What’s Up With Pakistan and the War on Terror?

Apparently, Pakistan is a nation of contradictions, full of intrigue. When one reads the history of the Islamic Resistance to Russian occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan and its security service seem to have played a major role in funneling CIA funds to the rebels. Pakistan seems to have been a conduit of U.S. influence into the setting up of “extremist” terror cells that benefited U.S. interests when the Russians were the target. The U.S. used Pakistan as a catalyzing factor in its successful ambition to bleed the Russians into a weakened occupying force that eventually would have to leave the country (Afghanistan), which the U.S. viewed as providing a vital corridor for movement of oil resources out of Central Asia and to the Orient and the West.

So, Pakistan had close ties with people now called “terrorists”. At that time, they were called “freedom fighters”. Apparently Pakistan and its intelligence agencies still have relationships with the freedom fighters, now called terrorists.

At the same time, the leader of Pakistan has promised to work with the U.S. in its war on freedom fighters; oops “terrorists”. Some say that when the President of Pakistan made the announcement that he would cooperate in the “war of terror”, he was shaking and sweating like a man who had signed his own death warrant.

Now that the war on terror has progressed a bit in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a couple of interesting observations can be made. Most of the U.S. end of the war has been bombing and high-mobility strikes by helicopter borne forces, or missiles fired by drone aircraft at targets assumed to be “terrorists” No one knows how many actual terrorists have been killed, but we do know that several thousand shepherds and villagers and other non-combatants have died under U.S. fire. In fact, a significant number of armed collaborators with the U.S. military have been killed in “friendly fire” incidents, because it seems that any and every time U.S. troops hear weapons discharged, they bomb or shell first, and ask questions later.

The Pakistani military and intelligence forces are the ones who seem to have achieved the most results in arresting and apprehending “terrorists”, including high ranking officials of Al Qaeda in hiding in Pakistan. It seems that every time a “major” terrorist figure is brought into custody, the work was the result, not of U.S. intelligence and military forces, but of Pakistani forces, who then turn the captives over to the U.S. military.

Yet, it also seems that the Pakistani efforts against “terrorists” are deliberate, limited, and occasional. It seems as if Al Qaeda and Taliban forces are able to reside and operate from Pakistan, out of danger of Pakistani operations, except for sporadic arrests, which seem aimed to placate the Americans.

Could it be that Pakistan is cooperating with both sides in the war on terror? Could it be that Pakistan is making a few arrests of officials deemed by someone to be expendable in the war against the U.S.? What is happening to the persons turned over to the U.S.? Are they telling the U.S. things that are of strategic benefit to the U.S.? Are these captives being tortured? Could it be that these captives are allowing themselves to be captured in furtherance of “terrorist” causes? Could it be that the “war on terror” is a sham, and that all sides are engaged in a secret dance that is primarily aimed to benefit the military/industrial takeover of world markets, including petroleum distribution routes? Could it be that all sides consider the few thousand casualties to be necessary expendables so that commerce and trade can move forward in expedited fashion in the region?

With all the secrecy, one can only watch and wonder. One can only wonder why the Taliban did not give up Osama bin Laden when they could have. One has to wonder why the U.S. could track Osama’s satellite telecommunications for a long period of time, without being able to kill him, or why the world’s most technologically advanced nation still cannot find the world’s most dangerous man, with all the available resources.

There were reports after 9/11 that Osama bin Laden was seen in U.S. hospitals and even conversing with CIA agents before the Afghanistan war began. There were reports that bin Laden received dialysis at U.S. facilities.

Is the War on Terror a big charade? Are these all actors playing roles for the corporate benefit? What will Pakistan get out of this?

Maybe they’ll make a “suspense” movie out of all this one day. There certainly is a lot of intrigue involved.

The writer is a member of several falconry and ornithological clubs and organizations. He contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from California, USA.