The change in tactics the Taliban are conducting is a clear indication their campaign to rule in Afghanistan is over.
...As a result, (click title to entry for Admiral Mullen's written comments before Congress - thank you) the insurgents have predictably shifted tactics. Rather than confront Afghan and international security forces directly, insurgent groups have and will increasingly focus on high profile attacks as well as assassination attempts against high-level officials. Like the recent complex attack in Kabul and the assassination of former president Rabbani, these incidents are designed to reap a maximum strategic and psychological effect with minimal input. And make no mistake, combating an insurgency is about combating perceptions. We must not attribute more weight to these attacks than they deserve. They are serious and significant, but they do not represent a sea change in the odds of military success....
Something happened in Pakistan with the assassination of the Late President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Pakistan has a much more turbulent interior following the episodic victimization of the Bhutto Political Family. The family was chronically viewed as legitimate by the people, but, were always the enemy of the government. Even Benezir was supposed to have killed her brother which cast the family in a light of blind ambition to power.
As time went by it allowed other elements from inside Pakistan to take control of government structures, primarily the ISI. While the 'leadership' of Pakistan always portrayed itself as a peace loving nation seeking alliance with the USA, its reality from within the power brokers of the ISI was very different. It lent itself to extremists such as al Qaeda using the borders with Afghanistan as a secure staging area to protect those that should have never received protection or allegiance.
As far as I am concerned, the exposure of Kahn was the beginning of the cultural shift in Pakistan and now Admiral Mullen from within Pakistan has opened the closed door. He has made public statements while visiting Pakistan to these elements within the ISI and now has sincerely exposed the coup that began so long ago.
Admiral Mullen has placed himself in the direct path of danger. He is an extremely brave warrior. Never let it be said he took a job with the Joint Chief's to avoid danger, he never did. He used his access to information and turned it into influence through truth telling to expose dangerous elements that were profoundly entrenched in the government of an ally. He is a remarkable man and I can't thank him enough.
…Despite this steady progress in the areas of security and ANSF development, however, a successful military strategy alone cannot achieve our objectives in Afghanistan. Other critical problems remain, problems that will undermine hard-won gains if they are not addressed.
The fact remains that the Quetta Shura and the Haqqani Network operate from Pakistan with impunity. Extremist organizations serving as proxies of the government of Pakistan are attacking Afghan troops and civilians as well as U.S. soldiers. For example, we believe the Haqqani Network—which has long enjoyed the support and protection of the Pakistani government and is, in many ways, a strategic arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency—is responsible for the September 13th attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul….
Knowing the truth about the ISI, the elements that are at work to attempt to secure nuclear capacity while using Kashmir as a bird blind to allow for such internal violence, are known now. The violence in Kashmir and the allowance of such extremists within the Pakistan ISI cannot be tolerated. There can be no clearer message to the Pakistani government than one of USA loyalty to returning the country to a peaceful partner rather than allowing the continued destabilizing reality that now exists there.
Pakistan in its current state can become a very dangerous element and the UN Security Council needs to recognize that reality and work to removing such global threats from Pakistan. India has been a more than patient partner with global interests with China and Russia in close proximity. If India weren't as persistently patient with this now known reality the entire region could have been involved in calamitous war or worse.
I would expect the USA to be an ally to India to bring this matter before the UN Security Council to seek sanctions as incentive to remove the power of the ISI elements that caused these problems. I would also expect India to bring Kashmir to the UN Security Council for a resolve to a peace and end of violence, a violence that has sustained now through generations.
India has been a good and loyal partner to the USA and there has been more stability in the region than not. That should be a clear understanding to the intents of both India and the USA in regard to furthering stability, bringing peace and nuclear disarmament once and for all.
Knowing the truth about the ISI, the elements that are at work to attempt to secure nuclear capacity while using Kashmir as a bird blind to allow for such internal violence, are known now. The violence in Kashmir and the allowance of such extremists within the Pakistan ISI cannot be tolerated. There can be no clearer message to the Pakistani government than one of USA loyalty to returning the country to a peaceful partner rather than allowing the continued destabilizing reality that now exists there.
Pakistan in its current state can become a very dangerous element and the UN Security Council needs to recognize that reality and work to removing such global threats from Pakistan. India has been a more than patient partner with global interests with China and Russia in close proximity. If India weren't as persistently patient with this now known reality the entire region could have been involved in calamitous war or worse.
I would expect the USA to be an ally to India to bring this matter before the UN Security Council to seek sanctions as incentive to remove the power of the ISI elements that caused these problems. I would also expect India to bring Kashmir to the UN Security Council for a resolve to a peace and end of violence, a violence that has sustained now through generations.
India has been a good and loyal partner to the USA and there has been more stability in the region than not. That should be a clear understanding to the intents of both India and the USA in regard to furthering stability, bringing peace and nuclear disarmament once and for all.
