USA's New Afghan Strategy

Re: # 194

You're right Karachi-Quetta route is still shorter. They were constructing a highway to connect Turbat direct with Quetta via Punjgur, Basima, Surab and Kallat, I don't know whether that road has been completed. This route will still be longer than Karachi-Quetta route but at least shorter than Gwadar-Khozdar-Quetta route.

Re: # 193


u need to check the map and plot it,gwadar afghanistan route would be longer than karachi afghanistan route via kandahar and chah bahar afghanistan route is also as long as gwadar kandahar route.

the shortest route for afghanistan remains karachi kandahar .karachi is 444 miles from quetta and you can compare gwadar with that .its far longer

th gwadar route is via turbat khuzdar and again through quetta
Agha Amin

Re: # 189

Thanks for all those informations.

Gwadar-Chaman and Gwadar-Torkahm route would still be much cheaper for Afghanistan once Gwadar is connected with Chaman and Torkham via road which is being constructed.

Although Gwadar was build for the Central Asian states that could use it for their trade but instead of connecting Gwadar with Quetta via road they connected it with Karachi first which is incomprehensible for me.

I think for Islamabad it is still more important that the central government gets all the profits from Gwadar and Balochestan remains empty-handed as ever.

Although Iran gives heavy discount to Afghanistan on port fees and warehousing it is said that Chahbahar cannot replace Gwadar which will be more cheaper and accessible.

as discussedin great deal here in my i logs and on my blog and as plotted on maps in detail the conclusion is :--

1-since talibans are backed by one country or two or three countries

2-the logical counter balance is iran russia and india who back northern alliance with border as line logar kabul shindand
Agha Amin

Amin sahib,

#189 was quite interesting. Would it then be reasonable to assume that should USA pull-out of A'stan, Iran would be a strong counterinfluence on A'stan. Could this lead to a renewed India-Iran-Russia alliance in A'stan to counter the Tali-Paki axis.

Regards

majumder...
WWII was supposed to be fatricide within Western Europe( France,Germany, Britain)...stupid Ruusians, Japs, Indians etc. etc. died more in that war than French, Brits or Germans....

Re: # 184

you need to update on these assertions:--

1-Already the vast bulk of Afghanistan is via Herat Bandar Abbas Islam Qila a longer route but still cheaper for Afghans as Iran has excellent cooperation with Afghanistan and Iranian customs do not deliberately delay Afghan transit goods unlike Pakistani custom.

2-Chahbahar Zaranj Dilaram route is shorter but has security problems in between Zaranj and Maiwand.

3-Its incorrect that Pakistan is major supplier of Afghanistan.More than 70 % of Afghan fuel comes from Iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan.

4-More than 40 % of foodstuffs are coming from Iran less whaet which is smuggled by Pakistanis themselves for profir.

5-Most of the steel and cement north of Hindu Kush comes from Central Asia.

The Afghan dependence on Pakistan was altered in favour of Central Asia/Iran during 1978-2001.
Agha Amin

Majumdarda

RAF had the advantage of having radars.

Yes, but the Germans had the advantage of knowing that the Brits used radar, although they may have underestimated its usefulness—They could have planned around it. That Goring didn’t concentrate on attacking any one target (air fields, radar stations, industries) and tried to attack, of all things, British morale using the Blitz is German stupidity.

Trivia: Radar was called RDF during WW2 which, I think, expands to ‘Radio Direction Finder’

Shoaib,

RAF had the advantage of having radars.

Regards

Majumdarda

Luftwaffe certainly had an upper hand in France. But over Britain Luftwaffe never really got the upper hand over RAF.

I meant in tech. term. Number of aircraft, pilots etc.

And yes, Briatin escaped as always (since 1066 at least) thanks to the sea and Royal Navy

Yes, but the RAF also did whip the Luftwaffe's Teutonic behind. Most estimates put the no. of planes shot down ratio squarely in favour of Britain. And the ratio is, if I’m not wrong, quite remarkable.

Shoaib

Shoaib,

You're right on that. Hitler visualised a future alliance with Britain (both nations being "Aryans") and saw Russia as his main enemy.

Luftwaffe certainly had an upper hand in France. But over Britain Luftwaffe never really got the upper hand over RAF.

And yes, Briatin escaped as always (since 1066 at least) thanks to the sea and Royal Navy.

Regards

Regards

Re: # 143 RiasHaq
You sound like another ingrate Afghan who has turned on its benefactor. Pakistan continues to provide the landlocked and mostly hardscrabble Afghanistan with the lifeline its people need to survive...in form of food (a lot Pak wheat/rice smuggled into Afghanistan from Pak), clothing (Afghanistan produces very little of it, Pak makes a lot), almost every item of necessity from screws to tools, machine components etc. Whatever Kabul doesn't have, people make a run to Islamabad to get it. Whenever Pakistan starts to get tough on smuggling (like it did due to wheat shortage), the effects are almost immediately felt in Afghanistan in terms of increased hunger and deprivation.

Pakistan has also been the popular escape route for Afghans now in the West most of whom now speak Urdu they learned in Pakistan.

But even if what you say is true about the billions of dollars Pak received and benefited from, it's clearly been a terrible bargain for Pakistan.
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Many countries in this world are landlocked and they depend on their neighbouring countries for trading goods via sea. some traders from a distant country has changed the landscape of this region altogether otherwise Balochestan would still be a part of Afghanistan and Gwadar its main port.

Afghanistan should improve its relation with Iran which is viable to its existence. Iranian port of Chahbahar is a good alternative to Karachi for trading, India has already build a road in Nemroz that connects Afghanistan to Chahbahar.

Whatever Afghanistan buys from Pakistan it pays for it, Pakistan is not distributing all these things in Afghanistan for free. Pakistani ministers themselves are involved in smuggling to Afghanistan and they are making fortune, instead of blaming Afghans bring those ministers to justice.

Pakistan is still receiving billions of dollars by allowing Americans to kill Afghans and the people of Pashtunkhwa. But this bargain must be terrible as well. Pakistan needs more money, at least one billion dollars per Pashtun or Afghan head.

Majumdarda

Dunkirk was a mistake no doubt

People say that it was Hitler's attempt at Anglo-German bhai-bhai. Hitler, maybe, considered the USSR his only enemy and looked to GB with a bit of affection, even.

But even with Dunkirk it would have been difficult thanks to the English Channel and the RAF's aerial superiority.

And thanks to the Royal Navy. Op. Sealion would have hade a hard time even if the BoB had been would by the Luftwaffe.

Also, prior to the launch of the BoB, didn't the Luftwaffe have an upper hand wrt to the RAF?

Shoaib