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The Long Arm Of Pakistan
The Times of India ^ | 2 Jul 2008, 0050 hrs IST, | Haroun Mir

Posted on 07/01/2008 2:01:28 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

KABUL: The latest terrorist attack on a prison in Kandahar was not the work of the Taliban alone. In fact, all significant terrorist attacks during the last several months in Afghanistan have the imprint of Al-Qaida both in the planning and execution.



Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai's harsh reaction against Pakistan, by threatening to send Afghan troops into Pakistani soil to fight Al-Qaida and the Taliban in their safe houses, shows the frustration of the Afghan leadership against Pakistan's latest peace agreements with the Taliban.



The US military in Afghanistan is convinced of Pakistan's duplicity and cannot ignore the threat coming from a reinvigorated Al-Qaida in Pakistan.

The series of well-organised terrorist attacks in Afghanistan since January of this year, such as the attack on Serena Hotel, an assassination attempt against Karzai and the latest attack on a prison in Kandahar, show that either the Taliban has improved its powers to strike or Al-Qaida has regained its lost influence in Afghanistan.

The 2007 United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report on suicide attacks in Afghanistan indicated that Taliban suicide bombers are often inept.



In many instances they have killed only themselves and not their intended targets. Also, most of them are uneducated and come from the poorest segments of the population.

It seems highly unlikely that they could have improved in the short period of less than a year.

In addition, in all of the latest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, the Afghan police seem to have assisted the terrorists.

The infiltration of Afghan security forces is out of reach and beyond the capability of the Taliban.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 200807; afghanistan; afghanpolice; afghans; ahmadmassoud; ahmadshahmassoud; alqaeda; infiltration; massoud; pakistan; taliban
Only Al-Qaida has the capacity to recruit security officials and organise highly sophisticated attacks in the heart of well-protected cities such as Kabul and Kandahar.


1 posted on 07/01/2008 2:04:03 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: NormsRevenge; elhombrelibre; Allegra; SandRat; tobyhill; G8 Diplomat; Dog; Cap Huff; ...

fy


2 posted on 07/01/2008 2:05:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: All
(The writer was a special assistant to Afghanistan's former defence minister Ahmad Shah Massoud.)
3 posted on 07/01/2008 2:08:13 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Three letters of who is helping stage these attacks.

ISI.

4 posted on 07/01/2008 2:12:07 PM PDT by Dog (We have entered into the realm of 9/10 all over again...Lord help us.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Only Al-Qaida has the capacity to recruit security officials and organise highly sophisticated attacks in the heart of well-protected cities such as Kabul and Kandahar.

Only the Pakistani Army, via it's Insurgency Support Inc. arm, aka the ISI, using Al-Qaida has the capacity to recruit security officials and organise highly sophisticated attacks in the heart of well-protected cities such as Kabul and Kandahar.

There.

5 posted on 07/01/2008 2:30:42 PM PDT by swarthyguy (Osama Freedom Day: 2500 or so since September 11 2001! That's SIX +years, Dubya.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
This sounds ludicrous in the face of what's actually happening on the ground, but this sort of stuff starts formal, overt wars. If Waziristan is out of control that's one thing, if it's out of control and acting as a sanctuary for covert ops its another, but it's quite another still if it's an open staging area for cross-border raiding including assassination attempts on the neighboring head of state. Pakistan's sovereignty comes to an end at that point.

The real difficulty, of course, is that a Pakistan openly attacked in retaliation might in turn retaliate with nuclear weapons to protect the raiders. That is just how destabilizing an Islamic bomb is, a thing that the people so blandly accepting of Iranian nuclear weapons had better think about.

6 posted on 07/01/2008 2:35:02 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill
"The real difficulty, of course, is that a Pakistan openly attacked in retaliation might in turn retaliate with nuclear weapons to protect the raiders. That is just how destabilizing an Islamic bomb is, a thing that the people so blandly accepting of Iranian nuclear weapons had better think about."

Well stated. I to have wondered when an Al Qaida/Taliban nuke (provided by Pakistan of course) will be used in Afghanistan against American forces. I can think it's entirely possible. I'm sure the Pakis will deny providing it to them. We'll have to nuke them back of course. Horrible state of affairs over there.

7 posted on 07/01/2008 3:58:54 PM PDT by StormEye
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To: Molly K.; bayouranger; beebuster2000; maine-iac7; lancer; voletti; GOPJ; Tigen; AliVeritas; ...

Pakistan ۋﮧ۱م

FReepmail if you want on or off

8 posted on 07/01/2008 7:31:58 PM PDT by G8 Diplomat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The US military in Afghanistan is convinced of Pakistan's duplicity...

The Troops have always known it - Many higher ups have turned a blind eye on it, hoping we won't catch on.

Past time for Kazai to make good on his promise to chase them back across the border to their nests and take them out - with us right behind him - or "above" him...

Good Lord, we have the means to obliterate them - why do we let this go on.

9 posted on 07/01/2008 8:09:37 PM PDT by maine-iac7 (No trees were killed in sending this message but a large number of electrons were terrible agitated)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks for the PING, Ernest!

One of the things I found most interesting about this article is the fact that it is in an Indian paper. If the Pakis are up to anything rotten, you can bet the Indians are going to out them!

Perhaps it was meant to be a veiled threat, from the U.S., to the Pakis about what can happen if they don't clean their own house?

10 posted on 07/01/2008 9:32:32 PM PDT by singfreedom
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To: StormEye
I don't think it would be provided by Pakistan directly, but the A.Q. Kahn turd is still loose in Pakistan—and he probably still has the wherewithal to do such a thing.

Pakistan knows we would REALLY annihilate them if they did such a thing, but Kahn, on the other hand, is only an individual.

11 posted on 07/01/2008 9:37:48 PM PDT by singfreedom
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Fred Nerks; george76; ...
The US military in Afghanistan is convinced of Pakistan's duplicity and cannot ignore the threat coming from a reinvigorated Al-Qaida in Pakistan.
Thanks Ernest.
12 posted on 07/01/2008 10:46:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_________________________Profile updated Friday, May 30, 2008)
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To: Dog; Ernest_at_the_Beach

I think the real concern here is the timing of things as it relates to the new government being seated. While many, including myself, complained about Mushy not doing enough to go after AQ/Taliban, I don’t think there was active support from ISI, frontier corps, etc. It seems in the last few months that there have been several incidents, including the one at Goraparai, that seem to have support from Pakistani forces.

I don’t know if the new government is pushing this stuff or if it is just rogue ISI members (and others) who don’t fear have to fear Mushy anymore. In either case we need to fix what is happening on that side of the border if we hope to win this thing.


13 posted on 07/02/2008 12:01:00 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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