Zardari: We Underestimated Taliban Threat

Pakistan's President Tells 60 Minutes The Country Is In A Battle To Survive

(CBS)  Asked how successful he thinks Pakistan's tactics have been, Riedel told Kroft, "Most of the success has been along the main road. Once you get off the main road, you get into rural villages, there’s very little lasting effectiveness."

And it’s not just rural villages: the Taliban are now operating on the outskirts of Peshawar, one of Pakistan's largest cities, 40 miles from the Afghanistan border.

They have attacked police stations, military outposts, and destroyed hundreds of NATO vehicles. They have also mounted regular attacks on the convoys that snake their way through the Khyber Pass on the way to Afghanistan to re-supply American troops, which get most of their weapons, ammunition and food, through this critical route.

In December the Pakistani army was forced to close it temporarily, in order to root out the Taliban. But in February the insurgents blew up a key bridge through the pass on the Pakistan side of the border. There are some in Washington who still question the commitment of the Pakistani military and its intelligence service, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), to wage a war against fellow Muslims and they question how much power President Zardari really has.

"Do you have the support for this campaign against the Taliban? Do you have the full support of the military and the ISI?" Kroft asked the president.

"If that wasn't the case, then Islamabad would have fallen because obviously if the army doesn't do its job, these men are not restricted. They've blown up the Marriott Hotel before. They've attacked us inland before. They would be all around us, wouldn't they?" Zardari replied.

Speaking to Bruce Riedel, Kroft asked, "President Zardari said this is our war now, meaning Pakistan’s war. Do you think he means it?"

"He understands it’s his war now," Riedel replied. "He has yet to convince most Pakistanis that it's their war. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis see this as America’s war, They haven’t bought into the notion that this is a threat to them yet."

There is a huge wave of anti-Americanism sweeping across Pakistan right now. Many of its 180 million citizens see the U.S. as an imperial power, like the former Soviet Union, meddling in a part of the world where they believe it has no business. The feelings have been exacerbated by U.S. attacks against high level al Qaeda targets on Pakistan's soil using unmanned predator drones. Some of the attacks have been successful, but dozens if not hundreds of Pakistani bystanders have also been killed.

[mishi_1682]

does any one knw about babar gul of gul houses

[esaun211]

Poor Pakistan, caught in the middle of one group of terrorist that want women face covered, dumb, and subject to public beat downs; while the other group of terrorist gone kill, maim, and rape them in the liberation process(strategic mishaps). Muslims need to convert to Christianity so they can get a better understanding of why Jesus wants us to have their oil; besides they should of got the message the first time we came crusading on horseback.

[Mirza-G]

Recently a friend of mine was thrown out with his family,at gun point, of his home in Karachi by Architect and Engineer's Society at Blk 19 Gulistan's e Johar by the controlling land mafia Babar Gul who has an office there.When my friend contacted someone he knew in intelligence in pakistan, he was told that nothing can be done asZardari may be getting some of the proceeds .He reminded my friend :don't you remember Zardari as mr.10%? So my point is ,if the President of a nation is thought to take the wealth by any means then what is to become of that nation.Only an act of God can save the helpless people of Pakistan.

[mishi_1682]

do u knw any thing more about babar gul ... plzzz email me at [e-mail]

i m his victum tooo

[rockerrb]

I would like to respond to some criticism coming from that high level US government official about the way Pakistan is waging war with the taliban. I commend Pakistan on their efforts. I think they are waging war the only way they know how and are doing the best they can at it. I think their efforts are long overdue. Maybe some of the billions of dollars we've sent them in foreign aid are finally starting to do some good. I think that they are committed to it and they see that the taliban are a big threat to their own country. You can't negotiate with terrorists.

[ajjaxtheleast]

Of course India would NEVER think of sending a little
grease into Pakistan to make the Taliban machine
operate a bit more smoothly,,,

And Russia would NEVER think of sending a little
something into Afghanistan as payback for the
Stinger missles we sent into
THEIR Afghanistan adventure.

We're making enough enemies that we could become the
buffalo trying to fight off a pack of dogs.

Zardari is here delivering ,now, OBAMA'S message.

Doesn't it bother anyone that after 7 years and not being able
to leave our "victory" in Iraq we are now headlong into
it's sequal in Afghanistan displacing 2-million people and
our errant missles AGAIN killing citizens?

The answer is "no" because we have no imagination,,,

Misery elicits no mental image in our minds,,,

We dont even make an effort to imagine what 2-MILLION
of ANYTHING is let alone 2-million displaced PEOPLE dieing
along the way in their attempt to escape from our remedy to
solve a problem in THEIR country that will ease our
"war" in yet another country.

Is there ANY crime that uttering the word "terrorist"
wont make acceptable?

[rallyafag]

Posted by exusmcsgt at 06:34 AM : Feb 16, 2009
+ report abuse

*****

REALLY DOUBT YOU ARE A MARINE..

[rallyafag]

They thought we would juggernaut right through Afghanistan and Iraq and, 7 1/2 years later, we''''re still there and fighting an uphill battle.....

Posted by exusmcsgt at 06:34 AM : Feb 16, 2009
+ report abuse

***********
I wonder why you are an ex soldier?????

[rallyafag]

It is also the purpose behind religion - shut down the individual''''s own thought processes so that they can be dictated to and accept it willingly.

Posted by exusmcsgt at 06:36 AM : Feb 16, 2009
+ report abuse

*****gotta give it to religion though..it kept you from extinction

[ubir]

The 12 minutes does not portray the origin of Taliban. Pakistan and the US created this monster in 1980''s to fight the guerrilla war against the USSR in Afghanistan. The Pakistan army and the ISI helped build, train and provided heat seeking missiles and other equipments. It is a known fact that US lost inventory of many of these missile launchers that are still used by Taliban. After the war, Pakistan kept patronizing them for their means to fight Kashmir. Now when you breed a monster using your official machinery (Pakistan intelligence and military), how can you just walk away when ideologies and sympathy are deeply embedded into the Pakistan military. Just because Taliban killed the president%u2019s wife and he wants to root out Taliban, it doesn%u2019t mean all of the army who helped build Taliban share this view. But it is definitely a progress that Pakistan has openly admitted to this after decades of denial.

[exusmcsgt]

This is the problem with religion occupying so much of ones life. It tends to direct people in directions they should never go.

Posted by j45453 at 09:20 PM : Feb 15, 2009

It is also the purpose behind religion - shut down the individual''s own thought processes so that they can be dictated to and accept it willingly.