Good News From Pakistan
The tribal region of Northern Pakistan has long been a sanctuary for Islamic terrorists. This area has been suspected of harboring Osama bin Laden. But lately the local tribesmen have been turning against foreign terrorists operating in their country.
About fifty Islamic militants — mostly from Uzbekistan and Chechnya — were killed earlier today in clashes with native Pakistanis. A Pakistani official said all together about 177 foreign militants have been killed by locals since last week.
The Pakistani government has been unsuccessful in getting rid of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, especially in the tribal regions. But lately the government has been signing treaties with some of the tribes, hoping to drive a wedge between the tribesmen and foreign terrorists. This approach seems to be working.
The latest battle started when a terrorist group tried to forcibly recruit students from a local tribal school.
Now THIS is the way to fight the Global War On Terror. Persuasion. Capturing the hearts and minds of millions of people, village by village, tribe by tribe. It beats the shit out of alienating the rest of the world by bombing, invading and occupying.
Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan have never been conquered by an outside army. The Soviet Union in the 1980s and England in the early 1900s are the most recent would-be conquerors to get their asses kicked. Now it’s al Qaeda’s turn.
Labels: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Chechnya, Global War On Terror, Pakistan, Uzbekistan
posted by Tom Harper @ 4:05 PM
11 Comments:
Good news indeed! You can't expect to use violence to scare out people who aren't afraid to die anyway. This sounds like a true hearts and minds campaign indeed.
Mile High Pixie: Yup, this is the kind of approach we should be pushing for. Think of the billions of dollars and thousands of lives we'd save, not to mention being respected rather than hated.
When those who we consider our enemies start policing their own ranks, and getting rid of those who don't represent positive human values, it is truly a cause for rejoicing. I will be wishing the best for those Pakistanis who dislike having the foreign troublemakers around to find good fortune in working with them to create a more stable situation.
It would be interesting if they have some long term success.
It would be ironic if Pakistan "won" the war on terror without the high-tech sophisticated technology the U.S. has and with no private contractors.
I would imagine that many tribal leaders after a while realize they are getting no return from casting their lots with terror groups.
But they do get a return from being a part of the government in the form of services and protection.
Too bad Bush didn't have the capacity to (1) actually try to get Bin Laden and shut down Al Qaeda (2) rather than dumping all that money into the accounts of private contractors in Iraq, instead dumped it into the coffers of local tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan on the condition that it be used for economic development and that they will NOT cooperate with terrorists.
Snave: This is truly the way to win a war of idealogy, having Moslem tribes deciding they don't want foreign Moslem terrorists meddling on their turf.
PoliShifter: Yup, that definitely makes more sense, the put money in the coffers of local tribes instead of American contractors. But that would exclude Halliburton and Blackwater (and hundreds of other sleazy companies just like them) from getting their cut. BushCheney will never allow it.
The celebrating is way too premature regarding Pakistan.
The country is ready to fly apart at the seams, and guess who's in an expansion phase inside Pakistan these days?
If you answered The Taliban, you are correct.
Musharraf is not going to survive. And only Dog knows what is going to replace him. Who will be around his nuke stockpile when the whole she-bang comes apart?
Jolly Roger: You're right, it won't be pretty. I'm still glad to see local tribesmen (who are devout Moslems themselves) turning on the foreign Islamic terrorists in their country. But as far as what ultimately happens in Pakistan, watch out.
"Now THIS is the way to fight the Global War On Terror. Persuasion. Capturing the hearts and minds of millions of people, village by village, tribe by tribe. It beats the shit out of alienating the rest of the world by bombing, invading and occupying."
Behold the voice of reason.
Candace: Yeah, if only our "leaders" used reason for solving international problems. But then there'd be no huge profits for Halliburton and the oil companies; much better to declare war on sovereign nations who aren't a threat to us.
Well I might be wrong, but..... honestly I don't see this move by local tribal leaders as much more than an attempt to freeze out the "outsiders" from the loot to be had once "Busharraf" is sent packing.
In the Taliban, they already have a pretty virulent homegrown strain of radical (the Pashtu ethnic group that makes up most of the Taliban has plenty of members on the Waziristan side of the border.)
Jolly Roger: I really don't know if this is good news or not, ultimately. The main reason I posted about this was, I traveled around that area in the mid-1970s. I felt a real affinity for Afghanistan and the tribal region of Northern Pakistan. I wouldn't be caught dead there now, with all the political and religious turmoil, but back then the people were friendly and it was just a fascinating other-worldly place to visit.
Those people are very proud and self-contained, and I've hated to see them taken over by any outside group, whether it's America, Russia or al Qaeda.
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