Taliban uncorked
- From: PakistanPal <pakistanpal@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:18:11 -0700 (PDT)
Ahsan Waheed
Those who hold the view that the Taliban of today (the Mujahideen of
yesteryear) are of a different genre could be right. The Globe and
Mail survey reference report filed by Graeme Smith on March 26 under
the title 'Pakistan's brutal beneficiaries betray their refuge" would
indicate as much.
Smith presents the perspective of the 42 Taliban insurgents surveyed
in Kandahar, Afghanistan denying any loyalty to Pakistan and openly
abusive of its president, Pervez Musharraf.
According to the scribe, some claimed large tracts of Pakistan's
territory, including the cities of Quetta (in Bolochistan) and
Peshawar (in the North West Frontier Province), as an integral part of
Afghanistan, while all rejected the Durand Line as the official
boundary dividing the two countries.
The author reflects "The Globe and Mail's modest sample of Taliban
opinion may only reflect an effort by the insurgents to hide their
sources of support in Pakistan, as analysts say, or it may point to
something more troubling: the growing indications that parts of the
insurgency are no longer controlled by anybody."
How do some of the insurgents see why Pakistan retains control of the
territory? The author quotes one Taliban saying: "Because there is no
Islamic government, all of them are non-Muslims, and the government of
Pakistan is also a non-Islamic government, and that's why.
Another as having said, "The British handed it over to them, that is
why. And yet another, "Where is the government? It belongs to the
Americans now."
But, adds Smith, "Despite their talk about Pakistan's unfair seizure
of the Pashtun lands, the Taliban were strongly reluctant to accept
the idea of 'Pashtunistan' as a separate country".
He then concludes, "The typical Taliban foot soldier battling Canadian
troops and their allies in Kandahar is not a global jihadist who
dreams of some day waging war on Canadian soil. In fact, he would have
trouble finding Canada on a map.
A survey of 42 insurgents in Kandahar province posed a series of
questions about the fighters' view of the world, and the results
contradicted the oft-repeated perception of the Taliban as
sophisticated terrorists who pose a direct threat to Western
countries."
But ultimately informative of the Taliban view of the West is
presented in Smith's concluding paragraph. This reads, "Non-Muslims
have been against Muslims for a long time. Just as they attacked the
Prophet Mohammed and broke his teeth, so they are against us since
that era."
And that would be it in a nutshell.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Is KFI's stream working for you?
- Next by Date: Birth pangs of saner politics?
- Previous by thread: Invest 3325/-. & get 2,04,750/- in 12 periods without working. or 32,00,000/- with some working
- Next by thread: Birth pangs of saner politics?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
