This is borderline ASB, but if you look at it from the right perspective...
Who profited most from the events following 9/11? Not Al Qaedea or the Taleban, though the former gained stature and a kind of respect it really doesn't merit. Not Bush or the Neocons, they're finished as a political force, though they had one helluva good time while it lasted. Not Saudi Arabia, they are seriously worried. No Arab regime, nor Israel, as some insist. No European country. China - probably couldn't care less, and Russia may have found the excuse for repression convenient, but it's not like Putin needed one. The only country that managed to ride the 9/11 backlash from near-rogue status and all but enemy to hemispheric ally and indispensible aid (with all the monetary, political and social rewards this carries), was - Pakistan.
Is it too far fetched to wonder whether Pakistan's intelligence service was less than innocent? It is well known that Ziauddin Butt (why do Pakistani officials always have hilarious names?), ISI director until 1999, was a strong supporter of the Taleban and Islamic extremist. The Taleban regime enjoyed the aid and protection of the ISI from its inception, at a time when Pakistan's nclear programme and questionable policies brought it perilously close to rogue status. That Islamabad sponsored terrorism is not a secret.
Now, assuming Butt was aware of Al Qaeda's plans it would have been in character to quietly help them along. Once replaced by musharraf loyalist Mahmud Ahmed, the operation was already in the works and the calculation was simple - own up to involvement in a terror plot nobody would consider feasible anway and suffer the opprobrium (or the shameful treatment Sudan's intelligence suffered from the Clinton administration), or let it happen and ride the shockwave. Musharraf manages to trade huge concessions in return for his disavowal of the Taleban (something he may well have been planning to do) and combating domestic extremism (his political opponents). He sold himself as the 'stable option' in an area vital for NATO's success in Afghanistan while retaining considerable influence in the country and sacrificing very little of his own military power. He averted the risk of being permanently eclipsed by a democratic, wealthy and militarily powerful India by dint of sitting in the right spot at the right time.
Indian intelligence acquires documents that outlines the current Pakistani government's complicity in 9/11 in 2003. What do they do?
Who profited most from the events following 9/11? Not Al Qaedea or the Taleban, though the former gained stature and a kind of respect it really doesn't merit. Not Bush or the Neocons, they're finished as a political force, though they had one helluva good time while it lasted. Not Saudi Arabia, they are seriously worried. No Arab regime, nor Israel, as some insist. No European country. China - probably couldn't care less, and Russia may have found the excuse for repression convenient, but it's not like Putin needed one. The only country that managed to ride the 9/11 backlash from near-rogue status and all but enemy to hemispheric ally and indispensible aid (with all the monetary, political and social rewards this carries), was - Pakistan.
Is it too far fetched to wonder whether Pakistan's intelligence service was less than innocent? It is well known that Ziauddin Butt (why do Pakistani officials always have hilarious names?), ISI director until 1999, was a strong supporter of the Taleban and Islamic extremist. The Taleban regime enjoyed the aid and protection of the ISI from its inception, at a time when Pakistan's nclear programme and questionable policies brought it perilously close to rogue status. That Islamabad sponsored terrorism is not a secret.
Now, assuming Butt was aware of Al Qaeda's plans it would have been in character to quietly help them along. Once replaced by musharraf loyalist Mahmud Ahmed, the operation was already in the works and the calculation was simple - own up to involvement in a terror plot nobody would consider feasible anway and suffer the opprobrium (or the shameful treatment Sudan's intelligence suffered from the Clinton administration), or let it happen and ride the shockwave. Musharraf manages to trade huge concessions in return for his disavowal of the Taleban (something he may well have been planning to do) and combating domestic extremism (his political opponents). He sold himself as the 'stable option' in an area vital for NATO's success in Afghanistan while retaining considerable influence in the country and sacrificing very little of his own military power. He averted the risk of being permanently eclipsed by a democratic, wealthy and militarily powerful India by dint of sitting in the right spot at the right time.
Indian intelligence acquires documents that outlines the current Pakistani government's complicity in 9/11 in 2003. What do they do?