Hassanwazir's List: terrorism

• po·lice

  (of a police force) Have the duty of maintaining law and order in or for (an area or event)
• de·lin·e·ate

  Describe or portray (something) precisely
• rend·er

  Provide or give (a service, help, etc.)
• de·lin·e·ate

  Describe or portray (something) precisely
• It needs to be dealt with as such
• where it is difficult to delineate a terrorist from an ordinary citizen.
• policing
• civilian arm of the law-enforcement apparatus is rendered toothless and deprived of necessities such as funds, training and equipment.

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• IN 2002, there were reportedly only two suicide attacks in Pakistan, but at the end of 2010, 49 such terror attacks in the year have proven that modern Islamic militancy is a hydra-headed problem.
• Intelligence services are in a quandary when it comes to short-term preventive strategies, with senior officials conceding that stringent public security measures at civilian and government institutions and places of worship including Sufi shrines do not act as deterrents.

  • QUANDARY:
    A state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation- Kate is in a quandary
    A difficult situation; a practical dilemma- a legal quandary
• The indoctrination of young men, angry and bereft of economic opportunities, is not based solely on religious and sectarian reasoning.

  •  INDOCTRINATION:
    teaching someone to accept doctrines uncritically
    
    It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned. 
• Depending on the region, reasons include nurturing a volatile mix of bitterness and despondency at life and political governments (unemployment, or in the case of Palestinian bombers, the occupation has enraged many young people, most have lost family members).
• Motivations differ but appear more political than faith-based. Most global recruits come ill-equipped in militant philosophy and combat training, wanting to act against injustices and make a change.
• Researchers say that typically men from broken homes, and under-achievers are more vulnerable but intelligence services have found that recruits (the 2004 UK Crevice Plotters and the 7/7 attackers) were educated and from stable backgrounds

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• Because of its sense of having been wronged by India—and feeling that it faced an existential threat from that country—Pakistan cast its lot with the West
• We became a strategic partner of the U.S. during the Cold War‚ signing on to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in the 1950s‚ while India tilted toward the Soviet Union.
• As part of our inalienable right to self-preservation‚ we formulated a “minimum defensive deterrence” strategy to maintain Army‚ Navy and Air Force numbers at levels proportional to India’s.
• The adversarial relationship between our Inter Services Intelligence and their Research and Analysis Wing worsened‚ both exploiting any opportunity to inflict harm on the other.
• India’s “Smiling Buddha” nuclear tests in 1974 changed everything.
• India’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was an effort to project power beyond its borders; Pakistan’s was an existential and defensive imperative.
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 presented Pakistan with a security threat from two directions: Soviets to the west‚ who wanted access to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan‚ and Indians to the east. Once again Pakistan joined hands with the United States to fight Moscow.
• We called it jihad by design‚ this effort to attract mujahideen from all over the Muslim world. And from Morocco to Indonesia‚ some 25‚000 of them came. We trained and armed Taliban from the madrassahs of the then North West Frontier Province‚ and pushed them into Afghanistan. By this time‚ the liberal and intellectual Afghan elite had left for the safer climes of Europe and the U.S.‚ leaving behind a largely poor‚ religious-minded population to fight the 10-year jihad. We—Pakistan‚ the U.S.‚ the West‚ and Saudi Arabia—are equally responsible for nourishing the militancy that defeated the Soviet Union in 1989‚ and which seeks now to defeat us all.

   

   
• The Soviets quit Kabul‚ and the Americans abandoned Islamabad. Washington rewarded its once indispensable ally by invoking the Pressler Amendment and imposing military sanctions‚ and by choosing to foster a strategic relationship with India. Pakistan was left alone to deal with the nearly 4 million Afghans who had streamed into our country and became the world’s largest refugee population. The people of Pakistan felt betrayed and used. For Pakistan‚ the decade of disaster had begun.
• No efforts were made to deprogram‚ rehabilitate‚ and resettle the mujahideen or redevelop and build back war-ravaged Afghanistan. This shortsightedness led to ethnic fighting‚ warlordism‚ and Afghanistan’s dive into darkness. The mujahideen coagulated into Al Qaeda. The Taliban‚ who would emerge as a force in 1996‚ eventually would occupy 90 percent of the country‚ ramming through their obscurantist medievalism.
• It was also in 1989 that the freedom struggle reignited in India-administered Kashmir. This started out as a purely indigenous and peaceful uprising against Indian state repression. The people who led this first intifada were radicalized by the Indian Army’s fierce and indiscriminate crackdowns on locals.
• The plight of Kashmiri Muslims inspired the creation of new mujahideen groups within Pakistan who then sent thousands of volunteer fighters to the troubled territory.
• With the Taliban to our west and the mujahideen in the north‚ this arc of anger rent our social fabric. Pakistan found itself awash in guns and drugs.
• Nine years later‚ there was bad news from Pokhran. In May 1998‚ India again tested its bomb. Almost two weeks later‚ Pakistan responded by “turning the mountain white” at Chaghai.
• We became a nuclear power and an international pariah at the same time‚ but furthering and harnessing our nuclear potential remains and must remain our singular national interest
• Of course‚ the U.S. views India’s nuclear program differently from Pakistan’s. Even our pursuit of nuclear power for civilian purposes‚ for electricity generation‚ is viewed negatively. India’s pursuit is assisted by the U.S. In Pakistan‚ people see this as yet another instance of American partiality‚ even hostility. Many even believe that the U.S. wants to denuclearize Pakistan— by force if necessary—because it fears the weapons could come into the hands of the Taliban‚ Al Qaeda‚ or any of the myriad militant organizations who have loosed mayhem in Pakistan. Our nuclear weapons are secure.
• By joining the coalition‚ we also prevented India from gaining an upper hand in Afghanistan from where it could then machinate against Pakistan.

  • mach·i·nateEngage in plots and intrigues; scheme
• The Pashtuns and Arabs of Afghanistan fled to the mountains and fanned out across Pakistan.

  • FAN OUT:
    Disperse or radiate from a central point to cover a wide area- the arriving passengers began to fan out through the town in search of lodgings
• This was the serious downside of joining the global coalition: the mujahideen who were fighting for Kashmir formed an unholy nexus with the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban—and turned their guns on us
• In 2002‚ the allies installed a largely Pashtun-free government in Afghanistan that lacked legitimacy because it did not represent 50 percent of the Afghan population‚ Pashtuns. This should not have happened. All Taliban are Pashtun‚ but not all Pashtuns are Taliban. Pashtuns were thus isolated‚ blocked from the mainstream‚ and pushed toward the Taliban‚ who made a resurgence in 2004.
• Today‚ the Taliban rule the roost in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are ensconced in our tribal agencies‚ plotting and launching attacks against us and others. The twin scourge of radicalism and militarism has infected settled districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and beyond. Mujahideen groups are operating in India-administered Kashmir and seem to have public support in Pakistan.

   

   

  • en·sconceEstablish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe, or secret place
• Pakistan‚ which has lost at least 30‚000 of its citizens in the war on terror‚ should be forgiven for wondering whether it was all worth it. Pakistanis should not be left to feel that it was not.

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