A friend sent me this article and asked for my comments http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/world/asia/26tribal.html?_r=2&ref=world
here are my comments i thought i ‘ll post them here as well
this article is so shallow and based so much on popular sentiments, that i can’t comment on it analytically , it has no analysis wat so ever, it is using tangential references here and there to blame isi for what ever is happening with out giving any solid reason.
-If ISI ppl are so smart to still control taliban , why are they dumb enough to admit it to New york times ppl? (as mentioned “half-dozen American, Pakistani and other security officials”) this totally defies logic.
-Secondly Americans say they have proof, where is the proof, dun forget they are same american who even produced photos etc of so called WMD in Iraq bt now we know they never existed, in this case they haven’t been able to produce a single proof publicly so why should we accept what ever they say? and If america can force Pakistan in doing anything (as has been seen through out history), why can’t it force ISI to stop helping taliban, after all its supper power, it just needs to issue one statement of attacking ISI headquaters in islamabad and ISI will start frettin , IF IT IS SUPPORTING TALIBAN. but clearly americans dun have any proof tht ISI is really supporting them.
-Even a Lay man can understand that a country cannot sustain a proxy war in another country just by itself, we saw russians bleeding severly in afghanistan becuase they did not have local support, So just for the SAKE OF ARGUMENT if we accept tht ISI is indeed controlling taliban, then we all can see it has been very succeful in controlling afghanistan , which could not be possible without local support, locals will only support if they believe in goal, so ISI is helping common Afghanis in achiveing their goals then why should ISI be blamed, infact ISI would be helping them get rid of their enemy namely foriegn forces, which would not be a wrong thing to do.
IF RUSSIA could not sustain in afghanistan despite being a super power, HOW can a state like Paksitan , which is deep in mess itself sustain so successfully in Afghanistan , is beyond comprehension on the basis of rationality. PAkistan Army and ISI must be ten times better than Soviets.
Westerns press is continously blaming ISI becuase its an easy target, its easy to accuse a person who is percieved as bad guy rather than accusing a person who may be the real bad guy but not percieved as one, day to day life is full of examples. WEsterners were supposed to be liberators of afghans , they were supposed to bring them freedom , BUT in reality they are occupiers, they are hated by common afghanis, and western press cannot protray their forces as responsible for all this, they are already suffering from mistrust created by IRAQ war, so when Locals fight agaisnt them (in this case gathered under Taliban Flag) they find it easy to blame Pakistan
NATO and US force’s actions have actually helped Taliban broaden their support, People in all rural areas believe in Taliban, A person who has lived even a month in any Pashtun area be it Pakistan or afghanistan, would know it pretty well , that if foreigners come and kill locals, by bombing funerals, marriage processions, killing children , firing at women , A pashtun will die bt will take revenge from them , and that is what we are seeing in Afghanistan ,
the inability of Afghan government, the exclusion of mass population from selection of government, the installation of former war lords, brutal generals of northern alliance all are the factors which tilt local supportin favour of taliban, ISI doesn’t need to support them they are fighting for their country they dun need ISI support, they have had enough training from CIA to fight agianst soviets
IF ISI is so much in control of Taliban, then why can’t it pursuade them not to attack in Pakistan,
US has lost a mere 671in a full fledge War, while total nato casualities including US is 1120 (http://icasualties.org/oef/)
While Pakistan Army fighting in norwestern province only has lost more than 2000 soldiers, what does the figures tell you ? If ISI is so strong to master Taliban , direct them on all their strategies, provide them with weapons and wat not, as put by the article, then why the hell can it not control Taliban in its own land? and this begs another question as well who is providing these talibans operating in Paksitan with money , weapons and strategy tht they are even more effective then their afghan fellows? why dun we start thinking at this question? the Afghans ? the US ? then wouldn’t ISI be justified in counter strategy ? if it were to counter but visibly ISI does not have resources to counter insurgency in its own country let a lone lead a full war against a Super Power.
It said british government is asking ISI to use its meetings to decrease intensity of Taliban attacks , wat a childish statement , this made me laugh real hard, firstly if UK is confident abt ISI why doesn’t it try to counter ISI by forcing Pakistan , attacking its installations, to nip the evil in the bud, It is clear if some one reads the line with patience that the writer of article has clearly manipulated the facts, US and britain has been using ISI to negotiate with taliban becuase of ISI’s ground experience with taliban in ninties, but instead the writer twisted it into a funny story tht ISI holds strategic meetings with taliban and UK has been begging it to reduce intensity of taliabn attacks, as Iif UK is 10 yrs old child asking his father to help him get toy from his sister. come on any person with a brain size of a Pea can understand the capabilities of ISI compared to UK agencies like MI-6.
Article claims like other pieces of news item coming from NYT tht ISI carried attack on indian embassy in kabul, if there is a proff why hasn’t it been made public, it is not comprehensible tht india will have an opportunity to disgrace paksitan globally bt it will not do so , simply not comprehensible
this is even funnier, made me laugh , since when did taliban started attaking americans in the air “a step ahead of American forces stalking them on the ground and in the air” doesn’t it show the quality of research by the writer of article? ISI cannot stop americans from drone attacks with in Pakistan but it has capability of stalking americans in air in afghanistan , which is funny
