Won't be posting for awhile.

[Excalibur]

I remember looking at news articles when I was doing research for South America in general, and I noticed a lot of M16s in the hands of locals.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Ace Oliveira

So the problem is the corruption of the ISI, yes?

Worse. The agency is more-or-less a front-cum-support network for the Taliban. And it's fairly tough for the central government to keep them in line because they're almost a parallel government with their own agenda. In fact, I can't remember the stats, but I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of ISI operatives in those areas are Pashtun, the ethnic group from which the Taliban draws its membership.

Fortunately, the Pakistani government (both military and civilian elements) is finally getting serious about putting them in their place now that the Taliban are threatening to take over the country, but that will not be easy. Personally, I've always wondered if the ISI might ever stage a coup of its own, given that they are so much at odds with both the civilian and military leaders nowadays.

Originally Posted by Excalibur

I remember looking at news articles when I was doing research for South America in general, and I noticed a lot of M16s in the hands of locals.

The U.S. government has shipped many M16s to friendly regimes down there over the years. Sadly, Venezuela received a large number, too (before Chavez took over), which are now likely getting passed on to the Marxist insurgents and narco-guerrillas down there.