Here is the NY Times Article : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/world/asia/13pakistan.html?_r=1&ref=world
The article says some interesting things, but apparently people and sources in Pakistan do not share the same thoughts and are not consistent with the information given.
Here is what Imran Khan (Leader of a rapidly growing political party) had to say about U.S operations to CNN : http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/01/04/ps.imran.khan.pakistan.cnn?iref=allsearch
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Make up your own minds, but it seems like the U.S feel the operation is working, and are saying "do more", and the Pakistani's (with good reason) that the operation is counterproductive. Since the operation has begun, Pakistan has been the victim of over a thousand terrorist attacks now. U.S drone attacks had killed approximately 2200 people in Pakistan, majority being civilians - this being the cause of civilians turning into extremists and promoting anti-Americanism. Wikileaks also revealed that Pakistani leaders while condemning drone attacks in the parliament, secretly supported the strikes.
The American strategy in the area seems very unclear, and it is hard to say what the right action for them to take would be. And if the Pakistani government and the United States is trying to convince the Pakistani people that the U.S. is with them... then in my opinion, there definitely seems to be a problem. What do you think?
- Abu Bakr Agha / Pols 184 / 16201
Respectively, I think that you are confusing political bias and news reporting with the facts of the matter. As of right now, all that the NYT has written, is what they feel is going on, while what Imran Khan is saying is what he thinks, that's why he is a politician. I think you are focusing too much on wordplay rather than focusing on the facts. Yes, the governor was assassinated, but for Khan to say that, and i quote, " Pakistan is fighting someone else's war, killing its own people" is proposterous. And I say that because Pakistan and Afghanistan is supposed to care about the issue of allowing terrorists to operate from their countries in the first place. On this issue, its actually the US who is fighting someone else's war.
ReplyDelete-Agata M. Vysniauskaite- Lialko/ POLS 16201
I actually completely agree with the lines you quoted from Mr.Khan. I came to the U.S from Pakistan on the 5th of January. Its not safe to go out any more. They've been more than 500 bomb blasts a year, in all the major cities for almost 3 or 4 years running now. And this has all been happening since the government allied with the US to take the extremists out. The country used to be a safe place to be.
ReplyDeleteNow i am all for taking out these militant groups, i don't like bomb blast in my country - obviously. But the US has been in Northern Pakistan for a very long time now, and the bomb blasts have not decreased. They have increased. This IS counterproductive. Remotely guided drone attacks take out more civilians and less terrorists. The other civilians, who witness these attacks, turn into extremists themselves, and bomb the Pakistani people, to send a message to their government, who has allied with the U.S. The militant groups are people who came from Afghanistan and crossed the border into Peshawar and Waziristan. The war in Afghanistan was the United States' war, and so is this. If it was our war, it would be fought on our terms. Pakistan's economy has been destroyed by these terrorists, and the country is on the verge of imploding, and everything has gotten worse since the co-operation with the U.S started. That obviously means things are not working. Mr.Khan is not saying what he thinks. All of those things are facts. But if you only hear/read the news on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, you will never be able to realize what actually is going on.
Oh, sorry. That last post was by me, Abu Bakr again.
ReplyDelete