Pakistan's Tribal Areas 'Radicalized As Never Before'

The relative calm in Iraq in recent months, combined with the drama of the US elections, has managed to distract attention from the catastrophe that is rapidly overwhelming Western interests in the part of the world that always should have been the focus of America's response to September 11: the al-Qaeda and Taliban heartlands on either side of the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The situation here could hardly be more grim. The Taliban have reorganized, advanced out of their borderland safe havens, and are now massing at the gates of Kabul, threatening to surround and throttle the capital, much as the US-backed Mujahideen once did to the Soviet-installed regime in the late Eighties. Like the rerun of an old movie, all journeys out of the Afghan capital are once again confined to tanks, armored cars, and helicopters. Members of the Taliban already control over 70 percent of the country, up from just over 50 percent in November 2007, where they collect taxes, enforce Sharia law, and dispense their usual rough justice; but they do succeed, to some extent, in containing the wave of crime and corruption that has marked Hamid Karzai's rule. This has become one of the principal reasons for their growing popularity, and every month their sphere of influence increases.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[BrutusHonestus]

Afganistan and Pakistan are NOT western style democracies, and they never will be. While the Taliban did make the mistake of harboring the Al Qaeda terrorist group (based on Islamic traditions of protecting "guests"), the Taliban also did something that no western-in­spired/sup­ported government had been able to accomplish in the last 400 years - - govern the country and stop the heroin production trade. Sure, the Taliban are an anethma to western political/social notions, but are they that much different than the Wahabis who run Saudi Arabia?
All the US should have done is track down and kill/destroy the terror group which attacked the US, not try to graft a foreign political system on to a nation which had no such native traditions. It was bound to fail, and it has cost the US billion of dollars, while alienating most of the muslim world.

[eminent]

it's like dealing with a mythological creature, disspell with one "arm" and another grows.kids are indoctrinated from an early age.there was a article on this on an US .gov site.

[Patricia84]

When will there be an article about how Real America has "radicalized as never before."?

[balrog221]

agree... Where is the expose on the Christian whackos

[MagisterLudi]

yawn.

[eminent]

there is an extremely interesting book and articles on the Rand.org site.
It stipulates that contrary to other such type of "organizations", this is not politically structured, but in religion( Italy's Red Brigade was dismantled due to its political leanings).­tough call. According to their findings,it seems that if a controlled, corruption- free police is installed, it would be beneficial.

[mergina]

Pakistan needs the help of our forces to remove the dangerous human disease that has set up shop in their country, the Taliban, Bin Laden, and the oppression and suffering they create daily.

[Hoosierbrad]

Ah, but Bush kept us safe here, didn't he? This while the world is going up in flames!

[wadenelson1]

Am I the only one who can see where this is headed? If we screw around enough in Pakistan, sending in Special Ops and Gunships and missile-firing Predators, eventually elements within Pakistan Army / ISI will GIVE one of their nukes to radical Muslims to use against the West.

Hello! Is anyone listening?

[MagisterLudi]

Ain't ya the h.ysteri.c­al dude that constantly pollu.tes the thr.eads with '$300-a- barrel' and any-day-now att.a.ck-on- Iran rumors. Take a break, have some Swiss Miss, watch Chicken Little movie. Relax.

[wadenelson1]

You tell ME how this all plays out. We fire a few more missiles and "kill the last of them?"

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Last Throes?

I'll go get some Swiss Miss now :)

[Jacob77030]

Leave pak,i,stan alone. There are innocent civilians there living amongst the Tal,i,ban.

[MagisterLudi]

"There are innocent civilians there living amongst the Tal,i,ban.­"
And vice versa.
c'est la guerre.

[brooklyncitizen]

Oh...but there have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11Bush must have protected the nation after all....NOT­.

[MagisterLudi]

I am no Bush supporter. He was a an abysmal id,i,ot. BUT in case you didn't notice, no attacks taken place on American soil since.

[Patricia84]

No attack took place before ... unless you count Pancho Villa.

[balrog221]

Not unless you count Iraq as an american protectorate which it surely is.

[brooklyncitizen]

Oh...but there have been no terrorist atacks since 9/11Bush must have protected the nation after all....NOT­.

[AMERIKA]

George Bush failed us as President. God help us all.

[balrog221]

The "god" myth is what is hurting us. Didn't you read the article?

[brooklyncitizen]

"In 2008, American power lies shattered.­... US credibility lies in ruins.... Ultimately the strategies of the Bush administration have created a far bigger crisis in South and Central Asia than existed before 9/11."

Unless you are equating God with Bush...rel­igion has nothing to do with it.

"...any discussion or understanding of the "root causes" of terrorism—the growing poverty, repression, and sense of injustice that many Muslims felt at the hands of their US-backed governments, which in turn boosted anti-Americanism and Islamic extremism.­... Bush did more to keep Americans blind to world affairs than any American leader in recent history."

And on the other side:

"It is for this reason that many in the army still believe that the jihadis make up a more practical defense against Indian dominance than even nuclear weapons. For them, supporting a range of jihadi groups in Afghanistan and Kashmir is not an ideological or religious whim so much as a practical and patriotic imperative"

[wadenelson1]

Pakistan clearly needs a spanking. But who's man enough to give it to 'em?

[Meah]

A spanking? That language is not helpful. Such arrogance has really degraded this country.
Is it any wonder that we have developed such great relationships in the world?

[Phoebe917]

yes, vinny; bush had a *major* love affair with both the saudis and pakistan.

[AngieMom57]

Look, the Taliban needs to chill, these terrorists need to go and pick some poppies and connect with the Earth, simple as that; gardening soothes the militant soul . Send those mean men to the poppy fields with a pipe or whatever and leave the women to do some reading and writing and arithmetic.

[wadenelson1]

Key sentence: "Ultimately the strategies of the Bush administration have created a far bigger crisis in South and Central Asia than existed before 9/11."

[vinny]

"Saudi-financed advance of Wahhabi Islam"

i seem to recall Bush hanging out a lot with the Saudis...

[Hare]

and holding hands