Regime change is overdue in Pakistan

THE OVAL OFFICE, FEBRUARY 7, 2004 BROADCAST ON NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2004 TIM RUSSERT MEETS PRESIDENT BUSH

"I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind."

"Intelligence is a vital part of fighting and winning the war against the terrorists. It is — because the war against terrorists is a war against individuals who hide in caves in remote parts of the world ....."

U.S. Troops to Head to Pakistan

Beginning early next year, U.S. Special Forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan, as part of an effort to train and support indigenous counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counterterrorism units, according to defense officials involved with the planning.

These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the U.S. military and for U.S. Pakistan relations. (You'd better believe it) In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the U.S. used Pakistani bases to stage movements into Afghanistan. Yet once the U.S. deposed the Taliban government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul, U.S. forces left Pakistan almost entirely. Since then, Pakistan has restricted U.S. involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary operations on its soil.

That's what William Arkin said in his Early Warning / Homeland Security column in WaPo
on Boxing Day ( That's the day after Christmas Day )

Arkin continues to flesh out his assertions ...

According to Pentagon sources, reaching a different agreement with Pakistan became a priority for the new head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Eric T. Olson. Olson visited Pakistan in August, November and again this month, meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen. Tariq Majid and Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a separate paramilitary force recruited from Pakistan's border tribes.

Now, a new agreement, reported when it was still being negotiated last month, has been finalized. The first U.S. personnel could be on the ground in Pakistan by early in the new year, according to Pentagon sources.

Out of date map ... circa 1998 .... see more old information here



Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation has useful overview mid 2007 from the Heritage Foundation in testimony to Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 27, 2007

" Tailoring a CTR program of assistance for Pakistan would be challenging since Pakistan is not a signatory to the Nonproliferation Treaty...." which puts them in the same position as another US ally ...Israel.

An interesting and alarming point she makes is one that tends to be overlooked ...

"In the run-up to Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Pakistan last November, media reports speculated that Beijing would sign a major nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Pakistan.*** In the end, however, the Chinese leader provided a general pledge of support to Pakistan's nuclear energy program but refrained from announcing plans to supply new nuclear reactors. China has helped Pakistan build two nuclear reactors at the Chasma site in the Punjab Province and provided Pakistan with nuclear technology as far back as the 1970s. China also is helping Pakistan develop a deep sea port at Gwadar in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, near the mouth of the Persian Gulf."

*** Jo Johnson, Farhan Bokhari, and Edward Luce, "US Fears China-Pakistan Nuclear Deal," The Financial Times, November 16, 2006. (This was the day after the Pakis launched the Shatif missile referred to recently by Lord Patel which was essentially a bit of sabre rattling as the US Senate voted to legalise nuclear trade with India.

UPDATE " Sunday 10.00 EST

Consortium News has interesting note "Reagan's Bargain/Charlie Wilson's War"

"....surely the most glaring omission in the film is the fateful trade-off accepted by President Ronald Reagan when he agreed not to complain about Pakistan’s efforts to acquire a nuclear weapons capability in exchange for Pakistani cooperation in helping the Afghan rebels.

On page 463 of his book, Crile characterizes this deal or understanding as “the dirty little secret of the Afghan war” –- General Zia al-Haq’s ability to extract not only “massive aid” from Washington but also to secure Reagan’s acquiescence in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program via a congressional waiver of U.S. nonproliferation laws in December 1981.

This bargain may have been dirty but it certainly was no secret. Indeed, Washington’s acquiescence via the congressional waiver was the subject of continuing press coverage throughout the 1980s."

and continues ...

"the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto puts into sharp relief the question that now unnerves U.S. policy-makers: Will political instability enable terrorist groups to gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons?"

Read this exceptionally good analysis of how history has been distorted by the fillum ... by Peter W. Dickson is a former a CIA political-military analyst and specialist on nuclear proliferation..... :the widely acclaimed movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War,” given its highly selective treatment of history is more likely to confuse than clarify how risky Reagan’s decisions with regard to Pakistan in the 1980s were to the long-term security of the United States."