SECRET PAKISTANI AIRLIFT AIDED TALIBAN, AL QAEDA FIGHTERS

The DrudgeReport ^ | January 20, 2002

[Gamma-131-I]

The problem I've had with these stories from the time they first started coming out was they claim that cargo planes landed and took off from Kunduz airport.

We pretty much mangled every airstrip in the country to the point that nothing as big as a cargo plane was going to be able to use it for much of anything more than a parking ramp. Just think of how long it took us to repair the airports at Bagram and Kandahar. Or even that little airstrip at Camp Rhino for a really good example since it wasn't even a major airport, yet we still had to go and repair it before we could use it well.

So I would have a whole lot of doubts about any story that claims that large aircraft were landing and taking off anywhere in Afghanistan in November, no matter what the source was. They'd have to have the video and it would have to have really well known landmarks in it, and even then I'd be tempted to pull an Oliver Stone on it and think it had been somehow doctored.

Another aspect of these stories that has me doubting them is that when they were first being reported, they couldn't make up their minds whether they were being flown out using cargo planes or helicopters. They kept flipping back and forth, depending on what made the story work better at the time. Or at least that's what it looked like to me.

Oh well, those are my thoughts anyway.

[DWC]

I guess you're one of the few minority that thinks he's doing a poor job on the war against terror. If you have nothing important to say get off the sight.

[Sawdring]

I guess you're one of the few minority that thinks he's doing a poor job on the war against terror.

He can't complete a sentence that isn't well prepared for him beforehand. That sucks because conservatism needs a voice and he can't provide. His cliches and one liners are great for the opening of the war but beyond that he has failed to satisfy. Thank god he has great advisors skilled in international affairs. If you have nothing important to say get off the sight.

Silly comment.

[JeepInMazar]

American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers say that Pakistani Army military and intelligence advisers who had been working with the Taliban in Afghanistan were flown to safety in Pakistan during the siege of Kunduz last November, in a series of nighttime airlifts by the Pakistani Air Force!

I remember reading about this when it happened back in November. Some of my Afghan friends were pissed off about this and I couldn't come up with any good reason why the U.S. Government allowed this to happen right under the nose of our military who were there watching it happen. The only thing I could think of was that there were some connections with higher ups in the Pakistani government who were in this group and Bush used it as leverage to get the Pakistani government fully on board with the U.S. (and some sort of unknown agreement was made, perhaps a stronger than usual commitment from the Paks to work with us in an unknown way).

[JeepInMazar]

I believe the Indian media reported something along these lines, at the time.. and it was even reported right here on FR. Understandably, FReepers dismissed the reports at that time as Indian propoganda.

Ping!

[JeepInMazar]

Translation: the U.S. agreed to allow Pakistan to evacuate its ISI officers, and then Pakistan chose to evacuate everybody it could.

Ping!

[muawiyah]

For one thing, there are more Moslems in India than there are in Pakistan. Certainly they are capable of acting seperate and apart from the Indian government!

[muawiyah]

Yes, were they cargo planes, light planes, helicopters, C-47s, gigantic Russian troop carriers, what?

Considering there wasn't a single runway in the whole country at the time that wasn't landmined, blown apart, or otherwise totally disabled, the type of vehicle is very, very important.

My own choice has been the "flying carpet". First of all it's traditional. Secondly it can land anywhere. And third, and most important, it can operate independently, or with a pilot and 5,000 passengers.

Given a choice, I am sure the Pakistani Intelligence folks would have chosen the carpet.

[muawiyah]

Serbs tend to be Christians except the ones who became Moslems in Bosnia. Albanians tend to be Moslem except the ones who remained Christian in the areas adjoining Croatia. There are/were numerous interfaith marriages in the territory of FYR.

There are two fundamental divisions in the Balkans that make all the difference. One is very ancient and that concerns whether the territory was in the Western Roman Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire. This is a very persistent split.

The more recent division concerns which side the populace willingly took in WWII.

NATO is much more willing to aid the folks who supported and/or joined the NAZIs than it is the people who fought against the NAZIs.

No one is really all that certain why this is the case, but it is. We should be asking if the fault is that of NATO, or an EU "personal" bias, or something in the Balkans. The Greeks started waking up to this when they saw their very own defense alliance, NATO, preparing to bomb their cultural affiliate, Serbia.

This has very little to do with religion, as conditions in Gary/Hammond/East Chicago demonstrate - there these people are considered "all same thing", and after 75+ years of settlement one gets the idea that they consider themselves pretty much the same thing as well.

Oh, yes, almost forgot another division in the Balkans. Do they raise goats or do they raise sheep? That's a big one. And under democratic conditions it's the kind of thing that can win or lose votes in the rural districts.

[mickie]

There are some very interesting posts here......but off the track about whether or not the Administration knew about the Pakistan airlift.

[Whilom]

Notice, however, that there is no evidence and no sources except Mr. Anonymous and Indians who have an axe to grind. Seymour appears to be carrying their water. Ask yourself: Would an airlift of 5,000 gone unnoticed by everyone except Mr. Anoymous and some distant Indian diplomats? I think not.

[muawiyah]

There's plenty of evidence presented elsewhere to demonstrate that if there was a Pakistani airlift they weren't using airplanes!

Now, did the Administration know about such an airlift?

The only folks in the area with enough helicopters to do the job are the Indians. Do you think maybe it's possible the Indian Army saved their friends from school in England from the US bombing?

Well, that's a clue.

[timestax]

bttt

[DWC]

I read what you said. Throwing rocks at the President only adds fuel to the libs fire. Perhaps he is not as eloquent as Mr. Keyes but to the average person he must connect. Silly comments are those that only criticze, not encourage what the President has tried to do.

[flamefront]

Thanks.

The CIA has obviously not severed all their relations with their Al Qaeda assets in the Balkans, and now this is happening on Bush's watch!

Clearly Tenet isn't the only Clinton holdover.

[Magician]

You mean that Debka got it right virtually in real time, as it was happening, one month ahead of eveyone else?

Everyone must be liars if they agree with Debka!