Brian Cloughley: From Hitler to Panetta: The Limits of Patience!

"With respect to the Sudeten German problem my patience is now exhausted! I have made Mr Benes an offer, which contains nothing but the realization of what he himself assured as would be done. The decision is in his hands! Peace or war! Adolf Hitler, Berlin, September 26, 1938. "We are reaching the limits of our patience here, and for that reason it is extremely important that Pakistan take action to prevent this kind of safe haven from taking place, and allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces." Leon Panetta, Kabul, June 7, 2012. So what is Leon Panetta going to do if militant attacks on US forces in Afghanistan continue? Of course it's easy to blame Pakistan for the outcome of the war begun by America in Afghanistan. After all, somebody has to take the blame for the shambles, ans it can't possibly be Washington. But Mr Panetta and the rest of the blame-shifters had better take care, because if they try to do to Pakistan what Hitler did to Czechoslovakia in 1939, they will find rather stiffer opposition than that offered by the poor bullied Czechs. Mr Panetta and the rest of the blame-shifters had better take care, because if they try to do to Pakistan what Hitler did to Czechoslovakia in 1939, they will find rather stiffer opposition than that offered by the poor bullied Czechs. Mr Panetta's complaint is that militants based in Pakistan , mainly tribal Afghans, Arabs of various weird persuasions, and gangs of thugs from the Central Asian Republics cross into Afghanistan and join their comrades there to conduct attacks on foreign and Afghan forces. But before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001-2002, there were no Afghan Taliban or other foreign extremists in Pakistan. There were no militant bases in Pakistan's tribal areas. The region was hardly tranquil, simply because the tribes continued to be as hot-blooded as they have been for centuries!