War and Conflict Journal

Pakistan is once again coming under fire, literally, for serving as a safe haven for Afghan Taliban forces using the ill-defined border region as a base from which they launch attacks on NATO/ISAF/Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.  Below are incidents and conflicts involving the NATO/ISAF mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  See also http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_pakistan.htm

Video of NATO Raid on Pakistan
U.S. Drone War in Pakistan (2004-Present)–The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) uses unmanned Predator drone aircraft to cross the Pakistani border and launch missiles at suspected Taliban and al-Qaida forces and camps. Pakistan repeatedly denounces these attacks as a violation of their sovereignty. Various sources place the number of Pakistani/Taliban/al-Qaida casualties as a result of these attacks at between 1,700 and 2,600 as of November, 2011.

NATO Raid on Pakistan Military Outpost (Sept. 30, 2010)–NATO helicopters attack a border outpost, killing three Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan retaliates by closing the border to NATO supplies for two weeks.

U.S. Navy SEAL Raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan (May 1, 2011)–U.S. Special Forces raided a compound inside Pakistan, killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

NATO Raids on Pakistan Military Outposts (Nov. 25, 2011)–NATO aircraft attacked two Pakistani border posts, killing at least 24 Pakistani troops. NATO was attempting to target Taliban forces along the border, in Salala, a village in Pakistan’s Mohmand tirbal area near the border with Kunar Province in Afghanistan. (see Pakistan Border Region Map below).

Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qa’ida Terrorist Organization

 Osama bin Laden (March 10, 1957-May 1, 2011) was the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, is reported to have been killed by U.S. forces in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 1, 2011. The evening of May 1, 2011, President Obama announced that bin Laden was killed by an American team in a compound deep inside Pakistan. After a firefight in which bin Laden was killed, the American forces took custody of bin Laden’s body.

Osama bin Laden came from a wealthy Saudi Arabian family of Yemeni origin. Bin Laden’s father gained his wealth as the owner of one the major construction firms in Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden himself was trained in construction engineering. Osama bin Laden became radicalized largely through two significant events in recent history. The first was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a muslim country. Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan, as did many other young Arab men, to help the Afghans battle the atheistic Communist Soviets. The other radicalizing moment was the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia during and after the Gulf War of 1991.

In bin Laden’s particular world view, the Americans were latter-day Crusaders occupying the birthplace of Islam (Saudi Arabia), for the benefit of Christianity and the Zionists (Jews) occupying Palestine and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is holy city to Muslims, as well as to Christians and Jews. Taking the skills and networking contacts he gained in the Afghan War, bin Laden formed an organization he called al-Qaida. In Arabic, al-Qaida means “The Base”, or “Foundation.” Osama bin Laden intended al-Qaida to be the base or foundation upon which other Islamist individuals and groups could stand upon to wage war against Islam’s enemies (Christians, Jews, the West in general, and Shiite Muslims).

The first major attack by al-Qaida that actually brought the group and bin Laden into the American public’s view were terrorist bombings in Africa in 1998 that resulted in hundreds of deaths. The targets in those bombings were American Embassies.

Then, in 2000, al-Qaida attacked an American naval ship, the USS Cole, in Aden harbor. His next big attack took place on September 11, 2001, when his operatives hijacked four commercial airliners and launched them into buildings in New York and the Pentagon. In retaliation, the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan, where bin Laden enjoyed protected status as an ally of the Taliban government there.

Ever since the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. has hunted for Osama bin Laden. On May 1, 2001, U.S. Navy Seals helicoptered into Pakistan, assaulted the compound where bin Laden was located, killed him in a firefight, and then” took his body into custody”, to use the words of President Obama, who gave a nationally televised speeche announcing the death of bin Laden.  See also: http://www.historyguy.com/bin_laden.html

The 2010 Kyrgyzstan Uprising  that appears to have overthrown the government of President Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev, comes amid rising political corruption and increasing poverty in this strategically-located former Soviet Republic.  Both the U.S and Russia maintain military based in Kyrgystan, and the Manas base used by American forces is a vital link in the supply chain supporting allied forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.  This conflict, if it devolves into outright civil war, could bring Russia and America into the fray, and (worse case scenario) not necessarily on the same side.  This conflict bears watching…
http://historyguy.com/Kyrgyzstan_uprising_2010.htm

George Stanley McChrystal (b. August, 14, 1954)
General Stanley A. McChrystal is an American army general who was named the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, and assumed command of those forces in May of 2009.
General McChrystal is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. McChyrstal is a Green Beret and an Army Ranger, as well as a veteran commander in Special Operations, also known as “Black Ops.”
McChrystal served in Afghanistan as chief of staff of the military operations in 2001 and 2002. He also commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment and served tours in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Forces under General McChrystal’s command found and captured Saddam Hussein and with tracking and killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia (al-Qaida in Iraq).
General McChrystal replaced General David McKiernan…

http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/mcchrystal_stanley_general.htm

Two new pages uploaded on the History Guy Website:
Wars and Conflicts of the Philippines http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_the_philippines.htm
This page includes info on the 7 coup attempts on the recently deceased former Philippines President Corazon Aquino.
and a page dealing with the recently-discussed controversy over the small number of Medals of Honor awarded to American forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Medals of Honor Awarded for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://www.historyguy.com/medals_of_honor_iraq_afghanistan.htm

Operation Khanjar (also known by the English name, Operation Strike of the Sword ) is an American-led military offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Approximately 4,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade along with 650 Afghan Army soldiers are taking part in the offensive. The operation began when the U.S.and Afghan forces entered the Helmand river valley in the early morning of July 2, 2009.  Continued at http://www.historyguy.com/afghan_battle_helmand_2009.htm

An American drone attack apparently killed 80 people in Pakistan’s turbulent and rebellious border country, but the chief target, Jihadist leader Baitullah Mehsud, escaped.

The drone attack struck a funeral held for a Taliban leader killed in an earlier drone strike that same day.  The drone strikes today were the 19^th and 20^th drone attacks since Barack Obama took office in January.  There were only 24 known American drone attacks in Pakistan during the Bush Administration, spanning the years 2004 through January 1, 2009.

Recent drone attacks seem to be targeting Baitullah Mehsud’s organization, which is central to the Taliban rebellion against the Pakistani government.

Strike Reportedly Missed Chief of Pakistani Taliban by Hours—NYTimes, June 24, 2009

Drone attacks on Pakistan by the United States—Wikipedia Article

President Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy (2009)
 On March 27, 2009, President Obama, flanked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, announced his new strategy toward the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Below are the video of the President’s announcement and the text of President Obama’s announcement.  To see this page, go to:  http://www.historyguy.com/obama_afghanistan_strategy_2009.htm

The Rand Corporation issued a report stating the obvious and the well-known to anyone paying attention to Afghan affairs:  That elements inside the Pakistani security forces have continued to aid the Taliban.  This despite the alleged alliance between Pakistan and the United States since the Allies invaded Afghanistan to liberate that nation from the Islamic Fundamentalist Taliban and its al-Qaida mercenaries.

The Taliban originally took power in Afghanistan with both covert and overt aid from the Pakistani military and the Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) in the 1990s.(see http://www.historyguy.com/afghan_civil_war.html for detailed information on the Taliban’s rise to power).

The United States has been making noise lately about the Pakistani government’s inability or, as this report leads one to believe, lack of desire, to rein in Taliban forces on Pakistani soil.  It is highly likely that if the current situation continues, with Taliban forces using Pakistani territory with impunity, that the U.S. will attack across the border.  Just as in the Vietnam War, when Communist forces used neighboring Cambodia and Laos for sanctuary, the U.S. may see the need to correct the problem itself. 

Whereas the 1970 invasion of Cambodia sparked massive and deadly anti-war protests in the U.S., a repeat of those types of mass demonstrations would be unlikely in America today. Without a military draft to drive millions of youths to the movement, today’s anti-war organizations will not do anything substantial.  In fact, the anti-war movement, if it can justifiably be called a true movement, cares more about the war in Iraq anyway.  Afghanistan is increasingly becoming a truly "Forgotten War," which is a true tragedy, since in many ways, the outcome of this conflict is of more importance than what happens in Iraq.