Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani expert on the Taliban, who until 9/11 knew them better than almost any outsider, has over the decades turned out to be something of a prophet in the region, though mostly of the Cassandra type.
A longtime critic of the Taliban who raised alarms about the group back in the mid-1990s, Rashid, 59, has just come out with his fourth book: “Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia”, a caustic compendium of the mistakes by the Bush administration and, by extension, its regional allies, in tackling Islamic militancy.
His central argument is not original: that the money and blood spent on Iraq should have been invested instead in Afghanistan, rebuilding the country after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 drove the Taliban from power, in order to prevent the Taliban resurgence so much in evidence now. Since that was not done, Rashid says, the options for stabilizing Afghanistan have dwindled to one: Pakistan must cut its ties to the Afghan Taliban…“The Pakistani Army needs to make a strategic decision to dump support for the Afghan Taliban leadership in Quetta,” he said, referring to the desert city in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan where the Afghan Taliban keep a rear base. “The Afghan Taliban can be quietly arrested and put under house arrest.”
Only after that, he says, will Pakistan, and by extension, the United States, be able to reduce the threat from Al Qaeda and their brethren, the Pakistani Taliban who operate out of the tribal lands. If the Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan are not eliminated, the United States and its NATO allies will find it impossible to win what has turned out to be an unexpectedly prolonged war in Afghanistan.
Intricate, knowledgeable article. Guaranteed to be ignored by the White House, Congresscritters running for re-election, etc..
Yep, it will never be read by the people who needs to read it…
And how do you get Pakistan to do this?
Remember the good old days, when this was supposedly all about 9/11, destroying the Taliban and killing bin Laden and Al-Qaeda?
The good news is, as of right now, we can start all over again from scratch, with renewed vigor.
War Without End.
Actually, people “know” all this. It was known when Russia was expelled and we did nothing. It was known after the Taliban was expelled and we turned to Iraq. It is known now as the Taliban rebuilds and the poppy fields are left to grow capital.
Its an example of the folly of Empire. Britain lost the colonies because it was an Empire–too large to care about small insurgencies====but the ball keeps rolling. No amount of hired mercenaries and bribery for our enemy to stop fighting, can stop an indigenous movement.
Course a Nuke changes everything, as could some virus release. I think we’ll see it.
#4
“Course a Nuke changes everything, as could some virus release. I think we’ll see it.”
Good to see you always keep an optimistic view on things…
“Intricate, knowledgeable article. Guaranteed to be ignored by the White House, Congresscritters running for re-election, etc..”
That’s because in the USA the only usefulness for dark-skinned folk with university degrees is to fill racial quotas at the office.
(sigh)
How many days until Inauguration? (Too many!)
You’ll never hear about this book in the mainstream press. They’re too busy with that “tell all” book by Bush’s ex-press secretary. And good timing on its publishing date, don’t you think. The Harry Potter books weren’t better timed. I’ll also bet Rahid’s book won’t appear on Oprah’s book list. She’s as much a tool, as the rest of the media. You too can be a multi-millionare, if you sell your soul and integrity.