Sea change in our tussle with Al Qaeda?
Several weeks ago I wrote a despairing post about the state of our war in Afghanistan, criticizing Obama for following Shrubya’s tired strategy of fighting a counter-insurgency conflict in Afghanistan while the enemy thrived, unmolested, across the border in Pakistan.
I should probably have posted something about that earlier, but their past claims of ‘victories’ and gains were either gross hyperbole or outright lies. However, I’m actually heartened by Osama Bin Laden’s latest missive blaming Obama for “ordering” President Zardari to attack the guerrillas.
Check out the speech – it strikes me as the typical ‘tough talk’ a leader has to give when his followers are backed into a corner – kinda like that some of the speeches given by the (now dead) head of the Tamil Tigers as his guerrillas were increasingly trapped by Sri Lankan forces. The other comforting thought is that Obama could actually ‘order’ President Zardari to do anything! Don’t you wish that were true? I guess American Liberals aren’t the only people that believe Obama has magical powers!
It’s much too early to determine if this is a true sea change in the battle – who knows how many Taliban and Al Qaeda warriors donned burkhas and slipped out among the civilian refugees? And don’t forget that Pakistan is only one of the countries bordering Afghanistan suitable for a base for the guerrillas, and that is a horribly corrupt country at that.
But it’s definitely cause for optimism – let’s hope this reduces some of the strain on President Karzai and the NATO forces in Afghanistan!
*Update 6/4/09* A friend of mine just got back from a couple of weeks in Karachi – he tells me things are really messy there right now – lots of internal divisions between groups such as the Muhajirs and the Pashtuns are boiling up to the surface resulting in pitched street fighting.
Tags: afghanistan, Al Qaeda, George Bush, Karachi, Karzai, Muhajirs, NATO, Obama, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, pashtuns, Swat Valley, Taliban, Tamil Tigers, Zardari
June 4th, 2009 at 7:06 am
“But it’s definitely cause for optimism – let’s hope this reduces some of the strain on President Karzai and the NATO forces in Afghanistan!”
I was reduced to hysterical laughter by NPR’s story yesterday about a Green Beret intelligence officer in Afghanistan lecturing the locals about how they needed to improve their local government. The Afghani’s complaint was that one of their community had been kidnapped and held for ransom by a local bandit who works in cahoots with the deputy regional governor (or some-such official).
After the Bush administration turned Afghanistan over to the warlords in the early days of the war, our military is now abusing the citizens for having such bad taste in selecting their government?
I see no reason for optimism in Afghanistan; it’s been irredeemably ruined by the puppet government installed by the US.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I’m off the happy pills today, it was FUBAR from the start.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:33 am
I wouldn’t get too excited. The Pakistani government’s problem is not fundamentally military; they need to be able to provide effective civil administration in the country’s hinterlands, eliminate corruption, undertake land reform and elevate the status of the poor (which means developing away from what is essentially a feudal system in much of the country) and resolve ethnic and religious conflicts. Attacking the Taliban using conventional military methods has created an immense refugee problem, to which they are responding with gross inadequacy, and has simply driven the militants from the cities, where the government has no real plan to create a functional alternative government.
I recommend getting a more in-depth understanding of the problems in Pakistan.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Is that all? LOL
I agree with your recommendation though, I just started reading up on Pakistan.