What War On Terror?

What hard luck. Obama faces yet another distraction.

The move by Taliban-backed militants into the Buner district of northwestern Pakistan, closer than ever to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, have prompted concerns both within the country and abroad that the nuclear-armed nation of 165 million is on the verge of inexorable collapse.

And this should be keeping someone up at night. If the Taliban gain control of a nuclear capability the ramifications would be incredible, not just for America but for India, as well. And then there's the rest of the free world, including Israel.

That means someone somewhere has to act to prevent it.

The Taliban advance on Mansehra and Haripur takes place at the same time they are moving on the districts of Swabi, Mardan, and Malakand. The takeover of these five districts would essentially cement the Taliban's control of the province.

 The Taliban takeover of Haripur would put the Taliban on the doorstep of Islamabad and would also put two major nuclear facilities at risk.

Haripur borders the Margala Hills, a region in the Islamabad Capital Territory. Haripur also borders the Punjab districts of Attock and Rawalpindi.

Attock hosts two major nuclear facilities in Pakistan: the Wah Cantonment Ordnance Complex and the Kamra (Minhas) Airbase. The Wah Cantonment Ordnance Complex host three sites where nuclear weapons and components are stored and assembled and aircraft and missiles are modified for use in nuclear attacks. The nearby Kamra Airbase is thought to host attack aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Comments

[mark l.]

"The move by Taliban-backed militants into the Buner district of northwestern Pakistan, closer than ever to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, have prompted concerns both within the country and abroad that the nuclear-armed nation of 165 million is on the verge of inexorable collapse."

who is the strongest 'man' in pakistan?
the ones who are willing to kill. there are many parties, but with the departure of musharref, there is a tremendous gap to be filled. In a country with one third crazies, and two-thirds moderate, crazies win everytime.

The taliban is 70 miles away? There are many who are already in Islamabad. They aren't going to march in Islamabad, they are just going to walk there.

In retrospect, someone was watching the implications fo the g-20, and saw a weakness.
Not so much from the US, but for the UK. They WILL NOT interfere if the taliban moves on Pakistan.

Obama?
commits troops to AG, expecting EU help, and gets none (I never caught the change of strategy that he would perform to accomodate EU's "No".) The taliban decides that they are now safe in Pakistan, and fearing no reprisal, will take their war there. If you win in Afghanistan, you win nothing but a pile of rock. You win in Pakistan, you get nukes and respect.

We evacuate our embassy within a month, but I imagine all non-essential are out now.
Without the fear of intervention by an occupying army, the overthrow is a matter of time.

how close is this to Iranian revolution?
looks like history is about to repeat. Except the part about the nukes.

[mark l.]

"not just for America but for India, as well. And then there's the rest of the free world, including Israel."

if the taliban successfully takes PK over, they will be in a postition to share, if not actual nukes, then at least all the specs and materials needed to build a nuke + missile tech, with Iran.

Maybe chavez wants his own nuke...

I'm imagining the nightly news for the next year-lead story- taliban gets nuke.

story #2?
prosecution for enhanced interogations/torture.

story one will segue into #2, nicely.

[Sally]

"That means someone somewhere has to act to prevent it."

Really? And who would that be exactly?

Because George W. Bush isn't coming through that door.

[MuscleDaddy]

They already know they have nothing to fear, so long as they can take their meds for that "negotiate without preconditions" phobia.

- MuscleDaddy

[Xerocky]

Ok Obama, when can we expect you to say "Relax bitches, I gotz dis" like all of those Daily Kosaks were so fond of saying?

Do you think that his world wide “please forgive us” tour for the United States has emboldened them, or was this going to happen anyhow? I think perhaps it didn't help, at the very least.

[MAS1916]

A nuclear Pakistan could easily provide the technology to those that would use it on - say - San Francisco.

Obama's strategy is to build his cult of personality into a powerful tool. He believes he can then wield this power to cause those that want to kill us to not want to kill us. Interestingly, Iran, North Korea and other rogue leaders support this methodology. The more they can talk about how they 'feel' towards the United States the less they have to deal with substantive issues.

Danny Ortega delivered nearly an hour long, hate-filled diatribe against the United States this week. Obama did not lift a finger to object. He is just trying to get Ortega to like him.

Obama's campaign to be 'liked' might just work. It will be to the detriment of the nation.

[mark l.]

"A nuclear Pakistan could easily provide the technology to those that would use it on - say - San Francisco."

san fran, boston, ny, or dc-all four locations have to be considered primary targets.

san frans problem is that it is located on the west coast, and if the attack comes out of the pacific, it's toast.

Strategically, a larger vessel could drop a fast boat with the payload and send it up an river. The target would have to be NYC, between Hoboken and the WTC. One blast, even with a light nuclear payload would send every coastal dweller in-land. Our economy would collapse based on the threat becoming a reality, no matter the physical damage.

IF the the taliban is successful in overthrowing the paki govt, we probably should recall our entire fleet to patrol our coastal waters. We will HAVE TO examine every ship that wants to make port 30 miles out.

the world ends if pakistan falls.

[thomas]

As it played out the Taliban have committed a huge blunder and as this is writen they are in full retreat

[John Henry]

If only we stayed focus in Afghanistan and not waged a pointless war with Iraq. Where were the tea-party people when Bush was spending billions a month on this pointless war?

[North Dallas Thirty]

"If only we stayed focus in Afghanistan and not waged a pointless war with Iraq. "

Um, no. You see, Afghanistan is a NATO operation, led by the very "armies" of the European leftist governments that you and yours always insist "know better" than we do.

Meanwhile, it is hilarious to watch leftists whine about "billions per month" when they themselves are pouring HUNDREDS of billions down the welfare sinkholes every month so that illegal immigrants like Obama's auntie can have free housing, free healthcare, fat welfare checks, and no-show government jobs so lucrative that they can afford to make illegal contributions to Obama Party politicians.

[mark l.]

"If only we stayed focus in Afghanistan and not waged a pointless war with Iraq. "

five years from now, we could be arguing that Afghanistan was pointless and we should have stayed focused on Pakistan.

as an aside:
take a look at the peshawar valley on google satellite, realtime imagery.
It's a giant valley in the middle on nowhere. Zoom in, and you see farming on a massive scale.