[Newsbot]

<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="/link.php?id=14478" target="_blank">Pakistan is no ally</a> (click to view)

<strong>Category:</strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=News_Links&file=category&catid=1" target="_blank">Political</a>
<strong>Posted By: </strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=Scape" target="_blank">Scape</a>
<strong>Date: </strong> 2006-10-08 12:19:04
<strong>Canadian</strong>

[RUEZ]

I guess this is how they thank the west for all the help after thier earthquake.

[GunPlumber]

In reading Musharraf's memoirs I was struck by the scope of it's dishonesty and the amount of denial embodied in it. Pakistan is basically edging towards a civil war under his rule, and by aiding the Taliban (and Al Quaida) he is trying to mollify the Pushtan in the eastern provinces. It's a temporary fix at best, but the real problem in that (eventual) civil war is: to what extent will India (and or China, and or the U.S., and or Russia, and or,...) become involved?

It was well known in intelligence circles before 9/11 that the ISI was aiding Al Quaida and the Taliban. Was there ever any reason to believe that that would change because of the invasion of Afghanistan?

You could fault him for being a false ally, but no more than us for being fooled.

[EyeBrock]

GunPlumber GunPlumber:

In reading Musharraf's memoirs I was struck by the scope of it's dishonesty and the amount of denial embodied in it. Pakistan is basically edging towards a civil war under his rule, and by aiding the Taliban (and Al Quaida) he is trying to mollify the Pushtan in the eastern provinces. It's a temporary fix at best, but the real problem in that (eventual) civil war is: to what extent will India (and or China, and or the U.S., and or Russia, and or,...) become involved?

It was well known in intelligence circles before 9/11 that the ISI was aiding Al Quaida and the Taliban. Was there ever any reason to believe that that would change because of the invasion of Afghanistan?

You could fault him for being a false ally, but no more than us for being fooled.

Wow, I agree. Totally.

[saga]

I found this enlightening.

"How the west destroyed Afghanistan"

[stratos]

Didn't the west help Pakastain and India NOT go to war a few years ago. Maybe the west was mistaken and should have let India kick their ass.

[GunPlumber]

stratos stratos:

Didn't the west help Pakastain and India NOT go to war a few years ago. Maybe the west was mistaken and should have let India kick their ass.

So were you hoping a country with one billion people; many who have a deep-seated resentent of "the West", a nuclear arsenal, and who continually flirt with a closer alliance with China, should've turned Pakistan into a parking lot? And thereby puttting themselves (the Indians) within spitting distance of the Persian Gulf, Eastern Europe and Russia, would be a good thing?

Maybe sometimes we could think [more] of the possible consequences of sticking our noses in other peoples business. Then Newton's Third Law wouldn't be such a shock, when the pendulum returns and smacks us in the face (or sends hundred story office towers crashing to the ground).

Of all the places to wage a war against terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq had to be the dumbest. But then those places, from which the anti-western "terrorists" originate, have well-equipped armies (some with nukes), and hold a lot of U.S. debt. Which make them substantially less attractive as adversaries.

[hr]

And to leave on a positive note: give Musharraf's autobiography a pass and pick-up a copy of Noah Richler's, "This Is My Country, What Is Yours?". It will give you a stronger sense of a Canadian identity, while at the same time thoroughly confounding you as to what that means. Both of which, to my mind, are a good thing.

[saga]

Some AFGHANISTAN History

Excerpts from above link:

.............................

Afghanistan was not always a country totally dominated by warlords and reactionary Islamic fundamentalism.

This brand of Islam was largely imported into the country as part of the U.S.-inspired, Cold War effort to defeat the Soviets. For a brief period, the country had a progressive, secular government which, according to University of Winnipeg professor John Ryan, "affirmed the separation of church and state, labour unions were legalized, health care and education became priorities, women were given equal rights, and girls were to go to school...A program was being developed for major land reform."
...

Oil and gas are part of every U.S. intervention in the Middle East, and the U.S. had no qualms about dealing with the Taliban in the 1990s. Washington began to pour millions into Taliban coffers in the hope of signing a contract with U.S. oil giant Unocal to build a gas pipeline south from the Caspian Basin to Pakistan. The negotiations broke down in the spring of 2001 -- just months before 9-11. As for those attacks, they were planned in Germany, carried out by Saudis and were almost certainly done without the knowledge of the isolationist Taliban. When the U.S. demanded that Osama bin Laden be handed over, the Taliban agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal upon seeing evidence of his guilt. But the U.S. had no such evidence. Instead, they invaded.

The government of Hamid Karzai is constantly touted as having been "democratically elected" and it is fair to say that Afghans voted in the election because they hoped it might make a difference.

But the Karzai government is totally dependent for its survival on the U.S. and is heavily influenced by the U.S. oil industry.

A corrupt 'democracy'

Afghanistan's democracy is a fraud and operates more as a grim coalition of mujahedeen, warlords, druglords, oil company executives and U.S. agents.

Following 9-11, the U.S. recruited and armed its old mujahedeen creation to help in the task of defeating the Taliban, renaming them the "Northern Alliance."


This is the context for Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. When Hamid Karzai visited Canada and told the House of Commons and the Canadian people that our troops are desperately needed in his country, he didn't tell the whole story. And who would blame him?

.................................

be safe

[GunPlumber]

saga saga:

Some AFGHANISTAN History

Excerpts from above link:

.............................

Afghanistan was not always a country totally dominated by warlords and reactionary Islamic fundamentalism.

This brand of Islam was largely imported into the country as part of the U.S.-inspired, Cold War effort to defeat the Soviets. For a brief period, the country had a progressive, secular government which, according to University of Winnipeg professor John Ryan, "affirmed the separation of church and state, labour unions were legalized, health care and education became priorities, women were given equal rights, and girls were to go to school...A program was being developed for major land reform."
...

Oil and gas are part of every U.S. intervention in the Middle East, and the U.S. had no qualms about dealing with the Taliban in the 1990s. Washington began to pour millions into Taliban coffers in the hope of signing a contract with U.S. oil giant Unocal to build a gas pipeline south from the Caspian Basin to Pakistan. The negotiations broke down in the spring of 2001 -- just months before 9-11. As for those attacks, they were planned in Germany, carried out by Saudis and were almost certainly done without the knowledge of the isolationist Taliban. When the U.S. demanded that Osama bin Laden be handed over, the Taliban agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal upon seeing evidence of his guilt. But the U.S. had no such evidence. Instead, they invaded.

The government of Hamid Karzai is constantly touted as having been "democratically elected" and it is fair to say that Afghans voted in the election because they hoped it might make a difference.

But the Karzai government is totally dependent for its survival on the U.S. and is heavily influenced by the U.S. oil industry.

A corrupt 'democracy'

Afghanistan's democracy is a fraud and operates more as a grim coalition of mujahedeen, warlords, druglords, oil company executives and U.S. agents.

Following 9-11, the U.S. recruited and armed its old mujahedeen creation to help in the task of defeating the Taliban, renaming them the "Northern Alliance."


This is the context for Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. When Hamid Karzai visited Canada and told the House of Commons and the Canadian people that our troops are desperately needed in his country, he didn't tell the whole story. And who would blame him?

.................................

be safe

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
Its getting hard to be someone, but it all works out
It doesnt matter much to me