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Thomas Nordlund

US Push to Expand in Pakistan Meets Resistance | CommonDreams.org - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...06-2

commondreams afghanistan pakistan private security military colonization

shared by Thomas Nordlund on 06 Oct 09 - Snapshot
  • Steps by the United States to vastly expand its aid to Pakistan, as well as the footprint of its embassy and private security contractors here, are aggravating an already volatile anti-American mood as Washington pushes for greater action by the government against the Taliban.
  • An aid package of $1.5 billion a year for the next five years passed by Congress last week asks Pakistan to cease supporting terrorist groups on its soil and to ensure that the military does not interfere with civilian politics.
  • many here, especially in the powerful army, object to the conditions as interference in Pakistan's internal affairs, and they are interpreting the larger American footprint in more sinister ways.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • American officials say the embassy and its security presence must expand in order to monitor how the new money is spent. They also have real security concerns
  • United States Embassy has publicized plans for a vast new building in Islamabad for about 1,000 people
  • Washington-based private contracting company, DynCorp.
  • It comes at a time of intense discussion in Washington over whether to widen American operations and aid to Pakistan - a base for Al Qaeda - as an alternative to deeper American involvement in Afghanistan with the addition of more forces.
  • the American presence was fueling a sense of occupation among Pakistani politicians and security officials, said several Pakistani officials, who did not want to be named for fear of antagonizing the United States. The United States was now seen as behaving in Pakistan much as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, they said.
  • the Pakistani military and the intelligence agencies are concerned that DynCorp is being used by Washington to develop a parallel network of security and intelligence personnel within Pakistan, officials and politicians close to the army said.
  • The action against Inter-Risk, apparently intended to cripple the DynCorp program, was taken on orders from the senior levels of the Pakistani government
  • The entire workings of DynCorp within Pakistan are now under review by the Pakistani government
  • The tensions are erupting as the United States is pressing Pakistan to take on not only those Taliban groups that have threatened the government, but also the Taliban leadership that uses Pakistan as a base to organize and conduct their insurgency against American forces in Afghanistan.
  • the United States regarded tackling Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan as "the next step" in the conflict in Afghanistan.
  • The expanding American security presence has become another club. DynCorp has attracted particular scrutiny after the Pakistani news media reported that Blackwater, the contractor that has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, was also in Pakistan.
  • American officials have said that Blackwater employees worked at a remote base in Shamsi, in Baluchistan, where they loaded missiles and bombs onto drones used to strike Taliban and Qaeda militants.
  • Several Blackwater employees also worked in the North-West Frontier Province supervising the construction of a training center for Pakistan's Frontier Corps
  • Politicians were asking why the United States needed a consulate in Peshawar, which borders the tribal areas, when that office did not issue visas
  • why did the consulate plan to buy the biggest, and most modern building in the city, the Pearl Continental hotel - which was bombed in a terrorist attack this year - as its new headquarters.
  • the legislation "the charter for new colonization."
  • "People think this government has sold us to the Americans again for their own selfish interests," said Jahangir Tareen, a former cabinet minister and a member of Parliament, in an interview. "Some people think the United States is out to get Pakistan, to defang Pakistan, to destroy the army as it exists so it can't fight India and to break down the ISI's ability to influence events in India and Afghanistan. Everyone is saying about the Americans, ‘Told you so.' "
  • Thomas Nordlund
    Thomas Nordlund on 06 Oct 09
     
    Steps by the United States to vastly expand its aid to Pakistan, as well as the footprint of its embassy and private security contractors here, are aggravating an already volatile anti-American mood as Washington pushes for greater action by the government against the Taliban.
Thomas Nordlund

'Rethink Afghanistan' Destroys Failed Logic of War | CommonDreams.org - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...06-5

afghanistan rethink greenwald

shared by Thomas Nordlund on 06 Oct 09 - Snapshot
  • Thomas Nordlund
    Thomas Nordlund on 06 Oct 09
     
    Rethink Afghanistan does not present the perfect argument against the war in Afghanistan (I certainly have had my own disagreements with Greenwald and with some of the film's politics), but that is not what Greenwald and his team intended to do. The title says it all: they want Americans to stop and rethink support for a war that worsens by the day, costs billions of dollars, causes the deaths of U.S. soldiers and countless Afghan civilians and which, ultimately, will make the U.S. less safe.
mohammed maree

Escaping the "Graveyard of Empires": A Strategy to Exit Afghanistan | Malou Innocent and Te... - 0 views

www.cato.org/pub_display.php

CATO COIN Afghanistan withdrawal opposition usa occupation imperialism

shared by mohammed maree on 01 Oct 09 - Snapshot
  • Given the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan,
    a definitive, conventional "victory" is not a
    realistic option. Denying a sanctuary to terrorists
    who seek to attack the United States does not
    require Washington to pacify the entire country,
    eradicate its opium fields, or sustain a long-term
    military presence in Central Asia.
  • On the ground, the United States can retain a
    small number of covert operatives for intelligence
    gathering and discrete operations against specific
    targets, as well as an additional small group of
    advisers to train Afghan police and military forces
  • The United States should withdraw most of its
    forces from Afghanistan within the next 12 to 18
    months and treat al Qaeda's presence in the
    region as a chronic, but manageable, problem.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Security. Support, rather than supplant, indigenous
    security efforts by training and assisting
    the Afghan national army and police and, where
    appropriate, paying off or otherwise co-opting
    regional militias. Training should be tied to clear
    metrics. If those benchmarks are not achieved,
    Washington must cut its losses and cease further
    assistance. U.S. forces should not become Afghanistan's
    perpetual crutch.
    • Max Forte
      Max Forte on 01 Oct 09
       
      It would seem more logical to argue that Afghanistan has been Washington's crutch in fomenting a state, and the corresponding industrial complex, premised on permanent war.
  • Intelligence and Regional Relations. Sustain
    intelligence operations in the region through aerial
    surveillance, covert operations, and ongoing
    intelligence-sharing with the Afghan and Pakistani
    governments.
  • Central Asia holds little intrinsic strategic value
    to the United States, and America's security will
    not be endangered even if an oppressive regime
    takes over a contiguous fraction of Afghan territory.
    America's objective has been to neutralize the
    parties responsible for the atrocities committed
    on 9/11. The United States should not go beyond
    that objective by combating a regional insurgency
    or drifting into an open-ended occupation and
    nation-building mission.
Max Forte

Afghanistan: Occupation and Resistance - 2 views

www.diigo.com/...stan-occupation-and-resistance

shared by Max Forte on 30 Sep 09 - Snapshot
  • Max Forte
    Max Forte on 30 Sep 09
     
    Max Forte's List: Afghanistan: Occupation and Resistance - The continued Western occupation of Afghanistan and Afghan resistance movements.
Max Forte

Afghanistan Elections 2009 - 1 views

www.diigo.com/...afghanistan-elections-2009

shared by Max Forte on 30 Sep 09 - Snapshot
  • Max Forte
    Max Forte on 30 Sep 09
     
    Max Forte's List: Afghanistan Elections 2009 - Reports concerning problems with the conduct of free and fair elections in Afghanistan.
Max Forte

Sharing a list with a group - 9 views

Excellent, thanks very much Thomas!

started by Max Forte on 25 Sep 09 3 follow-ups, last by Max Forte on 30 Sep 09
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