Solo hay un aspecto positivo sobre el hecho de los talibanes hayan restablecido el Emirato Islámico de Afganistán a días del aniversario 20 de los ataques terroristas a EE.UU. del 11 de septiembre de 2001: servirá como recordatorio de por qué hace dos décadas hubo que invadir el país y derrocar al gobierno talibán.
Cuando cerca de 3000 personas son asesinadas en tu propio suelo en una operación planificada y ordenada por un grupo terrorista conocido desde un país cuyo gobierno se niega a cooperar para llevar ante la justicia a esa organización y a su líder, no hay buenas opciones.… Seguir leyendo »
The Saudi war in Iraq and lessons for Pakistan Irak parece estar desmoronándose a pedazos con el rápido avance del Estado Islámico de Irak y el Levante (ISIS, por sus siglas en inglés) que amenaza con llevar al país hacia una división entre chiíes, suníes y entidades kurdas, mientras que simultáneamente difumina la frontera con su turbulento vecino en el oeste. Por otra parte, la insurrección ahora amenaza con extenderse a otros dos países vecinos, Afganistán y Pakistán, que ya se enfrentan a innumerables desafíos internos. Para la India, el mensaje es claro: sus intereses de seguridad nacional están en riesgo.… Seguir leyendo »
America needs a new policy for dealing with Pakistan. First, we must recognize that the two countries’ strategic interests are in conflict, not harmony, and will remain that way as long as Pakistan’s army controls Pakistan’s strategic policies. We must contain the Pakistani Army’s ambitions until real civilian rule returns and Pakistanis set a new direction for their foreign policy.
As Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee last month, Pakistan provides critical sanctuary and support to the Afghan insurgency that we are trying to suppress. Taliban leaders meet under Pakistani protection even as we try to capture or kill them.… Seguir leyendo »
Over the past two years, America has narrowed its goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan to a single-minded focus on eliminating Al Qaeda. Public support for a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan has waned. American officials dealing with Pakistan now spend most of their time haggling over our military and intelligence activities, when they should instead be pursuing the sort of comprehensive social, diplomatic and economic reforms that Pakistan desperately needs and that would advance America’s long-term interests.
In Pakistan, no issue is more controversial than American drone attacks in Pakistani territory along the Afghan border. The Obama administration contends that using drones to kill 10 or 20 more Qaeda leaders would eliminate the organization.… Seguir leyendo »
The assassination of Salmaan Taseer has shown only too clearly the growing extremism in Pakistan, the radicalisation of its society and the polarisation that is taking hold. This is not just between the religious and the secular, but also the polarisation that the "war on terror" has caused between the various religious sects.
There were no Pakistanis involved in 9/11 and al-Qaida was then based in Afghanistan. The only militancy we were suffering was among the tribal groups who had fought against the Soviets and whose idea of jihad was a war against foreign occupation. Yes, there was sectarian violence, but suicide bombers were unheard of.… Seguir leyendo »
While the Obama administration is watching the battlefield in Afghanistan, hoping for a quick weakening of the Taliban, regional powers are ratcheting up tensions in and outside that country. Pakistan and Iran in particular want to ensure that by the time the United States is ready to talk to the Taliban, the region's future will already be shaped by local powers, limiting Washington's options. Afghanistan's ethnic and sectarian divisions are being exacerbated in the process.
The United States still sees the battle in Afghanistan as a two-sided counterinsurgency, and its focus is on the military situation. In fact, Afghanistan is facing multidimensional threats involving all of its key neighbors.… Seguir leyendo »
El rompecabezas AF-PAK: la necesidad de una nueva estrategia europea con una reflexión sobre el papel de España.
Tema: El incremento y la extensión de los combates en Afganistán y la ofensiva para-talibán y yihadista en Pakistán nos obligan a reformular nuestras estrategias en el escenario AF-PAK en esta nueva fase de la intervención occidental e internacional. Además, el cambio de la estrategia de EEUU con la Administración Obama pone de manifiesto la ausencia de una política europea común, sin olvidar que la revisión de las carencias estadounidenses hace salir a la luz las nuestras.
Resumen: El replanteamiento de la estrategia occidental ha tenido como resultado la creación de un consenso sobre el escenario AF-PAK que se determina por la inclusión de Pakistán en el escenario de actuación internacional en tanto que pieza clave para la contención de la insurgencia talibán y la lucha contra al-Qaeda y el narcotráfico.… Seguir leyendo »
El Pakistán más profundo se ha autorrecluido en una mazmorra yihadista durante los últimos diez años, con mayor intensidad a medida que Estados Unidos se involucraba más intensamente en la marcha de este país, apuntalando su vacilante economía merced a una generosa ayuda bilateral e internacional, orquestando las líneas generales de la política pakistaní y mimando al establishment militar bien conocido por su afición a inmiscuirse en la dirección de los asuntos del Estado. Tal enfoque político contrasta claramente con un redoblado enfoque militar en Afganistán, donde Estados Unidos se centra actualmente en la cuestión del refuerzo de tropas y la creación de milicias civiles a escala local.… Seguir leyendo »
A secret order issued by George Bush giving US special forces carte blanche to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistani territory raised fears last night that escalating conflict was spreading from Afghanistan to Pakistan and could ignite a region-wide war.
The unprecedented executive order, signed by Bush in July after an intense internal administration debate, comes amid western concern that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and its al-Qaida backers based in "safe havens" in western Pakistan's tribal belt is being lost.
Following Bush's decision, US navy Seals commandos, backed by attack helicopters, launched a ground raid into Pakistan last week which the US claimed killed about two dozen insurgents.… Seguir leyendo »
The war in Afghanistan spilled over into Pakistani territory for the first time today when heavily armed commandoes, believed to be US special forces, landed by helicopter and attacked three houses in a village close to a known Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold.
The early morning attack on Jala Khel killed between seven and 20 people, according to a range of reports from the remote Angoor Adda region of South Waziristan. The village is situated less than a mile from the Afghanistan border.
Local residents were quoted as saying most of the dead were civilians and included women and children. It was not known whether any Taliban or al-Qaida militants or western forces were among the dead.… Seguir leyendo »
In the foothills of the Hindu Kush, every season is regarded as auspicious for something. Winter is for taking a new concubine. Spring, however, is reserved for fighting. This is why as Afghans look forward to their new year, Now Ruz, on March 20, they are also preparing for an upsurge in a war that started with the overthrow of the Taleban seven years ago.
Last spring the Taleban and its al-Qaeda allies suffered serious defeats at the hands of Nato, especially British, troops. The jihadis lost two of the four provinces they controlled, including Helmand, the jewel in their crown.… Seguir leyendo »
As the spring fighting season opens, Afghanistan faces many challenges: terrorism, the Taliban, Islamic extremism, drugs and criminals, warlords and factional friction, weak government and an inadequate national and international security presence.
This is a good time to make an objective assessment of the Afghan and regional environment and to put together a strategy to overcome those challenges. This strategy should be comprehensive, combining military containment with political reconciliation, administrative control and rapid socio-economic development. It must build peace through a bottom-up approach — village by village, district by district — by offering incentives and disincentives to secure the support and cooperation of local populations.… Seguir leyendo »
Por Juanjo Sánchez Arreseigor, historiador y especialista en el mundo árabe (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 13/09/06):
Han pasado ya cinco años y Osama Bin Laden todavía no ha sido capturado. Cada día que el organizador del 11-S permanece vivo y libre es un insulto para todos los norteamericanos, pero hace ya tiempo que el Gobierno estadounidense parece desdeñar el asunto. Cuando los norteamericanos atacaron Afganistán, Bin Laden buscó refugio en las montañas de Tora Bora. En diciembre de 2001 la región sufrió bombardeos muy intensivos. Pero al tratarse de una zona montañosa, muy extensa y muy abrupta, EE UU, con Bin Laden y sus hombres refugiados en cavernas y túneles cuya situación exacta se desconocía, podría haber empleado un millón de aviones durante un año entero sin obtener el más mínimo resultado.… Seguir leyendo »
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