I just cant resist a post on this one. According to news reports, Afghan tribal clans have been battling their foreign brothers from Uzbekistan in three days of pitched fighting that has so far killed 135.
I spent some time in Afghanistan in 2004 on the Pakistan border near Khost. Intel reports at the time indicated that Uzbek fighters many of them leftovers from Taliban and al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan before U.S. and Northern Alliance forces pushed them out were the primary impetus for cross-border raids. Radio transmission intercepts from Prophet trucks perched on the hilltops were peppered with Uzbek-accented chatter.
Though Pakistan officials are trying to pain the clash as a success
Interior Ministry Aftab Khan Sherpao said Wednesday that the clashes prove that the government's policy of enlisting tribesmen to expel foreign militants was working, and an army spokesman described the local militants as "patriots."
methinks the tribal elders have gotten sick of their Uzbek guests. So thats a few less insurgents to launch cross-border raids on U.S. and NATO troops. Wasnt it Kautilya who said: The enemy of my enemy is my friend?
-- Christian
