afghanistan. This strategy will have to address the situation in Pakistan, where FATA sanctuaries for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are reminiscent of North Vietnamese army sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War.
High in the Hindu Kush Mountains
Following up on earlier posts here and here about Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), I’ve been looking closely at the arrest in Chicago on anti-terrorism charges of two men linked to LeT and accused of plotting attacks in Denmark.
Analysts say the Chicago case demonstrates the global reach of the militant group and its ability to plot attacks in India and around the world. The court documents submitted by U.S. authorities also allege that Lashkar-e-Taiba had suggested that attacks on India be given priority over the planned attack in Denmark, highlighting the threat still posed by the group one year after Mumbai.
As discussed in this factbox, analysts cite several reasons for Pakistan’s reluctance to dismantle Lashkar-e-Taiba. These include its role in Kashmir and in India-Pakistan rivalry, and popular support for the humanitarian work of its Jamaat ud-Dawa sister organisation. They also cite an unwillingness to create a new enemy right now when Pakistan is already fighting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan and facing a wave of reprisal attacks in its cities. Lashkar-e-Taiba is the only Pakistani militant group which is not believed to have been involved in attacking targets within Pakistan itself.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
