WW3?

Pakistan is the Taliban's closest ally. Saudi Arabia rules the world's oil, and is their second closest ally. Iran, India and Russia are the Taliban's biggest enemies.

If we get brutal in Afghanistan against the Taliban, it's possible that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will side with them. If Pakistan throws a nuke anywhere (say on India), then could it be the start of WW3?

[The Mister]

On 2001-09-14 14:53, Anonymous wrote:
...If Pakistan throws a nuke anywhere (say on India), then could it be the start of WW3?

<font size=2>If... then definitely yes (IMO). But that's a REALLY big if.

[Grits N Gravy]

There is a zero percent chance that Saudi Arabia will side with Afghanistan in this. There is a small probability that Pakistan will step up to the plate for them. They would have the ability to make a nuclear strike against forces we have in the area at that point, but they have no way of delivering a nuclear bomb to the US besides sneaking it through on a boat.

By WWIII are you implying a huge nuclear war that would threaten the existence of the planet? (That's usually its meaning in pop culture) There have to be at least two sides with a significant number of nuclear weapons and Pakistan doesn't have enough to make up one of the sides. All of the others are backing us in this (China, Russia, France, UK - maybe Ukraine has enough, and I don't know their stance, but I highly doubt that they're going to end the world over something that they're not involved in)

I'm not sure China and Russia, or some European countries would back the US if the US gets very wreckless. They might view it as the US appointing themselves unchecked king of the world. So they say something. Well then they'll have to back it up ...

I understand the antagonism between Pakistan and India. but in light of recent events, I'm not sure why Pakistan would throw a nuke at India - but then, I never expected a plane (much less two of them) to crash into the WTC.

My understanding is that there are several hundred missing Pakistani's that worked in the WTC. I think they will be far more willing to, not necessarily support the US effort, but at least attack Afghanistan than you give them credit for.

The good news for those siding with the military-industrial complex is that within two years, the U.S. will be controlling part of the Mideast oil production. Then the rest of the world will learn how price gouging is really done. Those Arabs are strictly amateur when it comes to making money!

[Don Quijote]

Despite my post in the worst case scenario thread, I don´t think this will inspire WW3. Most people assume the perps where Islamic terrorists, whose only support comes from Islamic regimes, whose only assets are oil and a bunch of bodies. A true world war needs significant industrial powers on both sides. Right now, all the weapons used by Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lybia, Pakistan and Egypt put together were purchased from Russia, China, France, Germany or the US, none of which will be supporting them for a little while. And in the Kuwait incident, we saw the result of pitting a bunch of bodies against modern weaponry.