The New York Times reported that President Bush secretly signed an executive order authorizing the American military forces operating in Afghanistan to carry out cross border raids, attack or both if necessary to fight the Taliban.
The question is whether this will help or hurt the fight against terrorism.
Every leading foreign policy expert has to agrees that the new government in Islamabad should get ample time and the resources to map out a new and comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem of terrorism. When Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani was here in Washington couple of weeks ago, he talked about these and other similar issues at length with the security experts in Bush administration. Yet, President Bush has not revoked the order allowing American forces to attack targets inside Pakistan. At the very least, Mr. Bush should listen and understand the concerns shared with him and his team by the Pakistan government. But it seems that Mr. Bush is determined to follow the path that he, not the experts on the ground, considers right to fight the terrorist threat in Pakistan.
It is obvious that the American and NATO forces, even with the help of Pakistan Army have not succeeded in defeating Taliban. And if the recent history is any guide, we can safely assume that American decision to fight the Taliban inside Pakistan won't solve the problem either. All sides, that is, Washington, Islamabad, Kabul and NATO must reassess their strategy to defeat the Taliban. These people cannot be defeated militarily, a conclusion shared by almost every analyst.
Mr. Bush should also understand that the people of Pakistan are suffering. The inflation is hurting them, the terrible law and order is playing havoc with the lives of ordinary citizens, the economy is not producing jobs for the rapidly growing population, and to add insult to the injury, the lack of electricity, water and other daily necessities across Pakistan is not making the Pakistani population sympathetic to the war against terror. Therefore, if Washington is really and truly serious about overcoming the Taliban, they have to help ordinary people in Pakistan by ensuring that their lives get better.
Washington has given about 10 billion US dollars to Pakistan Army since the tragedy of 9/11, but they have not achieved anything in return, if the goal was to have a Taliban free Pakistan or Afghanistan. But if Washington invests 10 billions in rebuilding the civilian infrastructure in Pakistan, there is not doubt that America will get tremendous return on investment because once the civilians are on board, it will become very easy to defeat the Taliban.
Bilal Qureshi
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
