Interesting News

Saw a couple interesting items in the press reporting I receive from an open-source analyst.

The first, from AFP, noted the arrest in Karachi of Abu Sohaib Al Makki, a senior al-Qaeda operative.  The Pakistani Army PAO talked this up to the press, crowing about how they’d bagged a major player and how “the arrest of Al Makki is a major development in unraveling the al-Qaeda network operating in the region.”  So, was al-Makki a one-off sacrificial lamb, a lame effort by Pakistan to say, “Look, America, we’re rolling up al-Qaeda, see?  Please keep sending us those billions of dollars every year.”  Or have they really gotten on the bandwagon after the early May wake-up call in Heeeeeey Abbott-abad?  I’m not holding my breath.

Then there was this piece, which arrived in my mailbox Thursday morning.  Reuters tells us that, “Mainly Muslim Kazakhstan will become the first nation of ex-Soviet Central Asia to send a military contingent to join NATO-led ISAF troops fighting in Afghanistan, Kazakh parliamentarians decided on Wednesday.”  No details on when they’ll arrive, how many troops, or what missions they’ll be doing.  They could be sending an infantry battalion to go out and hunt bad guys, or they could be sending a medical platoon so they can sit on the FOB and shop at the American PX.  It’s a good thing to get another Muslim country in the fight here, as long as they actually get into the fight.  It would also be of benefit to the cause, as Kazakhstan doesn’t have a major stake in Afghanistan, the way the other ‘Stans (Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Dirkadirkastan) do.