Comments on: What would Russian Afghan help mean for Pakistan?

By: myra macdonald

myra macdonald — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:00:22 +0000

In response to your question about why it should matter whether Russia opens up supply routes to NATO in Afghanistan, my point was that it could influence the extent to which the United States sees Pakistan as an essentially ally or potential enemy in the future. As outlined in the comment above yours, a shift towards the latter would have huge consequences for people inside Pakistan.

Also as a follow-up recommend this piece on Countercurrents.org: “Pakistan resists capitulating to new U.S. demands.”

By: ahmad durrani

ahmad durrani — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:22 +0000

I am a bit struck by all this debate about the geopolitics of the situation in Pakistan and if Russia is going to do its bit or not and if the U.S.is going to crack the whip.

It all seems so disconnected with the ground as does Pakistan’s own, rather laborious process to name a prime minister

the reality to me, admittedly sitting hundreds of miles away in relative calm, is that the state of pakistan is under such an attack and increasingly powerless to stop it, that it seems quite irrelevant who the country’s prime minister will be or whether the russians will pitch in.

I look at each new attack - the Islambad restaurant over the weekend, Lahore twice during that week on top of an attack on a naval college to name only the latest ones - and it seems clear that the extremist forces have infiltrated every level of Pakistan’s establishment, and are rampaging at will even in the major cities where security arrangements are considered most effective.

One after another they have struck at every major establishment and they are targeted attacks. Four FBI officers (and did anyone tell us what is the FBI doing in Islamabad ?) were wounded in the bombing at the restaurant, the Lahore car bombing was directed at the office of a terrorist investigation cell that has been trained by the Americans, perhaps thats why the FBI is there.

And they attacked the naval college, for the first time ever - is that something to do with the fact that the Pakistan navy is doing its bit for the U.S-led operations in the Arabian sea in support of the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan,

I mean we are now in a situation where there seems to be an armed state within a state, which knows exactly who to go after and when, and we are powerless to stop them.

The West worries that its next attacker will come from the Waziristans or any of other troubled northwest regions, but for the 140 million Pakistanis, the bomber has already arrived, living in their midst attacking, and disappearing.

That certainly worries me far more than who Asif Zardari picks to be prime minister, if not himself, or whether NATO will use Russian land or air space for its Afghan operations.

By: prashant rai

prashant rai — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:22:52 +0000

The war on terror seems to have entered into a crucial stage now. Sooner or later Pakistan, not as a establishment per se, but from societal point of view is going to come out openly in the war on terror, unfortunately, against the western forces. It is not difficult to perceive the future scenario – the current Afghan turmoil will spill over into western and other parts of Pakistan creating more chaos making difficult the logistics support for the NATO forces through Pakistan. Therefore, in such a context it becomes imperative for U.S. to seek Russia’s support.
With increasing opposition against the war in Afghanistan and Iraq back home, it becomes increasingly difficult and testing for the US govt. to fight a war with no collateral losses. That’s next to impossible. The question is how the geopolitical landscape of the war emerges in the months and years to come. Is it going to spread all over Middle East – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and some parts of North east Africa? This is not an encouraging scenario for NATO to find themselves in. The war has to be fought fast, aggressively, and decisively in their favour, lest it will be another Vietnam and Russians won’t have much to lose.
Nice article by the way. will keep a watch.