War on Terror for Dummies

In the last couple of days the BBC, New York Times, CNN, Time Magazine, and Asia Times online have been giving increasing coverage to an acrimonious debate between the US Ambassador to Afghanistan (soon to be the Ambassador to Iraq) and the Pakistani government. According to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Pakistan's role as an ally in the "War on Terror" is questionable because of its concurrent support for militant groups who continue to receive training and arms from camps within Pakistani territory.

Ambassador Khalilzad is not alone in his frustration. CIA head honcho, Porter Goss, echoed a similar dissatisfaction in an interview with Time in its next issue where he stated that bin Laden's whereabouts are known but little was being done by Pakistani authorities. This isn't new. For years India and China have criticized Islamabad for supporting terrorist activities in the Kashmir and Uighur areas, respectively. Ultimately it's quite obvious that Pakistan's terrorist movement has now exceeded the control of its government which is a real problem. And it's not just a question of numbers. The fact is that the system of creating and supporting terrorist activities has become so entrenched it's almost "legitimate." In an excellent series of articles entitled "War on Terror for Dummies," Asia Times online documents the complexity of this situation and its relevance to the US effort to capture bin Laden and end terrorism.

It is states and governments which sponsor terrorism to begin with, and subjects become the ultimate victims, and then a vicious cycle of terror rotates. In this state-sponsored crime there is no exception, and Pakistan, India, the US and Israel all have the same role.

Many of us call it a battle between East and West, between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian world, but it is neither of these. It is in fact the ruling regimes that want to dictate their will, and then they exploit [people] in various ways. Sometimes in the garb of monarchy, sometimes for democracy, and sometimes for dictatorship."

—Khalid Khawaja, former Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) [Pakistani Espionage] official