Pakistan -- Again
Bill Roggio describes how a Taliban commander was captured in Waziristan. The Daily Telegraph reports that "America is stepping up its hunt for Osama bin Laden by dispatching additional CIA operatives and paramilitary officers to Pakistan to kill or capture the al-Qa'eda leader."
posted by wretchardthecat at 3/08/2007 05:53:00 PM
5 Comments:
Ah yes, this is Pelosi's "unfinished and nearly forgotten war."
Afghanistan is NATO’s highest political and operational priority. With its expansion into eastern Afghanistan on October 5, 2006, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is now responsible for providing security assistance throughout the entire country. ISAF's primary role is to support the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) in providing and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate reconstruction and development.
NATO’s ISAF force in Afghanistan, commanded by UK Gen. David Richards, assumed security responsibility for all of Afghanistan on October 5, 2006. With NATO’s expansion into the east, ISAF now has more than 31,000 soldiers from 37 nations.
Forgetting means never having to say you’re sorry
Now, who is doing the forgetting? Perhaps Al Gore and the Carbon Credit Crew, who declare Global Warming the greatest threat to mankind today?
Afghanistan has pushed NATO to shift its orientation from the defense of fixed Cold War borders into an era of unconventional and often global threats to the shared values and interests of its 26 democratic members.
Tony,
Thanks for your observation about the change that Afghanistan effected in NATO. It's of a piece if Bill Clinton's argument that the entire face of the Middle East has changed, with Iran now supplanting Israel as the chief fear object of the Arabs.
Whether or not GWB gets to be judged by history as a good President, he will certainly be consequential. I think there's consensus on that point, the chief difference being that the Left consider him to be the most disastrous President in living memory (consequential but bad) and the Conservatives consider him to be the guy who got the Left madder than it has been in a long time.
My theory about the Pakistani abandonment of Waziristan is that it gives the allies a freer hand in pursuing al-Qaeda since the Pakistani Army is not in that area. Thus this raid and the cross border attacks from Afghanistan.
I agree with betacygni. The Taliban and "tribal areas" warlords are about to find out that you should be careful what you wish for.
If the central Pakistani government does not exercise sovereignity over the tribal areas, then that means that the US can strike into that area at will
Jeez. I go through all the trouble of setting up a Google account and starting a blog--[new-to-pdx at blogspot] might as well?--so I could comment on this post.
Well, I agree with betacygni, papabear and dan. That was sure worth the last hour of noodling around.
Anyway, the whole scenario looks like a friendly-fire reduction program. I will be on the lookout for some serious fireworks.
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