West Asia has oil, so it's sexy and glamorous in a way that South Asia isn't. But a lot of transnational jihadist activity is centred in South Asia. This part of the world being un-sexy for western analysts is perfect cover for al-Qaeda. It also enables those who still dream of 'strategic depth' within the Pakistani establishment to hope that the West will give up on Afghanistan and hand over Kabul's keys to Islamabad as it withdraws. The latest salvo in that regard has been fired by a Pakistani ex-intelligence officer known as Colonel Imam, who has worked with the Taliban and with Mullah Omar. According to him the Taliban can never be defeated on the battlefield because their losses only help them to expand.
Such mythmaking is reinforced by those 'liberal' western commentators who, as a backlash to the excesses of the Bush administration, now recommend withdrawal from Afghanistan. The historical precedents they cite, of the failure of earlier British and Soviet efforts to tame Afghanistan, are shallow. In a 21st century, post-Cold War framework it's no longer a question of bringing Afghanistan to heel, but enabling it to become a modern nation with the backing of the international community. Not doing that would leave a vacuum for the Taliban and for petrodollars looking for jihadist causes to fill. That would provide the conditions for Colonel Imam's prophecies to come true.
http://newageislam.com/the-taliban-can-be-beaten-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1453
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8:59 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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