Friday, October 23, 2009

America's Afghan policy

Good article by M.K.Bhadrakumar although the prognosis is not presented in its entirety.  The Daily Pioneer article on the same topic has been more forthright.
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> Freed scribe smashes US policy
I learned that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious... They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world.
With Bhardrakumar's article title talking about America and Pakistan, I was expecting a more detailed analysis in that direction. But almost the entire article talks about Afghanistan, apart from an oblique reference to Pakistan at the very beginning and a strange conclusion in the end.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : America, Pakistan and the Taliban
But then, no one remembers anymore that it was the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan that in the first instance destabilized Pakistan.
It is hard to conclude that the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan destabilized Pakistan. On the contrary, it could be argued that Pakistan was able to extend its lifeline by extorting aid in return for supporting U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.
I don't remember having read before anyone blaming U.S. for the mess in Pakistan. Now that we have it in print, I predict that very soon we will see the left lib intellectuals getting onto this bandwagon.

1 comment:

cbcnn_Pilid said...

I found the article disappointing. It is easy to find fault with American Afghan policy. The more pertinent question is what the alternative ought to be. What is a withdrawal going to accomplish? A return to the pre-9/11 status quo ante? How is that going to benefit India or anyone else in the neighborhood besides Pakistan? Bhadrakumar has nothing to offer on any score, not even tentative answers.