Is it the really the Americans fault the Taliban are taking over Pakistan [AFLB] Jun 12, 2009

 From BBC News

 

I was reading my BBC news online as I normally do before going to bed each night, as it is then fresh off the press their time, and I get the latest scoop on Global News before our Canadian News Agencies even think about printing it, usually ending up in the next day's papers - not tomorrows - the next days.

Anyways, the link I've given above, is to a BBC News article about how screwed up Pakistan is dealing with the Taliban. Here is my take on one comment another reader said about not only the article, but the situation in Pakistan in whole:

I feel that the US owes Pakistan as they have simply pushed the Taliban from Afghanistan to Pakistan. They kept pushing them back and back and eventually, they came in. The US has passed their problems onto a weak nation.
Z, UK

I've been keenly following what is happening in Pakistan only because many of my friends and colleagues are serving with the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. We are there by invitation of the Afghan government, not the Americans, and not by any other agency. But, while we were there to help Afghans rebuild a better life, we also had to protect not only ourselves, but the very people whose lives we came to help rebuild.

We Canadians, military and civilians along with the Americans, British and many other countries experts, agencies and military's, are trying to help Afghani's build a better life. We are building new schools, water supplies, sewage plants, roads and other basic infrastructures wrecked by decades of war and poor administration of previous governments or religious agencies. You NEVER hear about all the good that is going on because no one dies while doing this kind of work. At least they are not routinely shot, blown up, taken hostage, eyes gutted, bombed, sniped or attacked by a drone. That kind of work does not make for "sexy" news.

 

Wars, incursions, raping, stabbings, bombing, IED's, civilians killed as "collateral damage", no matter which side did it. Convoys attacked, Generals Sacked, Drones shooting missiles, North Koreans smuggling missiles, fighting the Taliban, taking over Pakistan.

 

That is what News Editors and Columnists like to write about. That is what Network TV says draws the audience. Build a school? Nothing. Boring. Waste of time, no one will watch.

 

Taliban bombs the same school on opening day - with all the female students in it? Now, that's news.

And now we've hit a new low...

To blame the latest incursions of the Taliban into Pakistan on the soldiers and countries that are trying to HELP Afghanistan is nothing but a cheap shot meant to distract from the real problem.

 

If the Pakistani government and Military commanders had been doing their jobs in the first place; If they had been concentrating on what was necessary and not what was traditionally done; Then, they would all have seen the writing on the walls and perhaps gotten off their collective butts and started patrolling the appropriate borders, stopping the Taliban from wandering unchecked into Pakistan for R&R, then attacking convoys, then through inaction, allowing the Taliban enough leeway to actually take over and control a whole district and impose their brand of twisted Sharia law.

 

What amazes me even more, is that the Pakistani President pushed this constitutional amendment to allow this "dual legal system" to happen, even though it was clearly against the Pakistani Constitution. And the ones who really should have stood up and said no - they just sat back and said nothing.

    Don't blame us. Look inwards. You'll be surprised what you will find. Laziness,  corruption, self-absorption, perhaps even a lot of infiltration by Taliban members, and if not, perhaps a lot of people in power who are being blackmailed by the Taliban into doing "nothing". It's just to obvious to us looking in from the outside. 

Just don't expect us to come in and clean up your mess. You made it. You clean it up. You've earned NO respect from me, nor several others, I dare say.

I am just calling it the way I see it.

 

Below are comments on how some of the other readers see it...

---

"I'm a Pakistani and the vast majority of Pakistanis support the Taliban because they are fighting for a noble cause. The people don't support the government because it is corrupt from the top to the bottom. They don't support the army because the army doesn't care about anyone else. They don't support the West because they are the invaders."
Faris, Azad Kashmir

"How is that an army of 18,000 - fully equipped and trained - could not fight only about 1,000 Taliban thugs? The math is not right. Something fishy stinks though."
AK Swati, Swat, Pakistan

---

 

So, what do you think? Am I wrong? No matter, this is just how I see it.

 

Alter Funker Looks Back - 6 June, 2023.

13 years later, not too much has changed in that region.  The Taliban rule Afghanistan again, but rely upon international money to feed their own people, while the Taliban Oligarch's reap in millions in US$ from the production of Heroin and other drugs, for sale in Asia and Europe.

In the meantime, the USA is happy as a pig in shit as their weapons industry cranks up to overload helping the Ukrainians fight a proxy war for the USA while trying to preserve what Democracy they have been able to absorb since 2014.

Apparently, a lot.  Since 2014 when Russia's puppet Ukrainian President was given the boot and a more moderate President was installed, the Western World has been supplying millions of dollars in support for their economy and for their military.  Mostly in the form of Trainers.  In this case, it is the "Trainers teaching the Trainers for the Ukrainian Army", and they have taken it to heart.

General doctrine states that an attacker should have a 3 to 1 superiority to assure victory.

Russia had at least a 10 to 1 numerical advantage, and even though the Ukraine mobilized every adult male over 18, many still stayed at home to support their own weapons industry.  In some cases, it was just a garage mechanic adapting a destroyed Russian BMP turret and weapon into a vehicle-mounted weapon for more mobile actions.

  Or adding weapons and armour to existing Ukrainian heavy equipment.  

Lately, the Ukrainians seem to have captured more functional abandoned Russian Armour than they have in their own national stock - There's a hilarious video meme on the internet of a John Deere tractor pulling a captured T-90 tank into their barn for some "upgrades"  - this is still so hilarious because it is based on reality!

Check You-tube.

 

In the meantime, it is often wise not to let one's gaze stare into any one location for any length of time, for the possibility that one might miss what else is going on in the world.

 

And, that is just how I see it.

 

Peace.