Pakistani Army commentary

[George L. Singleton]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/wo...stan.html?_r=1

Read this that the new head of the Pak Army and his ISI have again caved to the Taliban, whom they outnumber more than 4 to 1 inside Swat, by agreeing to imposition of Sharia Law.

Damned those bearded 'persons'. They undercut every effort at democracy for Pakistan, and Swat is not a past source of Taliban terrorists, it was flatly invaded by these bums.

[Ken White]

region is as it it appears. There are always wheels inside of wheels. Can't tell much from a newspaper report. It may take six weeks or six months for the real truth to come out.

I also need to ask you a favor. We're all grownups and most of us have forgotten more combinations of cuss words than we can remember but we do try to not use them here; It would be helpful if you could do that also.

[George L. Singleton]

Apologies for my colorful language. We all slip up but shouldn't and I appreciate your comment.

It [my raw language[ reflected genuine anger as I hear directly, daily from young Pukhtuns being slaughtered in Swat, as well as from highly educated Pukhtun family members here in the States whose opinions and views I believe now, which I failed to believe shortly after 9/11 when I gullibly was willing to believe that one shoe fits all.

Such "ceasefires" are how we lost bin Laden and his #2 when we first started fighting in Afghanistan. Just last year at this same time another such bogus cease fire allowed the Taliban, and al Qaida, both to maneuver and to be resupplied under the protection of, and by, that really irks me, by, the ISI/Pak Army themselves/itself. Imagine rearming and resupply those who you are supposed to be fighting. Mentioned before and here now the Pukhtun troops in FC and other parts of the Pak Army at lower ranks are both young, more and more "bearded" and undependable, we don't get public reports of troop mutinies but such happens/has happened in last 24 months inside Pakistan.

**Remember a firefight on the Afghan border last year when allegedly a Pak Major and several of his soliders were allegedly killed by NATO fire from Afghanistan into Pakistan? Those troops were in league with and co-manning together with Taliban fighters the firing pits being used to first and foremost fire across the Duran Line into NATO forces on proper patrol inside Afghanistan. Etc.

We have similarly had the Pak bearded FC warriors refuse to fight their blood relatives and fellow terrorist verison of Pukhtuns, which is what has the non-terrorist Pukhtuns up in arms against the Taliban, the Pak Army, and the Pak Central Government, in addition to their secondary reason which is their to me [my opinion, to be clear] foolish and vain hope of an "independent" Pukhtun homeland made up of much of Afghanistan and NW Pakistan.

Here is one small example of Pukhtuns talking on Hujra Online today about Pak troops not fighting Taliban, both being ethnic Pukhtuns all wearing beards....which is not proper miliary decorum even for the Pak Army in today's world, reflecting the bad situation in the manning of today Pak Frontier Corp in N. Paksitan:

You have pakhtuns there in Swat, all of them with beards and look no different from the Talibaan. If you are a soldier (forget being a civilian) and you are approached by two people, how do you distinguish between a talib and non talib? The talibs are cowards that are hiding among civilians and therefore all these civilian deaths.

Most of these guys are talibs by day and humans by night and vice versa and if caught and killed; then the public, you and I start shouting that an innocent has died. If all of these guys are innocents then there are no talibs in our area and we all should be happy. But in reality you and I both know that is not the case.

Innocents and humans have mostly moved away from Swat. They do not care for their lands, shops and houses and would rather live in peaceful punjab and give their children a future than live among the animals called Talibs.

The army if told to move out, which might very well happen if our only hope, unless you really want FM to represent you and you want to live under his stupidity which he calls Shariah. Trust me, you would rather have the army with all its flaws than the Talibs and their so called Islam....

http://www.khyberwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2295

This and other on line conversations from today and recent days from inside Swat and elsewhere in adjoining Pakistan are a good read.

[Jedburgh]

CEIP, Mar 09: Reforming the Intelligence Agencies in Pakistan's Transitional Democracy

The purpose of the present report is to analyze the intelligence agencies’ role in Pakistan’s political life through a better understanding of the agencies’ objectives and mechanisms. Because Pakistan’s civilian governments have been victims of the agencies’ manipulation in the past, the new and very fragile government cannot ignore the decisive role of the intelligence agencies in Pakistani politics if it wants to counter the direct and more subtle manifestations of military control. The domestic political role of intelligence agencies is always a combination of three elements: militarization, comprehensive political surveillance, and state terror. The intensity and relative importance of each component varies over time and according to the specific situations in each country, but all three are always present. Terror as it applies to individuals or groups can be carried out by proxies and is intermittent, but it remains an essential element of the system. An intelligence agency’s reputation for ruthlessness is often as important as its actual efficiency.

The reform of the intelligence agencies is therefore imperative, and the depoliticization of the intelligence process is as much an element of national reconciliation as of consolidation of power. To achieve its objectives, this report draws on interviews conducted in Pakistan as well as on related literature. It also examines similar attempts at reasserting civilian control over intelligence agencies in two democratizing military dictatorships, Indonesia and Chile. In all three countries, intelligence agencies were—and in the case of Pakistan still are—trying to achieve a similar set of objectives regarding social control, the need to protect the regime against all sources of disturbance, and promoting the passive acceptance of regime policies by the population. Neither Indonesia nor Chile has been completely successful in bringing its intelligence agencies under democratic control but both were forced to reform their intelligence services and simultaneously reduce the scope of military autonomy vis-à-vis elected officials. This is what Pakistan will have to do in order to consolidate its nascent democracy.....

Complete 109-page paper at the link.

[George L. Singleton]

Thanks for the short intro but the link is too much for my decrepit old home pc...will have to wait until I am on my office or the library pc tomorrow to look into that longer report.

The unique problem Pakistan's ISI has are the ties to radical Taliban and al Qaida, which ISI even with one so far attempt at reorganization under President Zardari appearing to have flopped/failed thus far.

The head of the Pakitani Army was hand picked by Musharraf, who was his mentor, for what that is worth.

With 5 attempts on Musharraf's life while he was President
it is hard to image that Musharraf or his direct proteges would like the Taliban...but who knows?