Wondering Why Pakistan Is So Helpful To America These Days? Here's Why

[Tommy Lucchese]

I've been baffled by all the arrests and killings of Taliban chiefs in the last couple months, including half of Mullah Omar's Quetta Council and his right hand man. Why were the Pakistanis suddenly being so helpful about tracking these guys down (okay, telling where they knew they were) when they've been stalling us for almost nine years?

Here's the answer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/wo...html?ref=world

KABUL, Afghanistan — The former top United Nations official in Afghanistan said that recent arrests of high-ranking Taliban figures by Pakistan had severed important secret communications between the Taliban and the West meant to foster peace negotiations.

Kai Eide, the former special representative in Afghanistan for the United Nations secretary general, told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday that, for the past year, the United Nations had been quietly involved in early discussions with the Taliban in Dubai. He said those talks were upended by the arrests of senior Taliban leaders, including the group’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in February.

Mr. Eide, who stepped down earlier this month, said the arrests undermined efforts to start talks and to build trust that are necessary for substantive peace negotiations.

“The Pakistanis did not play the role that they should have played,” he said in the interview, which he confirmed to The New York Times.

There has been a swirl of often contradictory reports about the arrest of Mullah Baradar, and a wide range of American and international reactions to it. Some American officials have welcomed Pakistan’s new enthusiasm for hunting down Taliban leaders. Others have questioned Pakistan’s motivations in detaining Mullah Baradar, who was open to early discussions about peace negotiations.

The Pakistani ISI-D (the secret police) is more clever than I gave them credit for. Well played, Islamists.

 

[blu]

I've been baffled by all the arrests and killings of Taliban chiefs in the last couple months, including half of Mullah Omar's Quetta Council and his right hand man. Why were the Pakistanis suddenly being so helpful about tracking these guys down (okay, telling where they knew they were) when they've been stalling us for almost nine years?

Here's the answer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/wo...html?ref=world

KABUL, Afghanistan — The former top United Nations official in Afghanistan said that recent arrests of high-ranking Taliban figures by Pakistan had severed important secret communications between the Taliban and the West meant to foster peace negotiations.

Kai Eide, the former special representative in Afghanistan for the United Nations secretary general, told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday that, for the past year, the United Nations had been quietly involved in early discussions with the Taliban in Dubai. He said those talks were upended by the arrests of senior Taliban leaders, including the group’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in February.

Mr. Eide, who stepped down earlier this month, said the arrests undermined efforts to start talks and to build trust that are necessary for substantive peace negotiations.

“The Pakistanis did not play the role that they should have played,” he said in the interview, which he confirmed to The New York Times.

There has been a swirl of often contradictory reports about the arrest of Mullah Baradar, and a wide range of American and international reactions to it. Some American officials have welcomed Pakistan’s new enthusiasm for hunting down Taliban leaders. Others have questioned Pakistan’s motivations in detaining Mullah Baradar, who was open to early discussions about peace negotiations.

The Pakistani ISI-D (the secret police) is more clever than I gave them credit for. Well played, Islamists.

Stratfor wrote up on this pretty well, it was very insightful. It also shows that pakistan basically knows where all the top taliban people are at all times, but doesn't arrest them except when its politically conveinent. Sounds a lot like the FBI and the mafia.

 

[Richard-H]

The Pakistanis are not and have never been a true ally of the U.S. They have at best, been playing us against the Taliban and Al Queda for their own benefit. The single biggest mistake made in this war was in not invading Pakistan at the same time that we invaded Afganistan.

The only way that we can possibly end this war successfully is if we make it clear to the Pakistanis that if they do not eliminate the Taliban and Al Queda in Pakistan, we will invade Pakistan, destroy them ourselves and if neccesary, go to war with the Pakistani army and occupy Pakistan as well.

 

[Tommy Lucchese]

The Pakistanis are not and have never been a true ally of the U.S. They have at best, been playing us against the Taliban and Al Queda for their own benefit. The single biggest mistake made in this war was in not invading Pakistan at the same time that we invaded Afganistan.

The only way that we can possibly end this war successfully is if we make it clear to the Pakistanis that if they do not eliminate the Taliban and Al Queda in Pakistan, we will invade Pakistan, destroy them ourselves and if neccesary, go to war with the Pakistani army and occupy Pakistan as well.

Apparently they will take them out themselves if they think they're going to reconcile with the A-stan government. This has psywar written all over it.

 

[mayya555]

The Pakistanis are not and have never been a true ally of the U.S. They have at best, been playing us against the Taliban and Al Queda for their own benefit. The single biggest mistake made in this war was in not invading Pakistan at the same time that we invaded Afganistan.

The only way that we can possibly end this war successfully is if we make it clear to the Pakistanis that if they do not eliminate the Taliban and Al Queda in Pakistan, we will invade Pakistan, destroy them ourselves and if neccesary, go to war with the Pakistani army and occupy Pakistan as well.

Yes, and then we'll conquer Canada and whole Africa! Glory glor glory!

 

[Xenophon]

Maybe people will start understanding why the USA will never 'win' in Afghanistan, and Barry is not doing better then the chimpazoid.

 

[Tommy Lucchese]

Maybe people will start understanding why the USA will never 'win' in Afghanistan, and Barry is not doing better then the chimpazoid.

I don't see why we shouldn't have left A-stan by 2004 at the latest, Al Qaeda was already gone for the most part by 2003.

But if we're going to persist in this folly, at least we're using a sound counterinsurgency strategy instead of putting force protection above all else.