Posts Tagged ‘pakistan taliban’
October 9, 2009
After months of consideration on how to deal with our escalating engagement in the AF-Pak region, Obama’s administration has decided:
“the Taliban cannot be eliminated as a political or military movement”
An article in the Washington Post today cites the administrations re-vamped goal of mitigating a Taliban capacity to interfere in the establishment of a stable Afghan government while assuring us that Al Qaeda is the primary threat, and our strategy will focus squarely on eradicating them.
It seemed news on Pakistan in the past year revolved around Islamabad not doing enough to eradicate the Taliban; equating the group to Al Qaeda in terms of importance in the War on Terror. But today marks a clear departure from such criticism. Distinguishing Al Qaeda from the Taliban is a huge step forward for the United States. Because connecting our goals to eliminate both immediate security threats and major elements of Afghan society that are unpalatable to our values, has proven counter productive. Having lived in Pakistan to experience the ill effects of hyper conservative religious factions, I know we mean well in trying to uproot extremism, but it just hasn’t worked in tandem with our military offensive. And I’ve mentioned the importance of a distinction between these groups previously:
The Taliban is historically distinct from militant groups like Al Qaeda. Unlike the Taliban, Al Qaeda is directly responsible for 9/11. Simply put, the Taliban was an ideologically fundamental group, while Al Qaeda is a militant, terrorist group. Both are dangerous as such, but the Taliban has national interests in controlling Afghanistan under strict ideological rules while Al Qaeda is a militant organization with international ambitions.
It’s not a novel contention, but only just being reflected in policy, and I think it has potential for success. As an ideological force, the Taliban foster an ultra conservative brand of Islam, but are not necessarily a threat to our security interests. Plus, if General McChrystal’s goal is defined as establishing a sustainable, democratic Afghan government, in order for it to be considered legitimate, it must be rooted in Afghan values and according to Afghan preferences. Such preferences might seem backward, or entirely unpleasant to us, but so long as our interests are being protected, impressing our brand of democratic values should take a back seat for the time being. I think the Obama administration has taken a wise step in revamping the Af-Pak strategy and hope it yields lasting success.
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Posted in Current Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Affairs, International Relations, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Polciy | Tagged af-pak strategy, af-pak war, af-pak war on terror, Afghanistan, Afghanistan Pakistan, afghanistan pakistan politics, afghanistan taliban, afghanistan taliban politics, afghanistan war on terror, afpak, afpak war, Al Qaeda, al qaeda in pakistan, Al Qaeda Pakistan, al qaeda tailban, al qaeda taliban difference, al qaeda terrorism, al qaeda war on terror, alqaeda afghanistan, difference between al qaeda and talian, difference between al qaeda taliban, fighting al qaeda, fighting taliban, fighting the taliban in afghanistan, foreign policy to pakistan, general mcchrystal afghanistan, general mcchrystal afghanistan pakistan strategy, general mcchrystal military strategy, general mcchrystal obama strategy, general mcchrystal obama war on terror, general mcchrystal pakistan, general mcchrystal war on terror, International Affairs, International Affairs Pakistan, international politics, international politics in pakistan, international relations pakistan, mcchrystal af-pak, mcchrystal afghanistan, mcchrystal obama, mcchrystal on pakistan, mcchrystal pakistan, mcchrystal war on terror, obama afghanistan war on terror, obama led war on terror in afghanistan, obama troop surge, obama troops in afghanistan, obama us war on terror, obama war on terror, obama war on terror in afghanistan, obama war on terror in pakistan, obama war on terror pakistan, pakistan affairs., pakistan foreign policy, pakistan international relations, pakistan obama war on terror, pakistan political affairs, pakistan politics, pakistan taliban, pakistani, pakistani foreign policy, pakistani politics, pakistani taliban, pakistans foreign policy, political affairs of pakistan, politics in pakistan, politics of pakistan, politics pakistan, taliban afghanistan, taliban al qaeda, taliban eliminated, taliban in afghanistan, taliban in afghanistan and pakistan, taliban in pakistan, taliban in the war on terror, taliban pakistan, the difference between al qaeda and the taliban, US foreign policy to pakistan, us led war on terror afghanistan, us led war on terror pakistan, us troops in afghanistan, us troops war on terror, us war on terror taliban, war on terror, war on terror afghanistan, war on terror in pakistan, war on terror military strategy, war on terror obama, war on terror obama af-pak, war on terror pakistan, war on terror taliban, whats the difference with al qaeda and taliban, zainab jeewanjee, Zainab jeewanjee politics | 7 Comments »
September 16, 2009
CNN refreshingly shifts the context of current discourse on Pakistan by reporting on female recruitment to the Pakistani Air Force. A story published this week highlights Ms. Ambreen Gul’s experience with the Pakistani air force as “one of seven women trained to fly Pakistan’s F-7 supersonic fighter jets”. Gul describes her experience as both positive and productive. Air Force cadet Ms. Sharista Beg also explains:
“To tell you the truth I’ve been given equal opportunity or I suppose more than men have been given,”
I refer to the story as refreshing because given that news is largely focused on macro level, security issues dealing with the war in Afghanistan and how it relates and spills over into Pakistan, the image we have of Pakistan is imprecisely bleak.
Of course macro level security issues in which our troops are directly engaged rightfully take priority over other news stories on Pakistan, but the unintended consequences of viewing this country as such and simply in terms of the “War on Terror”, “Taliban”, “fundamentalism” or “militancy” is a reduced understanding of what we are dealing with in our engagement there.
So I applaud CNN for balancing information with their story on Fighter Pilot Gul. Hopefully news outlets will continue to publish reports that allow a more accurate picture of what is a largely moderate Pakistan. Because a more accurate picture can only help us understand our situation there. In fact, the article concludes well, citing specifics of how the Pakistani air force works in line with our objectives:
“They’re training in counterinsurgency, collecting aerial intelligence and targeting militant strongholds in the treacherous mountains of Pakistan’s tribal region along the Afghan border”
The nebulous Afghan-Pakistan border has become the front lines in our War on Terror making it easy to forget that Pakistan, just like us fights diligently against fundamentalism and militancy with their resources, troops and morale. We want to uproot terror to bring our troops home and secure interests in the long run, likewise Pakistan shares this long term goal and in addition, has an immediate interest in obliterating militancy for actual day-to-day security. The CNN article does a fine job of reporting in this instance and prompts us to realize that cooperation is key.
Posted in Current Affairs, International Affairs, Pakistan, US Pakistan relations | Tagged afghan pakistan border, afghan-pak, afghan-pak border, afghanistan pakistan relations, air force in pakistan, air force of pakistan, air force pakistan, ambreen gul, ambreen gul air force, ambreen gul pakistani air force, balancing news on pakistan, cnn pakistan, cnn pakistan news, cnn report on pakistan, cnn report pakistan, cnn reports on pakistan, defeating terrorism pakistan, female jet fighters, fighter jets in pakistan, fighting terrorism in pakistan, jet fighters pakistan, jet pilot in pakistan, jet pilots in pakistan, jet pilots of pakistan, jets in pakistan, moderate pakistan, moderation in pakistan, news on pakistan, news on pakistan cnn, Pakistan, pakistan afghan border, pakistan air force, pakistan air force war on terror, pakistan counterinsurgency, pakistan fight terrorism, pakistan fighting terrorism, pakistan fights terrorism, Pakistan international affairs, pakistan news, pakistan report on cnn, pakistan sexism, pakistan taliban, Pakistan US relations, Pakistan war on terror, pakistani air force, pakistani female fighter jets, pakistani female pilot, pakistani fighter jets, pakistani jet pilot, pakistani jet pilots, pakistani news, pakistans air force, pakistans fight against terrorism, sexism in pakistan, Taliban, taliban in pakistan, taliban pakistan, terrorism pakistan, US Pakistan relations, us war on terror, war on terror, war on terror pakistan, zainab jeewanjee, Zainab jeewanjee politics | 2 Comments »
Zainab B. Jeewanjee
Zainab Jeewanjee 