http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/swat-valley-blues/#comment-95061
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Comment #20. February 18, 2009 9:35 pm
Will Afghanistan become Obama's Vietnam?
US and NATO military operations in this region have very seriously exacerbated the already longstanding regional tensions and rivalries in Afghanistan/Pakistan western border areas, of which the Swat Valley is a part.
Both the US and NATO which is in any case US-dominated, should get out now.
Q. Your US drone can spot so-called militants from the air because they are wearing T for Taliban or Q for Al Queda T shirts?
When families who already have so little, lose fathers, mothers and children to US/NATO operations there is bound to be longterm bitterness and revenge.
The US is almost certainly under-reporting civilian casualties in Swat and adjoining areas..
Let the various local fractious factions sort out their differences (which go back centuries), without the self-proclaimed superpower futilely flexing its muscle in the region.
The flow of money, weapons and equipment into the region from various sources including the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran needs to be monitored and stanched. The UN has not done any weapons monitoring and it should.
The worrying question is — who will proactively ensure that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Taliban now dangerously poised within striking distance of Islamabad? Again, the UN must be proactive rather than merely reactive to US demands based on its narrow interests, in the Security Council.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— Chithra KarunaKaran
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