Myths About Afghanistan
Victor Davis Hanson on whether Afghanistan is really the "graveyard of empires ..."
We have previously discussed how Hamid Karzai wants the U.S. to stop arresting members of the Taliban because it was a disincentive to peace with them. Pakistan’s version of this sentiment is remarkably similar.
Pakistan’s peace agreements with Taliban militants have drawn concern from NATO forces, Afghan officials and the U.S. government who worry they will be short-lived truces that only undermine the war against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
But a day before leaving on his first trip to Kabul, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi pushed back against critics during a forceful speech before parliament.
“When we talk of peace, we also have to tell our friends, who at times are cynical about the peace negotiations that Pakistan has undertaken,” said Qureshi. “Look at the spirit behind that negotiation. The spirit is not capitulation, the spirit is not compromise, the spirit is peaceful coexistence.”
As for the Afghanistan Taliban, one commander recently said “You know, the Taliban and the Americans are as different as fire and water. Maybe the water will kill the fire or the fire will kill the water, but one of these things has to happen.” “If the foreigners did not have their planes, then within five days I guarantee we would be in the streets of Kabul.”
As for the Pakistani Taliban, they are about to take control of Peshawar.
The provincial capital might slip into the hands of groups of militants within a few months if the government did not take adequate measures to arrest the growing trend of militancy.
The district is surrounded by tribal Khyber Agency in the west, Darra Adamkhel, Frontier Region Peshawar in the south and Mohmand Agency and Shabqadar town of Charsadda district in the north. Militant groups have been gaining strength for the past several months in all these towns.
Militants have now spread to innumerable villages of the Peshawar district. Radicals have thickly populated Matani, Mashokhel, Mashogagar and Badhber villages close to Darra Adamkhel.
The militants associated with two groups of Khyber Agency led by Mangal Bagh and Haji Namdar have been gathering vigour in Sheikhan, Sarband, Regi and Nasir Bagh while two militant groups of Mohmand Agency have established their writ in Mathra, Michni, Daudzai and Khazana villages.
It would appear that the “peaceful coexistence” doctrine has proven itself to be problematic.
On June 13, 2008 at 8:58 am, Warbucks said:
“Peaceful Coexistence” doctrine works fine except where it doesn’t. Over the past 65 years I have not found an example of where it does work, except on policy papers and think tank rooms where it works fine.
The closest we’ve ever come to practicing the concept was “trust, but verify” policy of President, Ronald Reagan and darn if they didn’t all cheat.