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Monday, October 31, 2011

Collapse of Higher Armour Commanders in 1965 War

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE





American Quick Pashto Learning Techniques in the war against FATA and Afghan Pashtuns


http://thewoundedartistproject.org/?page_id=55

2,046 new, free Pashto-English language flashcards, this time for Pakistan. New set for Navy.

Again, these cards come from the Defense Language Institute's Familiarization Modules listing some 76 languages. These are free to download like our other sets.

The Pashtuns in History-Agha.H.Amin



The Pashtuns


Agha.H.Amin


Let the pictures speak as the first part of this summing up of a sad chapter of history !























When I started preparing for my first major bid in Afghanistan " Naghlu-Kabul" Electric transmission line I went for pre bid survey on Kabul Lataband Road.The locals all Pashtuns told us that they were paid 100 USD per tower for destroying a pylon in Soviet Afghan War ! 




Extremism is a very Pakistani export to all neighbouring countries.


Off course the US was also a monster in this situation as were the Pakistanis who were the US vassals.In course of my 8 years in Afghanistan I discovered that major damage of Afghan war was in Pashtun belt as it was closer to Pakistan and it was easier to logistically support the characters destroying pylons.


As I travelled north I discovered that the north was literally undamaged as it was farther away from Pakistan ! I leave it for experts in Pashtun history to judge whether Pashtun area was damaged in order to keep Pashtuns backward or it was a coincidence ! 

It would be wrong to brand a Pashtun as a born lunatic ! 


The greatest poets in the sub continent starting from Nawab Shefta Khan Bangash ,Josh Malihabadi Afridi Akhtar Sheerani and Ahmad Faraz were Pashtuns !

Indeed the most progressive Afghans and Pakistanis have been Pashtuns ! Without Aslam Watanjar the indomitable Paktiawal or without Said Gulabozai the Saur Revolution may have totally failed in Afghanistan !

My dear Zazi lady friend from Khost smoke the maximum joints and drank more vodka than any man that I met in Afghanistan and preferred being intimate with the curtains open !

It would be correct to term Pashtuns as victims of geography , of being divided in two states , being regarded as a political threat by non Pashtuns in both Pakistan and  Afghanistan ! Being more adventurous and brave than any race in the region , thanks to geography , historical circumstances and I hate to say some racial factors !

The Pashtuns were thus regarded as cannon fodder by Iranians, Mughals,Turks ,Sikhs ,British and Pakistanis and a useful reason to remain in Afghyanistan by the USA !

When the German Kaiser wanted a revolt against British in India the only ones who cameto rise in revolt were thetribal Pashtuns ! 

A Pashtun tribe Afridi is the only tribe in history where the British Emperor awarded a Victoria Cross to one cousin and the  German Kaiser the Iron Cross to the other cousin ! Both fighting in the same area !

The Mughals imported Iranians against Pashtuns and were ultimately betrayed by the Irianians when the Marathas and Nadir Shah attackedthe Mughals.

The backbone of Nadir Shahs armys were the Abdali Pashtuns ! The best Mughal army soldiers apart from Uzbeks were Pashtuns !

Yet this race was regarded by fear and apprehension and throughout history used to fight proxy wars ! Just because it was though politically dangerous that they remained free and grew politically and economically !


There is no denying that a Pashtun is formidable in any role ,be it a leftist Khalqi or a Taliban ! This is so because he is brought up to be totally committed to an idea that he believes in ! This may be an anthropological or sociological explanation !

A Safi or a Zadran or a Kharoti is formidable reagrdless of the fact that he is Rahmatullah Safi with the ISI or a Watanjar who was a die hard leftist or a Gulabozai who was Afghanistans best Interior Minister and yet polled the highest number of votes from Khost in 2005 Elections.

My friend a pro Pakistan Pashtun to the core heading an ISI sector confessed that even the best dogs used in dog fight are bred in Pashtun areas ! It may be ironically symbolic but true.

My personal observations indicate that the Pashtuns were regarded as cannon fodder to be used in Kashmir and Afghanistan by the Pakistani establishment . Thus ironically while the most progressive section in Afghan socoety were Pashtun Khalqis without whom there would have been no leftist coup in Afghanistan ,the Pashtuns suffered the most in Afghan war and the non Pashtuns gained the most , politically and economically !

Demography is cruel ! It is devastating and Pakistans demography is changing !

Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the  world and we are at a watershed when Pashtuns may not be manipulated any longer the way they have been manipulated in the past !

As they say the wheel turns in history !















Taliban threaten the family of a gang rape victim, her lawyers are illegally detained and tortured by the perpetrators



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-162-2011
October 31, 2011

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: Taliban threaten the family of a gang rape victim, her lawyers are illegally detained and tortured by the perpetrators

Police officials accused of having, along with a soldier, gang-raped a 16 year-old girl for one year are now targeting the lawyers working with the victim. At the time of writing, four of her lawyers were abducted, kept in illegal detention, tortured and threatened to quit the case on different occasions. The resoluteness of the victim, her family and her lawyers to fight for justice and claim their rights survives intact.

A 16 year old girl, Miss Uzma Ayub, Tehsil Takht-e-Nasrati of Karak district, Khyber Pakhtoon Kha province, was repeatedly raped by an army soldier and police officials while being held in their captivity for almost one year. She manages to escape from the captivity on September 19, 2011and stated before the court that she was raped by the army soldier and the police officers. She is now pregnant from by rapists. For more information, please see our previous urgent appeal in the case: AHRC-UAC-226-2011

On October 29, Mr. Irfan Khattak, the lawyer of Miss Uzma, was arrested and tortured by Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of Takhte Nurati police station, one of the rapists. According to the news published in 'Daily TheNews', the ASI chased his car and stopped it at Inzar Chowk, Takhte Nusrati tehsil at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The police officer took out a copy of the Holy Quran and asked him to take oath on the Quran that from now on he would neither contest the case nor assist the victim's family in any way. ''Hakim Khan first asked me to quit the case. After my refusal, he along with his guard beat me up and then arrested me,'' Irfan Khattak told.

He further reported that when he refused to accept his demand, the ASI took him to the Takht-e-Nusrati Police Station and tortured him there. The lawyer said that the ASI released him after the visit of Karak Bar Association President Jan-e-Alam and Takht-e-Nusrati Sub-divisional Bar President Javed Akhtar to the police station. The lawyer categorically said that he would pursue the case even at the cost of his life and refused to bow down before the torture of the policeman.

A rights-based organization, the Civil Society of Pakhtunkha, reports that earlier the police succeeded to force the victim's first lawyer, Afsar Khan advocate, to quit the case. Afsar Khan was mentally and physically tortured into abandoning the case. The police are now trying to use the same tactics to force advocate Irfan Khattak out of the case.

In addition, two other lawyers, Mr. Javed Akhtar, the divisional president of the local Bar Association and Mr. Suleman Ghazi, advocate, were harassed by the police and ASI Hakeem Khan. The police threatened both lawyers of dire consequences should they pursue the case. Once more, these lawyers stood up to the intimidation and threats of the police and the perpetrators are now under pressure. Mr. Idrees Kamal, the spokesperson of Khyber Pakhtunkha civil society organisations, says that the government is either reluctant or criminally negligent in pursuing and announcing actions as per the recommendations of a three member inquiry committee set up to investigate that case. Orders of arrest on the accused seem unlikely to be issued. Despite rumours that the accused policemen have been suspended, they appeared in full uniform during the session court hearings. They remain in a position to pressurize the victim and her lawyers.

In addition, the Taliban also entered the case and supported the perpetrators. They support ASI Hakeem Khan, in particular, who is alleged to be a Taliban informer in the area. He himself claims that he has the patronage of Mangal Bagh, a Taliban leader wanted in many cases of terrorism, bomb blasts and killings of law enforcement personnel. Some Taliban belonging to the Wazir tribes approached the family, seeking for a settlement. They said that Hakim Khan is an important member and supporter of their group and threatened the family with dire consequences if they refused to sit with them for negotiations. They also threatened to kidnap the younger brothers of Uzma and Alamzeb. The family is presently under tremendous pressure and suffering from deep trauma. They fear for the lives of the younger siblings who have stopped from attending school.

The case of Uzma is the expression of a total collapse of the state and the rule of law, bending before the Taliban and the militant religious groups who are behind the rapists. The perpetrators are very influential and in a very strong position and the provincial government does not dare arresting them and providing protection to victim and her family.

Akbar Ali Shah, Programme Manager Juvenile Justice, KPK, has written a letter to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Kohat range, informing him of the threats to their lawyers and the victims' family members. On October 26, the DIG instructed the local police to provide protection to the perpetrators, but till date, no protection has been provided to the victim or her lawyers.

The impotent provincial government is to blame for not initiating any action against the perpetrators. The perpetrators are still wearing their uniforms and continue to serve at the police station despite the government's announcement that they were suspended. The perpetrators exploit the ineptness of the government, unable to provide protection to its citizens. A high level committee for inquiry was formed by the provincial government under the leadership of the Home secretary. That committee recommended to conduct a DNA test of the victim's baby and of the perpetrators and to arrest the perpetrators, in particular the three police officers, including the station house officer (SHO), a Sub Inspector and an Assistant Sub Inspector belonging to Takhte Nusrati police station. However the provincial government has not taken any step to turn those recommendations into concrete action, protecting the perpetrators and denying the victim's fundamental right to redress.

By sheer negligence, the government has granted impunity to the perpetrators, cultivating the idea that keeping a minor girl in captivity and gang-raping her for one year does not carry any legal consequences. Such an ineptness contributes to the decay of the rule of law in the country and exposes women to increasing sexual violence.

The government must immediately provide official protection to the lawyers, the victim and her family members. The government must take steps to arrest the perpetrators without delay. It should promptly abide by the recommendations issued by the high level committee for inquiry. Should the government fail to act diligently in that matter, it would abdicate its responsibility to ensure law and order in the country and would be the sole responsible if more violence were to occur to the victim and her lawyers.


# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.



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Sign our Petition: Stop Disappearances in Pakistan
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Iran Demands US Apology, Money Over Plot Charges

http://tracking.military.com/cgi-bin/outlog.cgi?url=http://www.military.com/news/article/iran-demands-us-apology-money-over-plot-charges.html?ESRC=eb.nl&code=111031DEBH01&eml=7554edf50e192e80267cbc2e53d1b261


Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard march in front of the mausoleum of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran.

WASHINGTON -- Iran has formally complained to the U.S. over claims the Iranian government was involved in an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, a U.S. official said Sunday.












Diem , US and Karzais possible elimination

A Great Western Scholar on Diem , US and Karzai

If you really want to get haunted/scared/dumbfounded/nonplussed/etc. go and check out the story of another Asian leader from a few decades ago now: i.e., Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam - a good and decent man - pilloried in the American Press for being, you guessed it, corrupt, despotic, in league with drug cartels and for having an evil drug-running brother while, simultaneously being pilloried by the Communists and the VC as a sell-out to the Americans! 


If you cannot see the uncanny parallels here - well - go back to sleep and I promise not to wake you until the war is all over and the Talibs are calling the shots again (LoL). 


More uncanny parallels with Karzai, when Diem realized that all American armed might was really accomplishing was the wholesale destruction of his country he opened talks with the North, quietly, through the French and his brother, the well-vilified Ngo Dinh Nhu - just as Karzai has attempted heal the rift between his government and the powers that be in Pakistan. 


The Pentagon had always been annoyed with Diem's constant heel-dragging when it came to mounting military operations in South Vietnam's heavily-populated countryside - as he would plead with them that their actions were killing Vietnamese - Communist and/or otherwise. Karzai too, much to DC's chagrin, has constantly criticized US military ops that inevitably murder Afghan citizens only to earn more Washington's opprobrium. 


Mark my words - if Karzai beaks-off much more - coup plans, hatched in DC, will be carried out and the murdered Karzai will be decried as being in the pocket of the ISI and/or a secret card-carrying member of the Haqqani Network and a financier of Talib Madrassahs - take your pick! 


Why do you think I am so fatalistic about what will inevitably be carried out in Afghanistan? Well, the fact is I have seen it all before: i.e., the corrupting nature of official Washington/Pentagon interference in another nation's affairs never works out well. Does this make me anti-American? Far from it - as I believe the American people are as wonderful and generous a bunch as you could possibly meet but it does make me sober about the sort of messes DC has proven itself well-capable of. I should also add that I have enormous respect for professional American soldiers who told the truth and paid the price and I count McChrsytal amongst these brave men.

 

The latest flip-flop in State Department and Pentagon policy would have me packing my bags if I were Karzai as, one week ago they were accusing the ISI of being the devil incarnate and now, this week, they are pleading with the ISI to bring the Talibs and Mr. Haqqani to the bargaining table as Obama desperately needs a 'win' here - after all - the 2012 election season is closing-in fast (LoL). 


Frankly, if I were Mullah Omar I would tell all my commanders to sit tight - talk where necessary but don't commit to anything, drag out the process, keep the heat on in Kabul or wherever it best lays bare the NATO lie about security being achieved in the country and, above all, stall and keep stalling as victory will be attained! In their tech-fueled hubris, some would say idolatry, DC/Pentagon forgot the golden rule of insurgency/COIN: i.e., the intervening power loses by not definitively winning while the insurgent force wins simply by hanging in there and, thus, not losing. The corollary of this golden rule must also be: the constant use of heavy weapons and the need for such firepower is the proof that the intervening power is losing as, inevitably, such weapons create far more recruits for the insurgents than they can possibly kill - especially in a rural, tribal society where everyone is related to everyone else and the demands for revenge (i.e., as the result of collateral damage) are sacrosanct.

 

BTW - the DC government is not the only NATO government that routinely lies to its people about what has really been going on in AF/PAK as ours most certainly does as do the others. To borrow from that wise old Roman general: "I have seen the face of the enemy and the enemy is us!" (I mean our governments that are chock full of professional liars).

 

XYZ


http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE




MQM: A dream turned sour


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pakistan spied on German officers in Afghanistan - report

This is the most absurd and third rate piece of news from Reuters that I have read.

The Germans have near zero role in war in Afghanistan.They are hiding in Kunduz and Mazar far away from the real fighting in Afghanistan.

If Pakistani Intelligence has to spy they would do this with the US , British , Canadian or French who are or were doing real fighting.

Real BS , pure and unadulterated from Reuters


Agha H Amin

Pakistan spied on German officers in Afghanistan - report 
By Axel Hildebrand | Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters) - Pakistan's secret service spied on German security forces in Afghanistan, raising fears sensitive information could end up in the hands of the Taliban, a German paper reported on Sunday.

Without citing its sources, mass-selling weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency warned its interior ministry that Pakistan had spied on 180 German police officers deployed in Afghanistan to train locals.

The interior ministry told Reuters the BND suspected a German email had been intercepted but could not give confirmation. The ministry added it was not aware of any comprehensive interception of German police data.

Pakistan's interior and foreign ministries and military were unavailable for comment.

Bild am Sonntag said private telephone calls, messages to the ministry, military mission orders and lists of police officer names had been intercepted.

"On the basis of experience we must expect that the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI is continuing to give sensitive military information to the Taliban," Bild cited an unnamed Berlin security expert as saying.

The BND declined to comment on the report.

The United States has long suspected Pakistan, or elements within the ISI, of supporting militant groups in order to increase its influence in Afghanistan, particularly after NATO troops leave in 2014.

Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. It was one of only three countries to have diplomatic relations with the Islamist group.

Citing security sources, Bild wrote that German police officers in Afghanistan have communicated in the past via non-secure means as they cost less.

"We have opened the floodgates to the enemy," Bild cited a high-ranking Berlin ministry official as saying.

Bild said shortly after the BND warning and before a visit by the German president to Afghanistan, the German police mission was equipped with brand new laptops with the latest software for secure communication.

The interior ministry confirmed the police laptops and broadcasting technology were tested and equipped with new software between September13 and 23. A spokesman said this was a regular I.T.-checkup and was not linked to the spying claim.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad, Writing by Sarah Marsh in Berlin; Editing by Sophie Hares)



http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals


http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857


http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY


http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE





The ghosts that haunt General Kayani



Dear All,
I wrote sometimes ago that the reason why no more fronts will be opened by the Pak military are related to the reduction of its capacity due to high casualties amongst its officers cadre. This is  explained in greater detail in this article from the Friday Times.
Khalid Aziz
 
 
 
The ghosts that haunt Kayani

Somewhere around Nowshera, on the western edge of the GT Road before Peshawar, there is an unmarked exit to a town few have heard of. If taken, you will enjoy the road to Cherat, for it has two lanes, is remarkably well paved, and usually has very little traffic. Hamlets come and go, and as is typical of Pashtun enclaves, there are no women in sight. But before one reaches the foothills that rise up like a knife stuck in the base of the last plains of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, serving as a natural barrier between the 'settled areas' of that province and FATA, just prior to gaining altitude, the ruins of what was once an Afghan refugee camp engulf the road from both sides.

The military is not committed to this conflict. But it's not because of "strategic-depth" brinksmanship, nor the endgame "hedging" of the Haqqanis, not even due to India's "Cold Start" doctrine. It is because it has serious emotional baggage

For some miles, this Moenjodaro of the Mujahideen insulates the trajectory to Cherat, perhaps as an architectural replication of the minds of the men you will meet when you arrive at the end of the road. And then, after climbing for almost an hour, in a terribly nauseating number 8 pattern, there comes a sign in big, block letters which says, "Welcome to Cherat: The Eagle's Nest". This is when you know you've arrived at the Headquarters of the Special Services Group of the Pakistan Army - the holy grail of this country's elite special forces.

We've all heard of the SSG, the formation of crack commandos that evidently rescue hostages, vanquish hijackers, fast-rope into militant compounds, and generally look ominously menacing as they flank General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani when he's out and about. Everyone remembers that it was the SSG's Special Operations Task Force that had the final showdown at Lal Masjid, and how the same unit was later targeted by a suicide-bomber in a revenge attack in Tarbela. Frankly, some of these and other SSG war-stories are over-romanticised in our national narrative, especially by hawkish uber-jingoists, with the modern among this gang even resorting to putting up pictures and videos on Facebook, many featuring the SSG's distinctive "Allah-Hu" march from the days when we actually used to have, and televise, military parades. Those days are gone, but the military folklore remains.

Article Box
An extraordinary number of young officers killed in action since 2001 has severed the command and control structures of several frontline units for the Pakistan Army

An extraordinary number of young officers killed in action since 2001 has severed the command and control structures of several frontline units for the Pakistan Army

Article Box

That's absolutely fine. Even a state that is fundamentally flawed possesses the right to inflict nationalism upon itself, including the sort that features our uniformed praetorians. And in times of war, such hyper-patriotism can be welcomingly stirred into the undercooked omelette of militarised morale to make sure the latter appears well done, even if it isn't.

So let the hawks romanticise the SSG. Or the rest of the Army. Or the Rangers or the Levies or the FC or even the Coast Guards. It really doesn't matter, for the Pakistani military does not want to fight this war.

That's right. It's not news that the military is not committed to this conflict. But it's not because of "strategic-depth" brinksmanship, nor the endgame "hedging" of the Haqqanis, not even due to India's "Cold Start" doctrine. No, those are official reasons for public consumption and posturing diplomacy. They're good enough motives to influence the Pakistani military's strategic calculus, at least from its own perspective. But still, all of them are constructed and contrived reasons, conceived by khaki strategists to convince themselves, as well as others, about how things really ought to be. Thus, these are talk-show reasons. Or drawing-room reasons. Or conference-hall reasons. Not intrinsic ones.

The 'real' types of reasons - especially in paranoid, semi-failed and irrational security states - that drive or mitigate war are, always, intuitive and emotional. And the Pakistani army has serious emotional baggage when it comes to fighting this war, for it is evident all over Cherat.

This army was never ready for counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations before it jumped into them, because deployment in that type of combat requires small, dynamic formations that can think independently and "on their feet"

It is in that remote mountainous cantonment where one glimpses the slivers of this Army's confused raison d'etre: A sign that points to the direction of Srinagar as well as Jerusalem; a memorial dedicated to the war-dead from 1965, embarrassingly smaller than the one dedicated to 1971; Coats of Arms of various Raj-era units, that once conquered and killed locals here, chiselled along the face of the mountains; and of course, emblazoned quotes from the Quran. And then, at the far edge of the camp, past a 30-foot mural of an SSG warrior who is declaring in Farsi,"Mun Janbaz Um" (that he is ready to give up his life), there is the Officer's Mess: A single-story structure with a view more befitting of a millionaire's Swiss chalet than the haunt of men who command an elite, third-world military formation.

But once inside, along the walls of the main hall, all you see are the ghosts of battles past.

Photographs, of each and every SSG officer killed in action, adorn the rich teak panelling. The pictures go around the room, about the size of any upper-class Pakistani foyer, covering almost three of the four walls. A few of the images, from the early wars, are black and white. The rest of them, from newer, more familiar conflicts, are in colour. Among the artificial swords, antique rifles, and a cheap oil landscape of Shaitan Taikri (a jagged outpost in the Ali-Barangsa sector on the Line of Actual Control in Siachen) there are a whole lot more of these fresh, framed fatalities.

Image analysts would have a field day in this SSG shrine. Some of the officers lost in earlier battles are clean-shaven, with a debonair and dapper English country-gentleman look to them. Then come the moustaches of the '70s. Then the beards of the Siachen era. But then, a notable pattern begins. Younger officers. Older officers. Lots of them. All killed in the War on Terror. Very, very recently.

In his phantom punching that aimed at preempting the Clinton visit's agenda, General Kayani said many things in his GHQ meeting with our parliamentarians last week. He postured: "They [the US] will have to think ten times [before attacking] because Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan". He bluffed: "If anyone convinces me that everything will be sorted out if we act in North Waziristan, I will take immediate action". He even got to play statesman-in-chief: "For short-term gains, we cannot lose [sight of] our long-term interests [in Afghanistan]".

But then, the general appealed.

Citing a staggering statistic, Gen Kayani let us into what's really beginning to haunt his institution: That the army has suffered 12,829 casualties since 2001, including 3,097 killed, with what the New York Times reports as an "unusually high ratio of one officer killed for every 16 soldiers since it [the Pakistan army] began fighting the Taliban".

This is critical. Like him or not, agree with him or not, but if you just believe Gen Kayani's math, then it means the Pakistan Army has lost almost 194 officers in this conflict. As the average strength of a Pakistani infantry battalion (primarily the type of unit deployed in forward areas and that most prone to casualties) is about 900 men, with around 10 or so of them being officers, then Kayani's accounting means his army has lost enough enlisted men to completely wipe out more than three entire battalions (that's one brigade) and incapacitate 14 or so battalions (almost 5 brigades). But the real problem is that the army has lost enough officers to decapitate around 20 battalions; a shocking, disturbing statistic, especially for an institution that has been documented to be thoroughly weaved together through fraternal, kinship, tribal and legacy connections, and where the officer calls all the shots - on and off the field.

If they have weren't already been briefed by Munter's defence analysts about this on their trip, then Clinton, Petraeus, Dempsey et al should think hard what they dealing with. Sure, the intransigence to not commit to combat from the Pakistan Army has many 'larger' reasons, but the root cause may well be morale - the toughest factor to quantify for battle - or lack of it.

In an elitist army where many officers are related to each other, and where the commander-centric modules of conventional training ensure that units are highly dependent on officers to lead them, it's a safe bet to assume two things: One, that almost all of Pakistan's top brass have lost an officer they know and/or are related to, or work directly with someone in uniform who has. And two, that Pakistan's undertrained and underequipped soldiers are increasingly leaderless in battle.

After due sympathies and respect for such a tremendous loss, it must be stressed that this is the Army's own fault. The policy decision to commit troops in FATA etc has been debated too often, so let it be a forgone conclusion that the Pervez Musharraf/ Ehsan-ul-Haq/ Ashfaq Kayani/ Nadeem Taj/ Shuja Pasha-led GHQ-ISI combine made some questionable strategic and operational decisions in the last decade.

Just focus on what really went wrong in FATA operations for the army: a top-heavy institution that has for decades trained for conventional war with India, expecting its officers to mostly lead all formations - small and large - into battle, and thus (much like it's colonial-era predecessor) heavily invested in the "thinking and doing" capacity of its officers versus just the "doing" potential of its soldiers.

That is where the army's extraordinarily high officer-to-soldier losses have come in. This army was never ready for counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations before it jumped into them, for deployment in that type of combat requires small, dynamic formations that can think independently and "on their feet". As our enlisted men have always been treated for the initiative-lacking, "Allah-u-Akbar" swearing, soldiers that they essentially are, the need to achieve viable objectives has forced the army to thrust its officers to over-commit in frontline deployments they've never trained for either. As more of these ranks have been killed - over-exposed by 'leading from the front' operations and/or increasingly 'target killed' by selective snipers - internally, for the Army's officer corps, this means more brothers, cousins, nephews and in-laws are also dead.

So, for the Pakistan Army, this war is questionable. Not just strategically. Nor economically. Not even religiously. But more than any other reason, existentially. Thus, the SSG warrior's mural in Cherat lied: He might be ready to give life in battle...But he doesn't really want to fight this war.


 
 
Khalid Aziz,