'THE
PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN MEETS OBAMA'
[Hoje Macao, Macao]
Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, France
An Alarming Certainty: The Taliban are
'Masters of the Terrain'
"Terrorists
advance on sites where atomic bombs are stored, the regular army struggles
to contain the rebels in an area crammed with a million refugees fleeing the
fighting. Is this a scene from a disaster film? No, Since April this has been the sad reality in northwest Pakistan ... The daily horrors confirm an alarming certainty: the Taliban are
masters of the terrain.
By Jean-Claude Kiefer
Translated By Mary Kenney
May 16, 2009
France - Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace -
Home Page (French)
Terrorists advance on sites where atomic bombs are stored, the
regular army struggles to contain the rebels in an area crammed with a
million refugees fleeing the fighting ... Is this a scene from a disaster film?
No. Since April this has been the sad reality in northwest Pakistan. The daily horrors confirm an alarming certainty: the
Taliban are masters of the terrain.
In this civil, religious and revolutionary war fought on the
basis of feudalism, no one really knows who the victims are - and who the
executioners. The Pakistani air force bombards cities and villages and the
Taliban execute anyone at all under the pretext of applying "Sharia
Law" - specifically targeting unveiled women and schools for girls.
Businesses and institutions in the province of Swat, once a tourist mecca nicknamed dubbed the "Switzerland of
Pakistan," are practically all closed.
And so many unanswered questions! For example, is the
Pakistani army - a state within a state - truly and fundamentally committed to
fighting the Taliban? Or are its uncontrolled air strikes merely a diversion by
a military convinced that the real "enemy" remains India, which has
been accused by Pakistan of fomenting trouble. Pakistan's military staff
doesn’t want to disperse its forces - perhaps because in the past, those now
called "Taliban" were valued allies in the fight for Kashmir or the
control of tribal areas at the gates of Afghanistan.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
The Frontier Post, Pakistan:
Karzai's 'Odes to Pakistan' Come Too Late to Stop India
The Frontier Post, Pakistan:
Pakistanis 'Don't Give a Damn' What Americans Think
The Frontier Post, Pakistan:
'Pakistan in a Trance, Doing America's Dance'
The Nation, Pakistan:
'No Nuclear Surrender'
The Nation, Pakistan:
To Reduce Militancy, the U.S. Must Pressure India
As Safir, Lebanon:
Obama and bin Laden Confront 'Day of Reckoning'
Asia Times, Hong Kong:
Al-Qaeda Seizes on Taliban's Problem
Asia Times, Hong Kong:
Thanks to U.S.,
Taliban Have a New Target
Asia Times, Hong Kong:
Karzai Gets the 'Last
Laugh' on White House
The Telegraph, India:
Obama 'Deliberately Dramatizes' al-Qaeda Threat for Domestic Political Reasons
Who are they, these Pakistani
Taliban? Not all are members of al-Qaeda. They are also autonomous tribal
warriors and peasants in revolt against their landlords. Some fundamentalist
preachers have, according to a tried-and-true refrain, promised
"divine" justice and paradise for jihadists to take advantage of all
the discontent. The extremely weak President Zardari,
as known for his escapades as his political prowess, allowed this to happen. He
even placed Swat under the law of Islamic courts, thinking he could bribe for
the "bearded ones." They immediately dispersed to neighboring
regions.
Finally, it's only in the last three weeks as Washington
threatened to cut off aid to Pakistan - an essential but uncertain ally in the
war in Afghanistan - that the army of Islamabad has reacted - and at great cost
to civilians caught in the crossfire.
But Pakistan is a nuclear power. For it to fall into the
hands of fanatics seems unimaginable. And yet ... the United States and its
NATO allies are confronted an immense new quagmire. The Americans have already
given it a name: "Afpak," for Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Because it's all one ...
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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US May 17,
11:59pm]
