Pakistan signs peace treaty with the Taliban

[Seagoon]

Hello All,

About a week ago, Saintaw asked me what I proposed we should change about the way we are responding to the Jihad in this thread

I responded with 5 proposals I thought were simply common sense. Amongst them was the following:

"4) Indicate that in order to qualify as being "our friends" you will also have to reject and work against Wahabbism and Salafism. This will mean that we will no longer accept the Pakistanis tolerating or encouraging Jihadist Masjids, Maddrassas, and training camps on their side of the border. Indicate that if they will not cooperate in closing them down permanently, we will take military action against those training centers proven to be sending Jihadis in ourselves."

Now it seems that Pakistan and the Taliban have finally decided to go ahead and make their de facto peace treaty de jure. Hamid Kharzai, the President of Afghanistan, has already pointed out that since this treaty was signed there has been a major increase in Taliban attacks and activity on the border but since he is being sat on by Washington, his protests to date have been necessarily muted (then again it isn't US leaders and their families who are going to be slaughtered when the Taliban recapture Kabul). How we can continue to pretend that Pakistan is our "ally" is beyond me. If the Bush doctrine states that the friend of our enemies is our enemy, that respectfully Mr. President, what does that make Pakistan?

Pakistan, Taliban sign peace pact
Amir Mir
Tuesday, September 05, 2006  22:32 IST

Army officers and Taliban militants hugged and congratulated each other after inking the deal.

ISLAMABAD: Having failed to counter the insurgent Talibans in the Waziristan tribal region on the Pak Afghan border, the Pakistan Army Tuesday entered into yet another peace agreement with the pro-Taliban militants, primarily "to ensure a permanent peace in the area and to put an end to the continuing unrest in the Waziristan region."

The agreement was signed after a meeting between a group of the local Taliban leaders and a jirga formed by the Pakistani military authorities to mediate on their behalf. According to the official sources, senior army officers and Taliban militants hugged and congratulated each other after inking the agreement at a school in Miran Shah.

The breakthrough was achieved after the military accepted most of the militants’ demands — the release of all their men, return of their weapons and vehicles seized during various army operations, dismantling of the army check posts in the area, restoration of all perks and privileges of the tribal people and monetary compensation for all those residents of the area who were either killed and whose property was damaged during military operations.

The amount demanded by the militants as compensation is not known but a government official said the figure was enormous. The military authorities have further agreed to the withdrawal of the security forces from the checkpoints to its fortes in North Waziristan; releasing the arrested Taliban militants and returning the weapons seized during military operations.

In exchange for accepting their demands, the Taliban militants have accepted the military’s demand to immediately cease terrorist attacks on the civil and military installations in the area. The militants have further given an assurance to the army that they would neither use the Pak-Afghan border to launch cross border attacks into the Afghan territory nor allow anyone else to do so.

Moreover, in a major concession, the military has allowed all foreign militants in Waziristan, including the Most Wanted ones, either to leave the area or to keep living there after furnishing tribal guarantees of good conduct.

Despite the deployment of over 80,000 Pakistani troops along the Afghan border in the tribal areas to capture the fugitive Taliban and Al Qaeda elements, the situation is far from stable in a region that is crucial to three world capitals — Islamabad, Washington and Kabul. Waziristan, often in the news due to frequent clashes between Pakistani security forces and the Taliban militants, is now more-or-less controlled by the local Taliban, which has established a foothold in both North and South Waziristan and has opened recruiting offices these areas to hire new fighters.

The peace agreement has been signed at a time when the Waziristan tribal areas bordering Afghanistan’s volatile southern and southwestern provinces are once again the focus of the war on terror and are likely to soon become as significant to the US as Afghanistan itself. The Americans are already pointing directly at the North and the South Waziristans as the primary conduit for the suicide bombers who are playing havoc with the US and NATO-led war machine in Afghanistan, and a safe haven for enemy combatants.

[Nilsen]

You seem to be hung up on muslim things these days Seagoon. Whats up with that?

[john9001]

what until the jeehads attack norway, den ve ze vat ist vat, yah?

[lukster]

It's easier for us to fight a nation or an organized army than to do police duty dealing with insurgents. If we ever give up on trying to establish democracy in that region and the taliban regroups, we can at least bomb them into oblivion ever 5-10 years or so. Let 'em get their confidence up, pay close attention to who their outspoken jihadist leaders are and hit 'em hard when they aren't expecting it. They'll probably get tired of it before we do.

[Elfie]

No way we should be tolerating the crap Pakistan is and has been pulling. I suspect the Pakistanis have known where bin-Laden is for some time.

[Tarmac]

Originally posted by Nilsen
You seem to be hung up on muslim things these days Seagoon. Whats up with that?

Well, we are fighting two wars with groups of Muslims.  I wish more people were "hung up" about what's going on over there.  But I guess it's easier and more fun to put it out of your mind and ignore the people dying over there.

[Seagoon]

Hello Nilsen,

Originally posted by Nilsen
You seem to be hung up on muslim things these days Seagoon. Whats up with that?

I suspect that part of my problem comes from from living in a community that really is at war with the Jihadis. I usually have at least a half-dozen names of men who are members of my congregation who I pray for every morning, because they are currently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and many more are either about to go, have just come back, or will go again in the very near future. If anything happens to most of those guys, then I am the man whom they have asked to go and inform their families. I would be a liar if I didn't say that whenever the phone rings after 11:00 PM, I am scared to answer it.

God has been very gracious to our congregation, and to date our prayers have been abundantly answered. None of our members have been killed, and that in spite of the fact that we have quite a few "door kickers." But that doesn't mean I haven't already lost friends over there, including a young man who was only a few weeks away from leaving the army, getting married, and starting seminary in order to become a Pastor. Additionally, almost all of the men in our congregation have lost friends or men under their command, and those losses take their toll.

So I listen to the news from Afghanistan and Iraq in the same way that I imagine families used to listen to the news about the war in the Pacific or in Europe. What happens in Afghanistan is of particular interest to me, because as I have listened to their experiences, it seems to me that things are getting worse, not better and a lot of it is due to a following a strategy there that will simply never work. You cannot "pacify and stabilize" Afghanistan if the Jihadis can walk in and out with impunity and have a safe area for recruiting, training, drug smuggling, and logistics. Spain was less helpful to the Nazis during the Second World War than Pakistan is to the Taliban.  

Anyway, Nilsen, I'm sorry if I come off as a mono-maniac, instead of just the twit that I am. I suspect that in the late 30s people often said, "Winston, why do you keep going on about the National Socialists and National Defense?" Now I'm not saying I'm even an iota of the man Churchill was, but I do agree with his general philosophy that when the house is on fire, it is no time to be gardening.

Hey if you prefer, I could start bombarding the OC with explicitly Christian stuff or more gun threads.  

- SEAGOON

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Nilsen
You seem to be hung up on muslim things these days Seagoon. Whats up with that?

not as much as many on this board seem to be hung up on Seagoon and his beliefs. What's up with that?

[Yeager]

Nilsen couldnt afford the head tax

[Nilsen]

Seems like you are giving them more attention than they deserve thats all. Terror is part real fear and destruction and part attention and hate.

Carry on for all i care, it just doesnt sound like the  Seagoon I used to "know" who was more diverse and upbeat.

Seagoon is a good man and a religious one to boot and its not often i use both in the same sentance.

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by Seagoon
Hello Nilsen,

 

I suspect that part of my problem comes from from living in a community that really is at war with the Jihadis. I usually have at least a half-dozen names of men who are members of my congregation who I pray for every morning, because they are currently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and many more are either about to go, have just come back, or will go again in the very near future. If anything happens to most of those guys, then I am the man whom they have asked to go and inform their families. I would be a liar if I didn't say that whenever the phone rings after 11:00 PM, I am scared to answer it.

God has been very gracious to our congregation, and to date our prayers have been abundantly answered. None of our members have been killed, and that in spite of the fact that we have quite a few "door kickers." But that doesn't mean I haven't already lost friends over there, including a young man who was only a few weeks away from leaving the army, getting married, and starting seminary in order to become a Pastor. Additionally, almost all of the men in our congregation have lost friends or men under their command, and those losses take their toll.

So I listen to the news from Afghanistan and Iraq in the same way that I imagine families used to listen to the news about the war in the Pacific or in Europe. What happens in Afghanistan is of particular interest to me, because as I have listened to their experiences, it seems to me that things are getting worse, not better and a lot of it is due to a following a strategy there that will simply never work. You cannot "pacify and stabilize" Afghanistan if the Jihadis can walk in and out with impunity and have a safe area for recruiting, training, drug smuggling, and logistics. Spain was less helpful to the Nazis during the Second World War than Pakistan is to the Taliban.  

Anyway, Nilsen, I'm sorry if I come off as a mono-maniac, instead of just the twit that I am. I suspect that in the late 30s people often said, "Winston, why do you keep going on about the National Socialists and National Defense?" Now I'm not saying I'm even an iota of the man Churchill was, but I do agree with his general philosophy that when the house is on fire, it is no time to be gardening.

Hey if you prefer, I could start bombarding the OC with explicitly Christian stuff or more gun threads.  

- SEAGOON

Howdy Seagoon

I have no problem understanding your frustration Seagoon and prolly a fair share of anger and even hate so if you need to vent here than thats just fine by me. I just noticed that change in your posting pattern thats all... Prolly should have PMed you instead tho.

Have a nice day