In the wake of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's resignation on November 8, 2006 I suggested in this space that we can alleviate our fears of global jihad by distinguishing local and regional conflicts from those with truly global aims. This can be a difficult task, because local groups may use inflammatory anti-American language as fodder in complex disputes with multiple players. The United States may be one of the players in such disputes, as it is likely to be in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but it is not the only one.
The story behind a suicide bombing at a Pakistani military post in the Northwest Frontier province in Pakistan on November 7, 2006 is a case in point. The suicide bombing was carried out to avenge an earlier attack on a school in the area a week earlier. The school attack was carried out by the Pakistani military, under American pressure.
Following the attack on the school on October 30, local residents protested their outrage—and their belief that the American military was its cause—with virulently anti-American protests that included burning American flags and effigies of President Bush. They saw the attack on an Islamic school (a madrasa) as an attack against Islam. Many asserted that there were children, not 'high level targets,' in the school at the time.
This is important background to the protests, and the incendiary images they leave behind, of protesters burning flags and chanting, as Pakistanis did last week, "Death to America." It is also important background to the suicide bombing.
Nevertheless, details of the surrounding story are dropping out of the official narrative being shaped by both the American and Pakistani administrations. The suicide bombing has already been enfolded into the story of global jihad and the war on terror.
President Bush hasn't said anything about the story, but rather extended condolences to the survivors of the suicide attack victims in its wake. Which is to say: the context in which the suicide bombing took place, and role of the United States in shaping it is not being mentioned. All that's left is a tale of a suicide bombing that seems to have neither rhyme nor reason, but an inexplicable urge to violence by a Pakistani assailant.
Pakistani President Musharraf followed suit, and confirmed his country's alliance with the United States, stating that terrorism will be eradicated "with an iron hand" from Pakistan.The real story is incomplete and doesn't serve up answers as easily as we might like. It is full of complex geopolitical relations and local passions., and a fairly mind boggling number of players, to wit, in this case: the United States government, the U.S. military, the Pakistani government, the Pakistani army, local Islamist militias, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, tribal leaders and local villagers.
