AFPAK is a bunch of BS

Ok, so Obama has been talking nonstop about this AfPak campaign. (***Thus begins my refering to these countries by their names throughout. To keep it simple, I wont switch between country, capitol, and leaders.***)


Being the pessimist that I am, I think we should abandon it while we still can -lest we pump even more money than the 8.7 billion we've already given Pakistan ...not to mention the troop increases to Afghanistan.(http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/india/articles/20090303.aspx)



The whole idea of AfPak is ridiculous in even it's wording. These countries are hardly BFFs. Afghanistan was not happy at the creation of Pakistan and was very vocally against their admission into the U.N. Due to the fact that Pakistan was(and still is) afraid of war with India, they've been kissing Afghani heiney and were actually a huge help with fighting the Soviets.



Problem is that Afghanistan has been really warming up to India-> If you know anything about the independence of India, the subsequent creation of Pakistan, and the ongoing land disputes between India and Pakistan, you can understand that Pakistan is having a "F* My Life" moment as of recently.

Afghanistan and India never really had any problems with each other and since India has a much better economy to speak of, they've been giving Afghanistan a ton of $$$ in aid. They even offered to help train the Afghan National Army. Of course, a very green and uneasy Pakistan sought to block all goods trying to make their way from India to Afghanistan and this trade route is still a point of contention.



My main point is that Pakistan really doesn't want to help Afghanistan at all. Pakistan supports the Taliban and does not allow coallition troops to chase them over the border into Pakistan. Perhaps Pakistan even wants Afghanistan to be a messy unstable country. If Afghanistan is unstable, Pakistan does not have to worry about being in the awkward position of being smushed between two strong buddies. My fear is that we are putting too much faith-and money-into this campaign. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are known for their government corruption and drug trade...good guys huh??

Recently there has been talk of senior Taliban leaders wanting to meet with US officials to start "talks." It is my opinion that though this could be a good thing, we should be very cautious. The Taliban can def. be worked with, but they need to reject Al-Qaeda(who cannot be negotiated with in my opinion) and agree to voice their opinions(right, wrong, or indifferent) through legal means. Their views of women are very bothersome to me, but even their opinions should be heard in the legislature while disallowing their violent and repressive actions against women and others.