We're just now finally coming to grips with the realities of Afghanistan's ethnic melange but we also need to understand what's next door, in Pakistan. The name gives it away.
The name of the country was crafted by a bunch of university students at England's Cambridge. It's an acronym. P for the Punjabis, A for the Afghans, K for the Kashmiris, S for Sind, and the "tan," they say, for Baluchistan.
The country is essentially run by and for the military which is predominantly Punjabi. Benazir Bhutto and her ancestors belonged to the Sindhs. The Pashtun are blended into the Afghans and the Balochs are, of course, the tribesmen of the part of Balochistan that Pakistan shares with Afghanistan. Out of those five groups, the Punjabis and Sindhs vie for power. The others - Kashmiri, Pashtun and Baloch are beset by a variety of insurgents, terrorists and nationalist secessionists.
You don't just go into one part of Pakistan to clean up insurgencies. You effectively take one side against one or more or even all of the others. If the Punjabis can't bring order and security to the Baloch and Pashtun tribal lands, just what do we think NATO is going to accomplish? There's a reason the Punjabi-run military keeps trying to negotiate ceasefires with these tribes.
So let's drop the fanciful notions of bringing a little Western "know how" to sort out the tribal lands once and for all. That place isn't like southern Afghanistan with its level, wide open spaces and largely passive farmers. The tribal lands are extremely rugged, mountainous territory. It's the sort of terrain that doesn't lend itself to armoured vehicles, artillery and air support, the high tech firepower we so depend upon. In fact it's the sort of place where tanks and helicopters go to die.
By the way, another point of misunderstanding I've noticed popping up concerns Pakistan's military. Some suggest they just need a few extra soldiers from NATO to drive the Taliban out of their country. Think again.
The Pakistani military consists of 602,000 active duty personnel. Add in the coast guard and paramilitaries and it just clears 1,000,000 in total. They're all volunteers and they make up the 7th largest military in the world. They also have a reputation as very capable fighters. That's the military that hasn't been able to tame the tribal lands.
The name of the country was crafted by a bunch of university students at England's Cambridge. It's an acronym. P for the Punjabis, A for the Afghans, K for the Kashmiris, S for Sind, and the "tan," they say, for Baluchistan.
The country is essentially run by and for the military which is predominantly Punjabi. Benazir Bhutto and her ancestors belonged to the Sindhs. The Pashtun are blended into the Afghans and the Balochs are, of course, the tribesmen of the part of Balochistan that Pakistan shares with Afghanistan. Out of those five groups, the Punjabis and Sindhs vie for power. The others - Kashmiri, Pashtun and Baloch are beset by a variety of insurgents, terrorists and nationalist secessionists.
You don't just go into one part of Pakistan to clean up insurgencies. You effectively take one side against one or more or even all of the others. If the Punjabis can't bring order and security to the Baloch and Pashtun tribal lands, just what do we think NATO is going to accomplish? There's a reason the Punjabi-run military keeps trying to negotiate ceasefires with these tribes.
So let's drop the fanciful notions of bringing a little Western "know how" to sort out the tribal lands once and for all. That place isn't like southern Afghanistan with its level, wide open spaces and largely passive farmers. The tribal lands are extremely rugged, mountainous territory. It's the sort of terrain that doesn't lend itself to armoured vehicles, artillery and air support, the high tech firepower we so depend upon. In fact it's the sort of place where tanks and helicopters go to die.
By the way, another point of misunderstanding I've noticed popping up concerns Pakistan's military. Some suggest they just need a few extra soldiers from NATO to drive the Taliban out of their country. Think again.
The Pakistani military consists of 602,000 active duty personnel. Add in the coast guard and paramilitaries and it just clears 1,000,000 in total. They're all volunteers and they make up the 7th largest military in the world. They also have a reputation as very capable fighters. That's the military that hasn't been able to tame the tribal lands.
1 comment:
Another very good analysis. Why are we letting our tanks die there and soldiers killed? There should be other ways to resolve the current sitution.
I heard U.S is after some gas pipeline from former Soviet territories through Afghanistan, to export gas to China and India and make trillions. Bush's greed has gone too far.
Post a Comment