'Mornin', Scott--

All this time, as the Taliban has been talking about "conquest" of any neighbor nations that offer aid, or at least no resistance, to American attempts to attack them, I have been thinking, "'Conquest'? Doesn't that require an occupation force of healthy, well-trained troops?" After the remarkable job the Taliban has done of starving their own population and depriving them of education and medical care, I had wondered where these troops would come from. Now I know.

Before World War I, in discussing the then infant alliance between France and Britain, British General Henry Wilson asked General Ferdinand Foch, "What is the smallest British military force that would be of any practical assistance to you?" Foch's reply: "A single British soldier -- and we will see to it that he is killed." This exchange, quoted by Barbara Tuchman in her history of the opening of World War I (which this period resembles very much!!!!), The Guns of August, demonstrated France's basic problem with an alliance with Britain: getting the British to commit one way or the other. The death of a single British soldier would inflame British public opinion. Foch understood how responsive government is to an angry, aroused citizenry.

The Pakistani government is playing a dangerous game right now, trying to figure out how best not to lose, because to win for them is impossible. The deaths of expat Pakistani soldiers in Afghanistan will further destabilize their domestic situation, so if that happens, the US must be prepared to offer them support to preserve their stability. How to do this without funding the Pakistani secret police, the biggest error the US made in Iran under the Shah, is something I couldn't tell you.

Regards--
Mary Anne