Return to Unity Government in Pakistan?
Reuters suggests that one of the outcomes of Wednesday's summit between Obama, Zardari and Karzai might be a US push for a national unity government in Pakistan, uniting the Pakistan People's Party with the Muslim League-N of Nawaz Sharif. The Pakistani newspaper Dawn does not rule out the possibility, though the obstacles are severe. It alleges that the Muslim League-N may need the support of the center to fight off Taliban infiltration of the Punjab, its main electoral base.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the AfPak talks in Washington "very promising."
End/ (Not Continued)
posted by Juan Cole @ 5/07/2009 01:09:00 AM
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7 Comments:
A coalition of the feudal politics that these two groupings represent will only draw the military back into the fold, a few years down the line- alleging the hand of India in the country's internal affairs and the incompetence/ corruption of its politicians. History seems to rhyme...
When Hilary Clinton says something is "very promising" I get worried. Her statements mean that US interests in a foreign country are going to once again dominate, rule, and run rough-shot over the interests of the local population.
Hilary's "very promising" comment was a code for "hey local people, you are out of luck."
For a country that can barely run its own federal elections I'm always amazed that you have the gall to meddle in other peoples business. The one certainty is, of course, that with your exceptionalism regarding fiascos tinkering in Pakistan will likely become a dog's breakfast.
Promising:
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/05/obama-war.html
May 7, 2009
Obama War
"The Pakistani army's assault against Islamic militants in Buner, in northwest Pakistan, is flattening villages, killing civilians and sending thousands of farmers and villagers fleeing from their homes, residents escaping the fighting said Monday." *
* http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/67501.html
-- As'ad AbuKhalil
Promising?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/world/asia/07afghan.html
May 7, 2009
High Civilian Toll Seen in U.S. Raid in Afghanistan
By CARLOTTA GALL and TAIMOOR SHAH
The Red Cross said dozens died, but Afghan officials put the death toll at more than 100 in the airstrikes.
WHY do WE BOMB (rather than FIGHT?) Navy Times : “Record bombs dropped in Afghanistan in April” : “Air Force, Navy and other coalition warplanes dropped a record number of bombs in Afghanistan during April , Air Forces Central figures show. In the past month, warplanes released 438 bombs, the most ever. April also marked the fourth consecutive month that the number of bombs dropped rose, after a decline starting last July [ie., Mr. Obama and General Petraeus' COIN strategy is looking a heluva lot like President Nixon's ‘secret plan to end the War’ : bombing!]. The munitions were released during 2,110 close-air support sorties. The actual number of airstrikes was higher because the AFCent numbers don’t include attacks by helicopters and special operations gunships [!] These numbers also don’t include strafing runs or launches of small missiles... [!] Transport crews airdropped 1.8 million pounds of supplies, mostly in Afghanistan, and tankers off loaded 85 million pounds of fuel. Reconnaissance aircraft flew 1,402 missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. Over Iraq, 26 bombs were released during 767 strike sorties...”
imho, Forget "Boots on the ground," serving essentially as base/convoy security guards, 'Foreign Legion' drill sergeants, and i daresay: as bait = ambush US -not- combat THEM patrols through indian country (not unlike VietNam, exposure for the purpose of being attacked, "revealing them," thus) sacrificing our finest assault troops by this hideous drip, drip, drip KIA/WIA attrition simply to reveal "the bad guys" for massive bombardment counter-attacks : What we're doing isn't counter-insurgency anything ~ it's AIR WAR gone HAYWIRE.
This tendency of extreme criticism and instant appreciation for acts of Pakistani political elites shows that the U.S. strategy is as flawed as Pakistani politics.
http://thetrajectory.com
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