Pakistan puzzle: Where’s Ludwig Fichte?
Did you you see the video of the skydiver solving a Rubik’s Cube while free-falling? (Here’s a link.) His name is Ludwig Fichte. It reminded me of what we are trying to do in AfPak. The biggest difference is Fichte had a parachute. We don’t. Not really.
Consider just a few of the headlines related mostly to Pakistan over the last several days:
Sunday/Monday
Osama bin-Laden criticizes Western response to flooding in Pakistan.
Travelers warned of terrorist plans to attack targets in Britain, France, and Germany. Western intelligence sources suggest terror teams trained in Pakistan have already deployed to Europe.
Drone strike kills German terrorists-in-training in North Waziristan. Several media reports suggest connections to same Hamburg cell involved in planning 9/11 attacks.
Taliban attacks NATO supply caravan “held hostage” by Pakistani military. On September 30 the Pakistani military restricted most border crossings into Afghanistan in apparent retaliation for the death of two Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border operation by NATO forces based in Afghanistan.
Germany downplays terror threat to Europe.
590,000 flood victims remain homeless in Southwest Pakistan. It has been eleven weeks since the first floods struck Pakistan… In Sindh province, in the south, flooding is still happening. Since mid-August floods there have to varying degrees affected almost a third of the province’s 30.4 million residents, and around 1.6 million people are still displaced. (Source UNHCR)
Tuesday
Pakistan political stability threatened by slow flood aid.
Pakistan floods reduce Afghan food supply. Some basic food prices have doubled in Afghanistan.
NATO apologizes but Pakistan military continues to block Khyber Pass and other supply routes.
Faisal Shahzad sentenced to life in prison. The wanna-be Times Square bomber was (poorly) trained in Pakistan
Wednesday
Briton tagged to lead terrorist cell confirmed killed. Abdul Jabbar, who claimed to be forming the Islamic Army of Great Britain, was killed by a September drone attack, according to several media reports. Pakistani intelligence officials have strongly denied the story.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House is telling Congress that, “The Pakistan military continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al Qaeda forcesin North Waziristan…” U.S. officials say they are increasingly frustrated by Pakistan’s decision not to send large numbers of ground forces into North Waziristan. “This is as much a political choice as it is a reflection of an under-resourced military prioritizing its targets,” the unclassified, 27-page report finds.”
Thursday
Britons training in Pakistan for terror attacks. Intelligence sources suggest at least twenty holding UK passports are currently in North Waziristan.
Fifty tankers torched. At least 150 NATO oil tankers have been detained at just one border crossing. Up to 6500 transports of all kinds are estimated to be waiting to be let through to land-locked Afghanistan. NATO claims the supply slowdown has not impacted ISAF operations.
US apologizes for incursion that resulted in transport restrictions from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Despite expressions of regret by the US ambassador and Charman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff no change has occurred at the border.
Two drone attacks kill eleven.
According to Bloomberg, the White House update to Congress on operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan concludes, “The flooding (in Pakistan) has led to a “military status quo” that “could ultimately result in militant gains if extremist groups remain undisturbed in their safe havens.”
At least eight people were killed when two suicide bombers exploded at a major Sufi shrine Abdullah Shah Ghazi in the port city of Karachi late Thursday, according to DAWN.
A US terror alert issued this week about al-Qaida plots to attack targets in western Europe was politically motivated and not based on credible new information, senior Pakistani diplomats and European intelligence officials have told the Guardian. The non-specific US warning, which despite its vagueness led Britain, France and other countries to raise their overseas terror alert levels, was an attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have “set the country on fire”, said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain. (More from the Guardian)
This list is obviously just the tip of a proverbial iceberg. I am posting on Thursday night. No doubt overnight and Friday will bring plenty more. Like an iceberg what really worries is what cannot be seen.
With less than 30 days until the — historic? — mid-term elections, would most Americans or even most candidates list our relationship with Pakistan as a top issue? I don’t think anyone needs to carefully consider survey results to answer with a confident no.
It’s tough for a democracy to solve a complicated problem to which the vast majority of the demos is not giving some serious attention. Republics were supposed to do better at this, but we live in a populist age where the old republican virtues have atrophied. I don’t have an easy solution for our demonstrated tendency to neglect clear priorities until its (almost?) too late. I’m just say’in (as Glenn Beck might say).
The YouTube of Fichte solving the Rubik’s Cube uses as its soundtrack the song “Falling” by the New England rock band Staind. The lyrics offer some good counsel regarding our Pakistan puzzle:
you in your shell
are you waiting for someone
to rescue you
from yourself
don’t be disappointed
when no one comes
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
i already told you
that falling is easy
it’s getting back up
that becomes the problem
becomes the problem
if you don’t believe you can find a way out you become the problem
become the problem
you all alone
are you waiting for someone
to make you whole
can’t you see
aren’t you tired of
this dysfunctional routine
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
don’t blame me you didn’t get it
i already told you
that falling is easy
it’s getting back up
that becomes the problem
becomes the problem
if you don’t believe you can find a way out you become the problem
become the problem
i already told you
that falling is easy
it’s getting back up
that becomes the problem
becomes the problem
if you don’t believe you can find a way out you become the problem
become the problem
falling is easy
it’s getting back up
that becomes the problem
becomes the problem
But if you believe you can find a way out then you solve the problem you’ve solved your problem
