The Afghan National Army (ANA) is a service branch of the Military of Afghanistan currently being trained by the NATO forces to take over from them in Afghanistan, when they leave. But the ground reality is somewhat different. On the ground, ANA and Taliban (both Pakistani and the Afghan) have an unwritten arrangement (specifically in Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Helmand and Ghazni provinces), where if ANA patrol goes into Taliban areas, they are not targeted. The consideration being arms, ammunition or rockets - which is then reported as "lost" while fighting the Taliban. On the other hand, when the ANA catch any Taliban, they ask for money and then release the Taliban guys. Recently 7 young men were caught by the ANA in Afghanistan. They were from Pakistan and were in Afghanistan motivated by the Jehadi goals. Three of them were Enyatur Rahman (North-West Frontier Province - NWFP), Saeed (NWFP) and Imran (Punjab). There was an alarm in the Pakistani Taliban - and there was a need to get them back lest they spill the beans on the depth and breadth of the Jehadi network within Pakistan. The negotiations this time were between a Pakistani taliban commander Mansoor and the ANA. ANA wanted USD 200k, but they were countered with USD 25k by Mansoor. The negotiations labored on. And in that time, ANA handed over the guys to the NATO forces. Read more

"It is a big joke in the regular army that many of the ISI officers are more Taliban than the Taliban" ~ Ahmed Rashid Here is a very detailed and very educative interview with Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books inclluding the latest Descent into Chaos. Here is Harry Kreisler discussing on various issues with Ahmed Rashid in the backdrop of his book "Descent into Chaos" on his program "Conversations With History". Kreisler is Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies. There was no rogue ISI - it was an official policy to supporting Taliban and Jehadis.Rashid has also won the "Nisar Osmani Award for Courage in Journalism" given to him by the Human Rights Society of Pakistan, besides having reported for Daily Telegraph, The Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, The Nation and BBC and appears regularly on NPR, CNN, and BBC. If you listen to what he says in this interview and read what Drishtikone has been saying all along, you will realize that he clearly corroborates most of the FACTS that we have brought up in all these years. One must also watch another video "Secret Government - Pakistan" (the video does not allow embedding, so am giving the link) to get the full view of the morass. 1. How Pakistani Government Promotes Terrorism and US State Department looks the Other Way! 2. Mumbai Attacks: A Complete Analysis of What was, is and what should be! 3. US surveillance shows ISI directly supporting Taliban and Jehadis 4. Intriguing Circle of Jehad from Pakistan Read more

There are a lot of nut cases in the world. Taliban and fundamentalist Sunnis of the Wahabi/Salafi strain of Islam are firmly in that category. The others are those, who feel appalled when you point at such people and ask the world to wake up (example is this guy who keeps posting nonsense in the comments here without the guts to reveal his name and identity!). The ease with which Taliban entered and then became the rulers of Swat and Buner was astonishing and amazing - UNTIL Hillary Clinton pulled Pakistan up in her hearing and the US Government PUSHED Pakistan to do something against it. Watch this video to see the kind of executions being held in Pakistan as of now. I also have a video - which I could hardly watch where a live man is beheaded in front of the camera, with blood dripping on the shouts of "Allahu-Akbar" and certainly cannot publish.. it is so disgusting! In many countries, the country has an Army, but in Pakistan, the Army has a country. ~ Ahmed RashidWhat has surprised me is not that these TTP - the Pakistani Taliban has gained so much ground in Pakistan.. but how QUICKLY it has done that! A year from now it was just a rag-tag bunch of goons. To fight the Pakistan Army, to move in and take over one city, then another... AND set up an administrative machinery, which knows its agenda - afterall the Taliban guys were quick to go and shut the Dargah of Peer Baba up and turn off the followers in the very first week of its entry in Swat - is what I find ASTONISHING. Try and ask an Army General, as to how easy it is to build a battalion with the rules and regulations in place and organize a fighting machine to engage a regular Army. That, this group has been able to do that within a year is astonishing! Read more

Gen. David Petraeus, commander of US Central Command, today said in an interview that if Taliban is not defeated within the next two weeks, then the current Pakistani Government could collapse. There is a strong indication, ostensibly, that Pakistan’s army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani may come back as the Government collapses. While the Army is trying to flush out the Taliban from the areas of Swat and Buner, the crisis has grown. Read more