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Like footsoldiers sent off to die at the whim of a demented emperor, troops of the U.S.-led international coalition are being sacrificed on the battlefield while their civilian masters actively mislead the public about the enemy’s lethal strategic advantage.
The Afghan Taliban leadership continues to thrive due to the sanctuary and support provided to them by the Pakistani military in Baluchistan province.
Yet top-ranking U.S. and NATO leaders persist in depicting Pakistan as a loyal partner in the cause of counter-terrorism. This, despite vigorous assertions of Mullah Omar's Baluchistan connections by one of the West's most valued Afghan allies, intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, regarded as one of the few effective officials of the Karzai regime.
Even a cursory look at Google Map’s views of Baluchistan and the neighboring Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar reveals the desert trails used by smugglers, bandits and guerrilla armies since the Soviet war of the 1980’s.
NATO’s top suits and uniforms know all about these and other back country routes, which these days take Taliban fighters, guns and money into Afghanistan.
But aside from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ rather feeble admission in May that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence service is “playing both sides” in the conflict, Western officials appear to be trapped in a vortex of self-defeating disinformation.
Last week Britain’s foreign minister, David Miliband, told reporters in Washington that Britons understand that Afghanistan was the “incubator” for 9/11 and other attacks. But Miliband failed to note that the terror hatchery shifted to Pakistan within three months of September, 2001, and is now churning out militants at an unprecedented pace.
Similarly, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S. TV viewers last Sunday that the Taliban is under “tremendous pressure” and that “importantly, we've seen the Pakistani government and military really step up, which had not happened to the extent it has now."
Clinton failed to explain that the Pakistan Army’s recent crackdown on some domestic Taliban groups has not extended to Afghan Taliban networks, including those of Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, who are currently holding American soldier Bowe Bergdahl as their hostage. The Haqqanis, like other Afghan extremists, continue to enjoy the I.S.I.’s active support.
This small detail is not something Richard Holbrooke, another of Washington’s senior diplomats, is keen to mention. Recently in Islamabad he told journalists there was grounds for optimism, explaining: "A key thing is the coordination between the Afghan army and Pakistani army…”
In fact there is no coordination between the two forces with regard to the Taliban’s ability to project its killing force from Baluchistan into Afghanistan.
Moving up the chain of command, vice-president Joe Biden hides behind rhetoric that is best described as borders without meaning.
Visiting Britain two weeks ago, Biden said terrorism is rooted in Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. He skirted over the mainly one-way nature of the trafficking in violence, and made no mention of Mullah Omar’s haven in Baluchistan.
Now NATO's incoming Secretary General has set Afghanistan as the alliance's top priority - without a single mention of Pakistan in his maiden speech.
Clearly these illustrious office holders do not hold themselves to the same standards displayed by their men and women in the field.
When you walk into an ambush or stumble onto an I.E.D., there’s no time to be economical with the truth.
You have become another victim of the Pakistan-based Afghan Taliban, who your commanders-in-chief are failing to confront.
