THURSDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2008
9/11 Seven Years Later: US "Safe," South Asia in Turmoil
Wednesday 10 September 2008
by: Jonathan S. Landay and Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
After seven years of the "global war on terror," Afghanistan and Pakistan are seeing a growing al-Qaeda presence - and an increasing danger posed by US attacks on their civilians. Here, Pakistani protesters show their opposition to the "war on terror" by burning an American flag. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)
Islamabad, Pakistan - Seven years after 9/11, al Qaida and its allies are gaining ground across the region where the plot was hatched, staging their most lethal attacks yet against NATO forces and posing a growing threat to the U.S.-backed governments in Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan.
While there have been no new strikes on the U.S. homeland, the Islamic insurrection inspired by Osama bin Laden has claimed thousands of casualties and displaced tens of thousands of people and shows no sign of slackening in the face of history's most powerful military alliance.
The insurgency now stretches from Afghanistan's border with Iran through the southern half of the country. The Taliban now are able to interdict three of the four major highways that connect Kabul, the capital, to the rest of the country.
"I am not convinced we are winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded before a congressional committee on Tuesday.
Experts inside and outside the U.S. government agreed that a key reason for the resurgence is a growing popular sympathy for the militants because an over-reliance on the use of force, especially airpower, by NATO has killed hundreds of civilians.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, warned that cross-border U.S. missile strikes and commando raids no longer will be tolerated. "The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all cost," he said.'
While there have been no new strikes on the U.S. homeland, the Islamic insurrection inspired by Osama bin Laden has claimed thousands of casualties and displaced tens of thousands of people and shows no sign of slackening in the face of history's most powerful military alliance.
The insurgency now stretches from Afghanistan's border with Iran through the southern half of the country. The Taliban now are able to interdict three of the four major highways that connect Kabul, the capital, to the rest of the country.
"I am not convinced we are winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded before a congressional committee on Tuesday.
Experts inside and outside the U.S. government agreed that a key reason for the resurgence is a growing popular sympathy for the militants because an over-reliance on the use of force, especially airpower, by NATO has killed hundreds of civilians.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, warned that cross-border U.S. missile strikes and commando raids no longer will be tolerated. "The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all cost," he said.'
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