Our Friends Are Now Our Enemies

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS/GETTY IMAGES Afghan commander Jalaluddin Haqqani (center) is shown in 1991 at his Pakistani base in Miram Shah with two guerrilla commanders. He is now estimated in news reports to be in his 60s or 70s, and he appears frail in a video his organization released early this year.

Afghan Ally Haqqani Is Now A Foe -- Washington Times

Charlie Wilson's friend turns into elusive enemy against U.S.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan | When Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. showered him with praise, guns and money. The congressman celebrated in "Charlie Wilson's War," the movie and book about that conflict, called him "goodness personified."

Now the U.S. is trying to kill Mr. Haqqani, who commands a Taliban guerrilla force fighting Americans in five Afghan provinces from his base in western Pakistan.

Mr. Haqqani has eluded his pursuers, former U.S. officials say, with help from the intelligence services of Pakistan's military, which the U.S. also has showered with guns and money.

The Afghan tribal chief illustrates one reason the U.S. has failed to win the war on terrorism: Its enemies are sheltered by its friends.

"Haqqani is the biggest threat in eastern Afghanistan," said Peter Tomsen, a retired U.S. ambassador who knows him personally from the Soviet war. Pakistan's military intelligence agencies "know where Haqqani is, but they're protecting him. They know he's sending people across the border to kill Americans and Afghans."

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My Comment: The key sentence in this story is the following:

The Afghan tribal chief illustrates one reason the U.S. has failed to win the war on terrorism: Its enemies are sheltered by its friends.

The U.S. and NATO will now have to come to the point that some of our "friends" may become "disappointed" when the support that they have received for years may become dried up. I say .... dry it up.