Afghanistani youth slaps tough questions to Parvez Musharaf

[thakur_ritesh]

^I dont know . . . how you have reached the above conclusion . . . but my opinion after lurking for a while on Pashtun Forums is that a good 70% of them are very Anti India . . . and that's among the English speaking western educated lot

What Pashtun forum have you been lurking around? There is one run by a Pakistani as they have one for India

 

[ejazr]

^I dont know . . . how you have reached the above conclusion . . . but my opinion after lurking for a while on Pashtun Forums is that a good 70% of them are very Anti India . . . and that's among the English speaking western educated lot



to have diplomatic back channel open with Taliban is a TINA situation in my opinion . . .

but to expect them to respect a constitution that they will obviously find some way of terming non Islamic
and transfer power in a Democratic manner . . .is akin to Believing a Cat will go vegetarian

Forums are not a good way to form opinions. I mean after all DFI would certainly not reflect what an average Indian opinion poll would reflect on the ground. And Afghanistan hardly has any Internet penetration to give you what Afghans feel on the ground.

The figures are basically from yearly opinion surveys taken by western organizations but also feed back from Indian diplomats and journalists. We are discussing Afghan Pashtuns here of course, not Pakistani. You can search for some of this on DFI.

On Taliban accepting a democratic order, it sounds difficult, but that is what we signal to them in backchannel talks. Check out this preview of an interview with a senior Taliban commander. Note what they say about Pakistan
New Statesman - Preview: Michael Semple interviews a senior member of the Taliban

The problem at present for India is that we have good political connections with all non-Taliban factions including Pashtun non-Taliban factions like Hamid Karzai for example. We should have atleast some sort of communication with the Taliban as well. Just so that Pakistan no longer has a monopoly over them. There seems to be disenchantment with Pakistan and it would be the best time to exploit this to our advantage.

 

[Cliff@sea]

What Pashtun forum have you been lurking around? There is one run by a Pakistani as they have one for India

may be . . . .I wouldnt know about the ownership of the forum

 

[Cliff@sea]

Forums are not a good way to form opinions. I mean after all DFI would certainly not reflect what an average Indian opinion poll would reflect on the ground. And Afghanistan hardly has any Internet penetration to give you what Afghans feel on the ground.

The figures are basically from yearly opinion surveys taken by western organizations but also feed back from Indian diplomats and journalists. We are discussing Afghan Pashtuns here of course, not Pakistani. You can search for some of this on DFI.

perhaps . . .10-20 active members are not a conclusive set empirically . . .but is still an indicator . . . .

u may be right and i'll be most happy if you are . . .
. . . but then there's no way to confirm what you claim either .

On Taliban accepting a democratic order, it sounds difficult, but that is what we signal to them in backchannel talks. Check out this preview of an interview with a senior Taliban commander. Note what they say about Pakistan
New Statesman - Preview: Michael Semple interviews a senior member of the Taliban
The problem at present for India is that we have good political connections with all non-Taliban factions including Pashtun non-Taliban factions like Hamid Karzai for example. We should have atleast some sort of communication with the Taliban as well. Just so that Pakistan no longer has a monopoly over them. There seems to be disenchantment with Pakistan and it would be the best time to exploit this to our advantage.

^
Agree absolutely !!!