US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters

[ECH1969]

Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Five years after American-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom, United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to their home countries.

The mass release of the prisoners has provoked a stern rebuke to the Musharraf regime from the American government. "We have repeatedly warned Pakistan over arresting and then releasing suspects," said a US diplomat in Islamabad. "We are monitoring their response with great concern."

The Daily Telegraph tracked down and interviewed several former fighters who were part of a batch of eight foreign prisoners released last month. Burhan Ahmad, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi who has an American degree in engineering, admitted helping the Taliban against US-led forces in Afghanistan five years ago.

Link

[geek tragedy]

1. Pakistan had credibility? eom

[TexasLawyer]

17. my first reaction too!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Didn't someone say we should have attacked Pakistan, instead of

Iraq? Is there any oil in Pakistan?

[Botany]

2. Go ahead spin this story

Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

[DainBramaged]

3. So, we invading Pakistan now? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

When the ConJobs enlist enmasse to fight the Brown hordes, wake me up, my money won't be on the Reich-wing Fascist-Crisco's.

[Straight Shooter]

4. When will bush declare Pakistan is part of the rectangle of evil?

The square of evil? The polygon of evil? The quadrangle of evil?

I give up. :silly:

[Brundle_Fly]

19. rhombus

[indepat]

21. What about octagon?

[ovidsen]

5. With friends like these

I realize that Musharaf's walking a tightrope in his country. He's trying to drag much of his country kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Or maybe the 19th.

But handing out thousands of "get out of jail free" cards to extremists who want all of us in the "decadent West" dead because we're not inclined to adopt a 16th century version of strict Islam does not strike me as a good long-term strategy for him. Or for Americans who are in no great hurry to be zapped by al Qaeda types again.

On the other hand, were the freed "fighters" hard core insurrectionist types? Or were lots of them just warm bodies captured in the fog of war? Like the hundreds of warm bodies jailed at Guantanamo who were guilty of nothing more serious than being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

I don't know. But I fear the General is in a lose lose situation here.

[MrPrax]

8. I am confused...

Releasing people who have neither been charged or given due process is very 20th century...placing people in prison simply because you don't like their religion or ideas is actually 16th century thinking...like Gitmo?

See what the BFEE has turned you into?

[ovidsen]

10. I said I don't know

And I don't.

I'm totally against putting people in jail for their religion or ideas. Unless their idea of religion is seeing me dead. Call me goofy, but I'm into self-preservation.

And you are awfully naive if you don't think there are some people on this planet who really, seriously, totally hate what they think the West is and what they think the West stands for, and they want us seriously and most completely dead. Has your hatred for the BFEE turned off your common sense?

I don't believe the thousands of prisoners released by Pakistan were all jihadists who lust for martyrdom and the virgins in heaven. But I don't think they were all peaceful farmers and sheepherders, either. The freed detainees may go back to their villages, resume their lives, and chalk up their arrests to karma. They may have become radicalized and turned into extremists who think all infidels should be vaporized. Maybe some of them were jihadists all along. Once again, I don't know.

And you don't either.

Like I said, Musharraf is walking a fine line.

[Recursion]

26. Actually, they could care less whether we are in the 21st century or not

Nobody in Pakistan sits around saying "man, those infidel Americans let women have jobs and walk around without their heads covered, and they have a participatory democratic government that is not based on Sharia -- I want to go kill them all."

People do, however, sit around all over south asia, the maghreb, and the horn of Africa saying, "man, those Americans give a lot of money and weapons to our corrupt governments, who use that aid to oppress us, and all the while American corporations take our country's natural resources for a pittance payment that goes mostly to those same corrupt regimes. So because of all this American money and influence, the local satrap lives in a magnificent palace while I, despite having an advanced education, cannot get a job." That's when the thoughts of making things and people explode start.

EDIT: despite the fact that it's been the 21st century for half a decade, I still keep typing "20th"...

[rodeodance]

6. so, we/NATO gets to RE-catch them (or kill them) -2nd round.

Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

[arewenotdemo]

7. These weren't Taliban from Kunduz, were they?

You know, the Taliban and Arabs that were flown to freedom at Musharraf's behest with the approval of Washington?

[sandnsea]

9. Are we safe yet?

On the one hand, we can't expect any country to hold people without charges indefinitely - on the other... what the fuck?!? People died to get rid of these Taliban - yet the Bushits couldn't manage the most basic diplomatic and economic efforts to give the Afghanis a stake in something besides war and terrorism???

I'm pretty sure about one thing, there can't be any "hidden" group ruling the world because they'd have taken this son of a bitch out a long time ago. What a friggin' mess.

[BadGimp]

11. They have know this form the jump - GD LIARS

"United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to their home countries.
"...BS dammit!

This is OLD news people.

Is anyone surprised that the US media is flat out burrying this story and the many related stories??

This is sickening especially given Bush & GFY Dick Chenney's elevated level of whoring of 9/11 we have had to endure of the last 2 weeks.

[oblivious]

12. Pakistan is fighting terrorism,empowering women & introducing democracy...

So there! Straight from the dictator's mouth.

“We (Pakistan and the European Union) stand together in the fight against the scourge of terrorism,” he said while addressing the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.

...The president listed steps the government had taken to empower women and minorities and introduce sustainable democracy in the country.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/14/top8.htm

[Thor_MN]

13. Catch and release. Simple conservation measures can ensure terra for

generations to come.

[unkachuck]

14. now this is what's....

....called, 'making progress in the war on terror'....maybe, in order to win and the hearts and minds of would-be terrorists (with compassionate-conservatism), we helped create an early release program to send these wayward jailed terrorists back home to their mothers, fathers and loved ones who wait for them with open arms....

....maybe?....

[fujiyama]

15. Empty threats

The administration loves Mushy. I'm sure they'll even get the F-16s they want. He hasn't been held accountable for anything until now - after all, they helped NK get nukes as well...and possibly Iran as well.

This country is headed by lunatics...to claim they are strong at fighting terror is among the dumbest things I've ever heard.

[Rex]

16. Foreign policy?

I doubt we will have a single ally by 2008. Oh and for the record, we never defeated anyone in Afghanistan or Iraq. We 'beat' the Taliban and now they are back. We 'beat' the Insurgents and now there is a civil war in Iraq. Get our troops out now! NOW!

[pinniped]

18. Isn't someone going to release that Cuban terra suspect?

?

[yellowcanine]

20. "Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was

into question...."

"We have repeatedly warned Pakistan over arresting and then releasing suspects," said a US diplomat in Islamabad. "We are monitoring their response with great concern."

Imagine that. Glad our striped pants crowd is right on top of this Pakistan thingie.:sarcasm:

[The Count]

23. "Swimingly" - Afghanistan sum-up by some hag

[indepat]

24. Shocking, utterly shocking that our good buddies and great allies would

undo a good part of why the US went into Afghanistan.

[robinlynne]

25. Google and watch a film called 9/11 press for truth! We, meaning US

together with pakistan let osama bin laden go 3 times. together with all these taliban. Yes they are real terrorists. And yes we knew about this all along. And still we paid billions of dollars to pakistan. this is no surprise at all. It just wasn't in the MSM.

[IronLionZion]

27. "Are there any men left in Washington? Or are they all cowards?"

fake quote from Ahmed Massoud in the path to 9/11.

I'm sure the stern rebuke will make them feel really bad and they'll be really sorry about it.
:sarcasm:

We need to bomb the hell out of Pakistan today! That's the real ground zero in the war on Al Qaeda. The bad guys are there and everyone knows it. We simply must bomb their nuclear weapons facilities too, or let India do it. Somebody has to do it.

[agincourt]

28. They'll never be bombed by this administration,

9/11 was a favor to Bush so that he could set up a police state here. Pakistan or Saudi Arabia are the last countries that would get bombed even if they host terrorists that would kill a million Americans. Al Quiada, Corporate swine, and the fundamentalist shit are all in collusion together. And Americans lack the critical thinking skills to see the obvious or act on the obvious. To me this is a greater horror than seeing the twin towers destroyed. The inability of Americans to deal with a regime that screwed them very, very badly. The lack of will in dealing with the bin laden conservatives is appalling.