Admiral Mullen testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday about Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence direct involvement in an attack on the US Embassy in Kabul on September 13th. Pakistan has stopped denying that these connections between the ISI and the Haqqani network exist, instead announcing that it doesn’t do any good to say such things about allies in the open. It seems we should forget the fact that saying such things in private hasn’t done any good either. You may notice from a previous article, “The Pakistani People are Going Insane!”, that this author has certain opinions about the complexity of Pakistani public opinion and how it relates to reality.
In my experience, you can find out very quickly if you are talking to a Pakistani with a logical mind not polluted by the cultural of conspiracy so rampant in Pakistan. All you need do is utter the word India. If the Pakistani you’re conversing with suddenly puffs out their chest and claims that Indian forces vastly outnumber Pakistan’s army and their country could be cut in half in a matter of days, then you have a culturally insane Pakistani who is about to justify why the ISI keeps the Taliban and the Haqqani network on a long leash.
If they shake their head and tell you that India is where the American special forces train to pose as Islamic terrorists to carry out suicide attacks and bombings in Pakistan because their Islamic militants would never kill fellow Pakistanis, then you got another loon on your hands about to tell you that American special forces assassinated Benazir Bhutto.
If they instead shake their head and simply lament that India, its economy, and its people are leaving Pakistan behind in a swamp of religious extremism with a powerless civilian government cowering before a dominant military establishment. You have now met a true Pakistani, a well educated worldly person that will probably bring up the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and start to explain how, without the war on terror, there would’ve been a P in that BRIC somewhere.
In my opinion, this is all for the best. The Obama administration decision to move beyond the false public relationship with Pakistan and do what it takes to destroy the Haqqani network sheltering on the Pakistani side of the border was the correct choice. I don’t care what political party you affiliate yourself with, this is the classic false choice war bullshit that America always get mired in. In the Korean conflict, American forces had one hand tied behind their back when it came to crossing the 38th parallel because of China’s involvement. In the Vietnam war, the same hand was tied when it came to North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh trail in Cambodia and Laos. Today, we have Taliban forces attacking American units and conducting suicide assaults in Kabul before ducking back over the Pakistani border to rest, refresh, and resupply. There are even some reports coming out that Pakistan’s ISI is responsible for bringing the Taliban back from near defeat in 2002 through organization, rearming and training assistance.
The Haqqani boys are basically the closest thing on the planet to the old hardcore Al Qaeda people from a decade ago. These guys were there from the beginning during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and worked with Osama since way back then too. They have recently come to the conclusion that striking Americans any way possible is necessary. They’ve been carrying out increasingly bold attacks within Afghanistan, but are desperate to hit the US. Pakistan cherishes these individuals as an effective bulwark against an alliance between India and Afghanistan, their greatest fear. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s strategy is well known to all players and as a result of this path, Afghanistan and India have recently signed a strategic alliance pact. Pakistan didn’t like this.
I still maintain that this is all for the best. Even when Pakistan starts courting China to replace the guns and butter they used to get from the US, this action still breaks down a dangerous dynamic that holds Afghanistan hostage. Getting Pakistan to remove it’s strategic thumb from Afghanistan would be more effective than staying in Afghanistan to kill every last Taliban fighter. Removing the Haqqani network is, unfortunately, very important to US national security.
One of the things about drone attacks that the media doesn’t tell Americans very much involves women and children. Not the drone attacks gone bad that kill innocent civilians. I’m talking about many of the successful drone attacks that kill known terrorists. These hits usually kill the families surrounding these terrorists. I mention this because I myself am not so sure about the morality of assassination, especially when it means the murder of the targets family. I also mention this because Jalaluddin Haqqani, the head of the entire family-based terror network, lost eight grandchildren to a single US drone strike in September of 2008. Just in case you question the motivation of the Haqqani network to attack the United States, imagine what you would plan for the people that killed eight of your grandchildren. I know these particular grand kids would’ve been raised to kill Americans and Jews, but that doesn’t change how much the Haqqani’s want revenge. These guys cannot be overlooked for the sake of Pakistani-US relations.
