What kind of opportunity would terrorist groups have if Pakistan collapsed?
A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there’s little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists. “It’s a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution,” said a U.S. intelligence official with long experience in Pakistan who requested anonymity. Pakistan’s fragmentation into warlord-run fiefdoms that host al-Qaida and other terrorist groups would have grave implications for the security of its nuclear arsenal; for the U.S.-led effort to pacify Afghanistan; and for the security of India, the nearby oil-rich Persian Gulf and Central Asia, the U.S. and its allies. “Pakistan has 173 million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American Army, and the headquarters of al-Qaida sitting in two-thirds of the country which the government does not control,” said David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency consultant to the Obama a
Warning that Pakistan is in danger of collapse within months April 12, 2009by Infidelesto on · Comments alk about Obama “being tested within the first months of his Presidency” as Joe Biden put it. Can you imagine the tough and unpopular decisions Obama will have to make once Pakistan’s nukes have officially been taken control by Islamic Radicals such as the Taliban or Al Qaeda? Yea, I know, I know, just more fearmongering right? We really have nothing to worry about with Pakistan and all this jibber jabber about nukes being controlled by Al Qaeda is just nonsense isn’t it? Sorry, but this is true and dire. Pakistan is within months of a full collapse. And guess who will be there to fill the vacuum? Ah yes, Allah’s messengers. PAKISTAN could collapse within months, one of the more influential counter-insurgency voices in Washington says. The warning comes as the US scrambles to redeploy its military forces and diplomats in an attempt to stem rising violence and anarchy in Afghanistan a
Laying out the scale of the challenges facing the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Dr Kilcullen put the two countries invaded by US-led forces after the September 11 attacks on the US on a par – each had a population of more than 30 million. “But Pakistan has 173 million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American army, and the headquarters of al-Qaeda sitting in two-thirds of the country which the Government does not control,” he told the Herald . Added to that, the Pakistani security establishment ignored direction from the elected Government in Islamabad as waves of extremist violence spread across the whole country – not only in the tribal wilds of the Afghan border region. http://www.smh.com.au/world/warning-that-pakistan-is-in-danger-of-collapse-within-months-20090412-a40u.html?page=-1 If that were to h
Pakistan is important to the United States and the rest of the world for another reason: It has nuclear weapons. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that the Pakistanis have enough fissile material for between 55 and 90 nuclear weapons. The potential loss of control of those weapons is near the top of the list of concerns for Gen. David Petraeus, the Central Command chief whose area of responsibility includes both Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Pakistani state failure would give transnational terrorist groups and other extremist organizations an opportunity to acquire nuclear weapons and a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks,” he told the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense Wednesday. Sources: http://www.google.
