Last week, the Taliban captured the world’s attention once more as armed fighters moved within 60 miles of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, raising fears of nuclear arms potentially falling into the hands of terrorists. However, Point Loma businessman Mir Ali, who was born and raised in Pakistan, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent suggestion that a small band of about 500 Taliban fighters was a serious threat to the capital of Pakistan is like saying that a group of white supremacists could threaten Washington, D.C. Ali, or Mir to his friends and customers, owns the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Rosecrans Street. He had a successful building contractor business in Pakistan but moved his family to San Diego 10 years ago so his children could attend American colleges. Ali still has friends in Pakistan and keeps up to date on current events there. Ali was asked how Pakistan could let a group of ragtag marauders potentially threaten its capital. Where was its military? “The army,” Ali said, “hesitated to move on the Taliban because of ‘collateral damage.’ You have to be prepared to kill your own people.” However, on April 24, Pakistani Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who replaced former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2007, decided the Taliban had gone too far and threatened to send the Army in full force. And what does “full force” mean? Ali said Americans shouldn’t worry about the Pakistani military. “The Pakistani armed forces were trained by the British, and with 650,000 soldiers, it is the seventh largest army in the world,” Ali said. “And there’s no question of discipline. They followed Musharraf for nine years.” Ali added the situation is not clear-cut. “Historically, the Swat Valley, where the Taliban are now holed up, was ruled by Sharia law,” Ali said. “The people were used to the quick and inexpensive Islamic justice. But when Islamabad brought a modern judicial system to the area, the citizenry got bogged down in lawsuits for many years. They never accepted the new form of law.” Ali explained that with the backing of the Taliban, the area reverted back to the Sharia law. “However,” he continued, “the Taliban created so much chaos that there was a complete breakdown of law and order. “The new provincial government in the Northwest Frontier Province made a deal with the powerful Muslim cleric Sufi Mohammad, who wanted strict Islamic Sharia law. The local government agreed, an accord was reached and the armed Taliban disappeared. “Law and order was restored, but it didn’t last.” On April 20, several wealthy nations pledged more than $6 billion to shore up the Pakistani government. But that aid reportedly came with many conditions. The Pakistani government balked at what it called micromanagement of the aid and wouldn’t accept the conditions. “My personal view is that Pakistan let the (Taliban) situation go that far to frighten Washington into loosening the purse strings, and that is exactly what happened,” Ali said. “And the Taliban were moved back into the Swat Valley.” While Clinton and U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke worried about the militants closing in on the capital, Ali said the most worried parties involved should have been the 5 million to 6 million people who live in Islamabad — and they weren’t worried. “They are scared of the Taliban but not worried of being overtaken,” Ali said. “Pakistan has everything that you need to be a strong country, in spite of the problems,” Ali said. “When elections are free and fair in Pakistan, the religious parties get 1 percent or less of the votes — so what does that tell you? The people of Pakistan are not that religious and they don’t vote along religious lines. They are politically oriented. It is in the Pakistani interest to control the Taliban.” Ali’s perspective as a Pakistani expatriate and now resident of the U.S. may provide a more realistic view of what threat the Taliban may truly represent to Pakistan. — Mike Ryan is the former president of the San Diego Professional Tour Guide Association.
