Pakistan’s Military Operation against the Taliban is just Wrong

i wish our leaders had the patience to deal with situations like these. Leaders are in a hurry to put everything alright. the quickest way: kill them all.

i have heard some conflicting reports,people from the area say that these 'TALIBAN' are not from Afghanistan, they are not even Pashtu speaking, half of them are not even Muslims. (this is a first hand information) Its a conspiracy bigger than we can understand. People from the area don't even understand what is actually happening.

whatever it is, 1 million people are displaced and the humanitarian crisis is there. God bless the nation and give some sense to all the 'LORDS'

Yes I heard that the displaced Swati's are cursing both the Talibans/Militants and Pakistani military. Also when I was in Pakitan during the elections 2008, regardless where I went Peshawar, Islamabad or Lahore people were against Musharaff for killing his own people in the tribal areas and for following US Foreign Policy.. I am afraid that Zardari's goverment is going have the same fate......

...and give some sense to all the so called 'Lords'. I agree with your assessment and also amra has given us a very good assessment of the situation on the ground in Pakistan. This American policy of treating Afghanistan and Pakistan (Af-Pak) is fundamentally flawed and WRONG. These two countries have their own dynamics and apart from being muslim majority states there is nothing in common. Let us hope some sense prevails as he (Obama) is pushing Pakistan on the brink.

As much as I agree with your last statement, the Taliban are not
exactly the kind of enemy that is easily disarmed and willing to be
put under arrest. I agree with you on the suspicious synchronicity of
Zardari's US visit and the Swat offensive! Smoke, mirrors and a giant
"sucking" sound can be heard in the background. The problem with the
Taliban is much like the Nazis of the past...you give them an inch and
they'll take a foot! The barely dry treaty betwixt Pakistan and the Taliban in Swat went the way of the Molotov-Ribbentrof Pact very
quickly. We're waist deep in the Big Dusty..and the big fools say to
push on!

Zardari made a very interesting statement today when he said Taliban is the child of CIA & ISI. If he had used the name of CIA alone you know what might have happened. So, he seems to have gone ahead & included ISI in the frame too.

As I see it, not a single war that US has ever waged & is waging now is legit. It would be interesting to see if the American economy can survive yet another war!!

myVox, This military operation is very similar to Iraq, but in Iraq the US military was fighting the Iraqi insurgents. Here the Pakistani Military is fighting its own citizens, albeit radical citizens. Remember Iraqis fleeing out of Iraq, sound familiar now we have 1 million tribal people leaving their homes.

Now Zardari is asking for monetary help from the US. This is very similar to the war the Afghanis were fighting with the Russians...funded by CIA, but having locals do the fighting

War is not going to solve the radicalizatin problem, it is going to make it worse.... instead civil society needs to be strengthed, that is the only way to stop radicalization.

It must be tough for the powers-that-be in Pakistan to take up assignments like these!

A classic catch 22 situation, I guess! You need the monetary aid and would like to remain in the good books of super powers, so you decide to go ahead against your own citizens, no matter if they are radicals!!

After all, is there any war in which innocent civilians, kids and women have not lost their lives?

An astute observation Vox. I posted something elsewhere about
Orwell's NEWSPEAK and was surprised it seemed like a a "new "
term to some. Here's some info on "Catch 22" to aid others
who may not understand the term;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

The poor guy doesn't look like he's very well trained. This is less then the epitome of sterling soldiery. It is one of the main problems in 'our war'. His opponents are well trained and battle hardened while he is probably just scared for his life, possibly bored. The Army depends on having a lot more money, men and guns than it's adversary. Their enemy uses deception and surprise. Depending on the conduct of this war either could win.

Changez, I agree with you that the guy is not well trained but that is the state of the leadership in Pakistan. Not only him but his advisors lack sophistication & judgement too!...

It's true this war is not much different to other wars. Unfortunately we don't know who it is exactly we're fighting, or why. And I agree with you Amra; civil society does need to be strengthened.

Changez, what do you mean when both you and Maidiya(see comment above) say that we don't know who we are fighting? I thought we knew it is the Talibans/Militants

The militants should be stopped at any cost. The latest news that I got
from the Australian channel last night about Sri Lanka and the Tamils was
that the civilian people in the Tamil war zone are being herded together
by the tigers and are being executed by rifle fire at close range which
is impossible for the military to do from the air. Other people are herded into empty buildings by the Tamil Tigers and locked in, the Tigers
then blow up the buildings and kill all the people inside them. Miron Lovric, 12/5/2009.

mvox, a brilliant photo thanks for sharing

Slydog, a great image to sum up the sentiment in Pakistan

starsandstipes, thanks for sharing the image... a lot of anger and flag burning...not good for us.

As much as I humbly agree that Pakistan Military Operation against Talibans is not right, I believe there is no other way to manage things with this kind of enemy...Peace deals do not last long. Peace with the enemy is more of a delaying tactic than a long term solution to a problem. However, one can look in to the conflicting issues and try solving them in turn eliminate the animosity between the two forces. But while we do consider them our "enemies" and the enemy of the sort who do not care that they have a mission against their own brothers and sisters, I do not see any hope how a peace deal could have permeated their rigid mindset which only understands the language of guns and bombs and bloodbath.

Very sad state of affairs.

What I meant is that we don't know who exactly the 'Taliban' are, where they are coming from or being recruited from, who they get their weapons from, how they get their weapons at all and other things. These people have heavy artillery and it's hard to carry that by donkey. Not all of these men are simply Pashtun tribesmen either. Some are bandits, others are Uzbegs, Afghans and maybe even some radical elements funded by actual terrorist organisations or terrorist states. Whether the military operation is right or wrong depends on whether it succeeds and how it succeeds. The human cost is what must be managed.

Heavy artilery, Changez? I would like to put your question back to you, "who they get their weapons from"?

As I see it, it's a one-sided war! Taliban's slingshots against US missile aircraft. You must check the picture I just posted to understand what I mean!

That picture looks photo-shopped. My sources in the military tell me that the militants routinely shell Army positions. What independent news footage and reports there are also indicate the same. Most pictures have them standing around with RPG's at least. Please get this straight; the underdog in this fight is not the Taliban, the Army or the Americans; it is us, people who want to live and be happy. We are the targets of this war from every side.

For anyone who thinks the militants, whoever they are, might be in the right, I have a video that would argue otherwise.

mvox, this picture says it all, the state of the militants....I have just heard that the commandos are now going in to fight these heavily armed radicals (sling shots i mean)

Dear Majdy,

I am agree with your comments, we can't fight with them, the solution is only on table talk,

Thank you for this article and the dialog between all my writer-comrades that have contributed. The images of those children and the refugees breaks my already broken heart from the many sources of suffering that I have witnessed through internet images from war, from child torture and myriad other heinous acts against the innocent.

The 'leaders' and intelligence agencies continue their sinister activities behind an agenda that results in the suffering of the innocents and serves only this out of hand ego-seeking power monster at the expense of innocent world citizens. Granted, stopping Hitler was of paramount importance and warfare seemed the only answer to stop that monster, but now these CIA created conflicts and all countries having to please the big boys out of fear of displeasing them despite the cost to their citizens is what really must cease. The bullies are creating distractions to keep the people blind to the depth of their sinister activities. They label us conspiracy theorists and other titles of degradation to keep people powerless, clueless and uninformed of their real actions behind the scenes and to keep us from uniting and taking a stand against them.

How do WE THE PEOPLE turn the wheels of this giant monster-machine that destroys lives and the planet itself??? There is nothing sacred to it for it will even destroy it's own if one of it's own gives a hint of compassion and threatens to expose or try to make a change from the interior of the monster of which it is part. If there is a HINT of some small person out there (or here) giving voice to activity or mindset to stand up for the people's empowerment, a member of Big Brother will assassinate that person in the form of some natural appearing occurrence.

Look what they did to Che Guevara, look what they did to Princess Diana. And the big expensive inquest to Diana's assassination had the jury say "there is no evidence whatsoever of this being anything other than a car crash" - OF COURSE NOT!!!! The cover-ups are SO THOROUGH, the monster can get away WITH ANYTHING! This is the pure evil that robs humanity of the life we were given to enjoy, a life of abundance and joy and comraderie.

I am just citing two examples of intelligence instigated deaths of two people who wanted to help the little guy (of which there are far more than those monsters in power) and were in a position to do it. POW, they got erased. And these were high profile people. Imagine some little person like one of us voicing the need and actually getting others to unite through realizing their own birth-right empowerment...what will happen to that person???

I am on a mission to be THAT person that is willing to form a union amongst the people. The book I was 'directed to publish' was the first step to initiate the next step of this mission. My friends feared for my life if I made public what is in this book. And not only did I self-publish this book (THE CHE DIARIES), but now, I DARE to join up with my comrades on sites such as these, become aware of details such as what is in this above article and responses and invite over this big-brother monitored network (as they all no doubt are) to come over to the website dedicated to promoting this book and the mission behind it and invite the union to BEGIN. Even if our uniting begins with the mindset of INTENT, that is a start. In no way am I promoting revolution through violence or civil disobedience. The only way to change it is to make the change within ourselves from that of feeling powerless to make a change to self-empowerment and uniting with that self empowerment of collective mind without PLANS to DO anything at this point other than just unite with this intent.

I am not motivated by ego or by the desire to sell alot of books and make my own personal fortune or ego-based 'fame' as an author. This book is for the people, and the cost of it is minimal to cover my expense at its manufacture. I will be contributing any royalties accumulated to further this cause and help SOMEONE. I am willing to risk my life for it, as I LOVE and feel compassion to those sad eyes of the terrified and confused child in the images and dedicate my life to making SOME DIFFERENCE. Please join me in knowing that together, we CAN reverse the wheels of the monster before we all are devoured.
www.THECHEDIARIES.com

Possibly the peace process might have worked but it would also have allowed the Taliban to consolidate their power in the region and facilitate cross border supply of Taliban in Afghanistan. The US was not willing to tolerate this and no doubt put considerable pressure on Pakistan to deal with the situation by military means.
The result is a humanitarian disaster with virtually millions of people fleeing the areas controlled by the Taliban. At the same time Obama has not stopped drone overflights but increased them, just the other day a funeral was targetted. One can imagine this bombing alone no doubt created many recruits to the Taliban and suicide bombers..

Hi. I find your views interesting. It will be very informative if you can maybe contribute more regarding Pakistan's view on the Taliban (or Afghanistan) specifically from a Pakistan national's perspective.

One of my burning questions has always been as to how the people from Pakistan see the "Durand Line"-border issue today? And more specifically how the ethnic Pashtuns see things? I find this fascinating and would like to hear from the average Pakistan national (not the politicians and historians in other words)
;-)

Funnily, the Durand line issue has never really been an issue for most Pakistani's, even ethnic pakhtuns, except for the very strongly nationalist elements. It is just the border to most people.

Afghanistan has spoken of the Duran line before, but when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan were good during the 50's, 60's and 70's, the Durand line was a point of minor contention and a bit of irritability.

Funnily, Pakhtuns and Afghan's on the Afghan side of the border are very different to Pakhtun's on the Pakistani side, despite the ethnic and linguistic ties. Afghan Pashtun's tend to, look down is the best word, slightly on their cross-border brethren as distinctly Indianised or sub-continental, while they themselves maintain stronger roots with Central Asia and the Turkics of the north.

Since 2000, this issue has revived partly because of a reaction to perceived attacks on Pakhtuns as part of the War on Terror. It has brought up the Durand line again as well as a renewed Pakhtun nationalism in certain parts of the Pakistani NWFP.

Thanks again for an interesting reply Changez. I get the feeling we follow much of the same news ;-) Since you seem to be from Islamabad, I will take your word on it.
Thanks again.
Regards

2 months after i am reading your article and can you now claim that Pakistan’s Military Operation against the Taliban is just Wrong ?????