Faraz

Its great to see so many replies, comments and opinions regarding Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Islamic Fundamentalists and Pakistan's role in war against terrorism. After what happened on 9/11 in USA, one can't blame Americans for being anti-Islam and feeling threatened by Islamic religious extremists. What happened on 9/11 was inexcusable. What the people in USA and other western countries need to realize is that Islam and terrorism have been wrongly associated with each other. Islam is a religion of peace and strictly prohibits suicide attacks, killing women & children is a crime, attacking civilians is forbidden. These rules apply in war and peace times. Therefore, any terrorist activity is not part of Islam and any cult or group which adopts terrorist tactics is a non-Muslim. Someone in the forum, objected to my point that these terrorist outfits like Taliban were created by USA. Well USA did not create a terrorist outfit but they did create Taliban (Mujahidin) to fight Russia. These Mujahidin were trained, funded and recruited by USA's CIA. This is a fact. Another fact is that to do all this Pakistani soil, airspace and military was used. On American, pressure Pakistan was forced to accept Afghan refugees... This is the point when drugs and weapons started pouring in to Pakistan. Afghans setup drug and weapons smuggling, law and order situation started deteriorating. Once, Russia was defeated, America pulled out of the whole thing and left Afghan mujahidin (Talibans) and Pakistan (full of uneducated armed Afghan refugees) on their own. Mujahidin were warriors who lacked every other skill and had no means of earning as Afghanistan was in ruins after the war. This, angered the Afghan warriors, they felt cheated by a friend. I know this is to some people and cultures in the world a normal thing to use someone and then move on. But Afghan culture is quite different. Anyway, suddenly USA decided that "ok Russia is defeated, we don't need Pakistan or Afghanistan... but we do need to make money to recover our war costs... so lets look for a good market to sell our products" and bang suddenly India and USA are friends! This angers Pakistan and Muslims in general and an anti-American sentiment starts to develop in the Muslim world. In the meantime Pakistan makes few stupid mistakes trying use Mujahidin in Kashmir region to fight Indian forces... it work for some time but eventually USA puts pressure on Pakistan to stop sending "Islamic militants" to Indian held Kashmir. Suddenly the very people who were figting for USA in Afghanistan against Russia, were now militants. Anyway, this is not a history lesson... so put 2 and 2 together and you'll understand. I also recall someone saying that USA did not provide nuclear technology to Pakistan... Well I'm sorry but USA did provide us the nukes and why because USSR was doing the same for their "friend" India... So USA also needed a nukes base to as counter measure. It would have taken USA far less time to strike USSR from Pakistan than it would from their own territory. Plus, do the dirty work your self when you have poor "friends" to help you out.. right? I don't believe in living in the past... and I certainly don't support terrorists and extremists. In fact I hate terrorists because I lost two close friends in WTC (9/11) tragedy. I believe in moving on towards a better future. Unfortunately, sometimes the mess we made in the past catches up with us and needs to be dealt with. Pakistan has always been loyal to USA... we have done whatever USA ever asked us to do. The only thing we ask in return is to give us respect and credit. Today US and Pakistan armed forces are fighting side by side against terrorism. Stakes for us are much higher... we can loose our country if the Taliban are not stopped. People of Pakistan don't want to live under terrorist's rule. So please remember... Pakistan = Friend , Islam is not equal to terrorism, extremism is not Islam... Pakistan is fighting anti terror war for the whole world.... Majority of Taliban (terrorsts) are non-Pakistanis... they belong to Afghanistan, middle east and central Asia... For more information visit our Research & Analysis Forum and website: Spearhead Research

Pakistan has been used by the West for a long time now... It was armed when USA wanted it to fight its war, sanctions were imposed when Pakistan tried to do things against USA's will. When India tested the their nuclear arsenal, USA advised Pakistan to do the same to ensure balance of power in the region and to send a clearcut message to India not to become too strong. At the same time USA also imposed limited sanctions on Pakistan making it even more vulnerable economically. People of Pakistan have not achieved anything from Pakistan's nuclear achievements except maybe a false sense of security from a malicious neighbor called India. Islamic militants were created by USA, nuclear technology was given to Pakistan by USA and the war on terror and global terrorism is because of US foreign policies. Pakistan is just a small country caught in the crossfire. Although, dozens of innocent people are killed by the militants in Pakistan, yet Pakistan is considered a terrorist state. Pakistan is not a terrorist state, but a state under attack by the terrorists, which were created by USA. Disarming Pakistan's nuclear arsenal might bring peace of mind to the west, but has west ever thought of people of Pakistan? I think that if we are going to talk about nuclear disarmament, then we should talk global disarmament, lets start with Pakistan and India together. The two countries don't have any major threat from any other countries and then do the same with all other countries that have nuclear arms. West thinks that they have a right to retain their WMDs and Muslim world should stay unarmed. That sounds a bit suspicious! Pakistan needs support from the world to fight this terrorism. They don't need threats. Our soldiers are fighting a battle against Al Qaida, our innocent people are dying at the hands of suicide bombers. People are scared. Our children are not safe. We are the ones who are under threat not the west. If one bomb goes off in the west its a big deal... we are humans too. Every life lost in Pakistan is as important as any other life in the world. Nuclear disarmament should not be a issue right now... Helping Pakistan and countries like Pakistan, who are fighting terrorism, should be the foucus. Don't call Pakistan a terrorist state, we are peaceful people who love our children and want global peace.