[Peace-discuss] Object of Obama's war

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Believe nothing until it's officially denied.  In fact, we have troops in 
Pakistan now.  Jeremy Scahill has described the activities of the Blackwater 
mercenaries there; both the CIA and the military have been killing people there 
with robot bombs; and the "Specail Operations" assassins and death squads that 
are McChrystal's specialty surely been active there.  The US apparently fears 
the opposition of the Pakistani army to US domination of the region and is doing 
all in its power to convince that army to do what it's told -- because, we 
insist, Pakisitan faces an "existential threat" from the Taliban.  (Interesting, 
because the Pakistani army is the source of the Taliban -- with Saudi & US 
money.) --CGE]

	Admiral Mullen: No Discussion of Putting Troops in Pakistan
	Insists Pakistan's Future Will Be Decided in Afghanistan
	by Jason Ditz, December 08, 2009

Hoping to quash persistent reports that the United States is mulling a ground 
invasion of northern Pakistan, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael 
Mullen insists no discussion at all has happened about putting US ground forces 
in Pakistan, and that the only troops allowed in Pakistani territory are the 
ones training Pakistan’s military.

Instead, Admiral Mullen sees the US war in Afghanistan as a means for 
stabilizing Pakistan, which will probably come as a surprise to Pakistanis which 
have seen their nation grow less and less stable as the war drags on.

“I also believe that Pakistan’s future will in great part be driven by what kind 
of country Afghanistan is, stable or unstable,” Mullen said. And while Pakistan 
would doubtless benefit from a stable Afghanistan, it is clearly paying a heavy 
price for American intervention in the nation.

Since 2001 the largely forgotten hinterlands of Pakistan’s Federally 
Administered Tribal Areas have filled with Afghan refugees and insurgents, and 
American pressure has forced Pakistan to launch a series of costly invasions 
against the regions, which have led to deadly attacks in Pakistan’s major cities.

Pakistani officials have also expressed concern that the US escalation in 
Afghanistan will drive yet more militants across the border, and that it will 
destabilize Balochistan, its largest province and home to a growing separatist 
movement.