Terror allies waging turf war (Afghan & Pakistan)

[mumon]

From Newsday

Only days after President George W. Bush visited Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two key U.S. allies are battling each other in a way that analysts say can only undermine the fight against terrorism.

The governments of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have publicly accused each other of permitting the resurgence, along their border, of militant Islamic Taliban guerrillas. The squabble both reflects and worsens deep suspicions between the countries that hamper the effort to fight a coordinated counterinsurgency, said Talat Masood, a security analyst and retired Pakistani general...

The need for coordination has been underscored by a weeklong battle, one of the fiercest in the war on the Pakistani side of the border, between Pakistani troops and militant guerrillas. The fighting is in North Waziristan, a region that Afghan and U.S. military officials say is a launching pad for Taliban operations in Afghanistan. Thousands of mostly poor ethnic Pashtuns have fled the fighting, and the region's capital, Miramshah, was barely functioning yesterday, refugees said.


Only three weeks ago, Karzai and Musharraf spoke congenially after meeting here. "We are joined together like twins, inseparable. Nothing can come between us," Karzai said then.

There's an almost complete dearth of Afghan articles in the media; google 'em and most sources are not US sources.

[fujiyama]

1. I wonder

how long it will take the US to realize that Mushy is just a power hungry tin pot dictator that really doesn't give a shit about threats the US faces or anything else.

He's doing whatever he can to strengthen Pakistan militarily (because that's where his real support is), but he has done nothing to improve the lives of Pakistanis or give them a democratic or free future.

Instead all he's doing now is bitching about Afghanistan making him "look bad". Guess what Mushy? Your country started the Taliban, and more or less created Al Qaeda. No wonder most Afghans don't really trust Pakistan at this point.