Mar 01 2007

Rise Of A New Taliban Leader

Published by at 8:37 am under All General Discussions,Pakistan

Ed Morrisey writes today on the new Taliban Leader, Mullah Dadullah, who is eclipsing Mullah Omar and possibly even Bin Laden in the Afghan-Pakistan region. Let’s just say I have not found people who have rhyming names all that effective. Morrissey rightfully points out the Islamo Fascists are typically three quarters faux bluster. But this could be a serious turn of events. And we know the standard ‘spring offensive’ is coming. The question is whether the terrorists brought enough dead enders to keep up attacks through the spring. Typically they get basically pulverized and the offensive ends in their own bloodbath.

I found the post interesting because I was reading another article and Dadullah the Mullah and some kind of wild conspiracy theory regarding President Musharaaf:

Senior Asia Times Correspondent Syed Saleem Shahzad has made startling revelations of the Musharraf Regimes new pact with the Taliban.

The Pakistani establishment has made a deal with the Taliban through a leading Taliban commander that will extend Islamabad’s influence into southwestern Afghanistan and significantly strengthen the resistance in its push to capture Kabul.

One-legged Mullah Dadullah will be Pakistan’s strongman in a corridor running from the Afghan provinces of Zabul, Urzgan, Kandahar and Helmand across the border into Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to both Taliban and al-Qaeda contacts Asia Times Online spoke to. Using Pakistani territory and with Islamabad’s support, the Taliban will be able safely to move men, weapons and supplies into southwestern Afghanistan.

We know the Islamo Fascists are constantly looking to drive wedges into our coalition – which is why there are always rumors being floated that cause consternation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US. But this one seems to be too far fetched and awkward to be real. Basically it makes Musharaaf out to be a beguiling hero, putting of his allies to help retake Afghanistan. The scenario sounds reasonable:

The deal with Mullah Dadullah will serve Pakistan’s interests in re-establishing a strong foothold in Afghanistan (the government in Kabul leans much more toward India), and it has resulted in a cooling of the Taliban’s relations with al-Qaeda.

Despite their most successful spring offensive last year since being ousted in 2001, the Taliban realize they need the assistance of a state actor if they are to achieve “total victory”. Al-Qaeda will have nothing to do with the Islamabad government, though, so the Taliban had to go it alone.

The move also comes as the US is putting growing pressure on Pakistan to do more about the Taliban and al-Qaeda ahead of a much-anticipated spring offensive in Afghanistan. US Vice President Dick Cheney paid an unexpected visit to Pakistan on Monday to meet with President General Pervez Musharraf.

The White House refused to say what message Cheney gave Musharraf, but it did not deny reports that it included a tough warning that US aid to Pakistan could be in jeopardy.

Except Musharaaf would have no guarantee of safety, and the US would not allow a nuclear arsenal to fall into Islamo Fascists hands. And the pipe dream of future victory is clearly seen in their previous defeats:

However, the Taliban were unable to achieve important goals, such as the fall of Kandahar and laying siege to Kabul from the southern Musayab Valley on the one side to the Tagab Valley on the northern side.

Taliban commanders planning this year’s spring uprising acknowledged that as an independent organization or militia, they could not fight a sustained battle against state resources. They believed they could mobilize the masses, but this would likely bring a rain of death from the skies and the massacre of Taliban sympathizers. Their answer was to find their own state resources, and inevitably they looked toward their former patron, Pakistan.

The Taliban never even came close to toppling Kandahar or laying seige to Kabul. And with the US navy and airforce planes at the ready, a siege of a city is a naive proposition. Those trying to retain the seige would be like fish in a barrel for aerial attacks. The B-Movie quality of ‘strategy’ we hear from these folks is almost embarrassing. They truly have no idea what they are up against. I could be wrong, but this reads so much like a bad movie script I wonder who is using who in this.

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