Juan Cole, insightful Middle East professor and my latest friend on myspace, writes on who was behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks:
"When the Soviets withdrew in 1988-1989 from Afghanistan and the Mujahideen took over, the Pakistani military lost control of its northern neighbor. It therefore funded and promoted the Taliban (expatriate Afghan young men who had been through Deobandi seminaries in northern Pakistan) from 1994, enabling them to take over Afghanistan. The Taliban ran terrorist training camps, at which the Sipah-e Sahaba and the Lashkar-e Tayiba trained for missions in Kashmir.I think some Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents may differ on that last point.
....The cell that hit Mumbai was probably a rogue splinter group. They completely disregarded the old Lashkar-e Tayiba concentration on hitting only Indian troops in Kashmir, targeting civilians instead. It is very unlikely that anyone in the Pakistani military put them up specifically to this Mumbai operation. This attack was much more likely to be blowback, when a covert operation produces unexpected consequences or agents that were previously reliable go rogue.
....If the Pakistani government does not give up this covert terrorist campaign in Kashmir and does not stop coddling the radical vigilantes who go off to fight there, South Asian terrorism will grow as a problem and very possibly provoke the world's first nuclear war (possible death toll: 20 million)."
It's time we had an adult discussion about Kashmir, drugs and terror. The old Russia/Afghan/Reagan and Bush/Musharraf/Blind Funding models are over.
Obama and HR Clinton have inherited a Pakistan that needs to redefine itself within its borders, as well as, in the region.
I can't believe all this over Kashmir? No oil. Just Hindus vs Muslims. Ah! religion.
The entire story and background hereSource: Juan Cole
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