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War with Taliban may be war with Pakistan
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by YankeeJim | April 21, 2012 at 06:45 am
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War with Taliban may be war with Pakistan
The Pakistan intelligence organization and military remains suspiciously like the friend of my enemy.
Pakistan is fueling Afghanistan insurgents, Taliban, with explosives. The US is trying hard to shore up the Karzai government and Afghan security forces appear to be doing their job.
For years I have tried to get an estimate of the number of the Taliban who are posing a threat to stability here. The best estimates that I get are that there are a few thousand and that their followers or supporters may be ten times that. So, worst case is there about 30,000 of them.
Where are they? How do they blend in? How can they be 1) pacified, 2) neutralized, or 3) exterminated?
Answers likely include: 1) strong and effective Afghanistan government, 2) make Taliban a part of the system, and 3) get the population of supporters to change their allegiance.
“Afghan official: Tons of explosives seized, attack thwarted
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Afghan security forces have arrested five militants with 10 metric tons (11 tons) of explosives that they planned to use to carry out a massive attack in Kabul, a security official said Saturday.
Shafiqullah Tahiry, who is a spokesman for the National Director for Security, said at a news conference that three of the men were Pakistanis and two were Afghans.
He did not say when the arrests took place, nor what their intended target was.
Tahiry said the explosives were brought from Pakistan to Kabul and that three of the men were members of thePakistani Taliban, while the other two belonged to theAfghan Taliban. He said they were taking orders from two Pakistani Taliban commanders who he claimed have ties to that country's intelligence agency.
"Imagine if 10,000 kilograms of explosives, which was already inside Kabul" had exploded, "what a disaster could have happened," Tahiry said.
Militants reportedly from a Pakistan-based group launched coordinated assaults last week in the Afghan capital and other eastern cities.
Afghan and U.S. officials have blamed those attacks on the Haqqani network, an insurgent group that is allied with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and has been described by American officials as the most dangerous militant force in the Afghan war.
Last Sunday's coordinated assaults included near-simultaneous attacks in the three parts of the capital and three other eastern cities. Eight policemen and three civilians were killed in 18 hours of fighting, along with 36 militants, according to Afghan officials.
Tahiry said the captured explosives were in 400 bags and hidden under potatoes loaded in a truck with Pakistani license plates.
According to Tahiry, the men confessed that they "had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in a key point in Kabul city."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.”
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"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 08:15 on April 21st, 2012
I doubt there are 30,000 Taliban but, there are a hell of a lot more than 30,000 tribal Pashtun's on both sides of the Afghan border with Pakistan hoping to carve out a separate nation if only everyone would go home and leave them to it. The down side is their success doesn't bode well for the other Afghan tribes. Taliban are pretty much all Pashtun which is why there has been no deals with the Afghan government on peace and reconciliation. The Pakistani aren't supporting the Taliban per sae as much as they are supporting a Pashtunistan and what they hope will be a controllable buffer between north and east Eurasia. Since Pakistan's formation as a State it's been losing bits and pieces, and it's operational response has been to engage in border clashes with her neighbors. Better to have the malcontents fighting there than inside chipping away at the grand Islamic State that Pakistan was envisioned to become. Never happened and the having of the "Nuke" did nothing to push it towards the finish line. Sad to say Iran is following suit. Another failed Islamic utopia seeking the "A" bomb so there is no internal revolution to upset the great dream enforced by internal deceptions and external lies. With a solid foundation like that success can only be just around the corner. World Peace in our time.