Not paranoia, just skepticism

Submitted by John in Michigan, USA (United States), May 5, 2011 at 23:31

@Carlos de Souza

Thanks for your response.

"illogical Russian paranoia"

Well, more like realistic skepticism. The fear that Russia might use a very slim pretext to invade, plunder, or poison countries like Georgia or Ukraine isn't illogical paranoia, because those things actually happened. So, is it worth it to sacrifice to the new Russian Empire some additional victims of the former USSR empire, in order to assure an alternate supply route into Afghanistan? Do you want to be the person who tells these countries they've been selected?

"Also, you should know by now that a good portion of the Western supplies into Afghanistan is through Uzbekistan"

I remember when those negotiations were under way. My impression was, they were partially successful, but I haven't seen evidence that "a good portion" of our supply goes through there today. Do you have any links?

Also, if we stopped using Pakistan for supplies, I fear it would be seen there as a stain on their national honor. It would cause pro-US (and implicitly, pro-India or at least pro-peace) elements in Pakistan to loose face.

Finally, the supply route argument was only one of four reasons I gave that we need Pakistan.

I remember also a very interesting proposal several years ago from India to provide something like 100,000+ troops to help the US in Afghanistan. I could never figure out if it was a serious proposal, or just a (much appreciated) gesture of support. For example, how would the troops get to Afghanistan?

Actually, I am very interested in a stronger US-India relationship. It is a much more natural fit than the US-Pakistan relationship. But for now, we need a relationship with both countries.

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