This nugget was gleaned from the memoirs of former CIA director George Tenet. He, along with others, rewarded Pakistan nonetheless. The reactors at Khushab powered ahead, and they are speculated to begin producing tritium, a vital element for the development of thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs.
"There's been $11 billion in aid sent to Pakistan publicly since 2001 and perhaps as much again in covert aid." [6] So much for health care, poverty alleviation, and education aid in the United States. Some of the monies sent to Islamabad accelerated Pakistan's nuclear program. Spare change, amounting to tens of millions, was funneled to the Taliban.
The US-Israeli hysteria over the Iranian nuclear program took our eyes away from the 120 -- and counting – Hiroshimas being prepared by this great ally in the war on terror. Unless Israeli and US officials were present at the Khushab tête-à-tête, I see no reason why Tel Aviv should consider itself immune from a possible attack.
In a private warning to President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly named the sites where the Talibans had gained control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. [7] Will this tip-off be roundly ignored?
Maybe, nobody cares about the manifest dangers. In every dire situation, there are winners, collateral figures and grand prizes.
The Geopolitical Prize
In a replay of the 19th century Great Game played between Imperial Russia and Great Britain, the prize this time may be the lesser-known Pakistani province of Balochistan. If Pakistan spirals out of control, this sprawling province may level back the sagging war equation.
Writer Pepe Escobar states various reasons why this episode on the Global War on Terror (GWOT) centers on Balochistan. [8]
Balochistan is an "immense desert comprising almost 48% of Pakistan's area, rich in uranium and copper, potentially very rich in oil, and producing more than one-third of Pakistan's natural gas, it accounts for less than 4% of Pakistan's 173 million citizens."
Its Arabian seaport of Jiwani lies strategically close to the Straits of Hormuz, near the Iranian border, while the larger port of Gwadar was developed by China as part of its "String of Pearls" strategy. Gwadar is supposed to tap into the energy wealth of Balochistan, neighboring Iran, the Arab Middle East and possibly Central Asia, and relay them to China. Strategically, this will deny India the same privilege. A Chinese naval presence here will, in due time, challenge US predominance in the region, especially if a conflict erupts with Iran.
The Baloch's have long endured discrimination from Islamabad and complain that their lands have been reduced into a mining colony. They are no friend of China and their aspirations for either independence or autonomy is not inimical to US interests. An autonomous Balochistan has the added advantage of inspiring breakaway sentiments among their brethren in the Sistan-Balochistan province of eastern Iran.
Strategically, an independent Balochistan would restrict Terrorist Central to the Pashtun Af-Pak zone. It will also open up overland logistical routes to the embattled coalition forces in Afghanistan. Nato supplies offloaded in the port city of Karachi are trucked to depots at the Af-Pak border in Peshawar, where, they have been lately subjected to relentless militant attacks. Fewer and fewer trucks are passing through the famed Khyber Pass to reach Kabul.
Ironically, Nato now relies on airlifted supplies from Central Asia with Russian help.
Those who see a grand Pipelinestan conspiracy in Uncle Sam's presence here discount the viability, of lack thereof, of piping oil and gas from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean across Pashtun lands north of Balochistan.
That is, unless:
Alternately and sadly, there is caveat (4)
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