The Irony Of This Is Not Lost On Me

No I didn't hear about that..sorry. Why are the Pakistanis not donating, they are here which probably makes up much of the £30million so far.

Apparently they say that the Talibans will take charge of the money given and it'll go to buy military equipment. So if the Pakistans themselves wont give any money not many are right now here.......except for our government of course. I feel sorry for these people but it seems its a never ending problem with government not giving the money to the people but keeping it for themselves. Take Haiti now, all the money sent is being used for the election.....A lot of money to elect another corrupt President.

Thanks very much for that informative response, it's helped me to understand what is going on in the north of the country. Yes, I agree, it is frightening isn't it? Because of the floods that area is even more isolated now so recruitment has gotta be higher as a result. Plays into the Taliban's hands, unfortunately.

Just to add, part of the problem with the way Pakistan is run is that it has what's known as the "Federally Administered Tribal Areas". These areas aren't officially part of any province, and are ruled directly by the central government - the problem is that the central government has very little influence in the area, and because the FATA have never been incorporated into a province, there's a power vacuum where the district courts, provincial parliament, provincial authorities etc. should be - a vacuum that the Taliban are easily able to fill either through military strength or tribal loyalty/allegiance. Something else to consider is that the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (previously North-West Frontier) province is inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns, who also live in southern Afghanistan and from whose areas the Taliban originally formed (specifically the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan). So, the reason the Taliban are so tough to fight is that the Afgh-Pak border is effectively completely open for them - tribal loyalty very often counts for more than national loyalty, especially if the person demanding your loyalty is threatening to kill you if he doesn't get it.

Wow, that's highly informative, thanks. You certainly know your stuff my friend, I'm impressed.

I hope that doesn't happen but - in this cynical world we live in..it probably will..unfortunately.

I'm so pleased you are an optimist. There should be more people like you my friend. You are right, it would be a great opportunity to "unite" for once. Wouldn't that be great? Such a shame that even the Pakistan cricket team can't even play in their own country. They're a lovely bunch of guys too, I feel sorry for them. Nothing to do with the floods, it was a decision made based on how volatile their own country is.