Radical Avenue

The budding military alliance between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US against Taliban forces should come as no surprise to anyone following events of the past eight years. The US has supported Afghan and Pakistani efforts to defeat the Taliban for nearly a decade. And Taliban fighters have shown no inclination to lay down their arms and make peace.

Now, Pakistani military officers are working directly with US officers in the deployment of a devastating new weapon. Aerial drones guided by pilots at a base in Afghanistan have given the allies a close up view of Taliban movements in the Swat region of Pakistan.

Knowing where to find enemy fighters gives the Pakistani military an obvious advantage. Once a drone identifies a Taliban fighter, it can track that fighter for days without being detected. One Taliban soldier leads the drones to other soldiers. This allows Pakistani forces to know exactly where and when to attack. Pakistani officers won’t even need to use the drones for firing on enemy forces. Pakistani soldiers on the ground can handle that, thanks to their tactical superiority.

In the past, residents of mountainous northern Pakistan held a natural advantage in battles against invading armies because they knew the terrain so well. But in 2009, Taliban fighters are up against well trained, fully equipped Pakistani soldiers who are already acclimated to the conditions.

According to reports, Pakistan is planning to take the fight directly to Taliban strongholds in Waziristan. If true, it indicates that the Pakistani army intends to completely neutralize the Taliban, rather than just drive them out of the Swat valley.

The Pakistani Taliban’s campaign of terror over the past few months in the Swat Valley now threatens Islamabad. With civilians suffering under the iron hand of Taliban fighters, Pakistanis were beginning to wonder if their government would continue to look the other way. Apparently the answer is no.

Taliban militants may have committed a grave mistake by alienating so many Pakistanis. It allows President Zardari to tell the world that he gave the Taliban an opportunity to lay down their arms and live peacefully in the Swat Valley, but they refused. Ordering the army to intervene should improve Mr. Zardari’s standing inside his country.

The US Air Force has deployed a fleet of unmanned aerial drones over the skies of northern Pakistan. These new weapons provide enormous tactical advantages to their owners. The drones can see through clouds in the middle of the night, track enemy fighters for hours at time from two miles in the sky and use heat signatures to identify recently fired weapons. Drone pilots fire on targets inside Pakistan while sitting in front of computer screens on military bases inside the US. The US military also plans to put more boots on the ground in Afghanistan this summer.

Pakistani soldiers will receive intelligence and logistical support from their allies. International humanitarian organizations will provide food and shelter to displaced Pakistanis. The Taliban has far less capacity to withstand a war of attrition. The coming offensive should test Taliban fighters, but they’ve proven to be resilient in the past.

Rest in Peace, Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto displayed tremendous bravery over the past few months in her quest to bring democracy back to Pakistan. Last week she gave her life for that cause. It’s a terrible loss for Pakistan and a sad end to a tumultuous year for the Pakistani people.

The United States continues to support Pervez Musharraf, a guy who now finds himself with one less rival in his bid to maintain power. Will our leaders ever learn? Musharraf has no legitimacy in the eyes of Pakistanis because he was never elected by the Pakistani people.

The United States should always support the democratic process in other countries around the world. Instead we continue to follow the same old Cold War strategy of casting our lot with any dictator that will sing our tune.
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George Bush must admire Pervez Musharraf. While Bush regularly complains about trial lawyers, Musharraf actually makes them pay for their litigious ways. The Pakistani ruler has his Army rounding up attorneys and carting them off in paddy wagons. And the Supreme Court is on the top of Musharraf’s hit list. No doubt Bush would love to hand down a few house arrests to our Supreme Court Justices, especially after they told him he couldn’t detain “enemy combatants” indefinitely without a trial.

President Bush also has to admire Musharraf’s cool as a cucumber persona. Musharraf’s a lot like the avuncular Dick Cheney in this respect. If you knew Cheney and Musharraf strictly from written accounts, you’d think they were delusional megalomaniacs.

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. Time is not on our side.

Dick Cheney, August 26, 2002. It’s all in the delivery.

Pervez Musharraf also looks comfortable both in his general’s uniform and in a coat and tie. People make fun of George Bush when he dresses up in his flight suit. Shoot, Bush doesn’t even get to wear a general’s outfit in public.

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When you listen to General Pervez Musharraf on TV, he sounds measured, calm and quite reasonable. That’s why it’s important to judge people by their actions. Musharraf governs like a totalitarian dictator. When he realized that the Pakistani Supreme Court was about to rule that he couldn’t command the Pakistani Army and run for president at the same time, he responded by declaring martial law. He has now suspended the Pakistani Constitution and is in the process of rounding up and detaining his political opponents. Musharraf seems hell bent on staying in power until he’s forced out. And thanks to the short sightedness of George Bush, he continues to enjoy the full support of the United States.

Does all this sound familiar? It should. The US supported the Shah of Iran throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. While the Shah used American tax dollars to brutally repress the Iranian people, the US looked the other way. It was all part of our Cold War containment strategy. A series of American presidents foolishly believed that supporting the Shah was better than having Iran fall into the hands of the communists. It all blew up in our faces in 1979 when the Shah was deposed and our embassy overrun. We’ve had terrible relations with Iran ever since.

When will our leaders learn? The United States should always stand for democracy and human rights. It doesn’t matter that supporting Musharraf may possibly help us in the short term against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The truth is, his country has sheltered Osama Bin Laden, Aymin al Zawahiri and the Taliban for the past 5 years and he has done next to nothing about it. He’s likely just playing us for fools. In any case, one day Musharraf will be overthrown, perhaps by violent means. Then where will be?

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