Pakistani Army at the crossroads
Pakistan Army Cornered
On November 26, insurgents on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan fired on helicopters of the NATO force. The leader immediately contacted NATO headquarters to request permission to counterattack. This was approved and rockets were rained on the insurgents. The insurgents fled, but 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the crossfire. This was at 2 in the morning.
An inefficient Amy?
But the incident was disproportionate when the Pakistani military, wounded by its ineptitude, decided to convince political leaders to respond. The fact is, ever since US marine commandos entered Pakistani airspace with impunity and undetected and shot and killed Osama bin Laden, just 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, the Pakistani military is being painted as an inefficient force. At the time, the joke circulating in Pakistan was ” Radars can’t catch enemy planes, but they can tune in to Indian Star TV ‘
Pak Army Reaction
Therefore, the Pakistani army was very disturbed and this new attack in which 24 of its soldiers died without firing a shot irritated General Kayani and the Pakistani General Staff. They had to do something. TThis has happened and the Pakistani government, under pressure from the Pakistani military, has delivered a 15-day notice to the United States to leave the Shansi airbase, the center of US drone strikes. Furthermore, all supply lines to Afghanistan have been broken and no trucks are allowed to cross the border into Afghanistan.
A prolonged outage can seriously affect NATO operations in Afghanistan. The United States and NATO have embarked on a damage control exercise and an investigation has been ordered to placate the Paki. Relations between the United States and Pakistan are already at an all-time low as Pakistan’s ISI (Interservice Intelligence) is supporting the Haqqani faction of the Taliban. This faction was responsible for the assassination of the former president of Afghanistan, as well as the brother of President Karzai, who has long complained about Pakistan’s duplicity in operations against terrorist groups. It should not be forgotten that the Pakistani army had housed Osama in a safe house near Islamabad in Abbottabad.
Last word
It will be interesting to see how events unfold as the US and NATO take stock of new developments. Perhaps at some point, Obama will have to take a tougher line against Pakistan in case he wants to win in Afghanistan. Unfortunately he did not and now Trump has to act. Will? this is the question
