Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves at his residence after a court verdict in Islamabad on February 6, 2009. A Pakistani court order on February 6 ruled that Khan, father of the country's atomic bomb, was a free citizen, five years after he was effectively put under house arrest. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)
Feb 17, 2009 20:47
Updated Feb 17, 2009 22:02
Shari'a-for-peace (click here)
...There are disturbing, though unsubstantiated, reports that India may be supporting the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan - another example, if true, of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" aphorism....
The way in which nuclear neighbors 'play' is not appropriate. If true and India is backing the Taliban, I would say the extremists that carried out the attacks in Mumbai may have something to say. It might also explain why India was so quick to point a finger at Pakistan and reach for its war chant so very early on.
...President Asif Ali Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was probably assassinated by Taliban types in December 2007, has approved the Shari'a-for-peace deal. So, reportedly, did the Awami National Party, a secular Pashtun grouping. The Pashtun ethnic group comprises 15 percent of Pakistan's population, and 42% (a plurality) of Afghanistan's. The Taliban is predominantly Pashtun....
It is getting to be difficult to tell the enemy from a friend. THAT is partly due to Bush's policies and the abandonment of Afghanistan for Iraq.
...The decision to trade Sharia-for-peace appears to reflect a bad trend in the Muslim (and Arab) world whereby radicals stick to their guns, and moderates capitulate. Even if the Taliban could be satiated with "just" Afghanistan and Pakistan, these vast lands would become - even more than they already are - safe havens and launching pads for terrorism against "the infidels."
Indeed, reports claim that Osama bin Laden is currently not in some cave but in the village of Parachinar, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in an area that's seen Sunni-Shi'ite strife.
US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, who is just completing a tour of the region, called the Swat deal proof that India, the United States and Pakistan "all have a common threat now."
If only that were true.
If only matters were that clear-cut....
...until tomorrow.
