Terrorism tourism?

By Katherine Tiedemann, May 7, 2010 Friday, May 7, 2010 - 10:37 AM Share

2009 saw 53 drone strikes in Pakistan's rugged northwest tribal regions, the vast majority of them in North and South Waziristan, both when and where Faisal Shahzad reportedly received explosives training. News stories yesterday said that Shahzad was "angry" about the drone strikes and "decided to vent his anger" by attempting to car bomb Times Square. For all their successes in killing militant leaders like Baitullah Mehsud and Saleh al-Somali, along with hundreds of other low-level militants (in what is apparently part of the CIA's strategy for the drones -- firing missiles without fully identifying the targets), the United States cannot discount the fact that the drone strikes do not appear to be deterring some would-be bombers from seeking training in Waziristan's camps. Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan-American coffee cart vendor who pleaded guilty to planning to attack New York City subway lines, also spent time in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) training with al Qaeda in 2008, even though George W. Bush's administration authorized 34 strikes in the tribal areas that year. And while local militants in the FATA say they fear the drones -- calling them wasps and sleeping outdoors under trees -- Westerners are still going.

Katherine Tiedemann is a policy analyst at the New America Foundation and the co-editor of the AfPak Channel.

EXPLORE:AFPAK, AFPAK CHANNEL, PAKISTAN, TALIBAN, TERRORISM

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LAL QILA

3:17 PM ET

May 7, 2010

Pashtunwali honour code and "badal"

"Shahzad was "angry" about the drone strikes and "decided to vent his anger"

Is this some sort of spin? Educate the American simpletons first. Tell them all about the Pashtunwali honour code and the meaning of the word "badal".

SMCI60652

4:18 PM ET

May 7, 2010

Not to mention

that your own studies

http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/04/about_those_civilian_fatalities

show that up to 40% of the people killed by drones thus far have been civilians.

That's a horrendous ratio no matter how you look at it. And it's clear how Shahzad and many others looked at it.

SURESH SHETH

4:24 PM ET

May 7, 2010

Pakistan was, is & always will be terror center of the world

The whitewash about the real culprits behind continuing terror threat from Pakistan in Western foreign policy establishment and news media continues.

Pakistani governments have been given an intentional free pass for their role in creating this global menace.

Nobody forced Pakistani government to facilitate relocation of Osama bin Laden from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996. Democratic government of Pakistan chose to do so of its own free will.

Ex-CIA official Bruce Riedel said in an interview on 1/29/2009 that ''In Pakistan, the jihadist Frankenstein monster that was created by the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence service, is now increasingly turning on its creators. It's trying to take over the laboratory.'' Pakistani Army and Intelligence Service (ISI) chose to create this ‘jihadist Frankenstein monster’ with full blessings and financing by Pakistan’s democratic governments in 1990s.

Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton’s national security advisor told 9/11 Commission in March, 2004 that ’Pakistani Army was the midwife of Taliban’.

Declassified DIA Washington D.C., "IIR (intelligence Information Report) Pakistan Involvement in Afghanistan," dated November 7, 1996 states how "Pakistan's ISI is heavily involved in Afghanistan," and also details different roles various ISI officers play in Afghanistan. Stating that Pakistan uses sizable numbers of its Pashtun-based Frontier Corps in Taliban-run operations in Afghanistan, the document clarifies that, "these Frontier Corps elements are utilized in command and control; training; and when necessary combat“.

Declassified U.S. Department of State, Cable "Pakistan Support for Taliban" from Islamabad dated Sept. 26, 2000 states that "while Pakistani support for the Taliban has been long-standing, the magnitude of recent support is unprecedented." In response Washington orders the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad to immediately confront Pakistani officials on the issue and to advise Islamabad that the U.S. has "seen reports that Pakistan is providing the Taliban with materiel, fuel, funding, technical assistance and military advisors. [The Department] also understand[s] that large numbers of Pakistani nationals have recently moved into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban, apparently with the tacit acquiescence of the Pakistani government." Additional reports indicate that direct Pakistani involvement in Taliban military operations has increased.

For the American and other Western apologists who claim that ‘Pakistan is also the victim of terrorism’, following are some observations by UN report on Benazir Bhutto’s killing published on April 15, 2010:

- "The jihadi organizations are Sunni groups based largely in Punjab. Members of these groups aided the Taliban effort in Afghanistan at the behest of the ISI and later cultivated ties with Al-Qaida and Pakistani Taliban groups. A common characteristic of these jihadi groups was their adherence to the Deobandi Sunni sect of Islam, their strong anti-Shia bias, and their use by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies in Afghanistan and Kashmir".

- "The PAKISTANI MILITARY ORGANIZED AND SUPPORTED THE TALIBAN TO TAKE CONTROL OF AFGHANISTAN IN 1996. These policies resulted in active linkages between elements of the military and the Establishment with radical Islamists, at the expense of national secular forces, and the entrenchment of religious extremist and other militant groups in the tribal areas and Punjab.

- “Elements within the Pakistani Establishment ……. retain links with radical Islamists, especially the militant jihadi and Taliban groups and are sympathetic to their cause or view them as strategic assets for asserting Pakistan’s role in the region. The ISI cultivated these relationships, initially in the context of the Cold War and the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and later in support of Kashmiri insurgents. WHILE SEVERAL PAKISTANI CURRENT AND FORMER INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS TOLD THE COMMISSION THAT THEIR AGENCIES NO LONGER HAD SUCH TIES IN 2007, VIRTUALLY ALL INDEPENDENT ANALYSTS PROVIDED INFORMATION TO THE CONTRARY AND AFFIRMED THE ONGOING NATURE OF MANY SUCH LINKS."

SMCI60652

4:37 PM ET

May 7, 2010

So what?

The question isn't how we got here. Almost everyone agrees on that.

The question is where are we going from here.

LAL QILA

4:41 PM ET

May 7, 2010

SURESH SHETH - Still cutting the same article

SURESH SHETH - It's called spamming. Stop it.

ASHOK2718

8:05 PM ET

May 7, 2010

Yeah Suresh

Give it a rest dude Lal Qila is right you are being plain lazy. When you have internet you can gather this much info in very little time. And the topic being what it is, surely you can get thousands of articles like you posted, with ease. So please don't post these again Mr Qila has to read them whole before his brain tells him that he has seen it before somewhere (maybe just 5 min ago)