Artigo de Michael Burleigh no Telegraph: "The Pakistani state has consistently indulged those groups which ostensibly conform to its strategic interests, notably in Afghanistan and Kashmir. The familiar excuse is that these are "freedom fighters" rather than terrorists. That is why although Lashkar-e-Taiba is widely known to have been responsible for the atrocity in Mumbai, it continues to operate inside Pakistan, allegedly as a religious charitable organisation, while sundry terrorists have either escaped from custody or dodged the executioner after being convicted. The perceived closeness to India of the Karzai regime in Kabul explains the favour Pakistan shows towards the Afghan Taliban. This is partly a reflection of Pashtun solidarity, but also of a longer-term aim of strengthening its defences for any major confrontation with India.
One imagines that the spooks of the ISI thought they were being outrageously Machiavellian in their multiple dealings with terrorists they construed as freedom fighters. They would not be alone. Of course, terrorism has had a baleful impact on Pakistan itself. While from 2003 to 2008, some 13,185 Pakistanis were killed by terrorists, the figure for 2009 was 11,585, victims of 723 major incidents. The state itself has come under direct attack, including the murder of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and an assault on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi after the military belatedly acted against indigenous Taliban with selective rigour".
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