US troop withdrawal leaves Pakistan vulnerable to attack by insurgents

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Pakistani militants are exploiting a security vacuum left by the departure of US troops from a swath of eastern Afghanistan to mount attacks inside Pakistan, triggering cross-border violence that has claimed dozens of lives and inflamed already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

The Pakistani military on Monday called on the government of Hamid Karzai to arrest and hand over Maulvi Fazlullah, a Pakistani Taliban leader also known as "Mullah Radio" who, it said, had been using Afghan soil to mount cross-border raids that have killed dozens of soldiers in recent months.

"Information about these individuals and groups has been passed to the Afghan government and Nato but no action has been taken," said Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani military spokesman. "Fazlullah is going from strength to strength, day by day."

Afghans claim that the Pakistani military has responded to the incursions by indiscriminately firing artillery across the border, hitting villages in attacks that have killed at least 43 civilians since last May.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/us-troop-withdrawal-pakistan-vulnerable

[kestrel91316]

1. Oh. Well, then, let's start another war. That will fix everything.

[Scuba]

2. Were they vulnerable before we invaded Afghanistan? ... If not, what...

...does that say about our policy.


If so, then how is it our responsibility?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Muskypundit]

4. Maybe if their intelligence agency didnt support terrorists

They wouldn't have this problem.

When we leave they will invade, and they will not play nice like NATO

[cosmicone]

5. +1000000 n/t

[formercia]

6. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been at odds, ever since the Brits defined the border

between the two countries. The Pakistanis want to consolidate all of the Pashtun tribal areas. Unfortunately for them, many of the Pashtun live in Afghanistan. Therein lies the rub.