Comments on: Into The Whirlwind http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/pakistaninightmares/ Just another Firedoglake weblog Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:04:24 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: jimportlandor http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/pakistaninightmares/comment-page-1/#comment-527 jimportlandor Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:24:31 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/pakistaninightmares/#comment-527 <p>[getting out Gertrude Bell’s pen and a south asia ethic/tribal map]</p> <p>So much history….</p> <p>Partition of Iraq has dropped from the Biden Daily Journal, but maybe some line re-drawing is needed further east. </p> <p>The Pashtuns have never wanted to be ruled by ANYBODY. Pashtuns dominate the eastern/southern part of Afghanistan and western part of Pakistan. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was arbitrarily drawn long ago to reflect the Brit’s ability to control things across the mountains and through the Kyber Pass, and not much else that made any sense then or now.</p> <p>So, wallah! Let the Pashtun’s have their own ‘country’ carved out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and let the tribes, Taliban and al queda live together in ‘harmony’: Pashtunistan! </p> <p>Now it may be necessary for their Pak and Afghan neighbors (and other interested parties) to occasionally bomb Pashtunistan back closer to their iron-age predecessors, but at least all will know where to drop the munitions, right? Maybe some border walls may be needed as well, but there’s probably lots of limestone and crushed rock ready to be made into concrete. The Chinese and the US Border Patrol could consult on the wall construction.</p> <p>[I’m not really advocating bombing anybody, just being snarkish]. </p> <p>But I do like the idea of Pashtunistan!</p> [getting out Gertrude Bell’s pen and a south asia ethic/tribal map]

So much history….

Partition of Iraq has dropped from the Biden Daily Journal, but maybe some line re-drawing is needed further east.

The Pashtuns have never wanted to be ruled by ANYBODY. Pashtuns dominate the eastern/southern part of Afghanistan and western part of Pakistan. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was arbitrarily drawn long ago to reflect the Brit’s ability to control things across the mountains and through the Kyber Pass, and not much else that made any sense then or now.

So, wallah! Let the Pashtun’s have their own ‘country’ carved out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and let the tribes, Taliban and al queda live together in ‘harmony’: Pashtunistan!

Now it may be necessary for their Pak and Afghan neighbors (and other interested parties) to occasionally bomb Pashtunistan back closer to their iron-age predecessors, but at least all will know where to drop the munitions, right? Maybe some border walls may be needed as well, but there’s probably lots of limestone and crushed rock ready to be made into concrete. The Chinese and the US Border Patrol could consult on the wall construction.

[I’m not really advocating bombing anybody, just being snarkish].

But I do like the idea of Pashtunistan!

]]> By: joshua.foust http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/pakistaninightmares/comment-page-1/#comment-526 joshua.foust Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:52:17 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/pakistaninightmares/#comment-526 <p>I’d be careful believing what you read in STRATFOR. They’re very good at tailoring their analysis to suit their clients, not letting their analysis stand on its own as true or untrue. Pretty recently, just after the death of Sapurmurat Niyazov, they were trying to argue that all of Central Asia was about to descent into madness, Balkanization, and genocidal ethnic warfare.</p> <p>In other words, they’re really big on hype, not so big on reality.</p> I’d be careful believing what you read in STRATFOR. They’re very good at tailoring their analysis to suit their clients, not letting their analysis stand on its own as true or untrue. Pretty recently, just after the death of Sapurmurat Niyazov, they were trying to argue that all of Central Asia was about to descent into madness, Balkanization, and genocidal ethnic warfare.

In other words, they’re really big on hype, not so big on reality.

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