Terrorists and Pakistan

Of interest today has been Pakistan's continued assault on Taliban positions in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, their sudden willingness this year to take on this powerful religious group, and religious fundamentalists, seems to have come after a visit by Hillary Clinton.

One wonders if Pakistan understood what a threat to its own security these people were, just weeks before the first offensive the government had done a deal with these extremists giving them a self governed region not 100 kms from the capital.

The news report this evening on SBS world news, stated that the Pakistan army was moving well against the enemy forces taking a key town, and forcing the leaders higher into the mountains. They also stated that Taliban fighters were deserting and blending in with the local population fleeing the war zone.

If the report is true and they are leaving maybe it means that they realize the fight is over for them. Only by securing these remote mountain areas on the border can there be any hope of securing Afghanistan, during the Russian occupation the west fed arms and fighters through these very passes and history shows what happens when this cant be stopped.

For all the money and manpower that the west has poured into Afghanistan maybe we should have been more interested in what was going on over the border in her Nuclear armed neighbor. The untied states or the rest of the world could not and should not stand by and let conditions exist where extremists could have had access to those weapons.

I say thank you to the government of Pakistan and to those brave armed forces who are currently fighting night and day to destroy this terrible curse in their country. To those families who have lost members during this conflict I thank you for your sacrifice, but I am truly sure that it will not be in vain. A Pakistan where rule of law extends to all its borders and a peaceful neighbor in Afghanistan will be their legacy.

The Horse