Radio Spreads Taliban’s Terror in Pakistani Region

[varun]

Source: NYT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Every night around 8 o’clock, the terrified residents of Swat, a lush and picturesque valley a hundred miles from three of Pakistan’s most important cities, crowd around their radios. They know that failure to listen and learn might lead to a lashing — or a beheading.

Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines newly proscribed “un-Islamic” activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees — and those they plan to kill.

“They control everything through the radio,” said one Swat resident, who declined to give his name for fear the Taliban might kill him. “Everyone waits for the broadcast.”...



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/world/asia/25swat.htm...

---

Taliban has been defeated - Dubya

[ClayZ]

1. Their own version of Rush Limbaugh!

He spread terror and hate, and so does Hannidy!

[IsItJustMe]

2. Yep, every country got a Rush hid away somewhere.

[iconicgnom]

3. That sounds awful. But, are they a threat to the US, to NATO?

Shouldn't there be another way of trying to deal with this shit than using drones to fire missiles based on guesswork, rumour, and the fact that a target is sighted?

Like, how smallminded must we be, to not be able to see and act past a military option, even when we really aren't facing anything close to an "existential threat"? We spend more on the military than the whole rest of the world combined, yet haven't a clue how to win good faith with a population we've subjugated, in Afghanistan, and we're still looking to subjugate more. Still, we insist that the problem isn't with ourselves.

We can do better than that.

[pasto76]

4. uh, yeah

their leader (after we killed the last taliban leader with a drone fired missile) has declared nothing less than to overthrow the pakistani government. The Waziristan area has about 42 million people, all intermarried and "allied" together through various groups....enough jihadists to really pose a problem.


Pakistan has about 50 nuclear warheads. THAT should give everyone pause. All these years Bush and these other assholes were talking about that "mushroom cloud" coming from Iraq or Iran. Looks like this should be #1 on the list though.

[cosmicone]

5. Pakistan's nuclear capability is

exaggerated, primarily by Pakistan for a successful nuclear blackmail to obtain military and financial assistance to be used against India rather than Taliban.

Indian intelligence agencies know that Taliban is 80% active duty Pakistani military rather than a genuine movement. It is funded, trained and coordinated by the Pakistani ISI.

The simple truth is that giving Pakistan money and weapons hasn't worked. Now it is time to stop ALL aid to Pakistan and financially crushing it to make it cough up the nukes and give up the Taliban adventure through which it seeks a "strategic depth strategy."

Pakistan is a menace to the world and it needs to not exist the way it exists today.

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. "The Waziristan area has about 42 million people" - umm no - actually less than ONE million

.
.
.

"Waziristan is divided into two "agencies", North Waziristan and South Waziristan, with estimated populations (as of 1998) of 361,246 and 429,841 respectively. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waziristan

another source for information on FATAs - (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) in Pakistan http://forums.csis.org/pcrproject/?p=694 confirms the population count, as well as other tribal areas

[iconicgnom]

14. whoa! You REALLY want to go in there all guns blazing!

Not a single lesson learned.

[elleng]

6. With george and cheney's crew,

we left afghanistan and bin laden partly done, and headed for iraq; afghanistan is again in the position its been in for centuries. If we get some real wise folks addressing it now, there's some possibility for improvement. I'm not very hopeful.

[ohio2007]

9. You are saying they a not threat to Pakistan's frontier provinces ? or the co ed school district?

What do they respect ?
You've seen how they treated the Pakistan's representatives of the department of peace which used eloquent speech to reason with them.

[iconicgnom]

15. Ah, so you figure now it's the US turn to bomb them to crap and back.

[ohio2007]

27. You see how they treated D.K's suggestion made earlier this year

about talking peace with the Taliban ?



Ah, you figure maybe one day they will "obey" and listen to a lower earthly power ?


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/26/pakista... /

I figure you better get rose colored contacts incase the rose colored glasses fall off

[annabanana]

7. We will have lots of allies in our fight against this medieval fudamentalist

cult if we go against them properly. They have no natural constituency and only rule by the basest, most direct intimidation.

[ohio2007]

10. Such as ?

Go ahead, don't be shy.
http://btw.imb.org/news_map.asp

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50M0XF200...

how many MORE enemies will will make in the region ?



just looking at the big picture

[annabanana]

13. Most Muslims are NOT medieval fundamentalists. . .

[ohio2007]

17. Still , you didn't answer the question.

'moderates' are voiceless against the violent minority.

[Bragi]

24. Very interesting site thanks /nt

[pmorlan1]

8. Preaching hate

Sounds like the way the radio was used to preach hate in Rawanda.

[Joey Liberal]

12. Taliban = Islamic Republicans nt

[Sultana]

26. YEP!

Ugh, they just keep coming back.

[iconicgnom]

16. Wow. I'm very surprised at the hawkishness of DUers on this thread.

Their absolute faith in the US right to use military to "solve problems" around the world. The willingness, even eagerness, to escalate and expand the mid-east "war on terror". The inability to think outside the neocon/neolib box.

All it took was Obama winning for a complete turnaround, a complete reversal anti-bushies<->bushies, re. these matters.

[ohio2007]

18. lock step with Barack

or prepared to be banned

President orders air strikes on villages in tribal area

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/24/pakistan-ba...

What if
he were to order that radio tower destroyed this week ?

Pak urges Obama to halt missile attacks on al-Qaida strongholds

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pak_u...

Would that keep his approval ratings high enough in south asia in order to safely walk among the population to give a major speech ?

Suspected US Missile Strikes Hit Pakistan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/groundreport/first-post-o...

meet the new boss


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/23/first-missile-...
same as the old boss

[SpartanDem]

19. Fine what your solution?

pull completely and let the Taliban takeover again? So they go back installing their repressive fundamentalist laws and harboring terrorist organization like AQ that have attacked the US. Yeah no threat potential to country there.

[ohio2007]

20. We have only one allie in the area

the easier dividing part of
divide and conquer was done on the bushco watch

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ca3_1232907127

Barack will have to play brinksmanship



jmo
eom

[iconicgnom]

21. That either/or exclusive mentality is totally Bushian.

Taliban = al Qaeda is a false equation. Taliban is large, and largely native to the region, practicing a religion native to the region. bin Laden is largely a creature of the CIA. He hails from a Saudi billionaire oil dynasty. If one *really* believed that he was still alive, and wasn't now just a propoganda icon for extremists on both "sides", the most likely place to find him is behind the fortified bin Laden Palace walls, where G.H. Bush is more than welcome. Their families being friends and business partners. That's where the very latest communication tech is to be found, complete with teams of technicians. That's where the very latest medical tech is to be found, along with the best live-in doctors, paid to keep the bin Laden family alive and healthy.

Afghan "anti-american extremism" is the natural product of US militarism. The US is so heavily into militarism, for such a long time now,it no longer has the least clue how "diplomacy" and "soft power" works. It's to laugh when the words are said - always with all seriousness. The best it can do is arm and fund warlords (and faux "kings") in return for unfettered access to natural resources, on US terms.

The 9/11 excuse is way old. It was 19 lunatics with box-cutters and a suicide-bombing-run. That kind of problem is not something that can be solved by bombing fuck out of the mid-east year after year, claiming that every act of resistance is "al Qaeda terrorism". There's no way to stop Americans from *saying* it, from uttering this pretext, but it just isn't true.

[ohio2007]

22. thats sounds like the " frog in a cool pot of water" analogy

you slowly accept it ;


The 9/11 excuse is way old. It was 19 lunatics with box-cutters and a suicide-bombing-run.

Glad nobody thinks or is taught like them anywhere in the world.
Finally,everybody loves us again.





http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
well,
almost everybody but that is an internal matter best left for them to deal with

[iconicgnom]

23. "Finally,everybody loves us again." is cheap sarcasm.

As if there were an argument with someone saying that nobody thinks or is taught like them (fundamentalist extremists) anywhere in the world. As if repudiating that absurd claim were sufficient justification for the endlessly expanded bombing/killing fields.

Re. the linked OP, of course it's an internal matter. And of course it's a matter that can't be "solved" by a bunch of gun-nut cowboys on the other side of the world deciding to teach 'em a lesson with drones and firebombs, because that's the last and only thing the gun-nut cowboys have left to sell.

[ohio2007]

29. reality check

As if there were an argument with someone saying that nobody thinks or is taught like them (fundamentalist extremists) anywhere in the world.


it's an internal matter. And of course it's a matter that can't be "solved" by a bunch of gun-nut cowboys on the other side of the world

they never liked you

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ef_1233072449

[Bragi]

25. Maybe people are just starting to focus on Afghanistan

I agree with you that there is some hawkishness shown by some people who post at DU. I'm hoping that people are just starting to focus realistically on Afghanistan.

As for me, I'm not in favour of expanding the war by adding 30,000 more troops, as the President now intends. I'm hoping he can maybe finesse this file. Maybe his Envoy for the region will come up with a better solution, one that involves Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. I think that's the way to go with this, if possible. Just expanding the war is not a productive idea.

- B

[ohio2007]

28. Focus on Afghanistan requires a stronger focus on the sub continent

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Cut funding to Pakistan's ISI slush fund military wing puts at risk toppling their sectarian government but, it's worth the risk
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C01...
seeing how "stay the course" didn't pan out so well.