New American special representative for Pakistan/Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, talks to the Wall Street Journal:
Some people say to me, particularly after a few drinks, ‘Why don’t we go in there with our troops and just clean it up?'” he says. “First of all we can’t without their permission, and that would not be a good idea. Secondly, cleaning them up in the mountains of Pakistan’s tribal areas, as anyone can see from the search for al Qaeda in Afghanistan, is a daunting mission. It’s the same kind of mountains. A few weeks ago I flew up through the deepest and remotest valleys imaginable. You could see tiny villages in the crevices in the mountains. You don’t want American troops in there. So that option’s gone.
I think they call that ethnic cleansing Mr Holbrooke. Reading the entire interview, it’s truly astounding how clueless the new administration is when discussing its role as occupiers in the region. People resent it and fight back.
As they should.