Return of the Taliban

[heyheybooboo]

The Frontline documentary Return of the Taliban is being re-broadcast this week on PBS. In my area the HD version airs 9PM ET on Tuesday ...

After the fall of the Taliban five years ago, some experts warned of a nightmare scenario in which the Taliban and Al Qaeda would escape from Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan and set up new command centers far out of America's reach.

That nightmare scenario has now come true. The Taliban controls large parts of the lawless tribal areas along the border. In a video obtained by FRONTLINE, the Taliban demonstrate their brutal brand of justice.

After executing 17 people, said to be thieves, in front of a crowd of hundreds, they hung the bodies on poles for three days. "We have killed these people and sent them to God," a Taliban gunman says to the camera. "God will bring them to justice."

For those of you who condemn the Islamic faith you will want to follow the story of the videographer, Hayat Ullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist who lived in the tribal areas ....

In September 2006, Pakistan's military negotiated a cease-fire with militants in the tribal region of North Waziristan. It wasn't the first time: In 2004, President Musharraf ordered the army to cut a deal with Taliban militants

After 9/11, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pledged his country's support to America's fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but he has struggled to control his own military and intelligence services -- which have long supplied money, weapons and military advisers to radical fighters in Afghanistan. For Pakistan, the benefits of cooperation with America have been clear. As President Musharraf tells FRONTLINE, "Defense cooperation has increased between the United States and Pakistan, and ... the debt relief that we got will account for about $4 to $5 billion."

As Ahmad Massoud said, without the beloved patriot ISI, the Taliban and Al Qaeda would not exist. Of course, we didn't listen to him in April 2001 either when he warned that the Taliban had connections with Al-Qaeda, and that an important terrorist attack was imminent ....

Even under government pressure, some tribesmen continue to provide money and resources to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. After prodding from the United States, in 2004 Pakistan launched a major military offensive against a joint force of tribal militia and Al Qaeda fighters in an effort to take control of an area where Al Qaeda training camps were located. But the offensive failed, and Pakistani authorities turned to negotiation. The army demanded that tribal leaders give up all foreign fighters taking refuge with them, stop cross-border raids against U.S. forces in Afghanistan and lay down their arms. In return, the government agreed to pay the tribesmen more than a half-million dollars.

According to sources familiar with the agreement, the money was destined for Al Qaeda. "This was part of the deal because some of these commanders had ... borrowed money for logistics, for support," says Ismail Khan, an editor at Dawn, Pakistan's largest English-language daily newspaper. "They wanted the money to pay their debt to Al Qaeda."

Ain't it grand when US taxpayer monies go to the scum behind 9/11 🙁

 

[techs]

Thanks Bush:thumbsdown:

 

[palehorse]

Most of you won't let us cut out the middle-man and go after them ourselves either, so now what!? 😕