August 27:
Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said militants are using Pakistan as a base to infiltrate into Afghanistan, but he said the Pakistani government is not conspiring with them.
"I think that Pakistan has done an awful lot in going after al-Qaida and it's important that they don't let the Taliban groups be organized in the Pakistani side of the border," he said in Bagram, where the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan is located.
Abizaid said he does not believe accusations of collusion between Pakistan's government and the resurgent Taliban rebels or other extremists.
Today:
Miranshah: Pro Taliban militants and the Pakistani government signed a peace deal on Tuesday, according to Pakistani negotiators.
The militants said they would stop attacks in Pakistan and across the Afghan border on the condition that the Pakistani government stop air and ground operations in the Waziristan region and dismantle newly built checkposts.
People arrested during military operations will also be released under the agreement and confiscated property, including weapons, would be returned.
This is the best part of the deal:
The peace agreement means that there will be no more free movement for tribes to enter into Afghanistan.
"Except for trade, people will not be allowed to go to Afghanistan to launch attacks," said Nek Zaman, a member of the tribal council who is also a member of the Pakistani parliament.
I'm sure they all got a chuckle after "agreeing" on that part of the deal. With no Pakistani Army or checkpoints in the region, who is supposed to enforce that?
So was Abizaid lying, or was he blindsided by our supposed "allies" in Pakistan? And congratulations to Bush, who was just played the fool by Musharraf, who is cashing in U.S. checks to the tune of $3 billion over five years and was supposedly assisting US efforts on the "war on terror".
Update: Woah, it's even worse than that:
If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden "would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen." – ABC News, Sept. 5, 2006.
That's Bush's allies in action. He's allienated our real allies, and made friends with thugs and despots. Why would we expect anything less?