[Peace-discuss] Obama keeping his promise
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Wed Mar 18 21:43:16 CDT 2009
[Before last year's election the Obama campaign called Bush's attacks on
civilians in Pakistan "baby steps" and promised to do more. Obama in office has
kept that promise -- as the dead babies show -- and is apparently planning much
more. His administration resembles one elected 40 years ago -- a president of
the opposite party elected as a "peace candidate" after two terms of foreign war
by the other party, who then expands the war -- and the attack on Pakistan can
be compared to Nixon's on Cambodia. And that didn't work out very well. --CGE]
US military may escalate 'war on terror'
by striking deeper into Pakistan
Foreign ministry warns against 'counterproductive'
air strikes and commando raids
Washington is considering expanding its controversial policy of missile strikes
and commando raids deeper inside Pakistan, according to reports this morning.
In what would be a major escalation of the "war on terror", the New York Times
reported that the US may push its firepower into Pakistan's vast, economically
backward, Baluchistan province.
Washington has so far targeted militants based in Pakistan's semi-autonomous
tribal areas, which run along Afghanistan's eastern border. Baluchistan,
however, is a "settled" region and considered a regular part of the country.
However, the province, and especially its capital, Quetta, has long been
considered the home of the Afghan Taliban and an important sanctuary for al-Qaida.
This morning's reports drew a sharp reaction inside Pakistan.
"The United States would be pouring petrol on the 'war on terror' by these
methods," said Munawar Hassan, secretary general of Jamaat-i-Islami, the biggest
mainstream religious party. "The United States has no message of peace for the
world, they can only talk through arms and armaments."
Pakistan has opposed the use of US missile strikes in its tribal area, which
have killed some leading al-Qaida commanders but also led to the death of
innocent civilians. Islamabad complains that the attacks, from unmanned "drone"
aircraft operated by the CIA, are a flagrant breach of Pakistani sovereignty.
"As we have been saying all along, we believe such attacks are
counterproductive," said Abdul Basit, the spokesman for Pakistan's foreign
ministry, responding to this morning's reports. "They involve collateral damage
and they are not helpful in our efforts to win hearts and minds."
The exclusive western focus on the tribal area, which is a hotbed for militants,
has meant that the Afghan Taliban leadership, and its al-Qaida allies, have been
able to direct the insurgency in Afghanistan unmolested from Baluchistan. But
expanding operations to Baluchistan risks creating more volunteers for the
Taliban and raising the internal pressure on the Pakistani government, which has
struggled to contain anger over US attacks in the tribal area.
In September last year, American forces conducted their first known ground raid
within Pakistan, in the tribal area, causing uproar. If Taliban and al-Qaida
extremists are in Quetta itself or other urban areas, missile strikes may not be
feasible, so American boots on Pakistani soil would be required.
The Pakistani authorities, already under pressure from a domestic insurgency,
have been reluctant to stir up further trouble by tackling extremists in
Baluchistan, which runs along Afghanistan's eastern border. According to Kabul,
the Taliban founder, Mullah Omar, lives in Quetta. Northern Baluchistan is
populated by Pashtuns, the same ethnicity that is the biggest group in
Afghanistan and makes up most of the Taliban.
Critics have suggested that Pakistan is using Baluchistan to secretly back the
Taliban in Afghanistan, as it sees the regime of Hamid Karzai in Kabul as
dangerously close to arch-foe India – a claim denied by Islamabad. Pakistan's
army nurtured the rise of the Taliban, who swept to power in Afghanistan in the
mid-90s. However, after 9/11, Islamabad allied itself with the west, which
resulted in the creation of a Pakistani Taliban, opposed to their own government.
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US military may escalate 'war on terror' by striking deeper into Pakistan
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk at 15.31 GMT on Wednesday 18
March 2009. It was last updated at 16.07 GMT on Wednesday 18 March 2009.
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