>No Pakistani leader since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has been able to stay in
> >power without the support of Pakistani military intelligence (ISI). >So,
>Musharraf has
>just as much power over the militants as ISI will allow him to have.
> >Since ISI is the historical godfather of Taliban and Al-Qaeda, the
> >answer is "not much". ISI might well allow a tactical slowdown of
> >activity, but there is almost no chance of a long-term change in >policy.
> So, the current crisis might abate, but only to recur.
>Michael McIntyre
Well, yes, but doesn't this beg the question of how much control the ISI has? I'll grant they must have a fair amount of control at least (cf Chris Doss' forwarded article: "Pakistan blocks aid to 115 Islamic schools"), but could they simply yell, "Jump!" and have all the "terrorists" begging to know how high? Seems there must be at least some cells, groups, or just individuals who won't obey for whatever reason.
Todd
_________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com