With regards to foreign aid - the UK (as of September 2011) sends £140mil annually, however there are palns to increase this substantially

::. Welcome to SUPARCO - The National Space Agency of Pakistan .::

Originally Posted by twothreeuptwothreedown

#####Well what did we expect then?

History is a good indicator of future intentions.......If they've done it once & got away with it, they'll more than likely do it again.

Ask the Russians.......& look at our own previous little package holidays in the 1800's.

You cannot bring democracy to this region.......it's never worked in the past, & it's never going to work now.

But hey.........Our Generals & Politicians know better.........don't they?

How the Russians must be laughing their socks off, the West's inept interference in their venture "to help the brave little Afghans fight the nasty red hordes & bring democracy to the region"! We would have been far better off letting the old USSR take & inflict far more damage rather than supplying the brave little Afghan with weapons & training which they now use against us!
Just look what happened next, a return to the dark ages under the Taliban, the West charges in to restore "democracy", whatever that means to the locals, a total f..k up, far too many western troops killed & maimed for no good reason. Now the Taliban are content to wait until we foxtrot oscar and will reimpose their evil regime again, possibly taking a good proportion of Pakistan into the mire with them!

What a waste of British lives and money this whole adventure has been and still is. Plus the lives of any locals who have helped us who will get the chop when we pull out. Our only strategic interest was the obliteration of the heroin crop and we should have done just that using whatever force and flame was necessary.The idea that we can win the 'hearts and minds' of this corrupt mediaeval people is moonshine.They have always hated infidels and always will, so being nice to them is a complete waste.

All very well, apart form the uncomfortable facts that the Pakinstani military hate the TTP (ie Pakistani Taliban) with a passion and try to bomb them off the face of the earth with regularity.

Dont believe the publicity BBC and CNN feeds you.

Originally Posted by mercurydancer

All very well, apart form the uncomfortable facts that the Pakinstani military hate the TTP (ie Pakistani Taliban) with a passion and try to bomb them off the face of the earth with regularity.

Dont believe the publicity BBC and CNN feeds you.

And what is your reason for the Bin Laden living in PAKISTAN are you going to say that was a figment of imagination created by the American Gov ??

I like the words used by the SofS yesterday: "...we will remain there in a combat support role ..." This means exactly what you want it to mean. To the Army, it means we keep fighting, etc. To almost everyone else (and in that I include plenty of politicians, Ministers, RAF, RN, etc) it means we're heading into 'overwatch' ASAFuckingP. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months.

Oh, and don't forget the thousnds of Afghans that have worked for UK Forces and other UK orgs over the last ten or eleven years. Expect almost all of them to be queueing up at dover to claim Asylum - and getting it, too - as they will suffer for having helped us. That's thousnds of males, of course, very very few females, and each will have an extended family. And in Pathan terms, extended really really means extended. More tower blocks in Glasgow will be required

The ISI and Terrorism: Behind the Accusations

The ISI and Terrorism: Behind the Accusations - Council on Foreign Relations

Simples nuke Pakistan and do the whole world a favour.

Originally Posted by Herrumph

Yeah - that'll work because we've seen how easy it is for our new government to tighten up border controls.

Do we pull out now, or next week? Shall we abandon all the kit, hand it to the Taliban or just destroy it in Theatre? How do we manage the evacuation - just run to the airhead, hope all the Tristars are working and hope for the best? Shall we ask our allies to mount a rearguard action as we pull out?

When Afghanistan collapses into an even more backward and broken Nation, do we look the other way or try to seal the borders to contain the problem?

What's the worse that could happen anyway? Pakistan becoming a fundamental Islamic nuclear state ruled by the Taliban. Hey - how could that be a problem?

Pakistan has factions that sympathise with the Taliban - that is not news. If we want the Pakistanis to fight the Taliban then we should help a Western-orientated dictator take control again. Otherwise - suck it up and accept that we will never get full Pakistani support. Doing politics with Pakistan will never be perfect - its a fucked up country; trying to see things in a US black and white, good/evil context doesn't work. If they have a Taliban led Afghanistan on their doorstep, things will only get worse. Pakistan's problems invariably get exported - one way or another.

Originally Posted by seaweed

What a waste of British lives and money this whole adventure has been and still is. Plus the lives of any locals who have helped us who will get the chop when we pull out. Our only strategic interest was the obliteration of the heroin crop and we should have done just that using whatever force and flame was necessary.The idea that we can win the 'hearts and minds' of this corrupt mediaeval people is moonshine.They have always hated infidels and always will, so being nice to them is a complete waste.

Well apart from the hundreds I have met, worked with and trained - who all seemed pro-western and more interested in improving the lives of their family and friends rather than killing infidels.

But I am sure you, the BBC and Guardian know best!