Zap!
A bigger shock than getting hit on by your bff's semi cool and totally tipsy uncle!
All the cool kids know Land of the Pure's terrorist sympathizing covertly shadow spy guys in the ISI have had the hots for Taliban ala Strategic Depth - yet hot! gossip that ISI may be hooking up with al Qaeda in Afghanistan as a Taliban controller is off the hook!
"...The terror movement has disarmed two Taliban commanders, Mullah Laal Muhammad and Mullah Alaoddin of the Haqqani network, who were interested in starting peace talks with the Afghan government, Kunduz Provincial Governor Engineer Muhammad Omar said.
“...Al-Qaeda has disarmed two prominent commanders of the Haqqani Network in Kunduz in the past two weeks, and nine others in fear of being disarmed have buried their weapons and fled to Pakistan.”
Whoa! Certainly queers the mix on all the happy talk by the Afghan Unassing Consortium - a military free collective of academics (yay), biz peeps, ex gov officials, policy practitioners, journalistical cats and wishful thinkers.
Despite magical incantations of internat'l internat'lness, and no aq anywhere near AFPAK, the truth is more sobering than two triple expressos loaded in a 5'2" 102 lb frame
"...Osama bin Laden & Co. would crow that they had defeated another superpower and their movement would be turbocharged across the world. The Taliban would take over much of southern Afghanistan and advance on Kabul, sparking a terrible civil war with the forces that once belonged to the Northern Alliance.
"...In Pakistan Islamist extremists, including the Pakistan Taliban, will be spurred in their own drive on Islamabad. The US would have to deal with a strategic disaster the likes of which we have not seen since the fall of South Vietnam.
Perhaps the most important observation in the Central Asia Online account is this:
'...Kunduz representative to the Afghan parliament Moyeen Merastyal confirmed the governor’s statement.
“...The groups that are supporting the Taliban from outside don’t want peace talks in Afghanistan as they consider stability detrimental to their interests,” Merastyal said. “They want terrorism in the region, not only in Afghanistan, so anyone who looks interested in peace talks is being disarmed or captured,” he said, referring to the arrest of some Taliban figures in Pakistan.
"...In all the talk of the possibility of peace between some elements of the Taliban and the Afghan government, Merastyal's point remains the most important one.
"...The Taliban and other jihadist proxies of the Pakistani ISI are not going to make peace unless the ISI wants them to. It is just that simple. Here we have a good illustration of some Taliban commanders wanting to reconcile and their efforts being blocked by outside forces.
"...And isn't it interesting that in this case al Qaeda is performing the same function that the ISI does? That is, al Qaeda is neutering commanders in northern Afghanistan who are not as committed to war as they should be, just as the ISI does in Pakistan.
Pic "Taleban Strategy Clash"
3 comments:
Maybe the western coalition should play with the Pakistanis' fear of India and warn them that in case of a coalition evacuation from Afghanistan, they'll let India fill the vacuum. It may unsettle a few Paki generals to get their acts together and stop the mess on their side of the border.
Good point Winston.
I like how you think Winston.
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