To any of our Soldiers that have been stationed on the Pakistan border, it can be difficult to embrace the Pakis as allies. I've been there and I wasn't so convinced then myself. To our citizens who have not been there, the news can make the Pakis seem to be more of an enemy than a ally. Some have portrayed the Pakistan government as a right wing military dictatorship while others as an islamist infiltrated nuclear armed beast.
But the reality is different from the perception. The Pakistani security forces have taken more AQ terrorists than nearly any other ally. During the early days of our invasion of Afghanistan, it was our Paki allies that afforded us overflight and more to combat our enemies of 9/11. And today things are heating up in Pakistan.
For our Soldiers, know that our enemy is between us and our Paki allies. This is a large part of the perception we have. That enemy is also attacking our Paki allies. They are the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, even if they take on other names such as Fedayeen Islam when claiming their attacks. They are most at home in the Pashtun tribes that saddle the border.
They targeted former President Musharraf for assassination multiple times and succeeded on their second attack against his popular opponent Bhutto. It appears they may have targeted the current President a few days ago in the Marriot Hotel attack.
Those that openly call for US incursions into Pakistan fuel the recruiting of our common enemy in those border mountains. The enemy uses proof of incursions, real or imagined, and calls by our politicians for further incursions as a recruiting tool for more attacks on both us and our ally.
And it is an atrocious enemy that drools over the thought of attaining the nuclear weapons in the arsenal of our ally. Diplomacy for them is a sign of weakness, a tool to be used to rearm, refit and rebuild forces for a more atrocious attack.
In recent days they've been busy, on September 20, 2008, they attacked the Marriot Hotel in the capital of Islamabad. A Senior member of the government said the President was scheduled to be there for the evening breaking of the Ramadan fast. The Canadian Ambassador was killed in the attack as were Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, 34, of El Paso, TX, and Navy Petty Officer Matthew O'Bryant, 22, of Theodore, AL. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan;_ylt=AsMmdm8WmYKjAkBvW1lFIoL9xg8F
The hotel was likely targeted because it is a high profile place for foreigners to gather. The crater looks to be bigger than the 1,200 lb credited to the bomb that caused the carnage.
But this is not an isolated case of terrorism in Pakistan against diplomats. On Monday, September 22, 2008, Gunmen kidnapped the newly appointed Ambassador from Afghanistan after killing his driver. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/pakistan_dc;_ylt=AnGeQyFWW36ZYBjjAlJABpLzPukA
And in August the enemy fired on a US Diplomat in Peshawar. This enemy is not going away and does not care to talk. They are attacking us as well as our allies. Strong talk from our politicians safely sitting in their air conditioned offices in Washington won't help. We should do what we must do but without the fanfare. We must maintain our ally in the democratically elected government and work with them to root out the Taliban and other terrorists that saddle the borders in the Pashtun areas.
This may add to the list of Nations on which we report as we search for new sources of reliable information on an old location for militant islamism and terrorism.
War on Terror News©2008, ARM, all rights reserved.
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