Who is hunting whom?
From The Economist print edition
Al-Qaeda's border-straddling safe haven, and what to do about it
EVERYONE can see that George Bush's “war on terrorism” is coming to grief in Iraq (see article). Now things are going awry in Afghanistan, too. The United States drove out the Taliban regime in order to deprive al-Qaeda of a safe haven. Nearly six years on, this aim has not been realised.
In large tracts of southern Afghanistan the writ of the elected government of Hamid Karzai does not run and Taliban fighters operate more freely than the NATO forces that prop him up. Worse, this hostile territory crosses the border into Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), home to some 3m people, where the writ of Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, hardly runs either. And now the general may be losing his grip on Pakistan as a whole (see article). Far from being caught in a pincer between pro-American governments in Kabul and Islamabad, al-Qaeda and its fellow travellers have consolidated a stronghold that encroaches on the territory and may in time threaten the survival of both.
It is important to stress that neither government is in immediate peril. The NATO force in Afghanistan is harrying the Taliban in the south and can certainly protect Kabul. The prospect of Pakistan, a country of 160m people, falling to Islamist extremists is still just a nightmare. But if America and its allies fail to take remedial action now, or if they take the wrong action, the danger of exacerbating the enmity of millions of Muslims in both countries is acute.
Afghanistan's needs are clear: more troops for a NATO effort that has always been under-resourced and so depends on airstrikes that often kill civilians and make more enemies; more effort by the government to reach out to the remote Pushtun tribes who shelter the Taliban; less corruption; a consensual approach to poppy eradication that does not drive farmers over to the Taliban by threatening their livelihoods.
Although Pakistan is more complicated, one certainty is that the idea proposed recently by Barack Obama—sending in American troops against al-Qaeda—would be high folly. Pakistan is not just any Muslim country: it was founded at India's independence as a Muslim homeland. Its people are quick to anger when they feel Islam is under attack. Above all, most of Pakistan is not currently in the jihadists' camp.
(Continued here.)
Al-Qaeda's border-straddling safe haven, and what to do about it
EVERYONE can see that George Bush's “war on terrorism” is coming to grief in Iraq (see article). Now things are going awry in Afghanistan, too. The United States drove out the Taliban regime in order to deprive al-Qaeda of a safe haven. Nearly six years on, this aim has not been realised.
In large tracts of southern Afghanistan the writ of the elected government of Hamid Karzai does not run and Taliban fighters operate more freely than the NATO forces that prop him up. Worse, this hostile territory crosses the border into Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), home to some 3m people, where the writ of Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, hardly runs either. And now the general may be losing his grip on Pakistan as a whole (see article). Far from being caught in a pincer between pro-American governments in Kabul and Islamabad, al-Qaeda and its fellow travellers have consolidated a stronghold that encroaches on the territory and may in time threaten the survival of both.
It is important to stress that neither government is in immediate peril. The NATO force in Afghanistan is harrying the Taliban in the south and can certainly protect Kabul. The prospect of Pakistan, a country of 160m people, falling to Islamist extremists is still just a nightmare. But if America and its allies fail to take remedial action now, or if they take the wrong action, the danger of exacerbating the enmity of millions of Muslims in both countries is acute.
Afghanistan's needs are clear: more troops for a NATO effort that has always been under-resourced and so depends on airstrikes that often kill civilians and make more enemies; more effort by the government to reach out to the remote Pushtun tribes who shelter the Taliban; less corruption; a consensual approach to poppy eradication that does not drive farmers over to the Taliban by threatening their livelihoods.
Although Pakistan is more complicated, one certainty is that the idea proposed recently by Barack Obama—sending in American troops against al-Qaeda—would be high folly. Pakistan is not just any Muslim country: it was founded at India's independence as a Muslim homeland. Its people are quick to anger when they feel Islam is under attack. Above all, most of Pakistan is not currently in the jihadists' camp.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home