Good article. Ricks states the obvious. Still, most needed saying. Ahmed is to be applauded for his brutal self-assessment of the parlous state of the Afghan people. The cost to America has largely been negligible. To be sure we've lost 1000+ soldiers and more wounded, many of whom are...
Nice to see my alma mater, the University Of Wisconsin-Madison, ranked 41. A lot of subjectivity in any of these rankings and department considerations always go much further. So too does the effort made by each undergraduate student to avail themselves of all available resources.
"...Karzai is not in a position to publicly oppose this, his life is now in constant danger from the US and her Afghan allies."
Your discourse has markedly deteriorated. I see you've resorted to stirring the pot. Child-like and irresponsible flaming.
"...of course some people...will say ''why dont the Chinese give Pak more aid'' --which in itself is a stupid question, considering bilateral trade with China is growing --and it is trade and access to new markets that can help Pakistan the most..."
Odd. This complaint is often heard by...
"...its a reality that US is working on India mainly for countering China..."
This is an infantile assertion. The U.S. is engaged with India because of its emergence as a global economic power and India's latent market potential evidenced in over 1 billion citizens. It is for that same...
"...So what are these interests between Pakistan and China? To Mr. Khan they are limited to China's desire for energy resources..."
No doubt China wishes to continue enjoying the significant trade imbalance currently existing between Pakistan and itself.
OTOH, Muse, what ELSE might you...
My friend, A.M. is untrained in the military arts. As such his rants about the border region of eastern Afghanistan are poorly articulated.
The border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is physically rugged and very isolated. Much of it is heavily forested. These physical constraints...
Every comment on this thread so far has been directed at America's drone attacks.
Nonetheless, carefully note Shahzad Choudhry's comment-
"...So they [AMERICA] remain tied to the drones, which continue to violate Pakistans national sovereignty since both the militants and the Americans...
Article is nonsensical alarmism designed to keep this guy employed among the conspiracy loons buying copy.
America won't keep India from doing anything. It's a long-established independant nation with a VERY independant foreign policy. That said, nobody on this planet has anything to fear...
"What is your take on the piece below:"
I'm generally underwhelmed. People in various muslim (near exclusively arab) nations appear seeking a greater voice in their nat'l affairs. So? I can't recall America as having ever been opposed to such.
Before you pile on the litany of despotic...
"That your positions have not changed since you began posting here is regrettable - it suggests that you have made an effort to not learn - it's your prerogative of course, but generally, certainly in my experience, finding no reason to change one's understanding is not something to be proud...
Books, eh?
What's Afghanistan's literacy during the height of the taliban? Were those books central to the Taliban Minister of Education's plan to raise forth Afghanistan's children? Who distributed those books during the Afghan-Soviet war? How many of them made their way to Pakistani...
"your positions are emotion -- not saying that's some how invalid for you...
just that emotion will not allow us to negotiate this maze of "Great game" geo-politics."
My central position has remained unchanged since I began posting here some years ago.
This is a war brought to America by Al...
"...By the way Headely is Canadian national not Pakistani."
I believe you're wrong. Headley carries dual citizenship in the U.S. (his birthplace) and Pakistan. Tahawwur Rana is a Pakistani-Canadian citizen.
"Its now an established fact that CIA is behind many terror attacks in pakistan"
Established only in the empty spaces between your ears passing for a brain. Sheer idiocy.
"The reason I said that about people disliking America was the arrogance radiating from your rant..."
There's no arrogance from my POST, sir. Our diplomats are routinely harassed unduly by your security services and even endangered. Twice now our C.I.A. station chief has been publically...
An interesting poll conducted annually by the BBC World Service regarding the relative popularity of nations as viewed by the citizens of other countries. Lot of interesting data here about how most globally relevant countries are seen by their peers-
BBC Global Popularity Poll By Country...
"...they are certainly spending half of their CIA budget on pakistan now"
:rofl:
I doubt that.:)
We've a very large spy budget and watch a lot of interesting things everywhere.