CIA-USAID-University of Nebraska destroyed Pak-Afghan social fabric…: What happened, in-between 1979-1989, to socio-political fabric of Afghanistan and Pakistan, is a story of shame and pain; the response to the Soviet Union in the 1980s was not confined to the tactical guerilla warfare field only; a massive anti-Russia propaganda campaign was accompanied by efforts to instill the 'spirit of jihad' into the hearts and minds of Afghan children and teenagers alike. Millions of dollars and riyals (Saudi Arabian currency) were spent on the 'jihadisation' of the Afghan primary and middle school curricula. Then, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) commissioned the Center for Afghanistan Studies (CAS), University of Nebraska, Omaha, to review the Afghan curricula and mould it in line with the anti-Russian policy objectives of the US-led jihad. Under a $43 million USAID-financed project, around 4-dozen University of Nebraska faculty and staff members worked overtime to produce more than 15 million textbooks in Pashto and Dari (two primary languages in Afghanistan) for distribution among children, largely living in the refugee camps set up in Pakistan ´ and partially in Iran. Along with a chain of jihadi madrasahs in the Pak-Afghan border regions, the CIA contrived ´ with the active support from the ISI- to harvest a militarized civil society that would furnish physical sustenance in addition to providing ideological support to jihadis raised at madrasahs. …CIA-USAID-University of Nebraska tried to rebuild: Later on, immediately after the Bonn conference in December 2001, members of the coalition against terrorism agreed on a transitional Afghan government, led by Hamid Karzai. With this a new massive socio-economic effort also got underway to help Afghanistan. Reviewing the curricula also constituted the broad list of initiatives meant for 'fixing' the Afghan problem. Once again, the USAID sprung into action and commissioned the...

CIA-USAID-University of Nebraska destroyed Pak-Afghan social fabric…: What happened, in-between 1979-1989, to socio-political fabric of Afghanistan and Pakistan, is a story of shame and pain; the response to the Soviet Union in the 1980s was not confined to the tactical guerilla warfare field only; a massive anti-Russia propaganda campaign was accompanied by efforts to instill the 'spirit of jihad' into the hearts and minds of Afghan children and teenagers alike. Millions of dollars and riyals (Saudi Arabian currency) were spent on the 'jihadisation' of the Afghan primary and middle school curricula. Then, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) commissioned the Center for Afghanistan Studies (CAS), University of Nebraska, Omaha, to review the Afghan curricula and mould it in line with the anti-Russian policy objectives of the US-led jihad. Under a $43 million USAID-financed project, around 4-dozen University of Nebraska faculty and staff members worked overtime to produce more than 15 million textbooks in Pashto and Dari (two primary languages in Afghanistan) for distribution among children, largely living in the refugee camps set up in Pakistan ´ and partially in Iran. Along with a chain of jihadi madrasahs in the Pak-Afghan border regions, the CIA contrived ´ with the active support from the ISI- to harvest a militarized civil society that would furnish physical sustenance in addition to providing ideological support to jihadis raised at madrasahs. …CIA-USAID-University of Nebraska tried to rebuild: Later on, immediately after the Bonn conference in December 2001, members of the coalition against terrorism agreed on a transitional Afghan government, led by Hamid Karzai. With this a new massive socio-economic effort also got underway to help Afghanistan. Reviewing the curricula also constituted the broad list of initiatives meant for 'fixing' the Afghan problem. Once again, the USAID sprung into action and commissioned the...

2009 quick review: The year 2009 ended with the deadly suicide strike on the Muharram procession in Karachi. Regardless of who did it, the incident underscored that unscrupulous death merchants continued their demolition and destruction mission in Pakistan. The past 12 months marked another traumatic and violent period that left a gory trail of death and destruction, manifest in the roughly 80 suicide attacks and close to 500 bomb explosions and improvised explosive devices– detonations, largely in the Frontier and FATA regions. Until 2001, one must underscore, Pakistan had not experienced a single suicide strike but by end of 2009, Pakistan was seething under a wave of reckless suicide attacks never witnessed before. During the year 2007, it was a strike a week, in 2008 those numbers rose to at least 62 and in 2009 about 80 bombers either walked into or drove explosive-laden vehicles into crowded places such as mosques, markets or security installations to wreak havoc on human likes. This took the total number of suicide strikes since March 2002 to roughly 217. The civilian casualty figure for the last eight years or so also reached a staggering 25,000, which includes militants, police, military personnel and civilians. During the last six months of 2009 radical militants led by al Qaeda seemed to had put Pakistan on fire, unleashing a string of suicide attacks that wrought havoc from the northwestern regions to capital Islamabad/ Rawalpindi to northeastern town of Lahore. Bombings here…: During the year, terrorists surprised the security establishment with their new tactics i.e. commando-style attacks involving several attackers. On March 3rd a attack, first on the Sri Lankan cricket team and then on the Manawan Police Training Academy on the outskirts of Lahore on March 30th, the October 10 raid on GHQ, the Dec 4 similar surprise assault involving several terrorists on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of the Fidayeen Attacks that the...

2009 quick review: The year 2009 ended with the deadly suicide strike on the Muharram procession in Karachi. Regardless of who did it, the incident underscored that unscrupulous death merchants continued their demolition and destruction mission in Pakistan. The past 12 months marked another traumatic and violent period that left a gory trail of death and destruction, manifest in the roughly 80 suicide attacks and close to 500 bomb explosions and improvised explosive devices– detonations, largely in the Frontier and FATA regions. Until 2001, one must underscore, Pakistan had not experienced a single suicide strike but by end of 2009, Pakistan was seething under a wave of reckless suicide attacks never witnessed before. During the year 2007, it was a strike a week, in 2008 those numbers rose to at least 62 and in 2009 about 80 bombers either walked into or drove explosive-laden vehicles into crowded places such as mosques, markets or security installations to wreak havoc on human likes. This took the total number of suicide strikes since March 2002 to roughly 217. The civilian casualty figure for the last eight years or so also reached a staggering 25,000, which includes militants, police, military personnel and civilians. During the last six months of 2009 radical militants led by al Qaeda seemed to had put Pakistan on fire, unleashing a string of suicide attacks that wrought havoc from the northwestern regions to capital Islamabad/ Rawalpindi to northeastern town of Lahore. Bombings here…: During the year, terrorists surprised the security establishment with their new tactics i.e. commando-style attacks involving several attackers. On March 3rd a attack, first on the Sri Lankan cricket team and then on the Manawan Police Training Academy on the outskirts of Lahore on March 30th, the October 10 raid on GHQ, the Dec 4 similar surprise assault involving several terrorists on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of the Fidayeen Attacks that the...

2009 quick review: The year 2009 ended with the deadly suicide strike on the Muharram procession in Karachi. Regardless of who did it, the incident underscored that unscrupulous death merchants continued their demolition and destruction mission in Pakistan. The past 12 months marked another traumatic and violent period that left a gory trail of death and destruction, manifest in the roughly 80 suicide attacks and close to 500 bomb explosions and improvised explosive devices– detonations, largely in the Frontier and FATA regions. Until 2001, one must underscore, Pakistan had not experienced a single suicide strike but by end of 2009, Pakistan was seething under a wave of reckless suicide attacks never witnessed before. During the year 2007, it was a strike a week, in 2008 those numbers rose to at least 62 and in 2009 about 80 bombers either walked into or drove explosive-laden vehicles into crowded places such as mosques, markets or security installations to wreak havoc on human likes. This took the total number of suicide strikes since March 2002 to roughly 217. The civilian casualty figure for the last eight years or so also reached a staggering 25,000, which includes militants, police, military personnel and civilians. During the last six months of 2009 radical militants led by al Qaeda seemed to had put Pakistan on fire, unleashing a string of suicide attacks that wrought havoc from the northwestern regions to capital Islamabad/ Rawalpindi to northeastern town of Lahore. Bombings here…: During the year, terrorists surprised the security establishment with their new tactics i.e. commando-style attacks involving several attackers. On March 3rd a attack, first on the Sri Lankan cricket team and then on the Manawan Police Training Academy on the outskirts of Lahore on March 30th, the October 10 raid on GHQ, the Dec 4 similar surprise assault involving several terrorists on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of the Fidayeen Attacks that the...

Pakistan bled more than any other nation in the world: Until 2001, Pakistan had not experienced suicide strikes. By the end of 2009, Pakistan had witnessed such attacks as never before. In 2007, it was one suicide attack a week; 2008 saw more than 60 attacks and last year, some 80 bombers either walked or drove explosive-laden vehicles into often crowded places including mosques, markets and security installations to wreak death and destruction. Last year toll also took the total number of suicide strikes since March 2002 to almost 220. The civilian casualty figure for the last eight years has reached a staggering 25,000 that includes militants, police, military personnel and civilians ´ 8 times of what the loss was in September 11, 2001 attacks in New York before President Bush embarked on his War Against Terror. Between July 2008 and end-December 2009 alone, Pakistan is believed to have lost about 3,600 civilians and more than 1,300 security personnel in terror strikes. Soon after President Barack Obama unveiled his AfPak strategy on March 27, 2009, the battle between the US-led coalition forces, including those of Pakistan, and the radical militants led by Al Qaeda moved to new levels, unleashing a string of suicide attacks wreaking destruction in the northwest as well as in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Bad ending…: The death and destruction continued during the whole year of 2009 and it ended with an attack on an Ashura procession in Karachi killing more than 40 and injuring scores of others. As if the human damage were not enough, a violent wave of arson and pillage followed the blast, resulting in shops being gutted and a loss of billions of rupees. While controversy surrounds the mode of the attack ¶ reports indicate a remote-controlled device may have been used ¶ if the Ashura attack was indeed caused by a suicide bomber, it would be the 80th such attack in addition to some 500 bomb explosions and improvised explosive devices– (IEDs) detonations,...

Importance of Quetta: Quetta is closely situated to Kandahar, the birthplace of the Afghan Taliban movement, and to Zahedan, the Iranian border town. Its location makes Quetta one of the most important Southern cities of Pakistan with immense potential of trade, communications ´ and suspected cross border infiltrations. The strategically vital city also lies on the Bolan Pass route which was once the only gateway to and from South Asia and if developed properly, would still have much more importance than many other routes in region. Ever since the Taliban defeat in December 2001, Quetta has remained in focus for three reasons for: 1. its ethnic Pashtoon majority; 2. long time presence of at least 300,000 Afghan refugees, displaced due to the civil war in Afghanistan; 3. being the only big city on the Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran border with a strong military presence. Most of the affluent ones continue to live in and around the city, occupying big settlements including the Pashtoonabad neighborhood, which is reportedly home to hundreds of influential Afghan families. Quetta, therefore, mostly wears the look of a Taliban city; black-turbaned, bearded Pasthoons stalking roads and markets in the traditional loose dress that all Pashtoons between Quetta and Kandahar wear. It makes them all look like members of the Taliban movement, something very striking particularly for maiden visitors or foreigners. What is Quetta Shura: One of the themes, recurring in the US civilian and military leaders, relates to the alleged presence of Afghan Taliban in the Pakistani southwestern Balochistan province that shares a 1,360 kilometer long border with Afghanistan. 'Quetta Shura' (QS) is the metaphor used to underscore that key Afghan Taliban leaders are using Quetta, the provincial capital, as their command and control headquarters for their militant activities inside Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities have been under pressure from the US for quite some time to dismantle Taliban...

The surge would not help Pakistan: The new US plan is not likely to produce results that might allow the US to begin a phased withdrawal by July 2011 because this brings with the prospect of more civilian casualties (already close to 50 percent Afghans say they have been directly or indirectly affected by the military-militant conflict). The pullout plan has already triggered a heated debate in Washington with Robert Gates, the defense secretary suggesting the timeline was open to review by December 2010. It would certainly be interesting to see whether the Obama plan works wonder on the civilian side ´ the promise of working with local leadership, governors and the civil society (if one exists in Afghanistan). But if viewed against this the American perceptions of Pakistan listed above, the implications of the US surge in Afghanistan for Pakistan are likely to be pretty serious. Holbrook had charted this journey to serious implications ´ the shifting of war theatre to Pakistan ´ in March, when Obama announced the controversial Af-Pak Strategy. Escalation in conflict in the border areas ´ ground offensive in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan plus increased aerial and drone strikes (for which Robert Gates had already secured additional funding) in Waziristan, will mostly likely result in more violence in mainland Pakistan, thereby also straining the US-NATO supply routes from Karachi to Torkham and to Chaman. This stretch would not only suck in additional Pakistani security forces but also add to the cost of cargo which will mount after all the 30,000 additional US soldiers arrive in Afghanistan. Apprehensions about Pakistan: If plugged together, a total of six perceptions form the basis of the broader American belief that Pakistan is the source of all trouble in Afghanistan: Safe havens in Pakistan fuel the Afghan insurgency (Waziristan) Al-qaeda and Taliban leadership is hiding in Pakistan (Quetta and FATA) Terror groups attacking India, Afghanistan and US-led...

Taliban pride falls in the feet of Pakistan Army: Before Pakistan Army flushed out the TTP terrorists from Sararogha by November 3, 2009, it had served as headquarter of the terrorist outfit Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the South Waziristan region. TTP had a firm grip on the area and used it as its training, logistical, planning and execution facility even after the death of its founder, Baitullah Mehsud, in a drone attack on August 5. Pakistan Army, in a spectacular action against the terrorists moved in a three pronged strategy and destroyed a larger part of all that had been helping Taliban to keep operating from the area. The scattered stones and debris in and around Sararogha, as many media personnel reported after visiting the area, hints at heavy fighting between the militants and Pakistan Army in which Army managed to killed nearly 300 Taliban terrorists and the troops finally took the town including a strategic hill near the small town called Point 1345. The fight for this point was fierce and bloody with terrorists suffering heavy casualties and were finally pushed out of the important town. 'It all started from here, the challenge to the state of Pakistan,' Brig. Muhammed Shafiq, the operations commander, told media during a recent visit. 'Sararogha had turned into a symbol of the TTP terror in the region but Pakistan Army has snatched it from terrorists– teeth,' he proudly said. TTP comprises of criminals, crooks and killers: A look-back into the events ´ based on interviews with people displaced through the fighting and latest operation as well as with journalists from the region ´ also explains that through a swift but systematic campaign, the militants, then led by Baitullah and now by successor Hakimullah Mehsud, pushed out the entire local civilian administration, eliminated suspected government 'collaborators' and practically declared this town as the headquarters of their state. When TTP seized this town in a surprise attack on a...

More American deaths: The October 4 daring Taliban attack on two American outposts in the Nuristan province, eastern Afghanistan that left eight Americans and several Afghans dead only underscored the gravity of the ground situation in that country. Jamaluddin Badar, the governor of Nuristan said the attackers also seized and kidnapped 11 Afghan police officers, including the district police chief from inside the US-led compounds. Interestingly, Governor Mr. Badar identified the attackers as Taliban fighters who he said had fled the military operations in Pakistan. It was the deadliest raid on an American installation since July 2008, when 200 insurgents stormed their small outpost in the village of Wana and killed nine American soldiers were killed in the same province, bringing the US soldiers toll to 226 so far. According to the 'icasualties.org' website about 384 foreign troops have died thus far in 2009, raising alarm in major NATO capitals on the future engagement in Afghanistan. More US troops wouldn–t come ´ soon: In view of the spiraling violence, US General Stanley McChrystal, who commands 100,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, is asking for up to 40,000 extra troops, warning that the Taliban-led insurgency is becoming more potent and that the U.S. is in danger of losing the war unless more troops are sent to turn the tide against a formidable opponent. General James Jones, the president national security adviser, seemed to challenge that premise on Sunday. On the CNN program 'State of the Union,' he said he did not believe that Afghanistan was in 'imminent danger of falling' to the Taliban and that the presence of Al Qaeda 'is much diminished.' And on the CBS program 'Face the Nation,' he described General McChrystal recommendation for a troop increase as 'his opinion' of 'what he thinks his role within that strategy is.' These relatively divergent views in Washington also form the basis of the ongoing review of the Afghan policy. Afghan elections...