Af'stans, Pak'stans, & Leaks

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Angry Pakistani officials deny leaked documents' suggestion of ties to Taliban
Pakistani officials inside and outside Afghanistan on Monday reacted angrily to the publication of a trove of secret U.S. military documents that suggested Pakistan's spy agency collaborated with the Taliban, and they said the United States is using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its failing war.

Diplomats and intelligence officials dismissed the reports as false and warned that they could have damaging consequences for Pakistan's relations with the United States, particularly whether the Americans could be trusted with sensitive information.

For all the hype about this leak, if you did not know this stuff, then your news sources must be questioned.

For example, Pakistan extremists regard Afghanistan as an ally of India. In a black and white world that extremists live in, others are only friends or enemies. Such extremists could not even hear India warning Pakistani that, when it comes to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, India and Pakistan should be allies.

A major hotel was bombed in Kabul. Likely attackers - Pakistanis or their agents. You should have known that. Most did not because so much domestic news was manipulate and provided by Fox News and other domestic propaganda sources.

Pakistan was literally told they had to decide whether to entertain their own extremists. Or deal with the reality being enforced by the US. At the highest levels of Pakistan's government, it was decided to work with America. But at lower levels, Pakistanis still remain a partial ally of the Taliban.

Those in America who also see things in black and white will not understand the complexities confronting Sec Clinton and Richard Holbrook. Pakistan, like all countries in the world, is not a monolithic entity. What country is the greatest threat to America? Probably Pakistan. Leaked documents are mostly just confirming what was all but completely known.

So what makes those leaked documents so damning? Information that explains why we were defeated in Afghanistan. Why we are fighting the Afghan war all over again - completely from scratch. Without major advantages we once had in 2001 when every nation adjacent to Afghanistan - including Iran – wanted to provide various levels of assistance. Today, Russia is an obviously more reliable ally than Pakistan.

The 2000s have left us with messes enhanced everywhere from space to the deep sea, to science, to climate, and to relations with most every nation in the world. We even all but destroyed the Oslo Accords and wiped out a surplus into a greatest deficit.
Even almost created another Great Depression.

These leaks are only confirming what everyone should have suspected over four years ago.