Pakistan Current Events - During the last three years, many key events affected Pakistan. These events increased instability within Pakistan, and damaged the relationship between Pakistan and the United States. In late April 2011, the US conducted an operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden. Special Forces (SF) launched the operation with the reported assistance of a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi. SF found bin Laden in a compound located less than sixty miles outside Islamabad, and less than one mile from the Pakistan military academy. This operation caused damaging second and third order effects to both Pakistan and the US.
For Pakistan, the bin Laden operation inadvertently jeopardized the welfare of Pakistani children and the health care workers fighting Polio, which is endemic in Pakistan. The Pakistani doctor who reported on bin Laden’s compound location, was involved in the Polio vaccination program, and purportedly used his medical access to obtain DNA samples from bin Laden’s entourage. Consequently, militants in Pakistan, including the Tehrik-e Taliban-Pakistan (TTP), assess the Polio vaccination program to be a cover for western espionage. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the TTP claimed responsibility for attacks conducted during 2012 and 2013 targeting polio vaccination workers, which killed 22, and wounded 14 (HRW, 2014).
For the US, the bin Laden operation caused diplomatic tensions with Pakistan. Pakistan was infuriated that the US conducted the operation on Pakistan soil without discussing its plans with Islamabad. The US was confounded how bin Laden could hide for five years in a three-story compound located so near Islamabad without the Pakistan government, military or intelligence service’s...
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...elligence value - The future intelligence value of Pakistan is questionable, as proven by the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011. Former CIA Director, and current Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, was quoted shortly after the incident, stating that “Pakistani officials were either ‘involved or incompetent’ in bin Laden’s case” (CNN, 2011). Despite obvious instances of Pakistan disregard for US interests, the US must continue to foster a working relationship with Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan made involvement with Pakistan obligatory. Even after the last soldier departs from Afghanistan, whenever that may be, Pakistan will still remain a vital associate of the US. Maintaining a working relationship with Pakistan is essential to the US in keeping a foothold in Southeast Asia, thereby enabling the US to monitor future events in Afghanistan, Iran, India, and China.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border. Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington; dubbed the CIA’s “finest hour,” it signified the first of many victories by deposing the Taliban’s control of Northern Afghanistan.
Pakistan? There is also Al Qaeda operatives working in the Arabian Peninsula as well, and is
Osama bin Laden was an adversary of the West for years and it was known to the whole world. Unfortunately, he took it a little further by having two planes fly into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another plane possibly for the White House. As we all know, this is the unforgettable day of September 11, 2001. Thousands of Americans were innocently murdered that day and in our own country by a terrorist organization. The United States of America would not stand for this and rapidly sought out Osama Bin Laden for what he had done to us. This is the day that caused the United States to accelerate the search and destruction efforts of bin Laden. Soon after September 11th, the United States was very involved in Afghanistan in trying to find him.
"U.S. Response to Terrorism Follow-up: al Qaeda Leader bin Laden Killed by U.S. Forces in Pakistan." Issues and Controversies on File. N.p., 1 May 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
Certain revolutions in Afghanistan occurred between 1978 and 2001 which caused the US War with Afghanistan. The United States helped Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel by giving them military weapons and, as a result, the Soviet Union viewed this as if the United States was trying to have power over the Middle East. After the collapse of the Soviet regime in Afghanistan, Afghan socialists fought over power, which led to the creation of Taliban by Mullah Omar, a religious preacher who taught in Pakistan. During Mullah Omar’s time, Osama Bin-Laden came to Afghanistan and he ...
Bin Laden had never had any relation whatsoever with the United States, or with any American officials, but since the 70´s he had a strong dislike for America. He would tell his friends and family to not buy any American goods unless it was an emergency; and in the beginning of the 80´s he started talking about a battle with the United States that was to take place very soon. (A Biography of Osama Bin Laden...
Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, was the mastermind behind the infamous terror attacks of 9/11 that left nearly 3,000 americans dead. Osama bin Laden grew up to an extremely wealthy family. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Bin Laden offered his troops and resources to defend Kuwait but was shocked by the arrogance of the Americans who would defend it instead. From then on, he was an opponent of everything American and started to focus his attacks toward The United States. Considering the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the US Special Forces raid to kill him was justified based on how he planned several major terror attacks, including nine eleven.
Along with America's help, the ISI had assistance from a striking and very wealthy, young man named Osama bin Laden. He joined the ISI, as a favor to the head of Saudi intelligence and his good friend, Prince Turki. Bin Laden quickly assumed the important role includ...
The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwest Pakistan serves as a sanctuary for the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10). Although within Pakistan’s borders, the federal government does not exert actual control of the region, rather local Pashtun leaders govern the area and the region is believed to be home to many radical Islamic training camps and hideouts (Kurtzman 308). Moreover, the Pakistani ISI (think CIA of Pakistan), provides “logistics assistance” to the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10) and the CIA even believes that the ISI provided support to the Taliban in a 2008 bombing of an Indian embassy in Kabul (Feisal 172). Multiple agencies, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies and U.S. General Accountability Office, have concluded that the ISI provides significant support for the Taliban (Feisel 172). With all this mind, the Pakistan government chooses to support the Taliban (although they will not directly admit it) because of their strained relationship with Kabul, self interest to spread radical Islam rather than Pashtun nationalism, and their rival, India, supports an anti-Pakistan government in control of Afghanistan (Feisal 173). By Pakistan empowering the Taliban, this creates the opportunity to have a pro-Pakistan government in Afghanistan if the Taliban were able to control the country once again (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). By spreading radical Islam, Pakistan is diverting Pashtuns attention from their ethnic culture to the religion of Islam; they do this because empowered Pashtuns might want to form a “Pashtunistan” which would require Pakistan to give up some of its land to a new nation (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). Furthermore, Pakistan is rivals with India which wants an anti-Pakistani government in Kabul and Pakistan has tried to empower the Taliban in order to prevent
...d his followers. It took the CIA years to discover the name of the leader, much less his location. Osama Bin Laden is the man behind the horrific events of 9/11. There was speculation that Bin Laden was living in one of the remote tribal areas of Pakistan or even across the border in Afghanistan. He was found in an affluent suburb of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. In pursuit of Bin Laden, the CIA chased various leads about his inner circle, in particular his couriers. One of these couriers stood out to investigators because he was said to be a protege of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, and one of the few people Bin Laden trusted. Investigators were able to narrow down Bin Laden’s location with the help of this young man, who is unnamed. The suspected residence occupying Bin Laden was no normal residence, the wall of the 3,000 square feet compound were
On September 11, 2001, the most disastrous terrorist attack in U.S. history left a countless number of innocent Americans both dead and missing. The Taliban’s assault on the Pentagon and annihilation of New York’s World Trade Center caused the entire country to wonder what was going on in the rest of the world to cause so much animosity toward our great nation. Little did many American citizens know that this shocking catastrophe was the result of years of unrest and chaos in the Middle East. The tragic events of September 11th occurred as a result of the recent, political history of Afghanistan, the development of the radical Islamic group, the Taliban, and the monetary and military support that the Taliban has received.
Given this framework, a legitimate question remains as to whether President Obama’s decision to deploy more troops to Afghanistan met the criteria inherent in the Rational Actor Model. Upon winning the presidential election, President Obama quickly learned how crucial, yet difficult to resolve the war on terror had become. While President Bush had largely ignored Afghanistan and Pakistan to focus on counterinsurgency in Iraq, Al Qaeda and the Taliban had grown unchecked in the volatile border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Pakistani government continued to capitulate to the terrorists’ strength and sign over territorial control to extremist groups. President Obama’s national security advisors thus warned him that terrorist activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan posed an imminent and real threat to the United States and its interests in the Middle East.
The war on terrorism in Afghanistan has been the longest war in the history of the United States of America, the war that nobody wanted is finally coming to an end. Ever since the September 11th attack on the twin tower in the heart of New York, the United States has led a 13 year long war on terrorism in the war-torn country, Afghanistan. The ending of the war is a major turning point in the history of America and Afghanistan. The ending of the war will be the greatest test on the people of Afghanistan to see how they will take their country into their own hand and decide its fate. The future of Afghanistan is that it will not be stable enough to run on its own due to the high level of poverty, high levels of corruption and limited influence from foreign countries after the departure of foreign troops and the presidential elections taking place in Afghanistan.
Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...
Pakistan is the basis in the international fight against terrorism to this day. Many Pakistani terrorist groups have made many terrorist attacks around the world. Pakistan faced the choice siding with or staying against the United States during the aftermath of 9/11. Violence in Pakistan has increased for many years as terrorist groups have targeted many political leaders, tribal leaders, the military, and also schools. Pakistan is divided into people who see the country as modern and/o...