TACKLING TERRORISM
and fostering ground for transnational jihadi outfits, one of which was later to call itself Al-Qaeda and one of its leaders, Osama bin Laden, was to turn
of the greatest mountain ranges of the world, this area borders China, the former Soviet Union, and now Tajikistan, Iran, India and Afghanistan.
“I am convinced that extremism and militancy can only be confronted by a democratic system where peoples’ voices are heard and valued and where aspirations of the people are reflected in an active vibrant civil society.”
his guns to his erstwhile benefactor, the United States of America. Pakistan’s geography has
also been central to our present vulnerability. Located in the foothills
It is easily the most contested site in the world today with the geopolitical rivalries of U.S.-Iran, India-China and Russia-U.S. playing out on this stage at some point or the other.
16 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One
Earlier, this region was the place
where “The Great Game”, originally a strategic rivalry between the British and Russian empires, was conceived and played, with Pakistan and Afghanistan serving as buffer areas protecting Great Britain’s imperial ambitions and preventing Russian incursions. Later the Cold War was played out here as the world powers used this territory to launch the counter-offensive against the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan.
Taliban to Al-Qaeda Today, our tribal region – a no-man’s land – is perhaps the last outpost of Cold War politics. For years billions of petrodollars, drug money and money generated from crime was all invested in a guerrilla war to oust the Russians
from Afghanistan. Once that was achieved, the U.S. left the region in haste without resolving the post-war trauma, or making any decisions on post-war power arrangements or even investing in the reconstruction of a war-ravaged and beleaguered country. The Taliban, students of seminaries in the Pak-Afghan border, led by the older Afghan Mujahideen, led a guerrilla revolt to fill the vacuum, or rather the ensuing chaos. Then out of this abandoned area emerged Al-Qaeda declaring its war on the West. The present militant outfits, particularly the various groups of the Taliban, are third-generation fighters of the Afghan Mujahideen and continue to be financed by drugs and crime.
When the U.S. decided to attack
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