War by Pakistan is hot and growing
Please note the growing number of Pakistani Pakhtun ethnic background Army/Special Forces obituaries I continue to post (another today, July 1) on SWJ. These deaths are evidence that the war is indeed hot. What you and others are running into is the verbal stuff the Pak government puts out, retracts, puts out, etc. to pacify factions of the fractured population, primarly in the northern areas of Pakistan.
My view, in any case.
Looking back, to go forward
In this CCO newsletter thread: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7697 there is a short interview with Robert Armitage and this is his first Q&A, which is very interesting on the interaction with ISI (my emphasis added; note rest of interview is behind a 'wall'):
MM: What, if anything, surprised you taking on the challenges of Afghanistan and Iraq?
RA: Well, they’re completely different places. I found that Afghanistan was an absolutely necessary war; they struck us, and we had to strike back. What surprised me was how quickly we morphed from a fight against al Qaeda—that is, from foreigners (Uzbeks, Pakistanis, Saudis, even Uighers)—to the Taliban after coexisting with the Taliban for so long. The Taliban wasn’t really fighting us too much; they weren’t helping us, but they weren’t fighting us, either—so again how quickly that morphed was the big surprise. The second surprise was frankly how successful we were for the first 4 years—almost 5 years—at keeping the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence) relatively out of it. They were so shocked with the speed at which we invaded Afghanistan that I think the ISI felt it was only a matter of time till we prevailed. But as we broadened our scope to the Taliban, we both brought out some antipathies that Pashtuns have against foreigners, and we also made it more difficult to be able to accomplish our “objective.” So how do you declare victory when you completely change the target?
Yes, the public support the state
Quote:
Originally Posted by
davidbfpo
Support for the author comes from opinion polling (face to face) in Pakistan: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pi...d=&pnt=619&lb= Nice graphics, although I am a little sceptical about polling in Pakistan.
davidbfpo
We do not disagree, but all progress is welcome @ this point in time
Concur...if you read other postings I did today, 7/14/09 you will find similar remarks, in more detail, by me together with a link to related article in 7/14/09 WASHINGTON POST.
Pak Army "bottom up" changes
An interesting review article on changes in Pakistan, note it cites a "bottom up" from a general in Bajaur Agency using a different approach to the Army and Frontier Corps doing COIN: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...kals?page=show (note the author's blogsite opens and then freezes computer).
davidbfpo
Waziristan: those in the middle
An interesting report on the civilians leaving South Waziristan to escape the conflict: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8152366.stm
davidbfpo
What did the Pakistani state ever do for me?
A play on the Monty Python phrase in 'Life of Brian' and added here as an indication why Pakistanis ask what has the nation-state done for me. From a woman's point of view too: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/op...stof.html?_r=2
Could funding this be seen as people to people and life-changing? So to mutual advantage. With Pakistan providing matching funds. Once can but dream!
davidbfpo
NYT & ISI - the best guides to follow?
What I found puzzling (being polite) is that the NYT article is based on a presentation by ISI. Yet more evidence IMHO of the "stop and go" strategy used so often by Pakistan before.
Question(s) Pakistan is in crisis and needs to deploy more of it's army internally. Is there a current threat from India? A better way exists in Afghanistan in talking to (our) Taliban. Send us more US$ and we can help you, not our own people. Trust us (ISI).
You got me persauded, thanks NYT.
davidbfpo