Pakistan balks at closing camps
Rowan Scarborough writes in the Washington Times that the US has provided the Pakistan government with extensive maps of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, but the Pakistan government is resisting US pressure to close those camps;
A former senior administration official said the biggest concern is a network of camps in North Waziristan from which the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked groups train and recruit fighters, as well as build improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Some of the camps are associated with the Haqqani Network, an insurgent group that carries out attacks on NATO troops from its hide-outs in North Waziristan and which is widely believed to have links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Persuading Pakistan to crack down in North Waziristan is taking on added importance. NATO plans in coming months to step up its counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan’s Regional Command East — or RC-East, as it is called — after ridding the southern region around Kandahar of many Taliban safe havens.
So what’s the problem? We can send in Joe “Bite Me” Biden at the head of his columns of ninja robot zombies.
The dilemma is that information that U.S. forces share with their Pakistani counterparts can find its way to the militants, who then change their tactics or locations, the former official said.
News reports last month said the U.S. provided Pakistan with information on bomb-making plants, only to see the sites evacuated afterward.
I remember Obama telling us during the campaign that he had problem with a bombing campaign against targets inside pakistan. SO what has changed, other than the fact that he’s responsible for his actions now that he’s not sniping from the back row.
Is he suddenly worried about offending Pakistan? How much more can they punish us since it appears that their intelligence service is clearly working for the Taliban and al Qaeda. Both Biden and Obama shot off their big mouths until they reached the cat-bird seat. And what about the good will and cooperation we had with Pakistan before this crowd came to Washington?
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
OK, good let them pull their troops out. Then we can send in the B-52s to bomb the crap out of that place. Forget the drone attacks. The B-52s can do much better.
In re to #1: I remember Linebacker and Linebacker II……..I’m just sayin.
If we bomb the camps, the campers will move to the city. Campers in the city cause chaos killing cityfolk and nobody in charge in Pakistan wants that.
Bombvests leads to poor digestion in Pakistani officials. It’s a health concern.
I’ll just c&p my comment from elsewhere.
Here’s how this should work: We bring in top military and political officials from Pakistan for “talks” and invite every media outlet we can find. Once everyone’s there, we proceed to lay out a few of the (low value) camps we know of and have reported, yet still stand. Then we announce that we will be making attacks on confirmed AQ and Taliban camps across the border and that Pakistan has the options of helping us, staying the hell out of our way, or announcing to the entire world that they are a state sponser of terrorism and supporting the Islamists.
While that’s a good idea, Cortillaen, we have to have a President with the cajones to do it. Right now, Bobo ain’t it.
Aye, hence “Here’s how this should work“. Once upon a time, embarrassing another nation on the world stage would have been considered a useful strategy. Now, we seem intent on wandering around with our collective head up our ass pretending we can make friends with everyone by playing nice. *sigh*
“Persuading Pakistan to crack down in northern Waziristan is taken on added importance. Nato plans in coming months to step up its counterinsurgency operations in Regional Command East- or RC East, as it is called- after ridding the southern region around Kandahar of many Taliban safe havens.” I just lost ten IQ points reading that quote. It is by far one of the most dishonest statements I’ve ever seen reading the entire war, anyone who has even superficial knowledge of the situation knows how unfeasible that is. 1) The South. First yes we have cleared most, but not completely all of the Taliban havens, in the south. Some areas like the Kajaki dam area the Marines were just getting to. It has taken more then a year(about fifteen months or so) to do this. The Army brigade stationed in the Arghandab Valley(where the village of Tarok Kolache was razed), also seems to have gotten much of it under control. Last I read there was still some skirmishing. Again took over a year. Most areas don’t have decent security forces up yet, nevermind civil administrations. That will most like take another year or two, if not longer. We also have to remember that we sent thirteen additional American infantry battalions down there, over a division. The Brits(who are planning draw down) also have substational troops(four to five battalions). None of this has any hope of being sent or replaced by other regular US Army formations from CONUS and sent east. The Surge Campaign is eroding away. 2) The East. The East is a disaster! We have lost Nuristan(see battles of Wanat, Barge-e-Matal, Kamdesh), which now is a training hub and jump off point, not only into Afghanistan but also into Pakistan. Kunar Province is also wavering. The Pech river valley(connects to Asadab, Korengal valley, Shuryak valley, Watapor valley, and a few others) which meets the Kunar river on the Pakistan border, security there is breaking down. COP Honaker-Miracle is the only American manned outpost left in the entire Pech valley. This mess got started when Generals McCrystal and Campbell, decided to… Read more »