One of the smartest moves the U.S. could have made (and did make) was moving military assets (helicopters to be specific) from the Afghanistan theater into Pakistan after the recent Earthquake. The U.S. learned in Indonesia after the Tsunami that the most effective way to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world was with less talk and more action.
The U.S. military has sent helicopters, a field hospital and a construction battalion to earthquake-stricken Pakistan – a gesture that has irked Islamic hard-liners but may help improve Washington’s image in the Muslim world after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“When they do something against Muslims, we condemn them. Now, as they are helping us, we should appreciate them,” said Yar Mohammed, 48, a farmer in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistan’s portion of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
“We are facing hard times, and they are helping us…” [Link]
Now it seems some of the Islamic hardliners have decided to take it upon themselves to jeopardize the help their fellow citizens are getting by taking shots at the American aid helicopters. The AP reports:
Assailants fired at a U.S. military helicopter Tuesday as it ferried supplies to earthquake victims in Pakistan’s portion of divided Kashmir, the U.S. military said, but it vowed to continue aid flights.The attack with an apparent rocket-propelled grenade came as the CH-47 Chinook flew over Chakothi, a quake-ravaged town near the frontier separating the Pakistani and Indian portions of the Himalayan region, said Capt. Rob Newell, a spokesman for the U.S. military relief effort.
“The aircraft was not hit and returned safely with its crew” to an air base near the capital, Islamabad, he told The Associated Press.
The Pakistani army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, expressed skepticism an attack took place, saying engineers were using explosives to clear a road near where U.S. helicopters were flying.
Give me a break. I would hope that U.S. pilots are trained well enough to distinguish a RPG fired at them from road clearing dynamite.
In Washington, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed pride in the U.S. aid effort.“Right now we have over 800 U.S. armed forces on the ground, side by side with their Pakistani counterparts; over 24 medium- and heavy-lift helicopters, with nine more on the way,” he said. “Fixed-wing airplanes are dropping relief supplies. Almost 4,000 tons of relief supplies have been delivered.”
LeFever stressed the importance of continuing helicopter operations “throughout the winter months that are coming.”
No shit. Especially with the tempo of US Military operations in the last 4 years, plenty of pilots have gained enough experience to know what an RPG flying by looks like.
Sustaining this is going to be key. Even the militants who’ve mobilized their own aid efforts, despite their own heavy losses, won’t be much good in winter. The USA can really help in those adverse conditions.
The pakistani double RPG(role playing game) is that it wasnt. My feeling is that this story will not get any more coverage in mainstream american media nor would it be further investigated. Pakistanis will later say that if it aint dynamite Raw and Mossad did it.
Abhi,
I contemplated using that statement as the title for my post on the subject. But I decided against it. Because the people doing the biting are not quite the ones being fed.
Getting the general population to feel victimised is an important jihadi objective. They would like it best if the Kashmiri people were seen as having rejected American and Indian aid. The jihadis would have liked nothing better than for the US to call off relief ops after one of the choppers was hit.
But look at what Mushie’s people are doing: covering up for the jihadis as usual. So who says Mushie broke links with the jihadis?
Ofcourse US Army pilot would recognize it. Besides the denial comes from Pakistani Army, which is so much believable, right?? These are the same people who claim that there is no inflitration in Kashmir, actively supported by them. These are the same people who attacked India in Kargil 1999 and didnt even claim their own soldiers body after they were dead.
and I am betting that LeT which was propped up in part by the Pak army was behind the Delhi terrorist attacks. …. //end Rant
Another perspective to the whole thing…
M. Nam
Nitin, This just in…
Rediff:
Delhi blasts: Police traces link to Muzaffarabad
Ajay Kaul | November 02, 2005 20:07 IST
Investigations into the serial blasts in Delhi indicated linkage of Muzaffarabad in PoK to the incident and Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Tayiba is a strong suspect irrespective of its denial, police sources said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
At least four terrorists were involved in triggering the three blasts in the national capital in quick succession on Saturday that killed 59 people and injured 210.
Immediately after the third blast at Govindpuri in South Delhi, a call was made from a mobile phone from the area at around 6.05 PM to another mobile phone in Srinagar, the sources told PTI.
The mobile phone, which received the call in Srinagar, was immediately used to make a call to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, they said.
Investigators believe that the call from Delhi was made by the terrorist to inform about accomplishment of the task of triggering blasts to his master in Srinagar who, in turn, conveyed the message to a ‘bigger master’ based in Muzaffarabad.
The sources said the phones used in Srinagar and Muzaffarabad were believed to belong to LeT.