Reference the letter of Mr B.A. Malik in The Nation on June 11, what is being overlooked in all the brouhaha is that the Taliban are fighting a battle of life and death against the foreign occupation of their country. Whereas Pakistan had supported them to free their country from the Russians, now Pakistan is supporting the American occupation by fighting the latter's proxy war. It is only by accepting this reality that we can understand the anger of the Taliban against Pakistan. There are those in the country who feel that people cannot be subdued by the use of force, perhaps temporarily but never permanently. If installing a few cantonments could have done the trick, the British would have done it. As it turned out, even they had to let go India, the 'jewel' in the British crown. Israel has not been able to subdue the Palestinian people with the use of brute force in sixty years. Nor has India succeeded in subjugating the Kashmiris. The lessons are writ large. We have to accept the Jihadis as they are and then reform them internally over a period, and not externally as we are trying to do. -KHURSHID ANWER, Lahore, via e-mail, June 11.