Pakistan: Fortifying Our Civilizational Heritage … These are very challenging times for the Pakistani nation, blessed with national resilience, sense of honour and the civilizational heritage, drawn from the four oldest civilizations of the world – Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and East Asia (China), with whom it shares common borders. Itself being the 'Cradle of Indus Civilization', no other country in the world can boast of such assets, which determine the 'Geo-historical Blend' of the Pakistani nation and can rightly be called the 'Land of the Rainbow Civilization"; yet, these very civilizational assets have so carelessly been sacrificed for the geo-political expediencies of the past. Instead of getting closer to our immediate neighbours, we made friends and allies with the United States of America, a distant land, with whom we share no civilizational values. And for this faulty decision, Pakistan has suffered immensely, during the last five decades. There is a strong realization now to 'correct the course' and create a more pragmatic geo-political environment of national security, most suited, to strengthen our civilizational linkages, with our immediate neighbours. – Opinion Maker/General Mirza Aslam Beg

Dominant Social Theme: Ignore the shifting strategic implications. Pakistan is a friend of the US.

Free-Market Analysis: One of the biggest reasons the Anglo-American elite lost the war in Afghanistan is because the wealthy families that make up Pakistan's elite were distrustful of both NATO and the US military-industrial comlex. In this article, excerpted above, we can see how the perception of Pakistan's interests are changing.

The British virtually carved Pakistan out of India, but that doesn't mean they incurred any gratitude for it. The latest Afghan war foundered in Afghanistan because the Pakistan elites would not expel the Pashtun Taliban from "safe havens." Of course, what was never explained in mainstream Western media was that these were not safehavens so much as regional areas in Pakistan where the Pashtuns had lived for thousands of years.

With good reason, the Pakistan elites were reluctant to invade. The Pashtuns practice private, tribal justice. The families of victims remember and may take vengeance "unto the seventh generation." What Western propagandists have demeaned as "lynch mob" (private) justice turns out to have a good deal of logic behind it after all. It discourages unwarranted attacks.

Now comes General Mirza Aslam Beg to propose a regional strategy to bring Pakistan back to health. Beg, like General Hamid Gul speaks for Pakistan's elite families. In Pakistan, where civil rule is weak, top military men are comfortable speaking on large issues of statecraft. Gul is exceptionally powerful and well-placed. Beg seems so, too. The piece may merely be a rhetorical gambit aimed at the US, but some of its arguments are convincing nonetheless. Here's the recipe he recommends for Pakistan:

After six decades of conflict and distrust, India and Pakistan now have realized the need to resolve the outstanding issues through dialogue and discussion. The forces of globalization also demand that the existing developed trade and commerce infrastructure between the two countries, which have remained closed for over six decades, must be opened now, for the free flow of trade and commerce throughout the entire Asian region.

Since 1979, Iran has been subjected to sanctions and embargos by the United States and has been demonized for the alleged weaponisation of its nuclear programme, creating a state of panic amongst its immediate neighbours, who, during the last ten years have purchased military hardware from USA, worth over US$ 150 billions, to face the Iranian threat, yet Iran poses no threat to them. Iran has joined hands with Pakistan to evolve a common strategy for peace and stability in Afghanistan, after the American exit, which is a very healthy development towards strengthening the historic linkage between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan …

With the rise of China, the 'global centre of gravity' has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific and China, now is a factor of stability for the Pacific and Asian regions. Chinese policy of Peace, Cooperation and Engagement, projects Chinese 'Soft Power' and neutralizes, without fighting, the American military 'Hard Power' vying for global domination and emerges as the most successful policy in today's multi-polar world. China is a reliable friend of Pakistan. It has stood by Pakistan and is a source of strength, radiating the civilizational virtues of peace and harmony.

This indicates what may be a significant strategic adjustment by the great Pakistan families. US policy-makers like Hillary Clinton have been using a carrot-and-stick approach to try to shove Pakistan's leadership toward an all-out invasion of Pashtun/Taliban areas in Pakistan. This policy instead seems to have galvanized a new political direction.

Is the Western mainstream media reporting it? The idea seems to be that if it is not being written about, then it is not happening. This principle is being applied to the larger Afghan war. The war effort seems to be in a virtual free fall. Hamid Karzai's brother – perhaps the most single important man in Afghanistan – was gunned down just the other day.

But there have been a number of other deaths of top pro-American bureaucrats and military men in recent months. And what also was not reported by the media with any great vigor (that we could tell) was at the funeral of Ahmed Wali Karzai ANOTHER bomb went off. After the initial attack, a further one. The violence is totally out of control.

The man behind the strategy of winning Afghan "hearts and minds" – General David Petraeus – has been shuffled over to the CIA, and this is no promotion. He was given credit he didn't deserve for winning the war in Iraq (which is won by no means) but he is richly deserving of the blame (part of it anyway) for "losing" Afghanistan. His presidential aspirations, if he had any, are likely over.

His recent comment (also unreported in the West) that Afghan parents were "burning" their children to gain American dollar compensation made the rounds and further poisoned relationships. His insistence on continuing the night raids that were increasingly killing Afghan civilians are further evidence of this dysfunction.

The Pakistanis are well aware of what has taken place, even if the West is not informed. Beg writes that Afghanistan is the epicenter of Global Islamic Resistance "against the forces of aggression for the last thirty years." He makes the bold statement in his article that this resistance has defeated both the Soviets and the Americans.

Those who resisted, he adds, "have suffered immensely, yet in their resolve to defeat the mightiest of the mighty, they remain so steadfast, self-composed and confident of their victory, that has unnerved the occupation forces." He is also well aware that the fall-back plan of the US military in Afghanistan is to create civil war in order to weaken the Taliban on an ongoing basis. Beg has a response:

Conspiracies are therefore being hatched to divide the country and create a condition of a civil war, as in 1989, but the Afghans are much wiser now and know how to deal with such machinations. China, now stands solidly behind Afghanistan to protect the civilizational heritage so ruthlessly trampled by foreign invaders.

Beg and others seem to believe that the Taliban will sweep back to power in Afghanistan. We are not so sure. The British successfully partitioned Afghanistan in the past and there are two power nexuses in Afghanistan – the Pashtuns and other ethnicities that have traditionally opposed Pashtun dominance.

The US has exploited this division, funneling money and weapons to the "Northern Allliance" – those tribes that have historically opposed the Pashtun. These tribes make up the "army" that the US is creating as well as the civilian police force. It is all for show. The idea that the Northern Alliance will pacify and "police" the Southern Pashtun/Taliban is simply ludicrous.

There are other plans afoot. As we have reported before, the intention now is to create a nation-state around the Alliance while leaving the South to the Pashtuns. The idea as well will be to harass the Pashtuns in the South with drones and mercenary forces. While this is also a ridiculous idea, it will no doubt contribute to a low-level, simmering civil war between north and south.

The Anglo-American power elites still hope, apparently, to build a functional Western state in Afghanistan, one with a central bank, central taxation and the other accoutrements of Western authoritarianism. But one must kill the King, and this has not taken place. Without "pacifying" the Pashtuns, the idea that a Western nation-state can blossom in Afghanistan is questionable in the extreme.

And now Pakistan's elite families have decided to make the break as well. Always uneasy – as an Islamic nation-state – with its embrace of the US, those that run Pakistan have decided to reinforce regional ties with India, Iran and China. Perhaps this is rhetoric but it is decidedly not empty. Diplomatic shifts are already taking place. And Beg is clear about what is occurring and why.

Pakistan opted to be an ally of the United States of America who failed to correctly gauge the 'inner strength' of the Pakistani nation and tried to play the 'role of a Master', changing regimes at will and installing military dictators, who played their game so shamelessly. The break-up of Pakistan in 1971; the war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the immoral decision of the Pakistani government to join the American war against Afghanistan in 2001, turning Pakistan into a 'rentier states', happened during the reign of the military dictators.

As if this was not enough, the USA decided to establish Indian hegemony over the region from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, trying to beat-down Pakistan to submission, through deceit and conspiracies, pressures and proxy war. Pakistan took the stand, rejecting Indian hegemony and submission to American demands, which happens to be the turning point now, where the new contours of Pak-US relations will be determined, under the geo-historical pull of the old civilizations, determined to banish foreign aggression and establish peace in Afghanistan and the region.

The Afghan war against the Pashtuns was the high-water point of the British empire. They couldn't defeat the Pashtuns 150 years ago and have not done so today. Afghanistan is truly the graveyard of empires. It was to be the site of NATO's greatest triumph – the establishment of a truly global army supported by the Anglosphere elites' craven allies – capable of portmanteau violence anywhere in the world.

Instead we see the slow subsidence of NATO. Having failed in Afghanistan, it is now failing in Libya as well. The Germans don't want it; in fact, Northern Europe generally rejects it. Eventually, once Nicolas Sarkozy is gone, the French may reject it too.

As we have written in the past, the unfolding debacle of Afghanistan cannot be overstated; we stand by our analysis. The seeming collapse of the war effort should have important ramifications on the authoritarianism throughout the Western world.

We have pointed out that the reason to pacify all parts of the world is to ensure that the laws and regulations passed in the West cannot be subverted. There is to be nowhere to run, and for this reason the CIA and FBI have blossomed throughout the world. But the "stans" are necessary to subdue for such a global strategy to work. And now that subduing has seemingly failed. You can read another analysis of ours here: Turning Points of Empires End.

The kind of fascist dictatorship that Anglosphere elites have planned for the West (and the world) has taken a heavy blow. One can argue that all is planned – as was the defeat in Vietnam – but sometimes things are what they appear to be. The Pentagon cannot be a happy place these days (was it ever). The coming budget cuts combined with defeat in the defining war of the 21st century may spell a near-term end to the aggressive militarism that was in the planning stages to enforce the insanity of world government.

We are not trying to be Pollyannaish about this. We are well aware that the US and NATO can still pursue the phony "war on terror" wherever they wish it to lead – and that may lead to a regional (nuclear) war with Iran.

But no matter the outcome of a wider war, Afghanistan has already seemingly withstood the worst that the West can do. The seed of doubt has been planted. The Western military machine (which is now at the service of the elites not its citizens) is not all-powerful. The ramifications have yet to sort themselves out.

The break-away of Pakistan from the Western orbit – if that is what it is – is but one example of changes that will be occurring. For concerned citizens of the West this is not a bad thing. The days when the Anglo-American military-industrial complex simply decides where and when to invade may be coming to a close.

The unwinding of this power nexus may have a knock-off effect on the industrial-Intel complex as well in American, Britain and Israel. Victory may have many fathers; but defeat gives birth to uncertainty about establishment power structures. The Internet Reformation gathers strength.