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    Council Member Mark O'Neill's Avatar
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    Default All that is old is new again.....

    In the course of my work today I came across this passage from Gwynn's Imperial Policing:

    "Finally, the fact that Waziristan borders Afghan territory presented a difficult problem. Afghan sympathisers were free to cross the border to reinforce the hostile elements. To close the frontier without the active assistance of the Afghan Government was impracticable and the Afghan Government could not co-operate without incurring the risk of unrest in its own territory."

    He published this in 1936. Now, the 'Government' being harassed have 'flipped', but I suspect that there is little else different. We are dealing with an enduring, complex traditional issue. Something that I think that many of the 'lets sort Pakistan out, and our problems will be solved' pundits clearly fail to appreciate.

    Lets face it, the Brits were, in their day, 'masters of empire'. They could not sort this issue out in over three hundred years. I think that it is entirely unrealistic to expect that the US, or any one else for that matter, could have 'solved it' in the last five years.

    Rather than continually bemoaning the existence of this long standing problem, a sound strategy would be one that recognises its likely continued existence, and develops accommodations and work arounds that ultimately minimise its impact.
    Last edited by Mark O'Neill; 08-10-2007 at 11:22 AM. Reason: fixing a typo, spelling

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