Preparing the American Invasion of Pakistan

[RAM]

US rehearses strikes inside Pakistan: Diplomats

ISLAMABAD: US military has already completed 'dry exercises' for launching a unilateral strike inside Pakistan if a terrorist attack in America in the future is traced to that country, a media report said on Sunday. Also known as dry run, this trial exercise is a rehearsal of a military's combat skills without the use of live ammunition, influential 'Dawn' newspaper said in a dispatch from Washington.

Quoting diplomatic sources, it said the trial run for a unilateral strike in Pakistan, however, did not involve US troops.

"Instead, it projected computer simulations of such an attack with an assessment of a possible counterattack and of the potential resistance US troops might face if they entered the Pakistani soil," the report said.

It quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the US had already informed Pakistan of its intention to conduct such an exercise before conducting the computer simulations.

Soon after the Mumbai attacks, the then Bush administration had planned live exercises close to the Pakistan border and conveyed its decision to Islamabad as well, the report said.

The US' decision forced the then national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani to fly to Washington for convincing the Americans that such exercises would not help the fight against terrorism.

"Instead, they would have weakened the nascent democratic setup in Pakistan and eroded its ability to support the US-led war," it said.

However, the US abandoned its move to carry out such exercises after US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen got an assurance from his Pakistani counterpart Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that Islamabad would do its best to prevent extremists from using its soil for attacking other countries.

A diplomatic source told the Dawn that the American decision to once again explore the possibility of a unilateral military strike is not a threat.

"It aims at convincing Pakistanis that now is the time to uproot extremists. A failure to do so may lead to an attack on the US soil, which, in turn, could lead to an American military strike inside Pakistan," he said.


The report said Americans believed there were people in the Pakistani establishment who still sympathised with the jihadi elements.

While such people, according to the source, were no longer interested in protecting al-Qaida or the Afghan Taliban, "they still have a soft corner for Pakistani jihadi elements, particularly those who fought in Kashmir."

The Americans, however, "have concluded that all such groups are linked to al-Qaida, whether they are fighting in Kashmir or Afghanistan, and want all of them uprooted," the source added.

The Pakistani judiciary was also requested not to be lenient to people like Hafiz Saeed.

Diplomatic sources in Washington also observed that the decision to leak to the media the US military's plans for a unilateral strike aimed at "persuading any elements in the power structure in Islamabad to do what is needed: share more intelligence, stop insisting that there are good Taliban and bad Taliban and to get serious about uprooting all jihadi groups."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...de-Pakistan-Diplomats/articleshow/5991202.cms

 

[ajtr]

Excerpt from the interview of Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff of the US Military, Admiral Mile Mullen by Fox News Sunday dealing with a report by the Washington Post that the US could retaliate with a military strike on the Islamic republic of Pakistan if an Islamic terrorist attack on the US was traced back to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The Washington Post story is available here: Options studied for a possible Pakistan strike.

Anyway, some things do not change. The Pentagon still cannot seem to contemplate giving up on its indulgent love for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan despite a surfeit of Islamic terrorist inspired bad Pakistani behaviour. Enjoy the effort of Admiral Mike Mullen at not laying down the line that there would be consequences for Pakistan if an Islamic terrorist attack on the US was traced back there:

Monday, May 31, 2010
Fox News "¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦

WALLACE: There's a report out this weekend that the Pentagon is reviewing plans for a major strike in Pakistan if, God forbid, there should be a successful terror attack here on the U.S. homeland and it can be traced back to Pakistan.

Question: Are you putting terror groups and the Pakistani government on notice?

MULLEN: I've spent an extraordinary amount of time in Pakistan in dealing with my counterpart there, General Kayani, and I've been impressed with how much Pakistan has evolved over the last couple years. They've lost a significant number of troops. They've regained a significant amount of their territory. They're very focused on that.

They're struggling in building behind the security that they've created, in — particularly in the western area. They've moved some 70,000 troops to the west. So we're working hard to strengthen that relationship. We're working hard to support them in training. And we'll continue to do that.

WALLACE: But when you talk about a unilateral strike if there's a successful terror attack, are you putting the government and the terror groups on notice we'll take this into our own hands if need be?

MULLEN: Well, again, my focus, more than anything else, is in support of them. And clearly, I mean, we're very concerned about that part of the world. We're very concerned about — that's where Al Qaida leadership lives. We know that. And we're working with Pakistan and, quite frankly, with Afghanistan to continue to put pressure on that leadership.

And I wouldn't speak to any kind of details in terms of either plans or operations.

Transcript: Adm. Mike Mullen on 'FNS'

Thx arun @br for comments....

 

[ajtr]

Preparing the American Invasion of Pakistan​

That objective is to destroy the leadership of the Taliban and Al-Qa'eda. They believe they can't do that with drone strikes, or at least drone strikes alone... Basically, they're looking for an excuse to do something more than drone strikes in Pakistan.

The U.S. military is reviewing options for a unilateral strike in Pakistan in the event that a successful attack on American soil is traced to the country's tribal areas, according to senior military officials... The U.S. options for potential retaliatory action rely mainly on air and missile strikes, but could also employ small teams of U.S. Special Operations troops already positioned along the border with Afghanistan.

The Pakistani military supports the Taliban as part of its national security strategy, so even when they attack Taliban areas, they usually only succeed at displacing huge numbers of civilians while the Taliban flees, which creates enormous popular backlash. The military declares victory, pulls out, and the Taliban returns safely.

General Kayani gets to have it both ways. The Taliban are safe, while he still declares victory over the terrorists.

Is it really a difficulty that the army has struggled to overcome? Or is it going exactly according to plan? Are they not clearing at all, but rather "herding" the militants to safety? The editorial is right that geography is important here. Many of the militants in Orakzai have fled from recent operations in Waziristan. Now they are fleeing from one part of Orakzai to another, farther away from the northern tribal areas.

The Pakistani army is, apparently, pushing the militants away from the tribal areas and towards Balochistan, where the Taliban's Quetta Shura is based. The result is that even if the US invades the tribal areas, it still won't damage the military assets (the Taliban).

[Baloch Human Rights Council] has learnt through local sources and press statements of Baloch National Movement (BNM) central leadership that within the last couple of days there has been a significant movement of Pakistani troops in the area of district Gwadar and Dasht... Reports coming in from the area stated that the soldiers have complete control of the meager water resources and have blocked all access to the local population. The livestock has been confiscated in the service of the soldiers and a large number was slaughtered to starve the inhabitants. Sources mentioned that people are not allowed to leave their homes even in case of a medical emergency.

Here's the catch: Unlike the relatively autonomous Pakistanis in the tribal regions, the Pakistanis in Balochistan are so beat down and oppressed by the army that they would welcome a NATO presence (who they believe, foolishly, would help them fight for independence). But as we noted, the Taliban's all-important Quetta Shura is in Balochistan, so the Pakistani military can't have any American troops that close to a key military asset. So they instead "clear" Balochistan of "Islamic terrorists" (democratic Baloch dissidents, not Taliban) and remove it from American calculations.

What is the end result? The Pakistani military has effectively fortified the Quetta Shura, while paving the way for American invasion of North and South Waziristan, Pakhtunkhwa, etc. And just like Kayani, everyone gets to declare a fake victory. President Obama gets to look tough by cracking down on attacks from the tribal area, the Pakistanis can throw a fit and claim they already "cleared" those areas, we downplay the harm of the drone strikes (we're not cowards anymore), Kayani protects his state-sponsored terrorism program (the Taliban), the army has an excuse to viciously crush Baloch separatists, and even Al-Qa'eda itself will be rewarded with another propaganda victory, that of more American "crusaders" on Pashtun soil.

Who doesn't get to declare victory? Everybody else. American troop deaths will continue to skyrocket, American taxpayers will continue to pay for it as their economy crumbles, Pakistani civilians will be massacred by all sides, Pakistani democracy will continue to suffocate under military despotism, and the Taliban will still threaten the national security of countless nations, most notoriously nuclear-armed India.

 

[Iamanidiot]

pakistan is 180million people invasion doesn't work.You either cull them or control them fron the US POV