Whose War Is It?

This video is a bit long but it presents us with quite a lot to think about. After watching it you can't help but feel tense. According to the prime-time news show 60 Minutes, Pakistan is on the verge of a militant Islamic take-over.  That factor mixed with 100 Pakistani nuclear bombs, sets a very grim outlook for the US and Obama's administration.

This video was posted over a year ago in February of 2009, but as of today Taliban influence has only grown relatively little within Pakistan, but their networks of alliances outside the country has grown according this New York Times article from May 6, 2010. As American drone attacks continue to disenchant Pakistani nationals with US policies, spreading a growing sentiment of anti-American feeling among locals, along with little trust in the government in Islamabad, the Pakistani Taliban is exploiting this recipe for a perfect storm.

Something I found very interesting from this video was how President Asif Ali Zardari admitted that the expanding Taliban grew of out denial by the Pakistani government. The Taliban's network of underground tunnels visited in the video, took years to build, therefore the Taliban was left to its own devices for many years.  Obviously there are many more reasons the Taliban was able to arise and now thrive in Pakistan, but they are too complex to get into for this blog. However, I cannot help feeling this video is somewhat biased, not necessarily wrong, but I think it lacks some perspective.  It talks about how the Pakistani government has failed, but what about the American government? How can such a seemingly rudimentary group, such as the Taliban, remain so elusive for the most powerful military in the world?

This post turned out a little more grim than I intended, so I'm just going to stop here, but I would really like to hear about what you think of this video and what the other side of the story may be.