July 17, 2008
Crossing Borders
While reading this bit: US troops poised to cross Afghan border for raid on bases (al-Qaeda and Taliban bases in the lawless North Waziristan tribal belt in Pakistan), something struck me about the whole border situation which is interesting in a very odd way.
Pakistan is a rival nation to India, having been fighting over Kashmir for decades. Pakistan also has nuclear weapons and relatively recent elections.
Afghanistan is a burgeoning democracy in the midst of a fight for its life against fascist elements of a previous and tyrannical Taliban government and al-Qaeda collaborators. The nation is also trying to drag itself out of the 12th century.
Now, here’s the intriguing point and that is Pakistan is the nation with basically, no solid northern border, but something called a North West Frontier. This frontier is peopled by tribes which have so much autonomy that they might as well be totally independent.
It is often stated that a nation is defined by its borders and having the power to secure those borders. So, by those parameters, is Pakistan an independent nation?
Just a thought as the US appears to be finally taking command of the border situation and the fight to al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Also, just maybe the US might begin to consider its own border situation.
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08:25 AM
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