Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tekboy who wrote (82823)	3/17/2003 6:51:32 AM
From: frankw1900	Respond to of 281500

The subject of a possible Pakistani airlift of bad guys from Kunduz just before it fell has been raised here recently It was certainly a widely reported story at the time of the battle for Kunduz. According to Jane's it was the Pakistani military advisors which made the Taliban effective against the NA until the US started using airplanes as artillery. Those Pakistani military types were there and the US and NA apparently never captured them. There were all sorts of stories. I think I first read about it from B Raman at SAAG.org so it could be the Indians first reported it or made it up. Personally, I think it did happen. independent.co.uk Pakistan air force seen evacuating foreign fighters from Kunduz By Marcus Tanner 26 November 2001 As Northern Alliance troops prepared yesterday to enter Kunduz, fears that the city's fall might result in a massacre of foreign-born Taliban fighters may have been averted by a secret deal hatched between Pakistan and Northern Alliance commanders, with Washington's compliance. Click here for the full story timesofindia.indiatimes.com Several media outlets are now reporting that Pakistan is making herculean efforts, including sending in rescue planes, to airlift its armed forces personnel and nationals from Kunduz. The evacuation was first reported in the Indian press based on accounts by Northern Alliance commanders and Indian intelligence agencies. rediff.com 216.239.33.100 The compromise echoes reports of a last minute airlift of foreign fighters from the northern town of Kunduz just before it fell to the Northern Alliance. On the eve of its collapse residents said they heard aircraft landing at the air strip. It is widely assumed that an airlift was carried out by Pakistan, and this could only have taken place with the knowledge of the United States. hinduonnet.com msnbc.com english.pravda.ru

To: tekboy who wrote (82823)	3/17/2003 11:20:17 AM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 281500

Thanks, tb. There was a lot of noise at the time of the Kunduz airlift which suggests that something may have occurred. Exactly what, however, is very murky. I have doubts about two critical factual issues concerning the airlift, i.e., whether Musharraf was in political trouble sufficient enough to cause his fall if he did not get the Pakistani fighters out of difficulties in Afghanistan and whether Bush would have agreed to allow the airlift under any circumstances. Hersh's sources appear to be linked primarily to Indian intelligence. Lots of motives there to put the screws to the Pakistanis through this publicity--makes Bush look like he may have been duped by the Pakistanis, thereby damaging US/Pak relations.

To: tekboy who wrote (82823)	3/17/2003 8:12:35 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

The High Price of Bad Diplomacy BEYOND THE WAR By Bruce Nussbaum BusinessWeek MARCH 24, 2003 businessweek.com Mismanaging the runup to war will do more than squander goodwill and damage alliances <<...The political effect of this foreign policy imbroglio is already obvious. It can be measured in tattered alliances and global tensions, eroding support for President George W. Bush, and big changes throughout the Middle East. What remains unclear are the economic consequences. In the end, they may be far more significant...>> <<...The first decade of the new century is beginning to feel like the 1970s, when the turmoil of the Vietnam War cast a long shadow over the U.S. economy. It may even get worse than that. Chief executives are beginning to worry that globalization may not be compatible with a foreign policy of unilateral preemption. Can capital, trade, and labor flow smoothly when the world's only superpower maintains such a confusing and threatening stance? U.S. corporations may soon find it more difficult to function in a multilateral economic arena when their overseas business partners and governments perceive America to be acting outside the bounds of international law and institutions...>> <<...The price the Bush Administration is paying for its failed diplomacy is high, and it promises to rise even further. A world divided between multilateral economic and unilateral security policies is an uncertain and risky place. It is not likely to encourage economic growth or prosperity. The Administration risks turning what was once trumpeted as the American Century into the Anti-American Century...>>