Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
What if the Taliban takes over Pakistan - Implications for India & the world
Saturday, January 07, 2023
Pakistan is on the edge of a very big problem. the Afghan Taliban, Since taking power, have gone against Pakistan, which was their main supporter as they fought against the US military and the former Afghan government.
It has done this by questioning the status of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and giving shelter to the anti-Pakistan insurgent group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which has killed thousands of Pakistanis and wants to set up a Taliban-style Shariah-compliant state in Pakistan.
This has shocked Islamabad, which thought that the Taliban would owe Pakistan something for all the help it has given them over the years.
Ever since May 1998, when Pakistan first began testing nuclear weapons, claiming its national security demanded it, American presidents have been haunted by the fear that Pakistan’s stockpile of nukes would fall into the wrong hands.
That fear now includes the possibility that jihadis in Pakistan, will try to seize power at home
And when a new round of domestic warfare between the government and extremist gangs had been opened, leaving Pakistan shaken by political and economic uncertainty. And when Pakistan is shaken, so is India, its less-than-neighborly rival and nuclear adversary.
Pakistani jihadis come in all shapes and sizes, but the threat of a nuclear-armed terrorist regime in Pakistan has evolved from a worry to a strategic challenge that no world leader can afford to ignore.
