> Pakistan is not _simply_ a client state of the U.S. Were the U.S. willing
>to really flex its muscles, no doubt it could coerce Pakistan into
>dismantling the al-Qaeda camps in northern Pakistan and "Azad Kashmir".
>But no such demand has been made. Why not? Partly because it would
>probably require a credible threat of war to get Pakistan to comply.
Powell apparently gave an ultimatum to Musharaff immediately after 9/11 and brought about a U turn in Pakistan's policy of supporting Taliban. He could do it again, if he wanted to.
>And partly because this war has never really been about dismantling the
>al-Qaeda network. A small part of it was destroyed in Afghanistan; the
>vast majority of it still exists, and is still very much in business, as
>recent attacks on India demonstrate.
>
> Instead of pursuing our announced aims - capturing bin Laden and
>dismantling al-Qaeda - we're now on to entirely unrelated imperial
>adventures. Al-Qaeda provided a pretext for the rehabilitation of war as a
>routine instrument of U.S. foreign policy. Only token efforts are being
>made to find bin Laden, and almost no efforts are being made to dismantle
>the rest of al-Qaeda.
>
> I wonder why?
Is this a phoney war? After events as serious as 9/11?
Ulhas