4TH GENERATION WAR AND PAKISTAN
26TH November will become historic though infamous for the tragic loss of Pakistan soldiers in the cold and chilly dawn at the Salala post of Mohmmand Agency; coming within 12 hrs of touch down of General Allen Jones’ helicopter at the Bagram Airbase after his cordial and frank discussion with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to discuss measures of enhancing border control on both sides; coincidently the attack follows the conclusion of Pakistan China military exercise in Pakistan and happens on the last day of Islamic year 1432 AH. One would rather get perplexed and confused. This probably is the start of the decisive phase of long War in the Afpak region, this time directly targeted against Pakistan, the ally of the allies. Welcome to the 3rd World War in which you can be part of the war without even noticing it; there are no formal declarations of war and where the 4th Generation War is order of the day.
Wikipedia describes it as, Fourth generation warfare (4GW) is conflict characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, soldier and civilian. The term was first used in 1989 by a team of United States analysts, including William S. Lind, to describe warfare’s return to a decentralized form. In terms of generational modern warfare, the fourth generation signifies the nation states’ loss of their near-monopoly on combat forces, returning to modes of conflict common in pre-modern times. The simplest definition includes any war in which one of the major participants is not a state but rather a violent non-state actor. As such, fourth generation warfare uses classical tactics—tactics deemed unacceptable by traditional modern thinking—to weaken the advantaged opponent’s will to win.
However, William S Lind (due to his bias against Islam) put the entire blame of start of 4th Generation War on Islam, that is clever tactics, you develop an idea of destroying the entire Islamic World, than you create definitions, churn up scenarios and finally assault a whole region to keep it destabilized till dooms day..And very conveniently blame it on Islam. William S Lind describes this new form of war as Fourth Generation war marked by a return to a world of cultures, not merely states, in conflict. We now find ourselves facing the Christian West’s oldest and most steadfast opponent, Islam. After about three centuries on the strategic defensive, following the failure of the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, Islam has resumed the strategic offensive, expanding outward in every direction. In this war, invasion by immigration can be at least as dangerous as invasion by a state army.
I had argued in number of articles related to the Long War that Pakistan was at centre stage of this war and that US lead coalition was hell bent in creating divisions and cleavages in the West Asian region to find a space for success of this Long War. Fortunately the West has miserably failed on many accounts, people of Afpak region has proven to more resilient than expected, they have adapted themselves in these pressing and hard times and the mighty power of the US lead coalition has been diluted in time (more than a decade now) to suffer a humiliating defeat. Your own historians will not judge you that you were defeated because of resilience of the people of Afpak region but by mathematical parameters, the equation here is between the most prosperous and high tech super power verses the poorest and low tech nation of the Afghans, it is between the richest and Burger Gobbling nations of the MacWorld on one side and poorest chappal wearing and corncob eating nation on the other side, it is between the nations with total dominance of Media(from Al Jezeera to CNN-Fox-BBC-Star-Zee-Times-Newsweek-Guardian-Afghan Govt channels-Pakistani Channels) versus the people with virtually no voice to celebrate their historic victory.
As I said earliar, 26th November marks a turning point in the final phase of this Long war against the Afpak region, now the war has been directly and officially brought into Pakistan. Why I say directly and officially is because of the fact that this Long War was already being indirectly and un officially fought within Pakistan for almost a decade. The blurring of the lines between war and politics, soldier and civilian makes it very difficult to feel that you are right at the centre stage and within the middle of a World War. You are made so much immune and apathetic to loss of human life that you daily see it on your TV screens in your cushy drawing rooms, over a cup of hot coffee or if you are not that privileged from the foot path on the TV screen of a barber shop, and exclaim within your heart …oh it is the Libyans, not my business, it is the Behrainians, not my business, oh it is the Afghans, not my business, oh it is FATA, not from Lahore, not my business, oh it is not from my muhallah, not my business and finally, oh it is my younger brother not me…till the time you will be dragged and slaughtered like Col Gaddafi..It is none of your business.
The aim of my discourse here is not to demoralize the common Pakistanis but to make them aware that you have successfully weathered this storm of 4th Generation War for a decade now, you are now entering the last and the most decisive phase of the war, remain united and clear any doubts that you had in your mind of the sincerity of the West, no one is there to help you, everyone is here for his own interest. Pakistan is not only the linchpin in this war but the jugular vein of the NATO and entire Afghanistan, if our leadership can take a firm stand and lead the nation to the path of unity, there is no way that the west can ask you to do any more. We are 180 million strong nation destined to find a place in the sun, the vacuum created by war in Afpak region can only be filled up by people of the Afpak, Pakistan and Afghanistan are not only physical twins but also twins of history and posterity. Time has come to call a spade a spade, let us start a simple and descent celebration of our victory on the dawn of 1st of Muharram 1433 AH.
4TH GENERATION WAR AND PAKISTAN | Opinion Maker
Disintegration of Pakistan on Yugoslav model
Yugoslavia had always been a home to a very diverse population, not only in terms of national affiliation, but also religious affiliation. Of the many religions, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism as well as various Eastern Orthodox faiths composed the religions of Yugoslavia, comprising over 40 in all. The religious demographics of Yugoslavia have changed dramatically since World War II. A census taken in 1921 and later in 1948 show that 99% of the population appeared to be deeply involved with their religion and practices. With postwar government programs of modernization and urbanization, the percentage of religious believers took a dramatic plunge. Connections between religious belief and nationality posed a serious threat to the post-war Communist government’s policies on national unity and state structure.[8]
After the rise of communism, a survey taken in 1964 showed that just over 70% of the total population of Yugoslavia considered themselves to be religious believers. The places of highest religious concentration were that of Kosovo with 91% and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 83.8%. The places of lowest religious concentration were Slovenia 65.4%, Serbia with 63.7% and Croatia with 63.6%. Religious differences between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks and the rise of nationalism contributed to the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991.
Elements
Fourth generation warfare is defined as conflicts which involve the following elements:
Are complex and long term
-Terrorism (tactic)
-A non-national or transnational base—highly decentralized
-A direct attack on the enemy’s culture
-Highly sophisticated psychological warfare, especially through media manipulation and lawfare
-All available pressures are used – political, economic, social and military
-Occurs in low intensity conflict, involving actors from all networks
-Non-combatants are tactical dilemmas
-Lack of hierarchy
-Small in size, spread out network of communication and financial support
-Use of Insurgency and guerrilla tactics
Fourth generation warfare – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Civil Democratic Islam
