Robert Dreyfuss: New US General Vs. Taliban, Pashtuns

[laststeamtrain]

New US General Vs. Taliban, Pashtuns
posted by Robert Dreyfuss on 05/12/2009 @ 07:26am

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A smart commentary on the dual crises in Afghanistan and Pakistan came from Selig Harrison, a longtime expert on Asia at the Center for International Policy, in yesterday's Washington Post. He raises the critical issue of ethnic Pashtun support for the Taliban. Pashtuns make up about half of Afghanistan's population and dominate the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan. Even though most Pashtuns don't support the Taliban or their extremist ideas, the Taliban are nearly entirely Pashtun in both countries. The US war effort, including air strikes in Afghanistan and drone attacks in Pakistan that kill civilians, are inflaming Pashtun sentiments, and driving Pashtuns and Taliban together.

Harrison ends his piece on this ominous warning:

"In the conventional wisdom, either Islamist or Pashtun identity will eventually triumph, but it is equally plausible that the result could be what Pakistani ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani has called an "Islamic Pashtunistan." On March 1, 2007, Haqqani's Pashtun predecessor as ambassador, the retired Maj. Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani, said at a seminar at the Pakistan Embassy, "I hope the Taliban and Pashtun nationalism don't merge. If that happens, we've had it, and we're on the verge of that." "

Meanwhile, writing in the Saudi Gazette, a former CIA station chief in Kabul, Graham Fuller, has a related piece worth reading in its entirety.

<snip>

He writes: "US policies have now driven local nationalism, xenophobia and Islamism to combined fever pitch." His prescription is to reduce the pressures that are inflating Pashtun nationalism and xenophobia:

"Only the withdrawal of American and NATO boots on the ground will begin to allow the process of near-frantic emotions to subside within Pakistan, and for the region to start to cool down. ... Sadly, US forces and Islamist radicals are now approaching a state of co-dependency."

<more>

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/434964

[bemildred]

1. Good stuff LST.

Watching General McChrystal fall on his prat could be one bright spot in this otherwise gloomy looking mess. It's almost like they want to bring Pashtunistan into existence.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Good post - USA is driving terrorism, not derailing it - UNITING the East against the West.

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But the uSA has this fancy War-Machine going -

they think it can "fix" everything with bombs and bullets . . .

Empirical thinking nations never learn.

Intelligent DIALOG is where peace comes from;

not bombs and bullets.

Sadly, the USA has lots of bombs and bullets,

a wee bit lean on intelligence methinks

(sigh)

[laststeamtrain]

3. Hey bemildred & CC & anyone else...did you catch this the other day...

...over at Pat Lang's blog?

It's pretty dense & therefore hard (for me) to parse. I thought 19th century Russian novels had a lot of names in them.
***

Kiracofe on AFPAK

The Neo-COINists, Neocons, and assorted members of the Imperial faction wringing their hands about "AFPAK" and drinking their snake oil and opium cocktails. Meanwhile there is ground reality.

With respect to Punjab (Panjab) a serious assessment of Taliban penetration on the Pak side of the border would be useful.

It should be obvious even to casual observers by now that Taliban are a Wahhabized takfiri movement of Pushtuns (Pashtuns, Pathans). They (Wahhabized Pushtuns) were empowered by the Zia dictatorship for Cold War purposes and then by Benazir (yes Benazir with a wink from the US Clinton Admin) for hydrocarbon (UNOCAL) and "strategic depth" Pak purposes.

Historically, the penetration of Wahhabism into the subcontinent is via the Deobandi sect. It came directly from...yes the Arabian peninsula through missionaries in the 18th century. So this is not new.

Since the late 1970s, the Saudis have funded the Wahhabization of the Subcontinent region with the Deobandis as a key component.

Perhaps the merry band of 40ish NeoCOINist officers (and a certain Australian buddy of theirs) should take their pasty white faces out of the library and get the asses into the field and into the dung-littered mud.

<more>

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2009/05/kiracofe-on-afpak.html#more

[bemildred]

4. OK I read it.

He is saying (IMHO) that the current dog-and-pony show is a dog-and-pony show. He quotes a report that say the pigs will fly before the progressive Punjabi will let the reactionary Pashtun tell them what to do. And the Pakistani military is largely Punjabi, IIRC, so that fits with current events. He is also railing against simple-minded black-and-white (NeoCOIN) versions of what is going on.

Edit: YMMV.