After the devastating attacks in Mumbai late November 2008, the pressure on Pakistan escalated tremendously. For the last 2 decades, Pakistan has been using the policy of sponsoring terrorists (not only Pakistan, since after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan along with the US and Saudi Arabia armed people to fight against the Russians, using religion as the driving force), and this is something that is confirmed by the intelligence agencies of many countries as well as by Pakistani politicians at different periods. As with many other Frankensteins that get created, this is one creation that is hurting people across the globe, including the state of Pakistan where the terrorists believe that the state is under the control of the infidel United States and that a pure religious state needs to come into existence.
All this was highlighted with dramatic effect on November 26th when a band of terrorists came to the Indian city of Mumbai, and with precision, caused major damage to the city and killed almost 200 people. Now, investigations that have been carried out (by Indian investigators and those of other countries (since nationals from other countries have also died)) have come to a conclusion that the attacks were planned by the Lashkar-e-Taiba and supported by many former intelligence officials and ex-army men. Inspite of Pakistani denials (maybe to provide the effect that the Pakistani nation does not buckle under pressure), the United States and other countries have applied a lot of pressure, and this pressure seems to be having effect:

continue reading "Pakistani authorities take action against LeT"

For quite some time now, the United States has come to the realization that Pakistan is not going to take decisive steps to root out the fast strengthening elements of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda in the border regions of Pakistan. These elements get the space in these border regions to regroup from clashes with the NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan, get the attention (including medical attention) that they need, and then head back into Afghanistan to battle again. In addition, these regions are also attracting fighters from a varied groups such as Arab fighters, Uzbek, Chechen (and many others, all of whom see this battle as a fight against the infidel enemy (the US) and its supporters (the Afghan army, and the administration). The US took a long time to figure out as to why Pakistan has been not willing to carry out the public promises made in 2001 and 2002 to turn fully against the elements of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, but understanding is finally on the way. (For a good article on this, refer to this NYTimes.com article; a fairly longish article, but one that is questioning the extent to which the Pakistani Taleban is taking over the country, and the support they are getting from Pakistani forces).
Pakistan has for a long time seen Afghanistan as being a strategic zone of influence, and highly resents influence of other countries such as the US and India (more so India) in Afghanistan. However, it is now facing a situation where its own created monster is acting against it, trying to convert Pakistan into an extremist Islamist ruled country. Its army and paramilitaries are also getting under the same influence, and not so much in favor of acting against these terrorist on the say of the US. In response, for the last few months, the US has been reading the riot act to the Pakistanis at different levels, both in public and in private (meetings with Musharraf, with the spy agencies, and with the army chief). However, it now seems that the US has finally decided to take matters into its own hands and started to act against the terrorists wherever they can find them. The last few days have seen many attacks by drones and by actual soldiers inside Pakistani territory:

continue reading "US gets more active against Pakistan based Taleban"

For some time now, the United States led international force in Afghanistan has been the target of a sustained insurrection by the Taleban, no doubt aided by the Al-Qaeda network (right now, it is hard to separate the 2; although the long term aims of the 2 are different). Now, the Taleban was supposedly a student’s movement, but in reality it was a push by the ISI intelligence agency of Pakistan (supported by Benazir Bhutto’s Government) to get back control of the affairs of Afghanistan, or atleast get influence on the Government over there. After the US led forces overthrew the Taleban in late 2001, it was expected that the ISI will stop supporting them. However, it has been alleged by Karzai’s Government in Afghanistan for some time now that the Taleban has been getting support from Pakistan, not only in the lawless regions of the border areas, but also direct Government support including from the intelligence agency. The same has been alleged by NATO commanders in the region.
And then there was this bomb blast outside the Indian embassy in Kabul. Now, because of the long-standing rivalry between India and Pakistan, Pakistan cannot stand to see the current level of Indian presence and influence in Afghanistan, a region that Pakistan has always regarded as its area of influence. After the bomb blast, Pakistan as usual denied any role. However, this time, the CIA has actually supported the stand of the Indians that the ISI did have a role to play and actually confronted the Government of Pakistan and its military with its finding:

continue reading "The US, Pakistan, and the ISI"

Pakistan is really facing strange days. After the tragedy of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination more than a month back, the country seems to going through some mighty strange days. For one, the President and former army chief, Gen. Musharraf is blamed by large sections of the country’s population for having a role in the assassination; if not directly, then atleast in terms of not providing her adequate security that let a shooter and suicide bomber get within range (and of course there are the conspiracy theorists who believe that for such an incident to happen in a military city means that there has to be intelligence agencies involvement).
At the same time, there seems to be a further game in terms of ensuring that the next elections also lead to a situation where there will be no combination of parties that could gang up against the President. The biggest problem is that of the security situation in the country. Earlier it was recognized that the border areas were the one with the problem of poor state control and security, but slowly the situation has changed, and for the worse. Now, the jihadis have moved far into the interior of Pakistan and the menace of shootings and suicide bombings has become more commonplace, much more than the citizens of Pakistan would appreciate. And all this has happened at a time when the army was in control, making one wonder as to the capability of the Pakistani army to control these elements.

continue reading "Whither / Wither Pakistan ?"