P&D Geopolitics Edition: Middle East and Africa

By Rich Kozlovich  

I've stored a lot of information over the last couple of months from around the world, much of it from subscription sites so I can't link the information, so you'll just have to take my word for what I'm presenting... or not.... as it pleases you.  However, I think I can say without much argument, the world is a mess.  More and more information links the Middle East with African nations.  Some of it involving the Iran issue, and some of it involving their own internal issues, especially with western and northern African nations.   

The UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara has ended after 35 years, which wasn't all that effective anyway.  Now Morocco, which controls about 80 percent of the nation, will now ultimately control all of Western Sahara claiming they will allow "limited self government" for the Polisario Front that administers the "interior/eastern territory and refugee camps", about 20 percent of the nation, but will not allow independence.  The Polisario Front rejects that maintaining the "Sahrawi people", who are a distinct ethic group differing from those of Morocco, and have the sole right to self-determination."  While Morocco says they support the peace fire agreement, that won't last long.  Once again we see tribalism at work here, and this will not end peacefully.  

There was a report that Algeria was sending troops to Niger: A Warning for Morocco and Israel, with Russia being involved in this convoluted mess, with a lot of history behind it.  Ya just gotta read the article to get a glimmer of understanding of what a convoluted mess this is.  

Eastern Libya has taken pro-Turkish tilt with those blaming the US for being passive as "the agreement drew a new Mediterranean map, cutting across Greek islands and reflecting Turkey’s expansionist policies", yet as I see it this is just one more area where the United States has no skin in that game.  

• Bernard Haykel on Saudi Arabia at War - Houthi conflict escalation: Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia surged in summer 2026, following the closure of the Hormuz Strait. The Houthis aim to establish a “bridge to Iran” for arms and supplies, complicating Saudi defense efforts and threatening vital infrastructure. Iranian influence and strategy: Iran supports the Houthis with supplies through Oman, despite blockades, bolstering their missile capabilities..

As I've said in the past, what Saudi Arabia brings to the table with the Mecca Pact, the defense agreement between them, Pakistan, Turkey, and now Syria is money, lots of money.  Syria was encouraged to sign on to this "Sunni" alliance and got this in return:

"The Saudi Fund for Development signed six concessional loans worth more than $403 million. The largest loan is $105 million for 25 civil defense centers. The rest goes to hospitals and clinics, the Aleppo thermal power plant, up to 10,000 damaged homes, 300,000 smart water meters and the Finance Ministry’s digital systems. Reuters reported last month that Damascus was weighing military help for the kingdom against the Houthis."

The conflict in areas where African nations and Middle East nations interact is an on going mess and when you see what's going on it's easy to understand why the economics of these nation are in the toilet, with the exception of those nations that are oil rich.  But their stability is fraying as radicals are attacking them with missiles killing civilians.  And now Saudi Arabia is feeling the economic consequences of the Iran/Houthi alliance.  To avoid the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz companies are building pipelines to by pass the Strait, but the Houthi are attacking oil shipments in the Red Sea and I have no doubt will attack pipelines.  It appears if Saudi Arabia wants this fixed it will have organize a real war with Iran and it's proxies to bring this to an end.

• "Lebanon’s government is separating itself from Hezbollah on the Yemen front as well as the Israeli one, and the work is being done by the prime minister’s statements and a judge’s warrants rather than by the army. A state that can condemn, charge and telephone the head of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen is further along than it was a year ago. It still has not disarmed Hezbollah."... 
• Lebanon wants to avoid being drug into "foreign" wars for the benefit of others, and Hezbollah is part of that problem.  Red Sea’s African shore is dividing into blocs. Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea are lining up against Ethiopia, and Rabat has decided that the end of the UN mission ends UN monitoring of the ceasefire in the Sahara. 

It was reported yesterday regarding the Badr Agreement which is a Sunni defense agreement between Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, and Indonesia needs to be watched, and the Mecca Pact is already fraying at the edges, which doesn't surprise me at all, and done so because "Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar each have ties to Islamist groups. Pakistan shelters Islamist militant factions. Turkey and Qatar both support the Muslim Brotherhood and host Hamas figures."

The Turkish Parliament voted on support of the Mecca Pact but "has yet to provide any offensive military support to Saudi Arabia against the Houthis in Yemen, and Pakistan’s contributions are more in homeland defense."   Ethiopia, Sudan, the UAE are in conflict, and even Egypt has been drawn into this, with one observer asking Why Does Ethiopia Get the Russian Jets Washington Denied Egypt? 

What's called Kurdistan isn't really a country. It's a ethnic cultural geographical region made up of parts of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and some say parts of the Caucuses, and the Kurds want their own independent nation combining those regions, all of which are in dispute. While they may not have a recognized nation, they do have a 100 seat parliament and have chosen a new Speaker, who only got 51 votes, which I think is really interesting since they don't have a country, they hate everyone and everyone hates them, and they don't seem to even be harmonious among themselves.

Israel has been given American go ahead to continue attacks against Iran on one day and then President Trump says he may not continue attacks.  He's vacillated on this from the beginning, is it any wonder the American public is irritated at him over this?  Is it any wonder Israel is mired in their internal politics over this.    Iran's goal in the Strait has been to "frustrate efforts by the United States and its allies to bring down global oil prices”, and has been successful in sinking ships.  Anyone accused of supporting Reza Pahlavi and Israel are being executed, and their internal security is so vast it's impossible to organize a movement against the Iranian tyranny.  

Strikes in Gaza continue taking out senior officials working against the ceasefire agreement.  How true it may be, the State Department claims “we are making real progress toward a demilitarized Gaza”.  That just might be a little bit delusional.  

Hamas Found to Be Storing Weapons in Mosques - Wow, who saw this coming? As everyone knows, Islam is a beautiful religion of peace, and mosques are peaceful houses of worship, akin to churches or synagogues, places of prayer, contemplation, worship, and the healing of the soul. 

Anyone who thinks otherwise, and especially anyone who gets the crazy idea that mosques might have something to do with jihad violence, is just a greasy Islamophobe — right? 

Well, as it turns out, Hamas is full of greasy Islamophobes.  Israel National News reported Tuesday “the IDF and Shin Bet on Monday struck and destroyed five Hamas weapon storage facilities and a Hamas launch site in several strikes across the Gaza Strip.” What’s that? You thought Hamas had already turned in all its weapons, as it was supposed to do under the terms of Trump’s grand plan for lasting peace in the Middle East?

Is this the real explanation behind October 7? Rumors are rife in Israel that October 7 was indeed made possible thanks to a leftist plot to destroy Netanyahu.

Somalia is tearing itself apart, which shouldn't shock anyone, over efforts to have President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's term extended and their Supreme court says that's not legal. So, the military has surrounded their Supreme Court.... I guess they feel that's a very strong legal argument in their favor.  In Nigeria their Federal High Court has "nullified the election of former Senate President David Mark as the leader of the opposition African Democratic Congress party, or ADC, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to recognize any decision made under his leadership, including the nomination of Atiku Abubakar as the ADC's presidential candidate in Nigeria's Jan. 16, 2027, general election...."

What could possibly go wrong? 

P&D Geopolitics Edition

By Rich Kozlovich

Pakistan has enacted Emergency Measures in one of their far Northeast provinces bordering Afghanistan  and Tajikistan.   From what I can glean from news reports the opposition party from that province is marching in protest of the ruling party's  arrest of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan.  The ruling government attempted to physically prevent that march which is being called "undemocratic".  The ruling party claims they're terrorists and say their actions are necessary to stop the rise of Islamist militancy in the border region.  

Which is interesting since Pakistan has in the past been a secure location for terrorists, and while this may be a political stunt by the ruling party, it's clear actual terrorists are attacking Pakistan.    Pakistan is surrounded by Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China and India, and have conducted some military actions against Afghanistan's terrorist camps, along with the Indian military.  

What I see is a stunningly unstable society, and a dysfunctional government that's going broke with a crashing currency who is begging the IMF for money and even the United States to keep solvent.  

Ukraine has struck a data centers in two days leaving them seriously damaged and offline.   After the Trump inspired "energy ceasefire" brokered by Donald Trump Ukraine was warned if Ukraine attacked Russian energy infrastructure they'd loose intelligence and material support from the U.S.  I find it interesting no such threat was issued against Russia when they did launched missile attacks against Ukraine the next day.   

 Russia's failed war against Ukraine has had unexpected consequences in Central Asia:

"Kazakhstan, Russia, China: Kazatomprom Snubs Russia, Greenlights China Uranium Sale Shareholders of Kazakhstan's state uranium producer Kazatomprom approved a spot sale to China's SNURDC but withheld approval for a separate contract with Rosatom's Uranium"

The riots in France is acting like a pandemic infection and has spread to Belgium and the rioters have proclaimed they're going to smash everything in spite of the fact some of them.... and I'm betting most of them..... have no idea why they're smashing everything just as long as they can continue in their orgy of out of control destructive rage.  Who are these people?  Mostly of African and Middle East decent, and the Belgians, just like the rest of western Europe brought this on themselves arrogantly, self righteously and stupidly embracing globalist and multiculturalist leaders.   They're asked for it and now they're getting it... good and hard.  

One Belgian leader, Dries Van Langenhove has a clear vision about what needs to be done saying:

“European people can’t comprehend this because we’re simply not the same. They destroy. It’s what they do. It’s who they are. Politicians now come up with all sorts of fake ‘solutions’: more money for education, more youth detention centres, military conscription, … but it’s all nonsense. There is only one real solution: they have to go back.”

That may well be the next chapter in Europe's immigration crisis as the European Parliament Adopts Landmark Resolution Targeting Islamist Infiltration.

The European Parliament has voted in favor of a historic resolution opposing Islamist infiltration, specifically naming the Muslim Brotherhood and the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisation (FEMYSO). On October 8, 2026, lawmakers voted 381-167, with 15 abstentions, to address Islamist networks and tighten European Union (EU) funding checks, ensuring that funds are not misappropriated to support political Islam.

Right-wing members emphasize the threat posed by Islamist infiltration, citing the Muslim Brotherhood's influence in shaping policies that could undermine European secular values.  French French MEP Majdouline Sbaï highlighted the need to stop naive dialogue and recognize the dangers of political Islam, which often masquerade as legitimate civic activities but aim to replace democratic principles with religious doctrines.

Resolution sparks controversy:  The resolution faced opposition from leftist and Muslim parliamentarians, who criticized it as Islamophobic, arguing that it stigmatizes the Muslim community as a whole.

Yet, Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood, warned the Left will politicize the issue as much as it can, hindering the adoption of measures. MEPs will need to train themselves on the subject. Above all, they must not turn it into a partisan political issue.......

Must not turn this into a partisan political issue?  Florence already acknowledges the left has made this a partisan political issue so her warning means what..... exactly.  Perhaps her message is the right must not be too harsh in their views and further inflame those already totally inflamed with their multiculturalist suicidal insanity?  She must be high on stupid.     

The Spanish have had a wake up call with the immigration jihad of Ceuta and the socialist they elected and thought was just great is now is being called a son of a b***h and booed during Spain's national day parade.  Sanchez has previously called for a snap election, apparently in a effort to get support from the people.   He may find that's not going to work. 

1. Watch — Ceuta Residents Stage Protest Sit-In: ‘It’s an Invasion’
2. Socialist PM Blames ‘Inequality’ and ‘Misinformation’ for Ceuta Migrant Invasion Spain Will Not ‘Turn Migrants into Enemies’ 
3. Watch: Spaniards Protest at City’s Border with Morocc ‘SOS Ceuta Invaded’

Iran's terrorist cats paw, the Houthi, are still attacking Saudi Arabia, with Houthi leaders "denouncing" attacks against them by the Saudi air force warning "any direct attack on Sana’a would trigger an escalation in the targeting of key economic and civilian sites in the country."  Now that's brass, and ya gotta admit, when it comes to brass, no one has more brass than Muslim terrorists.  They hate you and say the want to kill you, and have been acting on that for the last 47 years since the fall of the Shah of Iran, and we can thank Jimmy Carter for that, but don't you dare do anything to prevent them from murdering innocent people and destroying property on a massive scale, or they'll really get mad.  Ya just can't make this stuff up.  

 Saudi Arabia signed a defense treaty with Pakistan and Turkey and it will be interesting to see just how well that's going to work out.  The Saudi's have already asked Turkey for military support against the Houthi. Turkey said they'll have to vote on that.  

1. Turkish President Erdoğan’s Government Appears to Have Enabled the Rise of the New Alleged Mafia Powerbroker - The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, already under international scrutiny over documented contacts between senior political figures and Turkey’s criminal underworld, appears to have enabled the rise of a new alleged mafia powerbroker, Ali Uğur Uzun, an organized crime figure whose name has surfaced in criminal cases involving money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, assault, armed intimidation and the forcible seizure of businessmen’s assets.
2. Turkish Intelligence Linked to Counterfeit Glock Distribution Networks Across Europe - The Scheme May Be Designed to Give the Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Leverage Abroad and Arm Criminal Proxies That Could Be Tapped for Violent Assignments, Intimidation, or Attacks on Dissidents. A growing series of weapons seizures across Europe, along with Turkey-linked Glock cases extending into the Americas, has raised concerns that an industrial-scale trade in counterfeit Glock-style pistols may be part of a clandestine operation overseen by Turkey’s intelligence apparatus, designed to give the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leverage abroad and arm criminal proxies that could be tapped for violent assignments, intimidation or attacks on dissidents. 

 How good is Turkey as an ally?   Let's take this piece and look for an answer to that question: Will Turkey Double Down on Somalia as Mogadishu’s African Partners Depart?:

While Turkey reportedly has trained nearly 35,000 Somali soldiers, the Turkey-backed forces hardly bring security. Basra, about 18 miles from Mogadishu, has changed hands more than a dozen times since 2011. In August 2026, the army and Haramcad, a Turkish-trained police unit, fought there for over a week, but by September 9, local sources told the Somali broadcaster Kaab that government troops had withdrawn toward Dayniile, a district of the capital, leaving al-Shabaab to take ground along the Afgooye road without a fight............ Turkey has been reluctant to put its own soldiers on the front line, though, for two reasons. The first is simple: It does not want to get drawn into clan warfare. As important, it wants to avoid conflict with Ethiopia, which has forces in the region as part of the African Union Mission. Instead, Turkey apparently uses drones and jetfighters based in Mogadishu. This most recently came into play with a mysterious September 3, 2026, airstrike in Doolow. Somalis do not view Turkey’s denials of its responsibility as credible............. Either way, the cost of Turkey’s Somalia investment appears to be on the verge of skyrocketing, in terms of both blood and treasure.

I've always said Africa Is a Bad Investment.  The best anyone can hope for is a make a quick buck and get out while you still have your pants.  

I have no doubt there's going to be an outright war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, as both are lining up their forces with heavy artillery for that purpose, and if that happens it's unlikely this conflict doesn't begin or end in Ethiopia:

U.S. analysts should not interpret the fighting in northern Ethiopia as just the latest chapter of Ethiopia’s previous internal conflicts. Ethiopia’s political and ethnic vulnerabilities are real, but they now constitute the opening through which external actors pursue their own strategic interests. Egypt, Eritrea, and elements of Sudan’s military establishment have converging interests in constraining Ethiopia, while Somalia has become part of the diplomatic geometry.

 Finally, the  U.S.: Treasury has placed long overdue "sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court.  A cats paw of corrupt leftists and antisemites who forgot in spite of their arrogant and self assured conviction they're going to run, they're going to find out the hard way.... they don't.  Rubio has called them a "rogue court", and sanctions will include penalties for companies who provide services to the ICC.  The sanctions are intended cut of the ICC's resources and cripple it's ability to function.  Good, since in my view the ICC is corrupt to its core, and these sanctions don't go far enough.  

What the ICC needs is a Good Smack in the Mouth.  If these leftist loons should ever arrest and attempt to try any American with their scurrilous claims the United States should issue international warrants for kidnapping for those who undertake to arrest them, those who issued the warrants, and any jurist of the ICC.  Every one of them should be dealt with as criminals.

Furthermore, such an action should be considered a hostile act by any nation that hosts such a trial.  As for any prosecutor or judge involved in such a trial, their host nation should be aware that we will view it as a hostile act against the United States.  The first steps will be to put an entire trade embargo on their nation. 

In order for the embargo to be lifted, they must end their hostile actions, apologize to the world, assure the United States, and all nations who are not members of the ICC that this was an illegal and hostile act, and such an illegal hostile act will never occur again.  Followed by substantial restitution. 

However, behind the scenes someone should say to them:  Listen kids, if necessary the Navy Seals, supported by a field battalion of United States Marines, will be more than happy to visit you in the middle of the night in order to release our people and potentially arrest the offending parties. All of whom will be tried and found guilty in a military court, and they will be happy to shoot anyone who attempts to stop them.

Update, 10/14, 26:

•  A Houthi missile strikes Aramco’s headquarters complex in Dhahran, four are wounded in Riyadh by debris from intercepted missiles, Iranian officials tell Reuters the aim in Hormuz is to keep oil high until the American vote, and the President says of Iran: “We’ve had it”.......“Wait until you see what we do to Iran.”......

And You Wonder Why Conservatives Hate Republicans, Part IV

By Rich Kozlovich,  Here are Part I, Part II and Part III

The nation is spiraling into a debt vortex that will soon reach 40 trillion dollars, and as far as I can tell, there's no effort being made to curtail that spending, and absolutely no effort being made to repay all that debt.  A debt that incurs around a trillion dollars a year in interest payments, and the Senate went on vacation.

Please make sure to read both of these next articles in full as what I'm showing here is totally inadequate in demonstrating just how vile this bill really is.  It's not about what's good for America.  It's about what's good for these politician's clientele and the unions.  

The Transportation Bill That Proves Washington Can't Quit Clientelism - Congress loves to wrap legislation in the language of the public interest. This year's surface transportation reauthorization bill is no exception. Supporters describe the House Transportation Committee-passed package as a major safety bill designed to make America's transportation system more secure and efficient.......Fiscal conservatives, assuming there are still enough of them to be heard in Congress, should be particularly concerned about a package that authorizes roughly $580 billion in spending while doing little to address the long-term insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund. Legislators are instead choosing to promise more spending while avoiding the structural reforms necessary to put transportation funding on sustainable footing......   

The Highway to Hell Bill That’ll Raise Costs for Families - After years of soaring costs and an affordability crisis, the last thing Americans need is a bloated highway bill that wastes taxpayers’ dollars while imposing higher costs on consumers. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s getting kicked around the halls of Congress right now: a pork-filled monstrosity masquerading as a highway bill.....Finally, the bill continues the practice of awarding contracts based on race and "disadvantage" rather than merit, complete with the goals and reporting requirements that enforce it. Once again, this’ll be more red tape and additional compliance costs..

When you see the things Republicans agree to or promote you have to wonder which party actually controls the Congress.  In this case  Republican Senators Cave to Dems, Shield More Than $700 Billion in Untraceable Grant Spending

This week, the majority Republican Senate Appropriations Committee handed Democrats, and the Establishment Uni-Party, a massive win by suspending a key rule in the upcoming budget continuing resolution bill.  The Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance rule proposed by the Office of Management and Budget in May was blocked by the Senate Appropriations Committee in a reported capitulation by Republicans to Democrats on the committee.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) called the rule “deeply flawed” and noted that “a huge group of organizations…have come out against it,”  according to The Hill.  The Hill reported that this would “rein in a proposed rule from the White House budget office that would give Trump appointees more power to withhold congressional appropriations” by requiring the senior political appointees in charge of agencies to sign off on grants before administering them.

There may have been flaws, but why didn't they address them with the President? Perhaps they did, but what they did offer by way of preventing the expenditure of a lot of grant money the Democrats wanted to squander on their NGO supporters who end up funding the Democrats efforts to get elected?  Nothing!    By voting against this measure they decided the $712.6 billion dollars that couldn't be traced wasn't that big a deal.  However, since they could tract 20.7% of that spent grant money, that was good enough.  After all, when you're spending so much money the national debt is rushing to 40 trillion dollars, what's a few measly 700 billion plus untraceable dollars?  

Pakistan, a country that is in point of fact an enemy of Western civilization, wants the U.S. to give them $10 billion dollars as a ‘stabilization fund’, and if I understand this correctly they will repay it in five years.  Yeah, I won't hold my breath on that.   What exactly is a "stabilization fund"?  Well, it appears they're almost as economically incompetent as Democrats.   They've already "received a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2023 that narrowly averted a credit default, and another $7 billion in 2024 that went a long way toward stabilizing its currency."  

So now they want another 10 billion from the US "banking on goodwill from the Trump administration after Pakistan mediated talks between the United States and Iran." We've wasted billions of grant dollars on Pakistan over many years, and they're like a black hole that can never be filled.  Will the Republicans give in to this extortion, and that's what it is, extortion?  Did they ask Saudi Arabia for billions of dollars?  Did they ask Turkey for billions of dollars?  They just signed a security pact with those countries, so why is it America's responsibility to fund them and not Saudi Arabia and Turkey?   

I read the article twice, and nowhere in that article did I see how giving Pakistan another ten billion dollars benefits America.  If they need their currency stabilized, then let them do it.  Here's a thought.  Maybe it would be economically beneficial for Pakistan to stop trying to get into a war with India?  Furthermore we need to stop all this insane foreign aid waste.  Yet, what do we see?   We find “diplomatic sources in Washington” told there were “strong chances” that Aurangzeb’s request would be approved, based on President Donald Trump’s expressed desire to develop closer relations with Pakistan and strengthen its economy."  That's a sucker play.  

One thing is clear, nothing they say can be taken at face value.  Just like leftists they're rhetorical pronouncements are nothing but projection, logical fallacies, lies of commission and lies of omission, so what would they really do with all those billions? 

Pakistan "has now called on "all" Islamic nations to join forces to counter Israel. His statement was made in response to a question about former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's comment that Turkey was becoming the new Iran. Asif made the remark after Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense agreement on Friday. Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign minister clarified the deal is not aimed at any particular country. He also said he believes Egypt could join the alliance in the future."

If you delusionally believe the GOP is lock step in ending illegal immigration and forcing those already here illegally out of the country, then you need a reality check.    

Conservative Leaders Call GOP-Led Amnesty Bill ‘Betrayal’ To Voters - Conservatives argue that Republicans in Congress are betraying American farm workers with this new amnesty bill.  Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania introduced the Securing Agricultural Workforce Act (SAWA) on June 30, which aims to allow illegal aliens working in the agricultural sector to stay in the United States. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, and multiple others criticized the bill, Politico reported Wednesday........ “No amnesty!” DeSantis stated in an X post Monday. “Amnesty is NOT what people voted for in 2024!”....

Mike Lindell, a seemingly solid MAGA guy who is leading the GOP race for Minnesota governor, thinks amnesty isn't really so bad, and illegal aliens just need a second chance.  

And of course ya just can't ignore that horrendous sage of obnoxious bleating, Chris Christie who accuses Trump of engaging in ‘Putin-Esque type of corruption’.  And his proof?  The plane given to the US by Saudi Arabia and the ball room that's being built with private funds, and unfounded accusations, with no evidence Trump and his family have corruptly enriched themselves, unlike Biden, Obama, and the Clintons who are worth untold millions they never truly earned, unlike Trump.    

Is it any wonder going into the midterms the Republicans are seeing a lack of enthusiasm in their core voters.  If that's true would anyone really be shocked?  But that's from the , and we know how credible they are.   

Update, 8/14/26:   

1. Beware, Republicans, of Angry Voters - Last week’s elections brought another round of victories by far-left candidates in Democratic primaries, continuing a trend that emerged earlier this year in states like New York and Colorado. In response to the results, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign dropped a quick ad attacking Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary winner, Abdul El-Sayed, as “the most radical Senate candidate in America.” The ad embodied an increasingly prevalent GOP strategy for the midterms: focusing on a radicalized Democratic Party rather than promoting Republican candidates and the party’s agenda.............. That’s a bigger problem for Republicans as the incumbent party. “Anger is stronger than fear” in elections, one expert found......

Pakistan and India Pushed to the Brink Again

Every few years the two nuclear powers test the limits. 

By Dave Patterson | May 12, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags:  Articles, Opinion, Politics

Blood feuds are not uncommon. In modern times, we’ve witnessed violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims, persistent clashes between Turks and the Kurds, and the Hutu massacre of the Tutsi minority in Rwanda, to name just a few. However, when a blood feud between two nations with nuclear weapons breaks into open conflict, as with Pakistan and India recently, other countries tend to notice. So, it was with the latest dust-up between the two feuding neighbors until a truce in the fighting was put in place on May 10.

Nuclear Armed India and Pakistan Reignite Regional Tensions

Over the years, India has been the target of conflict with the nations on its borders. The most recent aggression between India and Pakistan started this time when, on April 22, The Resistance Front (TRF) with links to Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility initially for a terrorist attack in the Indian-controlled Kashmir Baisaran Valley. At about 3 p.m. local time, four or five terrorists, some in army uniforms, began shooting indiscriminately with AK-47s and M4 carbines. They killed 27 tourists and wounded 20 more. Reports from the scene described the terrorists shooting at point-blank range, targeting Hindu tourists mainly.

On April 26, the TRF retracted its claim of responsibility. There is reason to believe elements in the Pakistani government had a hand in the attack. Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency has been accused of supporting terrorist activities. “ISI has provided covert but well-documented support to terrorist groups active in Kashmir, including the al-Qaeda affiliate Jaish-e-Mohammed,” the Council on Foreign Relations reported.

Regardless of what terrorist group was responsible, India identified Pakistan as culpable. “Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India has launched a series of strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir,” Real Clear World reported. India’s retaliation began with airstrikes on May 7 against Pakistani targets during an air campaign called “Operation Sindoor.” Time magazine described the escalating conflict:

“The long-simmering tensions between India and Pakistan are on the cusp of boiling over. India launched a series of missiles into Pakistan-controlled territory after midnight local time, early Wednesday, May 7, killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens of others, according to Pakistani officials. It’s the most extensive missile strike by India on Pakistan during official peacetime, though Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an ‘act of war’ and warned of a ‘befitting reply.’”

To understand the history of the antagonism between Pakistan and India, it is necessary to look at how Pakistan became a country. Nearly eight decades ago, in 1947, the British relinquished their colonial hold over India and partitioned it into the predominantly Hindu India and the Muslim-majority Pakistan. The division displaced an estimated 14 million people, moving to the areas of predominant religious preference. Establishing the separate nations resulted in intense violence, with a broad estimate of between 200,000 and 2 million casualties. Throughout the years, the primary sticking point for hostilities has been the disputed region of Kashmir. Both Pakistan and India claim the area to be part of their respective countries.

Bored? Check This Out!

Over the years, Kashmir has been divided into Pakistan-managed Northern Kashmir and India-controlled Southern Kashmir. Cross-border violence has been frequent. “This time around, the Indian government issued civil defense warnings before the strikes, ordering states and provinces to conduct mock drills, implement emergency blackout measures, and operationalize air raid warnings,” according to a Council on Foreign Relations report. These precautions portend India’s serious intentions to engage in open combat. On the other hand, “An optimistic reading of the situation could be that this has all happened before: The two rivals fought full-scale wars in 1947-48, 1965, and 1971 and have engaged in several major skirmishes since the 1990s, when they declared themselves as nuclear powers,” Foreign Policy Magazine observed.

Outside Mediation Helps Bring About a Ceasefire

When two nuclear powers become embroiled in a conflict escalating daily, engaging other nations to reduce the building tensions may be helpful. Initially, the US appeared to want a hands-off approach, believing that while emotions were simmering between India and Pakistan, any intervention on the part of the US might make things worse. Nonetheless, reports confirmed that US Vice President JD Vance and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio were involved heavily in mediating the current ceasefire. In an X-posting, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif acknowledged: “We thank President Trump for his leadership and proactive role for peace in the region. Pakistan appreciates the United States for facilitating this outcome, which we have accepted in the interest of regional peace and stability.”

Until all the participants on both sides get the memo, ceasefire violations should be expected. As the Associated Press reported, “multiple explosions were heard in two big cities of Indian-controlled Kashmir Saturday, hours after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire deal following the US-led talks to end the most serious military confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades.” However, any lull in fighting between nations with nuclear weapons at the ready is a worthy effort. Behind-the-scenes talks mediated by the US demonstrate a willingness on the part of the Trump administration to be an active diplomatic force to bring an end to hostilities. Assertions that the Trump national security team is isolationist do not ring true.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

Read More From Dave Patterson National Security Correspondent

Pakistan’s Tax-and-Spend Follies

July 9, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Citing a report in the New York Times, I wrote two days ago about how excessive government spending is the real reason for economic and political turmoil in Sri Lanka and Bolivia.

Kenya and Pakistan also were featured in the story, but I didn’t focus on those countries because I had previously written about (see here and here) how they got in trouble because of a growing burden of government.

For today’s column, though, I’m going to revisit fiscal policy in Pakistan because the U.K.-based Financial Times has a story about the fiscal mess in that country.

The report includes this chart showing that debt has skyrocketed over the past 20 years.

And here are some excerpts from the report, written by Humza Jilani and Farhan Bokhari.

As you can read, the focus (for both Pakistani politicians and IMF bureaucrats) is figuring out how to extract more money from taxpayers.

Pakistan’s forthcoming IMF bailout “will not be our last” if the government fails to significantly boost tax revenue, the country’s finance minister has warned… Aurangzeb, a former career banker, was appointed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in March to steer one of Asia’s most troubled economies, which has been grappling with double-digit inflation, sluggish growth… He announced a tax-heavy budget last month aimed at shoring up public revenue and satisfying the IMF, which has long demanded Islamabad improve tax collection… the IMF programme…would be Pakistan’s 24th with the multilateral lender.

My knee-jerk assumption is that fiscal problems almost always are the result of bad spending policy.

But maybe the FT report identified an example where there was a problem caused by inadequate taxation. So I went to the IMF’s massive database and crunched the numbers to see why Pakistan was in fiscal trouble.

Lo and behold, I was not surprised to learn that the problem is on the spending side of the fiscal ledger. Our first chart shows that government spending has been growing much faster than inflation over the past 20 years.

For our second chart, I also compared tax and spending burdens in 2005 with tax and spending burdens today.

Once again, I was not shocked to learn that the tax burden has increased, but Pakistan is in fiscal trouble because the spending burden grew much faster.

I’ll close this column by reiterating how I ended my column two days ago – by pointing out that it is a shame that governments (and IMF bureaucrats) seem incapable of learning the right lesson. Or  focusing on the right solution.

P.S. If nothing else, I give Pakistan credit for creative tax-enforcement tactics.

Hitler’s Multicultural Supporters

By Daniel Greenfield May 30, 2023 @ Sultan Knish Blog 

 “The world today needs a Hitler,” CNN correspondent Adeel Raja tweeted. Tala Halawa, the BBC’s “Palestinian” specialist, had previously tweeted a rant that included #HitlerWasRight.  

Researchers have found that the #HitlerWasRight hashtag was intertwined not just with the usual white supremacists, but with more “progressive” hashtags like #FreePalestine.

Raja, a Pakistani Muslim, and Halawa, who hails from Israel’s West Bank, don’t fit the image of what people think Hitler’s fanbase looks like, but they’re more typical than you might think.

During the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists, Pakistani celebrities and politicians praised Hitler.

“I remember a saying by Hitler who said he had spared some Jews to let the world know why he killed them. Today I have developed a firm faith in this,” a Pakistani parliamentarian declared.

Pakistani actress Veena Malik tweeted the same fake Hitler quote. “I would have killed all the Jews of the world … but I kept some to show the world why I killed them.”

But it’s not just about Israel or the Jews.

Fayaz ul Hasan Chohan, a minister in Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, allegedly named Hitler as one of his idols. He later positively compared Khan to Hitler. When CNN cut ties with Raja over his Hitler tweet, Khan’s right-hand man and one of his closest advisers, tweeted in support of him.

But then, as a Der Spiegel article began, “It’s not hard for a German living in Pakistan to get used to these differences, but one contrast is hard to stomach: Most people like Hitler.”

“Pakistanis always hone in on that topic whenever they talk to Germans. ‘We’re Aryans too,’ they say,” he observed.

The situation isn’t much better in Halawa’s West Bank where ‘Hitler’ is a popular name or nickname used by local terrorists. Among them is Jamal ‘Hitler’ Abu Roub, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror leader, whose original run for office led to headlines like “A Man Called Hitler Runs for a Seat” and “Palestinians Vote for Hitler”.

“Oh Hitler, you have brought pride to the homeland and Allah,” his supporters gushed.

Palestinian Authority media and leaders routinely praise Hitler. It’s not unusual to see Nazi flags flying on Arab Muslim homes in the West Bank or see Nazi salutes displayed at terrorist rallies.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority boss, wrote a Holocaust denial thesis as part of his education in the USSR. A few years ago, he claimed that the Holocaust was the fault of the Jews.

But appreciation of Hitler among non-white racialist nationalists and supremacists goes well beyond the usual predictable antisemitism in the Muslim world. And it can be found right here.

In the United States, the two main non-white forms of racial nationalism, black nationalism and the La Raza movement, were rife with admiration for Hitler and Nazi Germany.

“What the Negro needs is a Hitler,” Marcus Garvey had declared, and urged his followers to read Mein Kampf. “Hats off to Hitler the German Nazi.”

Admiration for Hitler and Nazi Germany was not unusual for black nationalists.

In The German Case Against the Jews, W. E. B. DuBois defended Nazi bigotry. Under Hitler, he claimed that there was “more democracy in Germany than there has been in years past.”

The Nation of Islam carried forward the black nationalist agenda. Like Garvey, Malcolm X met with the KKK. He also welcomed the leader of the American Nazi Party, to a Nation of Islam event. After his conversion to more normative Islam, which is often used to falsely depict him as moderating his views, he met up with the infamous Islamic cleric known as Hitler’s Mufti.

Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam’s current leader, has said, “Here come the Jews. They don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man.” The black supremacist leader suggested that “He raised up Germany from nothing. Well, in a sense you could say there’s a similarity in that we are raising up our people from nothing.”

This idea of Hitler as a model for black leaders pervades the black nationalist movement.

“We must take a lesson from Hitler,” civil rights leader Stokley Carmichael, who later changed his name to Kwame Ture, had argued . “I’ve never admired a white man, but the greatest of them, to my mind, was Hitler.”

On the other side of the trinity of identity politics is La Raza.

“Hitler represents, in short, an idea, the German idea, so often humiliated once called by the militarism of the French, the perfidy of the English,” Jose Vasconcelos wrote in 1940. “What is becoming evident, even for the stubborn, is the triumph of Germany over its rivals and the historical change that will consequently take place in the world.”

“But we will win with the German victory!” he assured readers of his pro-Nazi magazine.

Vasconcelos, formerly Mexico’s leftist Minister of Education, had embraced a new vision of Latinos as La Raza Cosmica: a new master race shaped by continental eugenics.

La Raza Cosmica became popular among Latino racialists in the United States leading to the rise of the racist Raza Unida movement whose chant “Viva La Raza!” meant “Hail the Race”.

There was nothing unusual about Vasconcelos’s collaboration with the Nazis. Latin American eugenicists were often socialists with fascist sympathies who admired Nazi Germany. And when the Ford Foundation and other leftist organizations backed Latino nationalists in America, they mainstreamed eugenics, national socialism, and racial supremacism as progressive ideas.

As they’ve done with black supremacists and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The pernicious myth that racism is a fundamentally different phenomenon among non-white groups, politically or morally, is at the heart of everything from political correctness to critical race theory. But the admiration for Hitler and the Nazis across racial lines shows that’s a lie.

Racism is racism. And racial nationalists have a natural sympathy. That’s what impelled the alliances between Malcolm X and the KKK. It’s what turned a Nazi sympathizer’s racial tract into the basis for the La Raza movement in the United States. It’s why Hitler remains popular in the Muslim world and among a variety of non-white racialist and nationalist organizations.

You can see photos of black soldiers in Nazi uniforms fighting as part of the Mufti of Jerusalem’s Free Arabian Legion which included Arab and African Muslim soldiers. A generation after the Mufti was urging Hitler to wipe out the Jews, Malcolm X met up with him in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Malcolm X called Hitler’s Mufti a “cordial man of great dignity” and casually noted that he “referred to New York as Jew York.” Three years earlier, Malcolm X had shared a stage with the leader of the American Nazi Party. And nothing had really changed with his famous “epiphany”.

Hitler’s popularity says little about the syphilitic failed painter, but a great deal about his fanbase and the nature of racism. Hate is universal and ubiquitous. It crosses all racial boundaries. There is no division between racism and reverse racism, between punching up and punching down.

Beyond antisemitism, Hitler and the Nazis remain popular among racial supremacists and nationalists because they embody the ultimate model and ideal of killing the ‘other’. Mass genocide is the final seductive and murderous fantasy that runs through Islamist groups, through black supremacist movements and through La Raza ideology.

Those who are not members of the group must die off or be killed.

There’s nothing ‘white’ about this idea. It’s as old as tribe and time. And some of the worst racists in the world are non-white members of racial movements that admire Hitler. 

 Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.>
Thank you for reading.

No End in Sight: Jihadist and Baluch Ethno-Nationalist Suicide Terrorism in Pakistan Since the U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 20 Issue: 9

 

By: Abdul Basit May 6, 2022 

Pakistan is no stranger to suicide terrorism. However, suicide attacks witnessed in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 point to its revival and expansion from jihadist to Baluch ethno-separatist militants. Alongside representing the resilience of Pakistan’s asymmetric conflicts, the re-emergence of suicide attacks also signals a new phase in terrorism in the country. The April 26 suicide attack by a female member of the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA)’s Majeed Brigade targeting a van carrying Chinese nationals in Karachi further adds a gendered dimension to the rebirth of suicide terrorism in Pakistan (Express Tribune, April 26).

In this new phase, the underlying factors of suicide terrorism in Pakistan are qualitatively different from what they experienced during the U.S invasion of Afghanistan (Express Tribune, February 7). The Pakistani Army’s counter-terrorism partnership with the U.S. in Afghanistan, domestic counter-insurgency operations, and drone strikes in the ex-Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) region and Baluchistan accounted for suicide terrorism before the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, as the security situation has evolved with the U.S exit from Afghanistan, the driving factors for suicide terrorism have transformed from external to primarily internal causes. [1]

After a two-year lull from 2019 to 2020, as many as nine suicide attacks were reported in Pakistan from 2021 to April 2022.[2] Alarmingly, it is not just jihadist groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) that is using suicide terrorism, but also the Majeed Brigade of BLA (Dawn, March 20, 2022; Express Tribune, July 27, 2019). Against this backdrop, this article will examine the evolution of suicide terrorism in Pakistan in the context of the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan and highlight the factors accounting for its revival and expansion.

Suicide Terrorism: An Intractable Feature of Pakistan’s Asymmetric Conflicts..............To Read More....

The Silver Lining of the Afghanistan Withdrawal: Afghanistan is No Longer Simply a US Problem

Doug Bandow  – September 21, 2021 @ American Institute for Economic Research

Washington’s tragic misadventure in Afghanistan is over. Despite the botched ending, America’s withdrawal was long overdue. Central Asia never warranted so much U.S. attention.

Afghanistan first drew Washington in after the Soviets invaded. Few Americans knew where the country was. None expressed an interest in building a modern nation there. The idea was simple: arm Afghans to kill Moscow’s soldiers, thereby weakening what President Ronald Reagan accurately called the Evil Empire. Spread democracy and equal rights for women? Not so much.

A decade later the U.S.S.R.’s legions fled back into the Soviet Union. A couple years after that the Soviet-supported state collapsed, which was followed by a civil war among the victorious Mujahedeen. Washington had poured torrents of cash into Afghanistan, but foolishly allowed Pakistan to dole it out. This empowered radical jihadists, including Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the anti-Western Haqqani Network, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, founder of the radical Islamist Hezb-e-Islami, theParty of Islam. Some Americans complained that Washington didn’t stick around to “help” the Afghans. Had it done so, Americans would have been treated like Russians—shot at on their way out.

In 1994 a group called the Taliban arose. It enforced a 7th century fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. By 1996, it won control of most of the country by suppressing the Mujahedeen, and ending the chaotic violence which enveloped the country. The Taliban looked inward. 

Taking advantage of his hosts’ hospitality, bin Laden orchestrated 9/11. Afghanistan as a country was irrelevant to the plot—which was planned, funded, and manned elsewhere. The chief organizer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, lived almost everywhere except Afghanistan, to which he refused to relocate. In the future, transnational terrorists, in contrast to garden variety Islamist fighters, are more likely to operate outside Afghanistan than within it. However, the U.S. had to smash al-Qaeda and punish the Kabul government for hosting the terrorist group. These missions were completed within two months, and Washington could have left. 

The result would have been messy, probably a fractured country with power shared by squabbling ethnic groups and warlords, but it was much that way even with the U.S.-backed Kabul government nominally atop it all. It turns out the U.S. created a political system and security force for allied governments, not the Afghan people, and the regime collapsed as soon as Western troops headed for the exits. Urban residents enjoyed the chief benefits of America’s presence. Rural dwellers, in contrast, paid most of the price of the war—especially in human life—and were tired of fighting. A village elder told the Wall Street Journal: “Now, there is peace. And when someone doesn’t feel danger, doesn’t fear war, and can walk with a peace of mind, he is happy even if he is hungry.”

Today Afghanistan’s future is out of Washington’s hands, which, contra received wisdom, is all to the good. Americans were paying, in blood and money, in the attempt to stabilize a distant nation. Afghanistan was and is of little geopolitical importance to the U.S, and is surrounded by major foreign powers, several hostile to America. Now all of Afghanistan’s potential problems—civil war, terrorism, implosion, mass refugees, humanitarian crisis, jihadist magnet—belong to other nations.

In theory the future is up to the Afghan people, but not really. Playing an important role will be Afghanistan’s neighbors, which should have been doing so all along. The country borders six nations and is greatly impacted by two others nearby. Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan share lengthy boundaries. The Afghan border with China is quite short, but militants also can enter the People’s Republic of China from Afghanistan through Tajikistan. Russia and India are more distant, but as major powers have much at stake in Afghanistan.

Russia’s experience is substantial and painful, highlighted by some 15,000 Soviet military personnel killed and another 35,000 wounded. Many of those casualties came courtesy of the United States, which funded and armed the resistance. Stinger missiles were particularly effective at downing Soviet aircraft and helicopters, limiting Moscow’s advantage in the air. 

Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to express solidarity with the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks and in the early years provided logistical support for American forces. However, as Washington responded to Russian action against Ukraine, with military support for Kiev and sanctions on Moscow, the Putin government established ties with the Taliban. Although the claim of Russian payments to kill U.S. personnel lacked foundation, Moscow reportedly has strongly urged “the Stans,” the five countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union, to deny America any base rights.

Now, however, Moscow, which has suffered both terrorism and insurgency resulting from violent Islamic radicalism tied to Chechnya, must deal with its old Afghan enemy, fundamentalist Islam. Russia already has moved troops into Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan. Although the Putin government does not want to get reinvolved militarily, it will respond to any export of Islamic radicalism and violence.

Even as Beijing publicly celebrated America’s shambolic ouster from Afghanistan, Chinese Communist Party officials were contemplating a more dangerous future. The PRC generally values stability above all else in its neighbors, and has suffered from Islamic terrorist attacks in the western province of Xinjiang, adjoining Afghanistan, sparking the imprisonment of much of its Uyghur population in reeducation camps. 

After Kabul’s fall there was much official kvetching how the U.S. now had an obligation to continue pouring aid into Afghanistan to fix what was broken, an obvious nonstarter. In fact, Taliban officials made a pilgrimage to China even before they had won control of Kabul. They publicly promised to ignore the plight of Afghanistan’s Islamic brethren and prevent foreign fighters from targeting the PRC while Beijing offered reconstruction aid. 

Indeed, mineral development and infrastructure projects, through the Belt and Road Initiative, might beckon. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, expressed the new Afghan government’s desire for Chinese investment and trade. However, China is not known for its charitable activities and will press the new regime in Kabul to fulfill its promises. Despite its current antagonism toward the U.S., Beijing does not want Afghanistan to become a locus of terrorist attacks on the West, which would spark retaliation and put at risk any BRI or other commercial projects.

Although India does not share a border with Afghanistan, it long has suffered from terrorism fostered by the Pakistani military and intelligence service, if not government. Indeed, one reason Islamabad used American money to subsidize the most radical Mujahedeen groups was to build strategic depth against India. New Delhi had good relations with the U.S.-backed government, and now faces a more difficult situation with the Taliban, which it long viewed as Pakistan’s “terrorist proxy.” India particularly worries about increased terrorist threats in its majority-Muslim province of Kashmir. Gautam Mukhopadhaya, a former Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, observed that the latter “may be poised to become a bottomless hole for all shades of radical, extremist and jihadi outfits somewhat similar to Iraq and Syria, only closer to India.” India is likely to devote significant effort to containing any terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan. 

Iran, a majority Shia country, also fears the ascension of the Sunni Taliban. Tehran initially supported the U.S. intervention, changing its position only after suffering from Washington’s lengthy economic war. Now, however, Iran is like the dog which catches the car and isn’t sure what to do. Iran’s lengthy border with Afghanistan has potentially turned hostile.

The Taliban might crack down on cross border economic ties and be less vigilant in preventing Sunni militants from entering Iran. Observed Kevjn Lim of IHS Markit, “As much as Iran has supported the Taliban in recent years, worrisome scenarios for Tehran include the Taliban turning against Iran or Afghanistan’s Shiite minority as well as the specter of Sunni jihadism metastasizing westward.” Islamic State-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, could prove particularly problematic, since its parent group has prodigiously killed Shiites as well as non-Muslims.

Although Pakistan is the neighbor that seems most likely to profit from the Taliban victory, it also has concerns. Indeed, Faiz Hameed, head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, or ISI, which essentially backed the Taliban against the Afghan government and U.S., led a delegation to Kabul earlier this month. With the Taliban now in power and possessing a large arsenal generously provided by America, Islamabad has lost most of its leverage over the former insurgents.

Despite past cooperation, the Taliban has never accepted the so-called Durand Line, which separates the two nations, and has objected to Pakistani plans to erect a fence along the border. Moreover, Pakistan suffers from continuing conflict with the radical Pakistani Taliban, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is headquartered in Afghanistan. The Wilson Center’s Michael Kugelman warned, “The TTP, like most Islamist militants in the region, was galvanized by the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan. It will be inspired to step up attacks in Pakistan.” Islamabad now will have to contain terrorism emanating from its supposed friend next door.

Finally, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan border Afghanistan. There are many ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks in Afghanistan. As part of the so-called Northern Alliance, these groups led the resistance to the Taliban before the U.S. intervened, and they were mainstays of U.S.-backed government and security forces. The Stans, uniformly authoritarian regimes wary of the slightest increase in militant activity, likely will be vigilant in attempting to quarantine Afghanistan if they see an influx of foreign fighters. 

None of this eliminates American concerns over the consequences of Afghanistan’s fall. However, the Taliban is no longer just Washington’s problem. Now a bevy of other governments will have to do their part to contain any threats, in contrast to relying on America to do their job for them.

Afghanistan will remain a tragedy, especially for the people living there. However, the U.S. cannot fix the world. Washington should leave Central Asia’s problems to surrounding states. And Americans should focus on reviving their country.

READ MORE

Doug Bandow

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties.

He worked as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry.

He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Times.

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We Need to Talk about Pakistan

September 19, 2021 By Rajan Laad  

It was either Voltaire, or Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, one of the founding fathers of the French Revolution, who observed that the now-former nation of Prussia “is not a state that has an army, rather an army that has a state.”  In contemporary times, that description aptly applies to Pakistan.  An examination of the history of Pakistan reveals several disturbing consistencies.

In Pakistan, few ‘elected leaders’ ever complete their tenure in office. These ‘leaders’ are either executed or jailed after Pakistan's the deep state stages a coup. The more fortunate manage to bribe their way out in exchange for being ‘exiled’ to a foreign country, where they live in great luxury.

Occasionally, army generals from the deep state who led coups to become leaders themselves become victims of a coup led by other factions. If the deep state does not eliminate them, the Islamists supported by factions in the deep state conduct an assassination.

The Pakistani deep state comprises of the armed forces, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the judiciary.  The deep state in Pakistan has ruthlessly used iron-fist tactics at regular intervals, to serve as severe warnings to ‘elected’ leaders who presume that their elected office gives them a license to develop a mind of their own.

The knowledge that they can be summarily dethroned or even eliminated perennially looms over every elected leader in Pakistan. Hence, they operate with the utmost caution, never daring to disturb 'equilibrium' as determined by the deep state.

In Pakistan, the news media is always on a tight leash. Media outlets that dare to be critical of the deep state are regularly shut down while journalists are hauled up for treason when they show any streak of independence.

Religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians are treated as non-persons, irrespective of what Pakistan's constitution may state. Places of worship for minorities such as temples and churches in Pakistan are either rapidly disappearing or are neglected.

In Pakistan, the Islamists are supreme. Among the Islamists, there are frequent killings and death sentences by the courts for blasphemy. Killers of blasphemers are celebrated and shrines are dedicated to them. Islamist groups held celebrations after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan following Biden's inept withdrawal. Even Pakistani Premier Imran Khan claimed that the Afghans were “breaking the shackles of slavery”

Pakistan has frequently masterminded and conducted terror attacks on its neighboring country, India.

They once hosted the most dreaded terrorist in the world, Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the architect of 9/11. Before he was captured in 2003, he was living comfortably in Pakistan. Pakistan also hosted Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Palestinian terrorist Abu Zubaydah was also in Pakistan prior to his 2002 apprehension.

The final feather in Pakistan’s cap of shame was hosting 9-11 mastermind, Osama Bin Laden. He was living securely near a Pakistani army base.

Now for the situation in Afghanistan.............To Read More...

Afghanistan After America

Daniel Greenfield September 05, 2021 @ Sultan Knish Blog

On September 27, 1996, the State Department was very surprised when the Taliban took Kabul.

All of the official reports stated that the Taliban were not likely to take the capital. A lone memo, which never reached Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, warned it could happen, but was mostly ignored until nine days later when the Taliban “unexpectedly” marched into the city.

Biden and his allies claimed that no one could have anticipated that the Taliban would take Afghanistan in 11 days. As the Washington Post recently noted, “On Sept. 27, 1996, Taliban forces captured Kabul overnight, flooding in from all directions after a 15-day sweep of the country. (In August 2021, it would take 10 days.)“ Were Biden and Milley really that surprised by those extra 4 or 5 days (depending on how you do the math) that they didn’t see it coming?

In 1996, the United Nations, which was supposed to bring peace to Afghanistan, fled. President Najibullah, who had lost the last of his Soviet support when the USSR fell apart, stayed at the UN compound. He fought the Taliban Jihadists who came for him before they hung and castrated him. The State Department celebrated the Taliban win and began its outreach.

Glyn Davies, Obama's former Ambassador to Thailand, said back then that he hoped the "new authorities in Kabul will move quickly to restore order and security and to form a representative interim government that can begin the process of reconciliation nationwide."

Davies also claimed that he saw "nothing objectionable" about the Taliban imposing Islamic law.

(Davies, a Biden supporter and formerly an Elizabeth Warren supporter because "Warren will rebuild American leadership by ending our endless wars", works for former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's ASG consulting group and has not offered any comments on Afghanistan.)

The Clinton administration asked the Taliban to send an envoy to D.C. and pleaded with the Jihadists to accept an American envoy. It was the Taliban who turned Bill Clinton down.

In 2021, history repeated itself again with an incompetent Democrat administration caught by surprise at the speed of the Taliban’s victory before trying to come to terms with the Jihadists.

Like Bill Clinton, Biden is learning the same old lesson the hard way without actually learning it.

The State Department, which sent an emissary to urge the collapsing Afghan government to come to terms with the Taliban and form an inclusive government in the 90s, was playing the same dumb game now. A generation later the State Department hadn’t learned a damn thing.

The Taliban won in 2021 for the same reason that they had won in 1996. The Afghan government had lost its main backer and was replaced by the Pakistani-backed Taliban.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was set once Pakistan made them its final choice.

If the Taliban performed better in 2021 than in 1996, it’s because China is also backing them.

The American-Pakistani alliance of 1996 has been replaced by a Chinese-Pakistani alliance.

Afghanistan is a tribal region of quarreling ethnic and religious groups, warlords, druglords, elders, and gunmen. For the last two generations it’s been ruled by whichever faction assembles enough backing from a foreign power to maintain control over the country.

Temporarily.

Foreign policy consists of the different sides jockeying for the support of the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and anyone interested enough to provide money and guns.

The Taliban have not “taken” Afghanistan. They’ve reached agreements with various factions, from the druglords to tribal leaders and warlords, based on their foreign support and momentum. Those agreements will collapse when the Taliban start to run into trouble.

Their victories in 1996 and 2021 were partly achieved by foreign Jihadis fighting for them.

But those Jihadis are a double-edged sword. The Taliban’s deal with Al Qaeda helped it maintain power, but after September 11, led to their overthrow by the United States.

The Taliban of 2021 will have to decide whether they need the foreign fighters more than they fear the United States. Considering Biden’s humiliating retreat, the Taliban are unlikely to make a different choice than the one they made about Al Qaeda during the Clinton administration.

The Afghan government that we backed was a phantom. So is the Taliban regime.

Americans think of government as an organized and pervasive force that extends its dominion over all its territories. Afghan governments are more like bandits, using fighters to intimidate the locals, and collect protection money through their officials. An Afghan government is just a band of fighters that have transitioned from roving bandits to stationary bandits by seizing cities.

Under Biden, the Taliban controlled the rural areas, while the Afghan government held the cities. As the withdrawal was announced, the Taliban formed alliances, swept across provinces, and claimed the cities not, mostly by firepower, but by cutting deals with key Afghan leaders.

The Taliban’s various allies, from the Pakistanis, Qataris, the Iranians, and the Chinese, to Al Qaeda and the druglords, got what they wanted by forcing the United States out of Afghanistan.

But what they’re going to want now are incompatible things. China and Pakistan want stability and the opportunity to exploit Afghanistan’s mineral riches and geographic location for trade. Al Qaeda and various foreign Jihadis want to set up terrorist training camps and fight infidels. Some of them are likely to target China as Jihadis operating in Pakistan have already done.

The Taliban’s state sponsors want to reduce the flow of drugs, but opium is the only functional part of Afghanistan’s economy: especially now that the United States and its allies are gone. The Taliban formerly opposed opium, but if they do it again, they’ll fund their own opposition. If they try to restrain the foreign Jihadis who helped them take Afghanistan, they’ll face a civil war.

Even if Biden refrains from backing the opposition to the Taliban, India isn’t likely to be as forgiving. Other countries and international players will find their own reasons to do the same.

Biden’s State Department will be forced to acknowledge, even faster than Clinton’s diplomats, that any promises that the Taliban make are worthless. Taliban spokesmen have learned to tell liberals what they want to hear, but don’t actually speak for the leadership. Nor do they speak for the various factions who actually make up the Taliban power on the ground. Or their backers.

Stability is not in Afghanistan’s future.

The Taliban, like most Jihadis, are players in someone else’s chess game. Islamic terrorist groups, like their Marxist counterparts, have state backers and wealthy funders behind them.

What looks like a stunning victory is more often the result of backroom deals.

Muslim Jihadis claim a fearsome reputation, but routinely bow out of fights when the odds aren’t on their side, when they aren’t feeling motivated, or are paid off. They prefer to win battles by treachery and subterfuge as they have done for over a thousand years since Mohammed.

Americans are used to the idea of standing, fighting, and dying for their country. But fighters in tribal cultures are more nomadic. They don’t stand and fight, they appear and disappear, as we saw in Afghanistan and Iraq. They strike when they sense weakness and flee when they feel strength. Biden showed weakness, so did the Afghan government, and the rest is history.

The Taliban will impose unfiltered Islamic law, but whether girls are allowed to go to school and women are permitted to leave the house matters very little to the power players. Those important enough will be able to do what the elites of Muslim countries always do, send their sons and daughters to cavort in Beverly Hills and the French Riviera, while poorer girls are beaten, enslaved, and executed for minor offenses like meeting the eye of a strange man.

There will be burkas for millions of Afghan women, but the daughters of key leaders who cut deals with the Taliban will wear bikinis on the beaches of the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The Biden administration cares as much about the rights of women as the Clinton administration which was willing to embrace the Taliban and endorse their oppressive Islamic law. It was only when the Taliban turned down the Clintons that they rediscovered an interest in feminism.

Count on the Biden administration and Democrats to follow the same corrupt road out of Kabul.

Afghanistan will go on being what it was all along, a tribal wasteland run by bandits, all of whom swear by Allah, but only some of whom kill women for not wearing burkas, who get their money and guns from various foreign interests and serve them until they inevitably betray them.

The Taliban didn’t win a great victory. They assembled a house of cards coalition just as they did before. That house of cards will begin collapsing because Afghanistan is not a country and it cannot be ruled by any government, only corrupted, robbed, and terrorized in Allah’s name.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.

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Tags: Afghanistan, recent, War on Terror

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About Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield is a journalist investigating Islamic terrorism and the Left. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center