Mexico and Pakistan Paying with Blood for Being US Allies

[RiazHaq]

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It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”
Henry Kissinger 1968

What Dr. Kissinger said about South Vietnam in 1968 is just as relevant today for US allies Mexico and Pakistan.

In yet another blow to the already fragile US-Pakistan ties, the US Congress has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of improvised bombs, or IEDs, in the region by regulating the distribution of calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer. While the loss of a few hundred American lives to IEDs each year in a war zone needs to be reduced, the hypocrisy US legislators is evident by its failure to legislate to control guns in America that claim 30,000 innocent lives each year in the United States, and tens of thousands more in drug related gun violence in Mexico.

The most recent figure released by the Mexican government on the number of dead during the last 4 years is just over 34,000, according to Los Angeles Times. It's the consumption of drugs in the United States that makes drug smuggling highly profitable for powerful drug cartels, and it's the US made guns smuggled across the border into Mexico that account for the bulk of the Mexican fatalities.

US Military commanders say fertilizer bomb in Afghanistan could be as crucial to the Taliban as the surface-to-air missile was to the Afghan mujahedeen fighters in their war in the 1980s against the Soviets, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

In response to US concerns, Afghanistan government banned the use of Ammonium Nitrate last year. Pakistan followed suit by banning its use in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province which borders Afghanistan. The ban has been effective in significantly cutting IED casualties in 2011. There have been 192 IED related deaths till Sept this year, down from 368 last year, according to report in Time magazine. Part of the decline is attributed to the fact that the Taliban are now detonating roadside bombs with electronic signals, serving two purposes: they let the triggerman allow civilian vehicles to pass safely, and also let him time the explosion so the increasingly-sophisticated shaped-charged IEDs would do the most damage to the target vehicle.

As a land-locked and food deficit nation, Afghanistan gets the bulk of what it needs to survive from or through Pakistan across the 1500 mile long border shared by the two nations. Stricter controls on smuggling of Ammonium Nitrate may help reduce it but it's unrealistic to expect to completely eliminate it. Similar fertilizer is used by other Afghan neighbors and it is probably already being smuggled by determined insurgents into the country.

While the number of IED related deaths in Iraq number in hundreds, there are 30,000 lives annually lost annually to gun violence in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 100,000 Americans are victims of gun violence each year. In addition to those who are killed or injured, there are countless others whose lives are forever changed by the deaths of and injuries to their loved ones.

There are obvious parallels between the the US-Mexican border and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in terms of cross border smuggling and violence. The key difference is that the number of casualties in Afghanistan is only a small fraction of the death toll in Mexico and Pakistan. Given the Congressional inaction on gun control in the United States, the demands made on Pakistan are just hypocritical. Such demands and threat of punitive action against Pakistan will only worsen the US-Pakistan relations and damage the US efforts in the region.

Haq's Musings: US Blames Pak Fertilizer For IEDs in Afghanistan

[IndoCarib]

When was Mexico an ally of US ? I thought they are just neighbors

[xataxsata]

@ RiazHaq

Some clarifications required:

1. So now what's pakistan??????? friend or enemy of USA????????

2. Do you want to suggest that all the ill things and the mess in pakistan for decades is due to USA???

3. pakistan is not developed due to USA???????

4. what's ur suggestion???? what pakistan should do????

[W.11]

pakistan has never got anything with two faced snake

[Trisonics]

pakistan has never got anything with two faced snake

Two faced snake can be used the other way around as well. Any reasonable person will agree that both countries have had problems with each other. As for Mr Haq's rant, he forgets the choice to be an ally, friend, enemy or whatever else with America is completely with Pak.

They still choose to be with US. Going by his fondness for Mushy there is no doubt that he will not pick on the duplicity of PAK's military that has bought most of the problems on PAK.

I repeat again, the ball is still in Pak's court and it still is your choice. So please stop whining so much.

[Avatar]

What kind of an ally shelters your biggest enemy, denies all knowledge of his existence and then gets furious when he is found and neutralized whilst living comfortably somewhere not far from one of their most esteemed military academies ?

[kdelphi1983]

Your comparison doesn't hold water - In the US, possessing weapons is in accordance to the second amendment - an Individual's right to bear arms for self defense. This is constitutional.

In the other scenario, American soldiers are being killed by IEDs, which are made for materials mostly imported from Pakistan. This is illegal, and should be treated as such.

I'm sure you would make a big hue and cry, if bombs exploded in Pakistan, and you find out these explosives came from Afghanistan. India definitely would.

[sandy_3126]

In US, its legal to own guns.. and legally procured gun haven't caused a single criminal death since 1988... so there goes your argument in the trash.... bye bye

[xLancex]

Mexico and Pakistan should build a grand alliance to counter the evil States of America

[RiazHaq]

Your comparison doesn't hold water - In the US, possessing weapons is in accordance to the second amendment - an Individual's right to bear arms for self defense. This is constitutional.

In the other scenario, American soldiers are being killed by IEDs, which are made for materials mostly imported from Pakistan. This is illegal, and should be treated as such.

I'm sure you would make a big hue and cry, if bombs exploded in Pakistan, and you find out these explosives came from Afghanistan. India definitely would.

The production and use of fertilizer is legal in Pakistan, as it is elsewhere in the world.

Guns made in America kill tens of thousands of Americans, and American guns smuggled into Mexico have killed tens of thousands of innocent Mexicans, and the US has failed to stop it. The number of Mexican deaths are rising.

Guns are made primarily for one purpose: to kill. Fertilizer is made primarily for use in farming; to feed and clothe people, not to kill them. Pakistan is making efforts to stop its smuggling, and the IED death toll has dropped significantly this year to about 192 from 368 last year.



Haq's Musings: US Blames Pak Fertilizer For IEDs in Afghanistan

[BladeMaster]

i wonder how many russian made guns kill people, and how many chinese made kill people??

weapons gotta come from somewhere, if the usa didnt sell it to certain countries, you bet your a$$ china and russia would be selling it to them.

[RiazHaq]

i wonder how many russian made guns kill people, and how many chinese made kill people??

weapons gotta come from somewhere, if the usa didnt sell it to certain countries, you bet your a$$ china and russia would be selling it to them.

Many countries make fertilizer too. Should IED deaths in Afghanistan be blamed on all of them, particularly all regional neighbors?

Unlike fertilizer, guns can be traced to their origins. Most guns used in US and Mexico are US-made, and easily available due to lack of gun control and the extraordinary power of the NRA, the US gun lobby....this is US democracy at work.

[A1Kaid]

We know Riaz, you don't have to inform us. It's the price Pakistan will pay for it's stupidity and corrupt dishonest and traitorous Government and shady Military leadership. The country needs a good bloody purging.

[Sin Pateh]

i wonder how many russian made guns kill people, and how many chinese made kill people??

weapons gotta come from somewhere, if the usa didnt sell it to certain countries, you bet your a$$ china and russia would be selling it to them.

You seem defend for your master at any corners if possible!

That's why they declare you as their no.1 puppet and just build a new base on your soil because of that!?

congratulations!

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I've though that Mexico and Australia are states of USA but I wasn't too wrong!

[BladeMaster]

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Many countries make fertilizer too. Should IED deaths in Afghanistan be blamed on all of them, particularly all regional neighbors?

Unlike fertilizer, guns can be traced to their origins. Most guns used in US and Mexico are US-made, and easily available due to lack of gun control and the extraordinary power of the NRA, the US gun lobby....this is US democracy at work.

i know the point your trying to make, but the american constitution allows for it, everyone has a right to bear arms. im sure even in your country a lot of people have guns, and i bet it is even less regulated then guns in america, but maybe same as mexico.

however the difference is, pakistan is an ally with the usa in the war on terror. Allies do not sell weapons or explosive material to the people you are fighting against!. They, even in america, would not allow their companies to sell equiptment or material to those they or their allies are fighting.