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Subscribe to RSSThe tribal area of Pakistan's North Waziristan, along the border of Afghanistan, has been strictly forbidden for foreigners, until now. NBC's Amna Nawaz gets an exclusive look into ground zero of Pakistan's fight against terror.
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — It's been called the most dangerous place in the most dangerous region on the planet.
A rugged swath of tribal territory nestled between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Waziristan is ground zero for some of the region's most notorious militant groups and warlords, including the Pakistani Taliban and Haqqani network.
North and South Waziristan are hit by more U.S. drone attacks than anywhere else in the world.
NBC News obtained rare access to South Waziristan and last week became the first foreign team of journalists to report from North Waziristan.
Long-ignored by the rest of the country, Waziristan is one of the least developed and least educated sections of Pakistan. Literacy rates for women in some areas are in the single digits. With little infrastructure, funding, or investment, many make their living by engaging in criminal activity, cross-border smuggling, or signing up to join militant groups.
The Taliban is believed to pay 10,000 - 12,000 Pakistan rupees a month (roughly $100 - $120) to foot soldiers, with bonuses for carrying out ambushes, killing a soldier, or even members of military families.
Confronting the violence, the Pakistan military is diversifying its campaign in the "war on terror," no longer just fighting in the region, but also beginning to rebuild it.
"There are only less than half a percent of people who are fighting as terrorists. What about the more than 99.5 percent of people?" asks Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, who commanded the army division in South Waziristan in 2010 before becoming official military spokesman.
Pakistani Army Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa discusses the impact the "war on terror" has had on Waziristan. "The motto we adopted was 'build better than before,'" he told NBC News.
In the wake of a major operation in 2009, the Pakistan Army has largely succeeded in pushing back the militant threat from South Waziristan. The area is now considered secure and tribal communities that fled the fighting are starting to return.
Bajwa realized that if the tribal communities weren't given something to replace their previous way of life, they might again become willing to help or harbor terrorists.
"Looking at it in a larger security context, you can't really separate development from security," said Bajwa. "So we're doing this to serve the larger purpose as well. "
Public floggings
In the village of Chagh Malai, the army constructed a marketplace, complete with dozens of individual shops carrying everything from cloth to medicine to household supplies. Tribal communities here previously maintained individual shops in their homes or in roadside stalls. The marketplace, army commanders said, gives them a sense of community and a central commercial gathering place. They have plans to build 30 complexes like it across the area.
Tribal elder Akhlas Khan excitedly toured the market last week, introducing store owners and showing off inventory.
Pakistani troops say they want to rebuild Waziristan, a corner of Pakistan that has become a hotbed of military activity, with financial help from the U.S. and others. But in order to do that, they insist U.S. drone strikes on the area must end. NBC's Amna Nawaz was granted exclusive access to the region that had previously been off-limits to foreigners.
"Previously, I'd have to travel four or five hours to get these," he said, gesturing to a small shop carrying electrical goods. "Now, I only need to come here!"
In Sararogha, South Waziristan, an 88-shop market complex now stands at the same site the Taliban — once headquartered here — used to use for public floggings and executions.
"These communities, the vast majority of them, have seen the worst kind of atrocities known to the human race," said Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mahmood Hayat, commander of the Pakistan Army's 40th Division in South Waziristan.
"They've been subjected to coercion — mental and physical -- by the terrorists in order to acquiesce them to support," he added. "They've seen their loved ones being butchered in front of their own eyes. So that is the kind of trauma this society has seen. And therefore the greater the challenge to bring back the confidence of these people into the state machinery."
Trading routes and schools
At the heart of the army's plans to rebuild the area is a 370-mile road — funded in large part by USAID money. The road, half of which is complete, will connect the isolated and insular tribal communities to each other, as well as the rest of mainstream Pakistan and to trading routes across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan Army commanders on the frontlines of the battle for Waziristan talk about the challenges they face and how important it is to develop this isolated part of the world. NBC News' Amna Nawaz reports.
When finished, the roadway will offer a third link from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and the army hopes, will encourage business development along its path through Waziristan.
In addition to the road project, the army has taken on development projects far outside its traditional roles.
Along with the markets, two military schools, known here as Cadet Colleges, were built in South Waziristan to offer young men a rigorous education and boarding-school environment, unlike any educational opportunity available in the region before.
Col. Zahid Naseem Akbar, principal of the Cadet College, Spinkai, said he hopes the school will gives boys in the area the same opportunities as those elsewhere in the country.
"They have the same potential as any other citizen of this country has," Akbar said. "And I think we owe it to them that we provide them the opportunity to join the mainstream."
Waj S. Khan / NBC News
A tribesman waits in line at a 'Distribution Camp' set up on the side the newly constructed Tank-Makeen road in South Waziristan. Radios and mattresses are the items of choice popular among locals, who belong to one of the most impoverished communities in Pakistan.
The army is overseeing the rebuilding to schools demolished by the Taliban and building schools for the first time in some areas, including for girls. The military established the Waziristan Institute for Technical Education -- a vocational school to train young men who missed their early education during Taliban rule.
And the army is restoring water supplies and electrical systems and funding what they call "livelihood projects," training and empowering local small businesses in everything from honey bee farming and fruit orchards, to auto repair and transport services.
"The strategy that the Pakistan army has adopted is a people-centric strategy," Hayat said. "So the more areas you've able to clear, the more infrastructure you're able to build, the more people you are able to bring back and sustain. Provide them economic opportunities. That is the measure of success."
Ideal habitat for Taliban
Frontline commanders all say the battle for Waziristan will not be won with hearts and minds alone. Security operations continue, gradually increasing what they call their "elbow space" in the region.
Both North and South Waziristan feature snow-capped peaks, deep valleys, hidden caverns, and daunting mountain ranges which provide natural cover. It's the ideal habitat for the Taliban and other groups seeking refuge and covert routes for travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Atop a 6,000-foot high post in South Waziristan, Brig. Hassan Azhar Hayat said despite securing the area, the struggle to hold it against "pockets of resistance" is constant. His troops, he says, still carry out targeted operations on an almost daily basis.
"That's why the military's presence is so important here right now in this area, that we keep increasing our perimeter of security," Hayat said. "This is guerrilla warfare. It cannot happen that you're able to eliminate the complete Taliban in any form. So it is different warfare altogether."
North Waziristan remains the only one of the seven tribal agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in which the Pakistan military has not launched a significant military operation.
Despite public pressure from the U.S. to act, Pakistani commanders there cite the complexity of the region, the politicized nature of the debate, as well as the increasing stakes of the approaching 2014 drawdown of troops across the border as critical to their operation's timeline.
Mohsin Raza / Reuters
Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.
Maj. Gen. Ali Abbas, the commanding officer of the 7th Infantry Division of the Pakistan Army, currently stationed in North Waziristan, said his region must be considered separately because of the number of influences at play. However, 40,000 troops are stationed in North Waziristan, which shares a 113-mile border with Afghanistan,
"North Waziristan is not like any other agency in Pakistan," Abbas said. "It's very different. It's very complex."
Despite the territory won and economic investments made, there is concern within the local community about a backslide to the time of Taliban rule. Khan, the tribal elder, doesn't want the army to leave until the entire area has been won and a civilian administration has taken over control. Army commanders say their commitment is clear.
"The army will stay here as long as the army is desired by the local people to stay here, and mandated by the government of Pakistan to stay here," Hayat said. "We're here for the long haul. This is our backyard. We cannot ignore it."
Communities in South Waziristan have been slow to return to the region after the end of military operations. In some sections, crumbling homes and untended stretches of land dot the landscape. Small clusters of mud-walled homes sit empty. Army commanders hope as word of their development efforts spreads, more of those who fled the fighting will return. They are taking, they say, a very long view.
"If we really want to change this area, the approach is to do it over one generation," Bajwa added. "Look at the next 10 years. If we put a child in the school now, and 10 years on, we bring him out of the school, we put him into a college, I think we have done our job."
Related:
From alcohol to kites: An A to Z guide to the Islamic republic of 'Banistan'
In Pakistan's largest city, 'Old Glory' is flammable and profitable
'Zero Dark Thirty' unofficially banned in Pakistan
This story was originally published on Mon Mar 4, 2013 5:00 AM EST
Leave a Comment:
Scratch this place off of my top ten places to visit. I think I'll check out the sinkhole in Florida.
Don't permanently scratch it yet. John Kerry has just not gotten there to spread the American dollar around and buy their loyalty.
After giving millions of taxpayer dollars to Syrian rebels and Egypt's Muslin Brotherhood, he will eventually make his way to Waziristan right after giving more money to other terrorist states.
After all, it's hard to prioritize when your spending other peoples money.
The only thing to scratch will be the money that will be spent in drones going over there.
Each drone could buy clothes, water and food to the people that are not terrorists. Those people seem to be living in caves.
I am sure that they have never experienced the thrill of a hot shower.
That place should be called Warizastan
If there was ever a place on earth where cililvation needs to wipe the slate clean and start over from scratch this is it.
Why is the article in the first place?
"A rugged swathe of tribal territory nestled between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Waziristan is ground zero for some of the region's most notorious militant groups and warlords, including the Pakistani Taliban and Haqqani network."
Most of them are Paki proxies fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"At the heart of the army's plans to rebuild the area is a 370-mile road -- funded in large part by USAID money"
More money will be needed to bring peope to "mainstream."
One side invents problems for US and allies and the other side of the coin grabs US and allies' tax monies!
Some must be too dumb to believe a word of what these Pakis, ungrateful backstabbers, say!!!!
Pakistan is NOT the most dangerous place in the world.
The most dangerous place in the world is inside the heads of the liberal-biased executives at NBC. They once ran a news network, now they run nothing more than a forum for liberal biased articles.
I guess that's why NBC came in last place in the most recent poll where people were asked to name the most trusted news network. Oops sorry - NBC was TIED for last... with the COMEDY CHANNEL!!!! LOL
Oh yeah, and let's not forget that NBC just came in last place in February sweeps.
Was that a flush I heard? NBC are you there? NBC?? NBC????
I thought they were talking about the south side of Chicago or Camden NJ, or Flint. Glad they were talking about Pakistan.
Realist17: In that case, Pakis starting from Chicago and other places in the world can go back to Pakistan.
Pakis will have a better life and we will have less problems.
So it is WIN, WIN for all!
I see them as potential Republican voters as the cans exhaust their base here
Realist have to agree with you just the other day they had the article on how to build a bomb for dummies
uaw,
Go get a job since your lost your union pad.
So where's Pigotry, Fisty and the other merry gaggle of libbie leghumpers when these articles come out? Why aren't you guys defending your elected saviors amidst articles about how our troops continue to remain in the worst scenarios while we give billions away to a country that utterly despises us? Yeah, bow away from the nitty gritty stories because you can't defend it.
Profree .. It was the Bush admin that started detente with Pak, against the opinions of many. Note that the majority Rep US congress still supports detente with Pak. Most of the dissent against this comes from the Dems, how-ever, they are too split on this to create a viable opposition.
Realist ... If this site was so bad, what are you doing here? Hypocrisy much?
These people lived there like this for hundreds of years. No change will be made there unless these folks want it bad enough. We have wasted enough good men and money on that region. Bring everybody home NOW!
The road is funded largely by US aid. Of course it is. And aid to Syrian Rebels and the Muslim Brotherhood. And into a thousand other deep holes in the world we continue to pour billions. While our deficit continues to grow? While we continue to raise taxes without significantly curtailing where we spend (see John Kerry, above, with access to our collective bank accounts)? While we continue to perpetuate the cycle of mismanagement, fraud and graft that run rampant, unchecked in our government?
And what is the divisor by which we must figure to compute the actual usefulness of the money send to these 3rd world holes? About 30%? 50%? So for each $1 billion given, maybe, maybe half to 70% actually ends up accomplishing the purpose for which it was intended. The first 30-50% off the top goes to graft, processing, profit, fraud, mismanagement and outright theft. Yeah, sounds about right.
Makes me f#@king sick! Stop throwing our tax money away, Congress/Mr. President!
This Democrat says screw (with a capitol F) Pakistan, their roads, their people, & any thought of US AID. Osama Bin Dead & most of his henchmen are too, it's time to bring all of our people home & stop wasting even 1 cent on these sub humans. Stop all foreign aid & US intervention NOW !
By the way, contrary to the posts above, Republicans are the ones that started all this crap & keep voting for expanding the defence budget & foreign aid, so stop pissing in the wind.
STOP ALL US FOREIGN AID NOW !
Not much point posting on a thread with so much blatant racism and nuke-mania. Paki this. Paki that. Looks like we need to invest some money in education for our own people before we try to reform others.
No Pat. No hypocrisy here. I feel that if somebody is to be educated on the issues, they should learn all perspectives. Since NBC is the worst of the worst when it comes to liberal bias, I come here to get the other side, so that my opinions are well informed. You should try it sometime.
From the article:
Did anyone really doubt that American taxpayers were funding a lot of this?
Only the road is explicitly mentioned but who thinks that Pakistan would be doing any of this without having it bankrolled by the U.S.?
The article glows with optimism. Now that they have radios (?!) and mattresses, they no longer feel like joining the Taliban. Bridge for Sale!
Waziristan? I thought they were talking Chicago...
Are there suicide bombers in Chicago and other places as in many Paki places?
There was bombing near a mosque in Karachi.
Gang members are in most of the cities all over the world. Some make news and some don't.
People are comparing apples and oranges.
Cow Nectar (sacred piss) Drinking Jonathan go get a bath in GANGA which is filled with FILTH and it may cleanse U.
that place needs to be turned &burned into a glass parking lot
Vietnam Vet -- the republicans started all the foreign aid???? Gee I believe I just saw YOUR rich John Kerry on the news authorizing MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to Egypt (you do know that Morsi is part of the muslim brotherhood or is that above your welfare pay grade?). Sorry the talking points you get from your handlers don't pass the "sniff test" -- but then you don't either. Go crawl back under your rock, you are giving REAL vets a bad name (which my brother is one you scumbag).
i remember watching mad max and saying to myself "this would never happen to the world"....
30 years later i am not too sure anymore...the unprecedented irresponsible acts by leaders lead to financial/housing meltdown (and no jail time served lol) and no solution insight just a bunch of patch work!
if we continue to feed into this craziness and are not careful we will break the final straw on our fragile economy and in a few decades....Waziristan/Thunderdome...i am gonna shop for my 70's muscle car :)
Unlike you, I doubt they set their alarm clocks just so they can race to Newsvine early just so they can post retarded comments such as yours. However, your obvious desperation to pop out some insults is kinda pathetic dude.
one burger king cafe and its our's...
Jonathan,
I don't think so. I think people are comparing living to dying. I would think that your average American would have a better chance of dying in Chicago than Waziristan.
Dotties girl;
First Kerry ain't my anything. Further if you had read my posts on the vine for that article you would know my opinion doesn't even approach your suggestion.
Also I have never been on welfare, unlike you I worked for my living & though retired I still do part time.
You have never served or you would not assail my service. I commend you brother for his.
Lastly you were the result of the leak in the scumbag you referred to. Ask yo momma.
Per 100,000 people:
Pakistan's homicide rate is 7.8
The United States is 4.8
Illinois is 6.0
Chicago is 15.2
World average is 6.9
Just some info if anyone was curious.
People, please stop ripping on Chicago. That city has the toughest gun laws in our country, so by definition it must be the safest city in the country!
Sorry, all you posters. Like it or not, your world and your well-being rests solidly on stuff that comes from "far away places, with strange sounding names"! Stick your head in the sand all you want, right wingers, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and the rest are part of your life, for the rest of your life. And anyway, you should strongly identify with the insurgents (and alQuaida, for that matter), THEY ARE THE CONSERVATIVES THERE! They are fighting "foreign" ideas, and wanting to go back to the "good old days". (Wayne LaPierre, Grover Norquist, Pat Robertson, and Rush Limbaugh would feel right at home there, being among like thinkers. It is a low tax, no social engineering, theocracy, much like what you guys want to turn America into.) They are perfect TeaParty recruits. And, they are committed!
Our military, and our government needs ZERO F-35s (for instance) and 50,000 speakers of languages you've never heard of. It would save us 100s 0f Billions $$$, let us understand what's actually going on outside North America, (so we aren't always blundering into all these "tar baby" [google it] wars.) Any dollar we spend helping modernize people in the developing world, is a dollar well spent, for all of us. It won't "buy us friends" (do YOU want to be bought as a friend? Where did you get the screwed up idea that anybody wants to be a bought friend?) The best chance we have for a stable, peaceful world is to help everybody have all the advantages that we have from a modern, democratic life. They may not become our friends, but so what? Peace and stability is what we say we want. We can't change the fight, and we can't just drop out, but we sure can be a whole lot smarter about how we do things. And, wishing it weren't so, aint the way to act smart.
@Chris from yucaipa -
The names referred to are the "first responders". You think I'm being pathetic? Oh nooo. These posters are the first to post on several articles almost every time; the same articles always deal with something political and is skewed against the gop or some repub politico in some way. They fight each other to be first in an attempt to spread their propaganda for who knows what reason. Hang around the 'Vine long enough and you will see who is really setting the alarm clocks. I was just making light of how they avoid topics such as these where they have little defense.
It's easy to skew things against the GNOP or Teapublicans. If they aren't coming up with a new tagline for loosing elections, or doing their best to obstruct a black guy from running our country, they are starting wars and then complaining about the deficit, which they happily created after a Democrat left them a surplus. I guess it's true, Washington does love to waste taxpayers money, but it just takes less time for Republicans to forget who spent it. Bashing Kerry makes sense, since he is one of the few elected members in Washington that actually fought in a war. Unlike the clowns that like to start them so they can shift taxpayer money into dividend payments.
I am neither republican nor democrat but I will say this, republicans believe that every human being should be self sufficient while at the same time enriching themselves off of the backs of the poor. Jesus said the poor will be with us always and at the same time he said we are to help and support them. He also said that it will be doubtful that their will be any rich people in heaven. The widows and the orphans and the elderly should be taken care of as well. The democrats are not any better and from what I understand there are more rich democrats in government than republicans. Any human being that would torture another human being or to participate in it in any way is not worthy to breath another breath of life. I do not align the two as being the same, if a human being willfully takes anothers life then theirs should be forfeited. There is no excuse for torture what so ever. Is is inhuman. I have to believe there will come a day of reckoning for these inhuman things and the pain and agony described in the Bible will be many times worst than what they have done and it will not ever end. The evil things people do to other people is beyoud comprehension and there can be only one explanation for it "an evil one whom the Bible calls satan. Money and power trully are the root of almost all evil, and they are both controlled on this earth by satan. There is nor can there be another explanation for what some humans do their fellow human beings.
@ProFreedom-5130956
I think my 7 years on the 'Vine has shown me plenty of things. One of the things it's shown me is that it doesn't really matter "who's first". In fact being the first to post is a liability most of the time unless you are posting a truly neutral comment. Otherwise 9 times out of 10 the asshats who don't agree with you will pile on to collapse it. The unwritten rule being that it's free speech only if they agree with you. Besides, if you really have something intelligent to say, it tends not to matter where in the thread you post it, people will read it and vote.
But racing to the forums to post and brag about beating some of the regulars in commenting is pretty douchey. And yeah, I consider myself one of those regular 'libbie leghumpers' you so eloquently call us. You don't see me shying away from posting on a Con heavy topic.
Milton My....: So agree with my posts as you have resorted to abusing!
Your post is an indicator of your mindset and level of thinking.
You drown yourself in drinks, drugs and dances!
Even they may not clean you!!!
I thought Chicago was the most dangerous place.
The place where you get mugged is the most dangerous city in the world.
Right now Vegas comes to mind.
Others may say that any place in the world looks like a vacation land compared to the border of MEXICO
I have been to the most dangerous place on earth, it was my ex's family gatherings after my divorce.
Don't worry!
Pakistan has more dangerous places like Karachi, Peshawar and other places!
What I read from this article is that the most dangerous place on earth is dangerous because there are more US drone attacks there than anywhere else in the world.
Yes, very dangerous for al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists, as it should be.
I do not believe that this is the most dangerous place on earth - and with good reason. If you are interested in learning more - then visit Strafford County, NH. That location in its seemingly innocent landscape and people is currently one of the most dangerous places on earth, as well as Wake County, NC.
They do not use drones. They would never spend the money on a drone.
They simply target, kill, and conceal that they have killed innocent American life.
Then they drag the bodies deep out to the Atlantic ocean off the coast of New England, and no one ever finds them.
My God. Are you talking about the Amish Mafia? I saw on t.v. what bad ass organization that is. Scary stuff.
Why is it you people always emphasize "Americam" and use the word innocent when talking about someone murdered here. it is 99.99% chance that they are American and only anout 12% chance that they are that lilly white innocent.
Wake Co. NC ? I believe that you are one county off geographically. It is Durham Co , NC. They should put a fence up around this murder capital of NC.
i live just next to strafford county, in portsmouth.... what events have i missed? who has been targeted, killed, concealed and then dumped in the ocean off my town? i really want to know!!
This should be the next location for MTV's The Real World.
"This is the true story......of 7 terrorists....picked to live in a camp.....see what happens....when people stop being polite.....and start getting blown up! The Real World....Waziristan!"
Oh man, I wanted to go visit and see all the beautiful caves and cliff homes one day. Now two reasons not to go, drones, and drones hunting americans.
How much did we give Pakistan to run the terrorists out of town last year? And in the past two days 150 to the muslim brotherhood government in egypt, and 60 to the muslim brotherhood rebels in syria.... hey, hey, hey.
Pakistan, strategic allies, for NATO forces operations in Afghanistan got billions.
In between Pakis stole the materials for NATO forces too. All of a sudden, Pakis became furious and stopped the NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
They got more monies to restart supplies to NATO forces through their land routes.
In Afghanistan, Pakis have backstabbed the US and NATO forces big time. Half of NATO forces deaths are due to ungrateful and backstabbing Pakis.
When the NATO forces were entering Kandahar in 2001, Pakis airlifted key al-Qaida, Taliban, ISI and others militants by back door from Kandahar.
This includes Mullah Omar, Osama and many including Paki Haqqani militant network leaders.
Hope people remember about Pakis sheltering Osama.
These Paki Islamic religious Nazis don't bother about their people and they are into reckless killing games in the name of jihad.
If one acts and does some dramas as "strategic allies", one can get away with nukes, selling nuke techonologies, and murders!
For all the backstabbings and being ungrateful, the biggest criminal, Gen Mush is in Britain and his son is in the US.
Gen Mush was an honored speaker in many places in the US.
Also most of the Paki problem inventors have dual British and Paki citizenships!
Oh, infrastructure is to built THERE?!
Yes, side by side outhouses.
Good one, William. Beats a two story one for sure!
StonePipe
especially if you are using the lower one on the ground floor!
Stole that one from an e-mail picture, it had employee on the bottom, managers on top! Something to do with "running down hill" I think!
"Something to do with "running down hill""
...and I don't think it is a Shi-ite
(GM Stonepipe and Jack)
GM Jay
Seems nbc is doing the "poor me" and "woe is me" story for Pakistan! whatever happened to that Group of Americans that were going to Peace March from Islamabad to Waziristan?
PS: sure hope the Shi-ite don't hit the fan, unless of course it is helicopter blades.
GM Jay! My dad is old enough an outhouse was a luxury. On Halloween pranksters would pick them up and move them back about 3-4 feet, in the dark the unfortunate would step into deep shi-ite.
Too funny, you guys!
"whatever happened to that Group of Americans that were going to Peace March from Islamabad to Waziristan?" Yup, that group was about as bright as a bunch of Christians lining up outside the Coliseum to volunteer for lion wrestling (Final Score: Lions 13,826...Christians 0).
Education, especially of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan will be the key to their becoming civilized countries. If the women there, learn to read and write and ever get their hands on some of the American women's magazines that show how other women around the world are treated, they will start to demand the same for themselves and, if their men know what is good for themselves will not have time to play cowboys and Indians.
Since 2007, I have been treated, medically, primarily in Arizona, by doctors who were born in Syria, Egypt, Iran, Mexico and India and I can thank them for saving my life. My cardiologist and his Egyptian partner also are developing stem cell cures for heart disease. These doctors are willing to endure economic hardships while they get their education that many American-born students wouldn't consider enduring and, they maintain top grades while doing it. If we don't wake up in this country, it won't be long until we're third-world.
You thank these foreign born doctors for saving your life and then warn people that we are becoming third world? What kind of nonsense is that? These people come here and contribute to building a better society, not to try and drag it down.
Why do you want to kill females by advocating education in Muslim nations like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other basket case Muslim nations?
If some Pakis stress too much on education, then he/she will be Islamic holy warriors like Taliban's first target.
Why are we wasting our tax payers money in these crap holes... If they want to live a better life, stand up and fight against the taliban, yes some of you will die and when you win your struggle against these tyrants and terrorists perhaps we can arrange for the world bank to lend you some money, notice I said World Bank, not the US Treasury.. American politicians should be focused on America and stop worrying about other countries... We are not the world's policemen and the monetary savior for the rest of the world...
Dawg, you can compare them to the lazy couch potatoes that collect "free stuff" from our gov. Why should they do anything, our gov. will just give it to them, free, no work, just collect it.
Just wait. We'll be there next. Intervening in a civil war to save Pakistan from the Pakistanis. If .5% is all that are bad eliminate the .5%. Pakistan doesn't want our help so leave them alone. We can't afford to fight every evil in the world. Let some other international organization do it. That is what it was created for. These terrorists don't belong to the UN or NATO so you can't threaten them with sanctions. This is the first article I have seen stating how "dangerous" this is. Kerry will go spend $100M and claim it is helping the whoever. Since he was appointed he's spent over a quarter billion dollars in "humanitarian aid" that Obama didn't have in the budget. This is one way to stop spending. Obama says he will pay what we owe but that doesn't mean he's supposed to go out spending even more.
What a hell-hole.
Obama is a murdering thug & a war criminal. USA causes terrorism, then claims to fight it.
Wow that 2 billion a year we give to Pakistan each year has really improved their living conditions (sarcasm)
Our tax money at work
You would think 2 billion would at least pay for the doctors release who found Bin Laden, Right Mr Obama we haven't heard a peep from you about this situation, can you say thrown under the bus!
Every nation on earth should be using North Waziristan as a bombing practice range. It is a hell hole of terrorism and death and the people who live there do not deserve peace for any reason. They are murderers with no conscience and certainly a threat to peace everywhere as long as Pakistan allows them to continue their murderous ways.
Drones? Just bomb it for real.
I agree! If this is such a good idea that we should spend money rebuilding this country, then where's the rest of the world in backing this? We need to fund our own existance, stop borrowing money from China to help support the best friends that our money can buy --- cuz that's REALLY what this is about! NOBODY is going to come to our aid when the US is out of money! O' has already pushed back the debt in the budget so that your 10 year old will have to pay it. Course, O' will be gone by then.... Not HIS problem!!!!!!!!!!
Why not just send a drone over the area with a nuke that accidently goes off? This has the appearance of being a totally useless area anyway. Rocks, sand, rocks and more sand. Nothing pretty at all.
Kind of like Barstow, CA.
Based on the headline I thought the article was about Chcago or some other U.S. city.
What a hoot. Pakistan's ground zero is the most dangerous place on earth. Gee NBC ever heard of The Current Incumbents home town of Chicago?
I wouldn't mind contributing my "fair share", but that is never the case. It's always the USA sending 95% of the troops and most of the aid money. An unstable world, full of terrorists, has the potential to impact anyone, so why are we the only ones footing the bill?
We could start with the countries that are able to lend us the most money each year, e.g. Japan, China, Germany. They need a safe stable world to import their raw materials and export their finished goods. Uncle Stupid is nearly bankrupt, and should no longer be the world's policeman.
From the looks of the place we should just leave them alone. In no time they'll kill each other off and save us the trouble of doing it.
I love the part about the 370 mile road that is being paid mostly by USAID. Every politician from the president on down continually stresses the need for the US to repair its infrastructure (Roads, bridges, etc). This tells you where our tax dollars go first.
Right on, send them to Minnesota, most of our roads are so bad Ma and Pa Ingalls had a smoother ride when they were on a horse and buggy.
Stonepipe2,
Is 35W gonna collapse again anytime soon?
We are having a sequester and are paying for improving a road in Pakistan that has been unimproved for a couple of thousand years. The Taliban will have a nice road to move bombs into Afghanistan.
i thought detroit michigan was or actually just about any large U.S. american inner city.
No, just the ones with strict gun laws.
The 4 cities with the most strict gun laws are Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, and New York. Philedalphia comes in at a close 5th. These cities also have the highest crime rate per capita. Coincidence?....I think not.
and we are sending money here???!!!!! 2 billion a year plus a neat 60 million last week! We can really afford this? Looks like Kerry fits right in with the rest of the democrats, spend spend spend waste waste waste.
How is it that we have the sequestration thing going on in this country, and yet we can spend billions taking care of every other country in the world?
It's that Obama-care plan redistribute the wealth including the taxpaying peasants
Looks like a dozen people has beaten me to it. I believe Chicago is the most dangerous place on earth. I'm serious. Memphis where I bought my bullet-proof vest is a close second.
job seeker. you're correct sir. i used to do Chicago HUD home work for a client on section 8 voucher homes in the englewood area. englewood makes pakistan look like disneyworld.
JobSeeker & LN1958362,
Ohhh come come now guys. Chicago is by far the safest place on Earth because they have gun laws that prevent criminals from having guns!!! Logic of a liberal
Chicago, absolutely agree with that call. Im out in the nw burbs. the suburbs are slowly going to hell due to the city pushing out the welfare recipients out of the city and into the suburbs to integrate. All it does is introduce new territory for the gangs. This is the only segregation that should stay, keep the violence out of my backyard, right? All joking aside, the gubmint wants to integrate the low income familys to the suburbs to add diversity, I really hate that word. any time you hear that, bad things are to follow, Now, dont get me wrong, im not racist, This applies to anybody who are in gangs and coming out from the city to cause trouble. Most of the time it is the poorest people with nothing left to lose but commit crimes and gangbang. Whites, mexicans, and blacks alike. There are however, many many poor families out there, with the parents teaching their children correctly and turning the kids into successful human beings. So not all poor people will just give up and go to sh*t. I am talking about a very small majority that are causing the mayhem. So dont get offended thinking that im talking bout all poor people, I was raised quite poor after my father got killed, Raised by a psycho mom and pretty much was a feral child growing up.now after years and years, im doing well. sorry this post just rambled, i just dont want to be misunderstood.
Memphis has been referred to as Mogudishu on the Mississippi. We should start referring to Chicago as Waziristan on Lake Michigan. But hey, Chicago is the fruit of El Presidente's stint as a community organizer. It's an Alinsky paridise.
Claiming all of Chicago's problems are the fault of Pres. Obama does nothing but show your own ignorance.
No, it just shows Obama's training camp of dishonesty, graft, and lying. How DID he increase his wealth 10x since being elected?