http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15027923
The US has been growing more suspicious of Pakistan. Admiral Mike Mullen said, "The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency." This is quite a direct accusation of the Pakistani government and if true it may signal growing conflict for the US in the region. If Pakistan is using militant groups like these as proxies to gain regional power, this may give the US incentive to invade Pakistan. The US has also decided to "withold hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid" this year. This may be another sign that relations have been growing sour for a while and it was only with the raid on Bin Laden that this tension was brought to the public eye. While another war may be looked upon as unfavorable, it would be more effective than fighting small insurgent groups. If these terrorist organizations are being funded by Pakistan it would make sense to attack them at their source, so as they will run out of resources.
Matei Guran
TA: John Friday 9AM
This does not surprise me one bit. We have pretended that Pakistan has been our ally for years when they really have not. I am glad that the we are done publicly pretending, and finally putting pressure on Pakistan. Not including Pakistan in the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound showed that we do not trust them, and Adm. Mullen's comments further solidified it. Pakistan clearly does not want us there, but flat out saying no to the US will only get them destroyed. I think we should just get out of the region entirely because if we do not, I can only see things getting worse with an end point being a war with Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteBrad Herrmann
TA: Maness Friday 10am
I see this as a pressing issue. It's now starting to gain the attention of the public eye, but the tension between US and Pakistan has been brewing for some time now. I do see this problem becoming worse, and I agree with Brad that we should back out from this region becasue things will just keep worsening. A war against Pakistan would be effective in erasing these threats, but we can't get involved in another war, especially after declaring the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
ReplyDeletePeter Gountanis
TA: Maness Friday 10am
I agree that it seems like Pakistan is trying to redefine their relationship to the U.S. through militant groups. However, I'm not sure if tensions will escalate. It seems like this is a repeating theme: Pakistan complains that their sovereignty has been breeched and the United States suspects Pakistan is supporting insurgents. In addition, the U.S. not only uses Pakistan for their supplies, but also relies on them for a route through central Asia.
ReplyDeleteAnn Peter
TA: Maness Friday 9AM