Pakistan uses training camps in Afghanistan in Kashmir conflict

Mango:

When the Pak govt (Musharaf) agreed today that the evidence against bin Laden/Al Qaeda was "compelling/convincing", that marked the turning point in a great U-Turn. I think Pakistan will do what it's told - let us use their airspace, and some bases for refueling.

We lifted $50 million worth of sanctions already. They can be replaced and doubled at the drop of a hat...

Aside from that, we couldn't care less about Pakistan. Their nukes are a nonfactor, as they're too large to transport and use against anyone except India... Which we also happen to care exactly zero about.

 

Actually India can be a strategic ally against China in the future. I am not saying that US hates China or anything, but they always seem to be getting in some kind of an argument (Tibet, human rights, plane crashes, etc)

So US really does need India as an ally and Pakistan is not exactly a negative either. They are also an ally in the Middle East situation.

As I have mentioned in other threads, it will be interesting when US asks Pakistan about the Kashmir insurgency after Al-Queda has been taken care of.

Hamas, which I think operates in Kashmir is not exactly that far of from Al-Queda in terms of spreading terrorism.

 

Touche, ROckets03. India might very well be a great ally in the future war against China ( which we all know has to come at some point)...

We can probably use them until then.

 

There was a free article several days ago on stratfor about US-Pakastani-Indian relations which has since become not free.

The gist of the article was that during the cold war, Pakistan was an ally of the US despite doing things like building nukes because of their stratigic importance in relation to the Soviet push into Afghanistan. India, conversely, had much better ties with the Soviets.

With the end of the cold war, US-Indian relations have warmed greatly because of the aformentioned stratigic importance relative to China, but not as much as US-Pakistani relations had fallen off, as evidenced by the sanctions which were lifted by the US after September 11th. The article theorises that the Indians understand the U.S.'s shift back towards Pakistan, (including a 'polite refusal' of an offer to use Indian airbases as a staging point) as an attempt to maintian the country's fragile & tenuous support for the us in the face of a great deal of public oposition.

Stratfor further theorises that long-term US-Indian relations will not be hurt. Given the choice, the US would rather support the federal republic that is India as opposed to the miliary junta lead by General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan.

The prime point is that India is much more important in the long view, but favoring Pakistan in the short term will only be a problem if something major happens with relation to Kasmir. Indian public sentiment could then cause a major falling out with the US, which would be really unfavorable in the longterm.

The US has to be concerned about China at this point as they are about the only country out there capable of posing a threat of the same nature as the old Soviet Union. (albeit to a much lesser degree)

I also found this info intresting, taken from the CIA site:

Population of China: 1,273,111,290 (July 2001 est.)
Population of India: 1,029,991,145 (July 2001 est.)
Population of Pakistan: 144,616,639 (July 2001 est.)

This is intresting because I am so accustomed to thinging of China's immense population, but the difference between China and India isn't much larger than the sum of Pakistan's population. Clearly India has a great deal of untapped potential to affect international affairs based on that figure.


BTW Stratfor is a great source of information. The writing is incredibly to the point, and the analysis is precice and well layed out. Thanks to Mango, who's earlier posting of an article helped me locate this source of info.

 

ignore - double post

 

Stratfor was a good site before you had to pay for it. Jane's continues to be an excellent resource, despite obnoxiously high rates...

Vigilance and persistence at the library can save you several thousand dollars if you want that "Intelligence"...

Not all resources are online.

 

Mango, the Kashmir region will most likely see an escalation - unless effortr in anti terrorism are taken... Many on the Pakistani side have been trained in bin Laden's camps. Their equivalent of a Texas survival camp...

But to be perfectly honest, I don't think either side will waste a nuke on this conflict. Two years ago both sides would have wasted a nuke. Now... The climate has changed. Now, both are US allies. That has never happened before.

 

Treeman,

Sorry, but we don't all know that we are going to have war with China eventually.

As a matter of fact. Except for Russia it is the least likely war for us as we don't like massive US casualties and they do have nuclear weapons.

We should give a crap about India and China, too.

Being an internationalist is the best way to avoid war, if that is of interest to you.

On one thing we perhaps do agree. Once the terrorist threat subsides, China is the main hope of the conservatives to replace the old Cold War and keep defense spending and profits to the military industrial complex high.

 

My bad. Not really Hamas that operates in Kashmir. Hamas mostly operates in Palestine. The group I think that operates in Kashmir is Al-Jihad?

Ottoman, the population of India will be greater then China by the year 2025. Not that that is something to be proud of.

Also what the hell does the Pakistani media expect from its Indian counterpart?!? Your country is supporting terrorism in India, and yet you expect them to right NICE thing about you? Of course they are going to malign you every chance possible.

Azad Kashmir my freakin ASS!