By: Daniel Nardini
As the old saying goes, “with a friend like this, we do not need any enemies.” This can be said of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Actually I should say this is true of the Pakistani government’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency. Charged with protecting Pakistan, gathering intelligence and conducting spy operations, the ISI is the FBI and the CIA rolled up into one. It is also out of control.
We need only look at the case of Osama bin Laden to know this. Can we honestly accept the Pakistani government’s word they had no idea he was in Abbottabad, and that the ISI knew nothing about it for six years? If the Pakistani government knew nothing about it, then why didn’t the U.S. government tell the Pakistani government (which would have alerted the ISI) what it was going to do to take out bin Laden until after the raid and when all U.S. forces were safely in Afghanistan?
Whoever put bin Laden in Abbottabad was clearly protecting him, and not only him but part of his Al Qaeda network. There is no question in my mind that the ISI is guilty of aiding and abetting bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. So how can the U.S. government or anyone say that the ISI and other parts of the Pakistani government are friends of the United States or of the West? If we look at the Taliban insurgency we see it growing stronger in Pakistan and also infiltrating into Afghanistan. And in all of this we see the hand of the ISI.
This should come as no shock because the ISI originally organized the Taliban in the early 1990’s as a guard force of Afghans for convoys going into and out of Afghanistan. From there the Taliban took on a life of its own. There can be little doubt that there are elements within the ISI that are pro-Taliban and pro-Al Qaeda. What the U.S. government should do is cut all funding to the Pakistani government until it gets its own house in order. The U.S. government should also start to deal more with India and maybe establish some military treaty with India. At this point Pakistan is an unstable country that has proven to be next to useless for the United States or for any of its allies. Sadly, the Pakistani government has proven to have failed its own people who are left to suffer for its mistakes and its crimes.
With a Friend Like This…
By: Daniel Nardini
As the old saying goes, “with a friend like this, we do not need any enemies.” This can be said of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Actually I should say this is true of the Pakistani government’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency. Charged with protecting Pakistan, gathering intelligence and conducting spy operations, the ISI is the FBI and the CIA rolled up into one. It is also out of control.
We need only look at the case of Osama bin Laden to know this. Can we honestly accept the Pakistani government’s word they had no idea he was in Abbottabad, and that the ISI knew nothing about it for six years? If the Pakistani government knew nothing about it, then why didn’t the U.S. government tell the Pakistani government (which would have alerted the ISI) what it was going to do to take out bin Laden until after the raid and when all U.S. forces were safely in Afghanistan?
Whoever put bin Laden in Abbottabad was clearly protecting him, and not only him but part of his Al Qaeda network. There is no question in my mind that the ISI is guilty of aiding and abetting bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. So how can the U.S. government or anyone say that the ISI and other parts of the Pakistani government are friends of the United States or of the West? If we look at the Taliban insurgency we see it growing stronger in Pakistan and also infiltrating into Afghanistan. And in all of this we see the hand of the ISI.
This should come as no shock because the ISI originally organized the Taliban in the early 1990’s as a guard force of Afghans for convoys going into and out of Afghanistan. From there the Taliban took on a life of its own. There can be little doubt that there are elements within the ISI that are pro-Taliban and pro-Al Qaeda. What the U.S. government should do is cut all funding to the Pakistani government until it gets its own house in order. The U.S. government should also start to deal more with India and maybe establish some military treaty with India. At this point Pakistan is an unstable country that has proven to be next to useless for the United States or for any of its allies. Sadly, the Pakistani government has proven to have failed its own people who are left to suffer for its mistakes and its crimes.