June 7, 2007:
Despite all the attention the
Taliban, and Islamic extremists, get in Pakistan, the more violent military
activity is found elsewhere in the region, in wars that get far less media
attention in the West. Lately, about half the combat dead in the region are in
Sri Lanka, where the war between the government and its separatist Tamil
minority has heated up. About a third of the dead are from various
insurrections in India, most of them having nothing to do with religion. While
there is some violence among the Pushtun and Baluchi tribes in Pakistan, the
Taliban mainly recruit in Pakistan, and take these eager young lads across the
border, to be killed in Afghanistan. But that's where most of the reporters
are.