U.S. must be fearful of allies like Pakistan
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 3, 2005
While the focus of the world media has been on Iraq and the ongoing battles with insurgents, another ugly enemy has reared its ugly head again.
Terrorists are again rising up and apparently from an all-too-familiar place - Pakistan.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that so far this year at least 38 U.S. troops have died by hostile fire in neighboring Afghanistan. That death toll is higher than any year since we first invaded the country in 2001.
What's most interesting, or perhaps chilling, is that lots of people with boots on the ground in Afghanistan seem to think the terrorists are being trained and supported by people in Pakistan.
Suspected Taliban fighters ambushed a Navy SEAL team in the Hindu Kush mountains. Only one of the four survived.
More U.S. troops - 16 to be exact - were killed trying to rescue the SEALs, according to The Times article. Navy SEALs are among America's most fierce, well-trained fighters. In other words, they aren't easily defeated. The attackers must have been well armed, well trained and well supplied.
Lt. Naqibullah Nooristani, a leader of Afghan troops fighting with the U.S. troops, said the trash left on the mountains tell volumes about their enemy.
"When our soldiers got upon the mountain, we saw empty cans of Pepsi and old running shoes, which means they changed into new ones for the operation," Nooristani said, in The Times article. "They have Pepsis in the mountains and I can't find them here in the city. That means they are well supported."
The Afghan military leader isn't alone. Others point to high-tech weaponry from sophisticated landmines to remote controlled bombs. All of the signs show the weapons and the training to use them are coming across the border in Pakistan.
Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf allegedly joined the United States and its allies in the fight to rid the world of terror.
The message at the time was clear: We're all friends here, united to defeat evil.
Judging by the body bags coming from Afghanistan invisibly stamped with "made in Pakistan" on the side, we think the United States should either force Pakistan to crack down on the terrorists or do it for them.