Pakistani army ordered to hit back US forces

Pakistani army ordered to hit back US forces

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The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based US troops inside the country.

Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.

The decision was made on the first day of the two-day meeting of Pakistan's top military commanders to discuss the US coalition's ground and air assault in Waziristan region which killed dozens of civilians.

Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the meeting which began in Rawalpindi on Thursday at the Army General Headquarters.

Pakistan's military commanders expressed their determination to defend the country's borders without allowing any external forces to conduct operations inside the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, sources said.

A senior official said the military commanders also discussed the implications of the American attacks inside Pakistan and took stock of the public feeling.

"In his statement, Genral Kayani has represented the feeling of the entire nation, as random attacks inside Pakistan have angered each and every Pakistani," he said.

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The situation seems to be quickly escalating in Pakistan right now, with some political experts predicting the break out of an all-out war between U.S. troops and the Pakistani army.


Pak army put on high alert to
confront any US agression


Dissension in Pakistan's ranks

KARACHI - Al-Qaeda's grand strategy is based on a simple notion - given the American cowboy mentality, if the United States is confronted, it will react in an extreme manner.

Hence, with the small military successes of the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, through its media campaigns, has created a sense of American failures on the battlefield and challenged the ego of the world's superpower with its rhetoric.

The response of the George W Bush administration has been as expected, with a renewed effort to go after al-Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas, even at the cost of isolation within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and at the cost of alienating its frontline ally Pakistan, which is seriously divided over its role in prosecuting the "war on terror".

(Asia Times Online)








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[edit on 12-9-2008 by chips]

[edit on 12-9-2008 by chips]

To the average guy just seeing this information as presented, a conclusion could be made that the Pakistanis have an army in place that can fight invading hordes of Americans seeking the death and destruction of known terrorists or Taliban fighters that fled back into Pakistan. The average person would also realize that Pakistan is an American ally of dubious character.

This all being said, the average person would think the Pakistanis would want these people just as dead as Americans want them, and not protect them.

This begs the question as to why is Pakistan protecting people of known terrorist ties and fleeing fighters from a neighboring country.

Pakistan does not have standing troops in many of these areas as it's just as dangerous for them as it is for American forces. These are the tribal areas of Pakistan in mountainous areas and are very difficult to attack but easy to defend. Pakistan has title to this land in name only. This makes the "protecting my border" argument a moot point since they have no control in the area now and have never had control in an historical sense.

Pakistan has a population that has many different fanatical groups that are more than willing to embrace Allah while killing as many innocent people as possible. This is why something has to be said, to appease these nut jobs.

This is nothing more than bold statements to let the population know that something will be done but in reality, nothing will be done.

my condolences for the deaths of innocent pakistani civilians , but fact is that Pakistan can do nothing against USA , it is a puppet at the hands of USA and Saudi Arabia

[edit on 12-9-2008 by manson_322]

Does anyone know the status of their relationship with China? I've read on various websites that they are allies, but I'm not too sure what extent the relationship goes to.

Generally, if you are allied with another country, you are obligated to come to their aid if they are attacked. Not sure that China would want to go to war with the US over Pakistan, but surely its got to be something the US needs to consider before escalating conflict with Pakistan regular forces.

If Pakistan don't deal with the unlawfulness in their own territory that is threatening the lives of people worldwide then the US has every right to act. The US has provided billions of dollars in military aid under the pretense that Pakistan will destroy the terror networks operating in their country.

All this talk of Bush authorising the strikes is an attempt at trying to flaw the legitimacy of the actions. Even Obama has vowed to strike at these terrorist safe havens if necessary. These recent strikes are the US equivalent of pressuring the new Pakistani government to tackle the issue themselves, by proving that if they dont the US will.

To quote General Stonewall Jackson:

"It's good to have your dander up, but it's discipline that wins the day"

We want to win, we have to choose our battles carefully.

This is a more serious shift in policy than people seem to realize, though I am not surprised by the move. With Musharraf out of the picture, we will see Pakistan revert back to their status as a possible danger to the US. This may embolden India as well, who have been awfully quiet in the years since 9/11, especially in relation to their nuclear-armed arch-enemy.

While I agree with one poster that this new mandate is not very actionable in the tribal regions, it gives Pakistani forces the green-light to ally themselves with enemies of the US in limited engagements.

[edit on 9/12/0808 by jackinthebox]