Zaid Hamid is a fake and used to run a cult, read here in more detail.

Pakistan has Pakistan to thank for creation and continued support of the militants in their midst. Pakistan created “their kind of Islam” to drive “the agenda of the country” of Afghanistan. Chickens have come home to roost. Counterinsurgency is extremely difficult when you are supporting the insurgents to begin with. Hard to resolve the war in Afghanistan when you are working with militants you created to intensify attacks there.

“….The deals come in the wake of three operations carried out by the Pakistani military against the Taliban in the last three years – operations in which the military conspicuously refrained from causing the movement significant harm or from killing its leaders.

The apparent capitulation of the Pakistani authorities to the demands of the Taliban is actually a part of a long-standing alliance between them. The Pakistani military – which actually formed the Taliban in the 1990s – has long been using this movement to control Afghanistan and as a tool in its confrontation with the West. The Taliban, for its part, uses the support and protection of Pakistan to consolidate its strength and gain control over increasingly large areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan….Moreover, the cooperation of the Pakistani military is not only with the Pakistani Taliban, but with the Taliban as a whole, i.e., also with the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is evident from the recent interactions between the Taliban in Pakistan and Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In the beginning of 2009, three Taliban groups in Pakistan’s Waziristan district formed a joint organization called Shura Ittihad Al-Mujahideen, under the command of three key figures in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, namely Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Nazir and Maulvi Hafiz Gul Bahadur (the latter two are considered “pro-government”).(23) The significant point is that, upon its establishment, the group pledged its allegiance to Mullah Omar, stating: “We regard Mullah Omar as our Amir-ul-Mumineen [i.e., Leader of the Faithful].”(24) This refutes the opinion, often expressed by political analysis, that Mullah Omar does not represent the Taliban in Pakistan. Moreover, in a recent letter to the leaders of the Taliban in Waziristan, Mullah Omar ordered them not to attack the Pakistani security forces, because fighting Muslims could not be considered jihad. He added that the attacks on the Pakistani military were harming the Taliban movement, and that, if the Taliban fighters wanted to wage jihad, they should come to Afghanistan.(25) As a matter of fact, the Afghan website http://www.taand.com reports that the Taliban and its “supporters” – meaning the Pakistani authorities – have reorganized their forces and are intensifying their attacks in Afghanistan. (26)

The interaction between Mullah Omar and the Taliban in Pakistan belies the distinction sometimes made between Taliban-Pakistan and Taliban-Afghanistan. It implies that they constitute a single movement led by Mullah Omar – a movement which is currently inclined to cooperate with the Pakistani authorities.

The re-emergence of the Pakistan-Taliban alliance at this time may be linked to the advent of the Obama administration and to the changing strategic situation in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. Realizing that Obama means to step up the U.S. campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, the Pakistani military has recalibrated its strategic position and brought the Taliban into its fold, to serve as its proxy in a confrontation with the U.S. forces.…” April 1, 2009 http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA50809

Zia’s Revenge

Obama calls Zardari, discusses mutual cooperation Pakistan News.Net / Friday 27th March, 2009 (ANI) Islamabad, Mar. 27 : US President Barack Obama telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday to discuss mutual cooperation and the situation in the South Asian region. Obama and Zardari spoke about the “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” forum initiative, aimed at promoting and strengthening democracy in Pakistan, The Nation reports… …Zardari, who launched the initiative of ‘Friends of Democratic Pakistan’ (FODP) in New York in September 2008, will chair the Friends’ Ministerial meeting being held in Tokyo on April 17. The forum consists of 25 countries and multilateral institutions including US, UK, China, EU, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Republic of Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, Nordic countries, UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

What is the “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” forum, and why is Zardari chairing it? Given that Zardari was opposed to an independent judiciary, and given that Zardari had to step back from a repressive attempt to shut down the recent Long March, I’m surprised to read that U.S. President Obama was actually chatting with him about this forum.

On the one hand, I can understand that if one is to channel development aid into Pakistan (which the U.S. apparently is going to start emphasizing), one needs to do that through that nation’s head of state. And Zardari is still the president. But on the other hand, given his obvious anti-democratic actions, it is disappointing that the Obama Administration appears to be lending its implicit support to him by talking to him in the context of his “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” forum.

This appears to be related to the “concerns” from Washington about Nawaz Sharif as an effective “partner” for dealing with the Taliban. My fear is that the U.S. may be indirectly attempting to boost the legitimacy of Zardari, even though large numbers of Pakistanis came into the streets to oppose him.

This approach might help the U.S. get a more pliant “partner” for dealing with the Taliban in the short term, but it’s not helpful to Pakistan’s democracy in the long run.

Think of all the money the poor Pakistani tax payer will save, if instead of flying to DC, their rulers will get an audience with the U.S. Viceroy right there in Islamabad.

At the same time, statements like “pakistanis do not support terrorism” are obvious lies and contradicted by the sources I mention above. Use of violence for “just causes” – kashmir, shia vs. sunni, assorted islamist and other grievances is deeply embedded in pakistani society and until this is honestly discussed openly, we arent going to make much progress.