Bombs in Pakistan
Early reports this morning are saying that a major explosion has taken place in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 80 people, with the death toll expected to go higher. Care to take a guess at where the bomb went off? It was at a women’s market. According to FOX News, more than 200 people have been wounded. This attack highlights the problem that those who would oppose the Taliban must always face. The military has been on the offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaida and may have been doing quite well in that offensive. Instead of fighting back so hard against the military, these terrorists have struck back at a much easier target. According to CNN, most of those killed were women. I have written several times about my disdain for the Taliban and any other extreme faction, Muslim or otherwise, that deliberately targets innocent civilians. It seems every day there is another reason for good and decent human beings, liberal, conservative, or moderate, to feel this
way. Simply put, there is no excuse for the violence they perpetrate on those civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not only has the Taliban struck in Pakistan, they have also hit at innocent civilians in Afghanistan. Because they do not like the fact that presidential elections are going forward in that country, they decided the best way to protest was to storm a UN guest house in Kabul and kill 12 people, along with three of their own. Six of those killed were UN staff. From The Associated Press
:
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attacks in a telephone call to The Associated Press, saying three militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine guns carried out the guest house assault. He said three days ago that the Taliban issued a statement threatening anyone working on the Nov. 7 runoff election between Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah. “This is our first attack,” he said.
I do not have the answer to this problem. How do you talk to a group when their idea of negotiating is to kill everyone off who they disagree with? What amazes me is that these groups have been given free reign for so long. For those who may read this article and want to suggest the Taliban and other extremists factions were pushed into this by our actions in the region, don’t even bother. There is no excuse for these kinds of attacks. If they want to fight a war, then so be it, but waging war on innocent civilians is a no go for me.
So what are we actually doing there? Are we there to make certain the Taliban doesn’t return to power or are we there to destroy Al Qaeda? Or are those two things actually one and the same — we can’t do the latter without doing the former? Or is our biggest fear that if we get out the Taliban “victory” will embolden radical factions in Pakistan (and that would be a disaster because they actually have nukes)? I read the papers a lot and I can’t tell you what our goal is in Afghanistan or the region in general. I know what the ideal outcome is but it’s so unreasonable as to not be worth discussing. If you haven’t seen it read the story of Matthew Hoh who just resigned from the Foreign Service as senior US civilian in Zabul province, a center of Taliban activity, over US policy (or lack thereof) in Afghanistan. By all accounts he is a top-notch officer, a former Marine who served in Iraq, and a highly respected analyst, and he says things over there are screwed up and without purpose or direction. I do not understand what we’re doing!!
Honestly, Mike, I can not tell you what we are doing over there. It seems obvious to me that we are not getting the job done and I mean no disrespect to our armed forces when I say that. We need to either figure out a good strategy and implement it or forget it and bring our men and women home.
“So what are we actually doing there?” I agree with you Mike. We find ourselves after 8 years of conflict in this predicament. Trying to discern the motives of the Taliban is beyond me. Why target a women’s market? Because it is easier than a military target, or perhaps some kind of twisted misogyny? I also read the comment about Matthew Hoh yesterday. Perhaps he did the right thing to highlight the clusterf**k we find ourselves in. And Larry’s comment:
“We need to either figure out a good strategy and implement it or forget it and bring our men and women home.”
-mirrors my own sentiments exactly.
David W. Walters´s last blog ..
To those who would blame the US for these attacks because of our actions over there, the fact is that people who would do something as heinous as this do not need an excuse. They believe their religion condones killing those who do not believe. The odd thing is that by attacking and bombing innocent civilians they are killing many people who share their faith and therefor are not what they consider infidels. If they are willing to go this far what is the answer besides destroying them? I just don’t know.
Mr Pink Eyes´s last blog ..United Nations claims that US predator drone attacks may violate international law
I didn’t address your point in the article, Mr. Pink Eyes, but you are right. They are killing off some of the very people who share their faith. It makes no sense to me, but neither does the idea of them killing themselves in suicide attacks, just because they hate those whom they are attacking.