Pakistan finds itself trapped in USA's Afghan utopia

The American tragedy, which took place on September 11, 2001 , became the reason for a crusade against international terrorism, which drove the United States and its allies into the trap of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war continued for more than seven years now. Another country – Pakistan – is about to find itself involved in this war. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were forced to flee their homes because of the fierce battles between the Taliban guerrillas and the Pakistani Army.

Photo: Pakistan finds itself trapped in USA's Afghan utopia

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres stated that 830,000 people had already fled the Swat Valley in Pakistan because of the battles, which may obviously trigger a humanitarian disaster.

In the meantime, the House of Representatives of the US Congress approved the additional assignment of $96.7 billion to continue the war in Afghanistan and Iraq before October 1, 2009 . If the Congress does not let President Obama down, the spending on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq will make up $150 billion in the financial year 2009 (the year ends on September 30). The White House has already asked for $130 billion more for the financial year 2010. This is a staggering amount against the background of the economic crisis.

The current situation bears a striking resemblance to the events which took place nearly 50 years ago, when the United States was plunging into the trouble of the war in Vietnam.

Indeed, the events, which are currently happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, can be compared to the events of the war in Vietnam, when the USA had two neutral countries – Laos and Cambodia – involved in the war in an attempt to cease arms shipments to Vietnamese fighters.

Everyone knows how the USA’s intrigues in Indochina ended. However, a few US generals still believe that intensified combat actions and the scorching land strategy, which was widely used in Vietnam, will defeat the Taliban.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that the new US administration had a goal to destroy al-Qaeda and its associates to stabilize the Afghan government and give the local authorities an opportunity to solve the nation’s security problems.

It is worthy of note that about 130 Afghan civilians were killed in Farah Province as a result of the air raid conducted by US Air Force. The investigation, conducted by US and Afghan military officials showed that Talib fighters used civilians as a live shield. Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated that the USA must cease its airstrikes in the country not to let the number of civilian losses grow every day and week.

Retired Marine Gen. James Jones said Sunday the United States will continue to make military decisions based on the best intelligence available. Jones said he's not going to rule out any action because "we can't fight with one hand tied behind our back,” The Associated Press quoted the official as saying.

Barack Obama sent 17,000 more US servicemen to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. Battles in the war-torn country become more and more extensive. The Army of Pakistan has launched an operation against Afghan Talibs too after the latter attempted to seize a territory not far from Islamabad , the capital of Pakistan.

Pakistan is a nuclear power. If the political situation in the country goes out of control, it will be impossible to predict the consequences in one of the most populous regions of the globe.

Ivan Tulyakov
Pravda.Ru