Bush-backed Pakistani truces leading to Taliban resurgence (unbelievable)

[ProSense]

Posted on Fri, Sep. 01, 2006

Truces fueling resurgence of Taliban, critics say

By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Pakistani military is striking truces with Islamic separatists along the country's border with Afghanistan, freeing Pakistani militants and al-Qaida fighters to join Taliban insurgents battling U.S.-led troops and government forces in Afghanistan.

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The fighting in Afghanistan is the bloodiest since U.S. forces drove the Taliban from power after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Many of the movement's top leaders, along with Osama bin Laden and many of his followers, escaped to Pakistan and have never been caught.

The Pakistani regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been negotiating truces - with the Bush administration's encouragement - with Islamic separatists in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, mountainous tribal areas along the Afghan border where U.S. officials think bin Laden may be hiding.

In return, Pakistani officials are promising to restrict the country's troops in the area to major bases and towns and to pour huge amounts of aid - much of it from the United States and other nations - into the destitute region, according to American officials.

But as the truces take hold, separatists have been crossing into Afghanistan to fight alongside Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, according to Western and Afghan officials.

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The separatists and the Taliban are Pashtuns, the ethnic group that dominates Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal region. It's unclear whether the flow is an unintended consequence of the truces or is being ignored - or encouraged - by Musharraf's regime as part of the price for peace with the separatists.

more...

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/jonathan_s_landay/15419933.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_jonathan_s_landay

[ProSense]

1. Failure On A Grand Scale Overseas

Saturday :: Sep 2, 2006Failure On A Grand Scale Overseasby Steve Soto

Here are several items for Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Iraq

A closer look at the Pentagon report released yesterday that Mary and I have referenced earlier shows that Iraqi casualties have spiraled upward by more than 50 percent since the al-Maliki government came into power. The situation has driven thousands of Sunni Arabs to move north and seek a new life and safety in Iraqi Kurdistan, which will eventually force the Kurds to raise the drawbridge and stop the rest of Iraq from moving north. Two items of interest are that the Kurds have ordered that the Iraqi flag be pulled down and replaced with the Kurdistan flag, and al-Maliki met with Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani today.

Snip...

Iran

The Russians and the rest of the EU say that they will not support sanctions at this time against Iran, and want more time for diplomacy to work, even as Iran asserts that it has a right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which it does. The Bush Administration, Great Britain, France, and perhaps Germany want to take a tougher line against Iran now, so there is an insurmountable split in the world community that was inevitable from the moment Bush invaded Iraq and rewarded India for breaking the NPT. If the French, British, and Germans want to play hardball with the Iranians so much, they should be required to put their troops into harm’s way in Iraq and replace our troops. For that matter, every GOP officeholder who agitates for a tougher line with Iran should send their military-age kids to Iraq as well, like House Intelligence committee chair Peter Hoekstra, who has three military age kids. The truth is that Iran is making slower progress than was anticipated, so as the New York Times noted today there is room to fashion a broad-based solution. But until the United States recognizes that 1) Bush squandered any chance to do something positive about Iran years ago; 2) Iran is a regional player that has just as much of a right to a nuclear program as India does; and 3) Iran must be brought into a regional solution for Iraq and isn’t a natural ally of Al Qaeda, we will make no constructive progress here.

Afghanistan

The United States says that Afghan opium production is out of control. Whose fault is that nimrods? With only 20,000 troops in Afghanistan, the US can do little to stop this trade or bring security to the country, especially when 10,000 of those troops are covering an area of 30,000 square miles in some of the most inaccessible terrain on earth. Hell, we can’t find Bin Laden after Bush let him get away at Tora Bora, so why does anyone think we are committed to Afghanistan? And our best friend in the war on terror Pervez Musharraf is busy cutting self-serving deals with Islamic separatists for truces which free up these forces to infiltrate back into Afghanistan to assist the Taliban and fight American and NATO forces.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/008623.php

Kurdistan president replaces Iraqi flag
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2807526&mesg_id=2807526

[ProSense]

2. Bolton vote come up later next week n/t

[agincourt]

3. Bush/Cheney/Rove/GOPigs support terrorism,

Have known this for years, the Americans with IQs over 75 would know as well if they weren't too lazy to think for themselves.