This article from the International Herald Tribune underscores the problem that is Pakistan, and why NATO will not be able to bring peace to Afghanistan.PESHAWAR, Pakistan: With great fanfare, the Pakistani Army flew journalists to a rugged corner of the nation's lawless tribal areas in May to show how decisively it had destroyed the lairs of the Taliban, including a school for suicide bombers, in fighting early this year.
Then, just days later, the usually reclusive leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, held a news conference of his own, in the same region, to show just who was in charge.
He rolled up in an expensive-looking Toyota pickup packed with heavily armed Taliban fighters, according to the Pakistani journalists invited to attend. Squatting on the floor of a government school, Mehsud, clasping a new Kalashnikov, announced he would press his fight against the American military across the border in Afghanistan.
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News From Other Sources:
Taliban flee U.S. Marines onslaught in Afghanistan -- Reuters
NATO: 10 militants killed in Afghan battle -- Yahoo News
Dozens of rebels killed in Afghan strikes -- Khaleej Times
Afghan insurgents 'on brink of defeat' -- Telegraph
Afghanistan President Karzai: 'I Wish I Had the Taliban as My Soldiers' -- Der Spiegel
My Comment: Summarizing the news reports that I had listed above, the following points stick out. The U.S. marines started kicking butt right away, surprising the Taliban and making then run for their lives. The Taliban are now fleeing to their safe houses in Pakistan, where they can rest, rearm, and regroup. Afghanistan's President wishes that his troops were the Taliban and not his own army and Nato.
Nato and the Afghan Government are clearly going through a crisis moment. While the Taliban are at a point where their gains for the past few years are about to wiped out in Afghanistan, the Afghan Government And Nato cannot claim victory because the leaders and backers for this war are in safe havens within Pakistan. Was U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama right when (early in the campaign) he was speculating on the need to invade Pakistan? I initially disregarded his comments .... but now I can see why he was making those comments.
It is clear ..... all roads that lead to Afghanistan's present conflict originate from Pakistan. The question that needs to be asked is how complicit is the Pakistan Government in this war, and why is the U.S. giving them billions of dollars in military aid. Something is not adding-up.
Update: Pentagon planning ‘boots on ground’ in Waziristan -- Daily Times Pakistan