Sources have told me that the Pakistani defence minister have told the US to leave the base it used for its' drones. I have not got any hard confirmation of this, but if true then it could indicate that the Taliban and/or Al Quaeda are being hurt by this as missions from the base continue. As the US is there largely by consent, I wonder if the Pakistani authorities are keen to get rid of the forces as they inevitably become targets causing more fighting and civillian losses. Or maybe someone smelling strongly of opium and cordite offered the minister a salary bonus.. This is a difficult corner of the world to operate in at the best of times, impossible without Pakistani support. The airbase in question is Shamsi.
Then tell them to give back the 2 billion in aid we gave them this year. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
http://www.voanews.com/english/news...-to-Leave-Base-Used-for-Drones-124767319.html Not much of an airbase....
You don't think that maybe they are pissed off with having there solders killed by the drones? And cosmic how much "aid" would pay for the death of one of your solders shot by an allie?
Possibly, but I think the real reason is they are working and also they want us to give them some drones for their own use (which so far we have refused to do).
I'm only saying that the drones that are used to find the terrorists that are hiding there, inside Pakistan, not the ones that are killing the soldiers. As we have seen through the years sometimes mistakes are made even by our own military when they have "friendly fire" kill one of their own. In many instances the people that fire missiles, even from fighter aircraft, cannot determine who's who when they release their weapons. It is a very sad thing when people are hit and sometimes killed that are "friendly" but again how does one determine who is where the weapon hits? They do their best to find the correct targets to hit but no one is perfect. The aid money wasn't any payments for these accidents but to help Pakistan grow and have a good economy there.
Yes how could they possibly know there would be Pakistani solders in a Pakistani millatry base, how radical is that
Sarcasium aside that was my point, concidering the piss poor history of the US (like bombing British tanks, your own troops, wedings, Pakistani solders ect) they might want you out so that the enermy they are actually fighting gets a chance to kill some rather than you guys doing it for them
Wrong. There are many elements with the Pakistani government that are sympathetic to our enemies. That is why they want us out, because they just don't give a shit about our war on terrorism, which is really a war on Islamic Jihad. The fact is Pakistan created the Taliban, it's Pakistan who we need to fight.
Pakistan government is facing wrath of its public over so many issues like osama raid , bad economy , terrorism , unemployment , human right violation . He just diverting the attention from core issues and holding america and india responsible for its problems .
In 2006, 30 terrorist attacks, including 10 of a sectarian nature, took place, leaving 100 people dead and 230 others injured. In 2007, 34 terrorist attacks and clashes, including suicide attacks, killings, and assassinations, resulted in 134 casualties and 245 injuries, according to the PIPS security report.The report states that Pakistan faced 20 suicide attacks (mostly targeted at security forces) during 2007, which killed at least 111, besides injuring another 234 people. PIPS report shows visible increase in suicide attacks after Lal Masjid operation. In 2008, the country saw 40 terrorist attacks, which caused 154 fatalities and 256 injuries. In 2009, the worst of any year, 50 terrorist, insurgent and sectarian-related incidents were reported that killed 180 people and injured 300. Terrorist attacks staged in Pakistan have killed over 35,000 people, 5,000 of which are law enforcement personnel, and caused material damage to the Pakistani economy totalling $67 billion. List of terrorist incidents in Pakistan since 2001
It's hard to know what Pakistan is really up to. They say one thing to the press, for domestic consumption. Then they say something totally different, privately to the US. And then oftentimes it will turn out that the truth was something else again, totally different than either story. They valiantly fight Islamic militants. They simultaneously provide protection to Islamic militants and their radical madrasahs. All while Islamabad is telling everyone whatever it is that they believe the listener wants to hear... I'm not sure whether Pakistan's military leadership thinks that it's smarter than everyone else and can play everyone against everyone in some super-elaborate game. Or whether they feel so weak that they are reacting to events out of desperation. Or whether they are so deeply split internally that they simply don't have any coherent policy. (Yet somehow they do manage to produce nuclear weapons.) I think that we could get by if they closed down our drone operating sites. We could probably still operate a lot of those sorties pretty effectively from sites in Afghanistan. What's more important are the supply routes from the port of Karachi up through the Khyber pass to Kabul. Lots of American truck convoys take that route, I believe. And Afghanistan is difficult for coalition aircraft to reach without overflight rights through Pakistani airspace. Of course, given how the Pakistanis operate, maybe they are making a big show of shutting down a drone site or two, hoping to appease local Islamist and nationalist public opinion, while quietly allowing coalition supplies and aircraft to continue moving. Maybe they've already privately given everybody lots of assurances about that on condition it not be made public.
Strange how terrorists come out of the woodworks whenever US troops are involved. Note how the number of terrorists attacks increase annually the longer the US is present. google "Dutch diplomats in Pakistan" "CIA kill teams in Pakistan" "flooding of US weapons in Pakistan"
Here's the news source: From Rezaul H Laskar Islamabad, Jun 29 (PTI) Pakistan has told the US to leave a remote Pakistani airbase that is reportedly used for covert CIA drone flights, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said today."We have told them (the US) to leave the airbase," Mukhtar said during an interaction with Pakistani journalists at his office in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.Mukhtar's comments came in the wake of the Pakistani Army's demand that the strength of US military personnel in the country should be reduced to the "minimum essential".Scores of CIA operatives and American military trainers have left Pakistan in recent weeks.The Pakistani military made the demand in the aftermath of the US raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad on May 2. http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/pak-asks-us-to-leave-drone-attack-base/742953.html ISLAMABAD (- Pakistan told the United States to leave a remote desert airbase used as a hub for covert CIA drone attacks, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said Wednesday. His remarks are the latest indication of Pakistan attempting to limit US activities since a clandestine American military raid killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 and plunged ties between the anti-terror allies into chaos. “We have told them (US officials) to leave the airbase,” Mukhtar told a group of journalists in his office. “This trust deficit with US could be reduced by sitting together and taking joint actions,” he added. Asked about Omar, Mukhtar said: “If he was in Pakistan, even then, he would have left the country after the Abbottabad incident.” Mukhtar said that he supported negotiations with the Taliban to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. Mukhtar said the trust between the US and Pakistan has reduced to a great extent after May 02 incident. “This trust deficit could be reduced by sitting together and taking joint actions,” he said. The minister pointed out that Coalition Support Fund had stopped its funding for the war on terror being fought in FATA and as a result, this war was harming our economy. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-n...0-Jun-2011/US8200told-to-leave-Shamsi-airbase
I don't believe the US ever had Pakistani support which is why Bin Laden could hide so comfortably in the country.
I agree with you but not your last point. Please not another war! Also I think it would be a mistake. Pakistan is not going to roll over, its armed with nukes and their public already close to hating americans. Also you would be on your own, you won't get international support even from a few countries such as the 'coalition of the willing'. You don't fix a mistake by making the same mistake twice. The US needs to withdraw its troops and allow this boiling cauldron to simmer down. (By withdraw I mean the troops in Afghanistan)
yeah i liked this bit from natgeo With a population of nearly six million, Baghdad has become a city of walled enclaves regulated by Iraqi Army troops, federal police officers, local policemen, private security guards, and other groups such as the Sons of Iraq, who are like your local Neighborhood Watch crew, only armed with AK-47s. The demarcations are formed by massive concrete blast walls known colloquially as T-walls because they resemble giant T's flipped upside down. Religious flags wave from rooftops, mosques, and intersections in predominately Shiite areas. Sunni neighborhoods are marked by a lack of flags. "Baghdad is a huge camp, man," says my interpreter, Yousif al-Timimi. "America didn't bring democracy. It brought walls." sam and gustav, two proud indians, will gladly join the americans in pounding pakistan to pulp. in the haze of war, india will then pound bangladesh to pulp mother india will be whole again this i vow aint that right, sam?
Global warming driven monsoons, cyclones and rising tides will remove Bangladesh quickly enough...which will make India even more uncomfortable when they get all of their 'untouchables' back. Pakistan is really pissed off that they were unable to continue to protect mass - murderer Bin Laden ad infinitum. Yeah, Pakistan appears to be the world center for fruitcake Islamic terrorists these days...despite all of the money the US sends there. Do they make more IED's than Iran now, or is it still pretty much neck-and-neck which of those dysfunctional states can kill more US troops? Oh yeah, and I am real sure that Iraq was quiet, safe and peaceful before Bush invaded. Mebbe they should break it back up into the 3 countries it used to be way back when...... At least the Kurds seem happier now though. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What infinite arrogance. To destroy the lives of more than 50 million people in 10-20 years of violence and appease your conscience by claiming to be satisfied for those people whose subjugation you were complicit in under your own puppet dictator for 25 years! The Happy Happy Kurds: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121702150.html
