Pakistan Signs Deal With the Devil
| 4/14/2009 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the regulation which gives the Taliban legal control over the Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border. The Taliban came into existence wtih the help of Pakistani security forces. They were originally meant to operate in controlling Afghanistan after the Russians pulled out in the 1990s.
The Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies have terrorised that area of Pakistan since being pushed from power in Afghanistan. They have used the area to launch attacks against international forces, including Canadians, engaged in trying to bring stability to Afghanistan. They have also used it as a base to attack the Pakistani government. It also appears the attack in Mumbai earlier this year were planned and controlled from this area.
The Pakistani security forces have been unable (or unwilling) to establish control in the lawless northern region of the country so they have agreed to allow this ‘peace’ arrangement. Does the goverment really believe that the Taliban will be content to simply rule the Swat Valley with their hardline Islamic sense of justice? Not bloody likely.
What the government has done is provide the Taliban with a base from which they will be able to train and launch with impunity. At this point, the only way that they, the Taliban and Al Queda leadership, are going to be facing opposition to their efforts to take control not only of Afghanistan but anywhere else they choose to extend their cancerous talons is through the attacks by the predator drones the Americans have been deploying.
My western sense of ‘justice’ says the Americans should be respecting the ‘sovereignty’ of Pakistan and not sending those drones in. I have difficulty in upholding that sense though when I see how ineffective the Pakistani security forces are at establishing and maintaining peace and security in the largely lawless northwest near the Afghanistan border.
When I see how readily those same insurgent leadership can send their troops across the border into Afghanistan to terrorize the people of Afghanistan and plant their cowardly IEDs to kill Canadians and others trying to help that country build, my thoughts is “bring on the drones”.
Yesterday, a young Canadian only two weeks into her deployment was killed by one of those IEDs. Later this week I’ll be standing on a bridge showing my respect for her sacrifice and support to her family. If Pakistan wants to make deals with the devil to try make themselves believe they can have peace, then it will take international forces to enforce that peace either with or without Pakistan’s help.
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