Is Pakistan FINALLY Ready For All Out War With The Taliban and Al Qaeda?

Two major events have happened in the last couple of days that just may signal that Pakistan has finally come out of its appeasement and do-nothing fog regarding the islamic terror within its borders. The first event is a report that Pakistan and Afghanistan are talking about a joint military force to perform operations on the Taliban at their common border - that story is here from Yahoo News. The second breaking piece is that Pakistan and age old enemy India are actually speaking about resuming talks with some sort of peace making goal, and that story is here from Breitbart.

Let's take a snippet look at both happenings:

Pakistan and Afghanistan are discussing a possible joint force to combat militants on both sides of their border near Pakistan's tribal region, which has become a safe haven for al Qaeda and other groups, a senior Afghan official said on Monday.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that such a force would include U.S. troops and address soaring insurgent violence that he said has stretched the capabilities of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.
"We should have a combined joint task force of coalition, Afghans and Pakistanis to be able to operate on the both sides of the border," Wardak said at the Pentagon during a visit to Washington to discuss a Kabul plan to nearly double the size of the Afghan army.

And now, regarding the resuming of dialogue between Pakistan and India:

The leaders of India and Pakistan have agreed in talks in New York to resume the stalled peace dialogue and to jointly fight terrorism, according to a joint statement released by India's External Affairs Ministry on Thursday.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who met Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, agreed their foreign secretaries will hold a fifth round of "Composite Dialogue" in the next three months with the goal of achieving "an early and full normalization of relations between India and Pakistan."
It marked the first meeting between Singh and Pakistan's new leader, who took office on Sept. 9, and the first time the leaders of the two countries have met since bilateral relations were strained by a suicide bombing attack in the Indian Embassy in Kabul in July.

As you can see in both instances, there is this talk of joint efforts to battle terrorism. And although I am never optimistic that the Pakistanis and Indians can EVER come together on anything, and there has been much animosity even between Afghanistan and Pakistan recently, it does appear to me that Pakistan has finally gotten their wake up call.

On the India issue, it is important to realize that for quite some time, Pakistan has more or less allowed the free reign of the terrorist elements in its country due to the deterrent those jihadists have had on Indian attacks - the Pakistani government has basically used the Taliban and fringe groups as a hired gun crew to be the first line of defense. So if Pakistan truly sits down with India and hammers out some dialogue about mutual protection, that is going to place the Taliban and al Qaeda in th cross hairs of both countries.

As for the proposal for Afghanistan, Pakistan and even the U.S. to jointly operate in the border area of the two countries, well that spells huge trouble for the Taliban. A Taliban operation inside of Afghanistan which then tries to flee back into Pakistan would be at high risk as Afghan forces can radio the Pakistanis on the movement and a trap could certainly be set.

So, why this potential change by Pakistan's government in its treatment of the Taliban and al Qaeda? I firmly believe two events have brought this about. First, there was the major bombing of the munitions factory in Islamabad - it brought al Qaeda linked forces perilously close to Pakistani nukes and killed a huge number. Secondly, the very recent bombing of the Marriott Hotel not only killed a large number of Pakistanis and foreigners, but there are reports that the top leadership of Pakistan was the actual target that night.

Both of these potential alliances between Pakistan and its neighbors is going to take a long time and will be tenuous at best but let's face it - this is the most promising counter-jihad talk we have seen coming out of Pakistan in many years. It's worth praying for its success.

Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss joint border force

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had not heard the details of Wardak's proposal but said any effort to improve security in the border area was welcome.
"I think anything that impacts better security on that border is a good thing," he told reporters in Los Angeles.
"I am encouraged that a leader in Afghanistan has spoken out with this kind of idea," he said. "As in all these things, the devil will be in the details."
Mullen told Congress this month that he had ordered a new U.S. military strategy for the region that would for the first time encompass Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wardak said the Afghan government had discussed the task force with Pakistani officials within the past several weeks. "They say they're looking at it," he said.
Speaking two days after a truck-bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel, Wardak said that given recent events in Pakistan, "everyone should realize we have a common threat, a common enemy and a common objective to achieve."
He noted that insurgent violence in Afghanistan rose three-fold from 2005 to 2007 and said, "2008 is going to be the highest among all."
INSURGENCY EXPANSION
The core of the insurgency consists of 10,000 to 15,000 fighters in Afghanistan, he said, not including those who operated outside the country in areas such as Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, on the Afghan border.
"Now I think they're operating geographically in more areas and more provinces than before, and I think they have stretched the capability of the combined forces of ISAF, the coalition and Afghans," the defense minister said.
ISAF, NATO's International Security Assistance Force, totals about 47,000 troops including 13,000 Americans. An additional 20,000 U.S. troops operate in Afghanistan under a separate U.S. command.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have asked for three more combat brigades totaling around 10,000 troops. Washington, strapped by commitments in Iraq, plans to send one Army combat brigade and a smaller Marine force by February.
U.S. and Afghan officials blame the rising tide of attacks in Afghanistan partly on safe havens in Pakistan where they say militants are recruited and trained and cross-border actions are planned.
But there has been frustration in Washington over Pakistan's slowness to act against militants on its soil.