US May Expand Strikes In Pakistan

New York Times:

President Obama and his national security advisers are considering expanding the American covert war in Pakistan far beyond the unruly tribal areas to strike at a different center of Taliban power in Baluchistan, where top Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks into southern Afghanistan.

According to senior administration officials, two of the high-level reports on Pakistan and Afghanistan that have been forwarded to the White House in recent weeks have called for broadening the target area to reach the Taliban and other insurgent groups to a major sanctuary in and around the city of Quetta.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Right-turn]

06:01 PM on 03/18/2009

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

[jay1975]

04:31 PM on 03/18/2009

Obama has turned his back on getting out of Iraq within the first 16 months and now he is considering expanding into Pakistan after he has already decided to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. Why?

[vishix]

09:41 PM on 03/18/2009

because if he leaves afghanistan then it will fall into chaos, if afghanistan falls into chaos it could expand into pakistan, if pakistan falls into chaos then the nukes could fall into jihadi hands.

it's not rocket science guys, please try to do some reasoning on your own.

[Ergon]

05:46 PM on 03/20/2009

Afghanistan IS in chaos.

[vishix]

03:12 PM on 03/18/2009

obama needs to stop wasting time and just invade already

[Kise S.]

03:27 PM on 03/18/2009

America rule-makers in Tel'Aviv wont let him they need your son and daughter to fight Iran so they don't waste their people lives

[Ergon]

05:45 PM on 03/20/2009

Lots of Indians here wanting the pres to invade pakistan.

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

12:02 PM on 03/18/2009

...WAR is ALWAY$ a worthy human activity
and should be encouraged at every opportunity!

[CaptainStormfield]

11:26 AM on 03/18/2009

http://www.d-n-i.net/dni/2009/02/24/on-war-293-the-price-of-bad-tactics/
William S. Lind

[Gumby123]

11:11 AM on 03/18/2009

Obama, this is a quagmire. Get our troops out!

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

12:09 PM on 03/18/2009

...and flush the white house
of the war-mongering predictors
currently whispering in his big ears!
Pack up the war department's crap to a self storage lock-up
and move the PEACE DEPARTMENT into the satanically shaped pentagon.

[AirForce Vet]

10:45 AM on 03/18/2009

It this is a true intent, then I say the following. We shouldn’t get involved in the expansion of covert activities into the affairs of other nations. It seems as though we have a failing report card on those particular actions. Don’t we have enough problems in this country that need resolutions? How about expanding the size of our faltering economy, education, VA benefits, healthcare, disease research or the sheltering of the homeless. Why do we continue to assumed the position of being the overseer of the world’s business when we can’t take care of our own? We need to clean this house first, before we even consider the cleaning of another. It is a shame that we have failed to learn from our previous follies.

[wdw505]

11:08 AM on 03/18/2009

yawn

[mergina]

10:40 AM on 03/18/2009

May? If you do not, what is the point of being there or in Afghanistan?

[Ergon]

09:57 AM on 03/18/2009

All the India defenders are out, I see, but the article is about Pakistan, and US interests.

[vishix]

10:13 PM on 03/18/2009

I'm pretty sure a nuclear winter falls under US interests...

[Strategy]

10:59 PM on 03/18/2009

So, are you P@kistani?

[Ergon]

05:47 PM on 03/20/2009

Replied several times. Nope.

[AbstractImp]

07:42 AM on 03/18/2009

You see, Bush-Cheney-Rove just needed to keep the enemy alive, to stoke fear and try to retain power.

It worked for a while, but thankfully, the voters threw them out.

No one wants another Vietnam, so be careful in Afghanistan . . .

[MacQ]

09:50 AM on 03/18/2009

Um, the article is about the Obama administration in case you weren't aware...
and there has been a change in leadership in Pakistan since Bush was President, in case you weren't aware.

[wdw505]

10:19 AM on 03/18/2009

no really.....wow

[Luvial]

03:49 AM on 03/21/2009

Bush-Cheney-Rove-Obama

[PhilipB]

04:50 AM on 03/18/2009

The key is Baluchistan
That troubled southeast province.
This province is a bargaining chip, a kind of tit for tat chess piece.

[rizvisa1]

09:39 AM on 03/18/2009

Bargaining chip ? how so

[FogBelter]

03:12 AM on 03/18/2009

If Pakistan collapses there are going to be a large number of American, Japanese and European companies that are going to regret their exposure in India. No way a theocratic Pakistan doesn't wind up in war with its neighbor.

That being said, the hawks in the Pentagon better know exactly why they are expanding bombing in Pakistan ... it could be an extremely stupid mistake with unforeseen ramifications.

[gsc 99]

03:51 AM on 03/18/2009

Amazing defense of status-quo by highlighting Indian interest.

Also, you are trying to use the present political turmoil as a backdrop for your argument againt military response. Separate issues.

This the same arguments used by Pakistani military that blackmails India. Hand-over Kashmir or ther will be no Peace and no economic recovery in India an example of Kargil war during 1998 by Military dictator Musharraf.

Lets be honest about this. We have to weed out extremists from Pakistan. That won't happen voluntarily. Military option is the only option.

[cardineau]

05:47 AM on 03/18/2009

If the US left the area there wouldn't be hardly any extremists left in Pakistan. The US presence is the underlying reason for all of the turmoil. All of this bloodshed and misery in the world because the US wants a pipeline to the Indian ocean from central Asia.

[cardineau]

05:48 AM on 03/18/2009

If the US left the area there would be hardly any extremists left in Pakistan. The US presence is the underlying reason for all of the turmoil. All of this bloodshed and misery in the world because the US wants a pipeline to the Indian ocean from central Asia.

sorry for the error

[firelord5000]

12:48 AM on 03/18/2009

Not very covert now lol, there is no proof that Osama is even in that region anymore, but he gl dudes!

[DLBSR]

12:48 AM on 03/18/2009

Al Qaeda, Taliban targeting Pakistani nuclear sites
By Bill RoggioDecember 11, 2007 2:26 PM

Map of major Pakistani Air Force bases, including the nuclear sites of Kamra and Sargodha. Pakistani air bases are the most likely sites to house nuclear weapons storage and launch facilities. Click to view.


Yesterday's suicide bombing at the Kamra Air Force Base in Punjab was not the first strike at a nuclear weapons storage facility. After a closer look at the bases struck inside Pakistan since August, at least two more strikes occurred either on or near nuclear weapons storage facilities, based on open source information on Pakistan's nuclear weapons programs. Since August 2007, there have been two suicide attacks at or near the Sargodha Air Force Base, a nuclear weapons and missile storage facility in central Punjab province. Other attacks in Punjab and the Northwest Frontier Province may be aimed at facilities providing regional security for Pakistan's nuclear program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps the President knows more than we do? I don't know, I am just saying......................

[WierdWookie]

12:47 AM on 03/18/2009

Men riding Donkeys do not know what part of the world they are in, much less what part of we inhabit.
Bomb them as Bush did? Change we can believe in?

[Eyeswideopen1]

02:51 AM on 03/18/2009

Is that what the voices in your head say?

[AN2009]

03:40 AM on 03/18/2009

To quote the cult of Obama: "Yes we can!"