Pakistani Military Strikes Home of Al Qaeda, Taliban
A truce that had existed between Pakistan’s Army and the Taliban has been stretched by recent events, including the kidnapping of Korean missionaries that brought international pressure on Musharraf’s government. But the truce was shattered recntly when Taliban fighters ambushed a military convoy and took 100 soldiers hostage. In the interim, some 250 casualties have resulted from the military reprisals which included artiliry barrages and airstrikes. The incident is the highest level of conflict between the military and insurgents since 2004.
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf declared himself an ally in the War on Terror soon after the 9/11 attacks. This required a drastic reversal after twenty years of clandestine support for jihadist groups and the emergence of a culture, which has sustained their policies in Kashmir and Central Asia. He has also been under increasing pressure from President Bush and the President of neighboring Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to raise the pressure on Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in the Waziristan region of Pakistan where it is believed Osama Bin-Ladin is currently hiding. Public support for such actions is hard to come by in this Muslim nation which has a long history of insurgents and refugees from the 1980’s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Musharraf’s government did follow through on it’s pledge after 9/11 but never succeeded in driving the Taliban and al Qaeda out of their sanctuaries in Waziristan and the Northwest Frontier Province. Only limited access was allowed to Coalition Forces in Afghanistan looking to destroy these sanctuaries and the training camps there for terrorist networks throughout the world. In the spring of 2006 Pakistani forces were driven out of Southern Waziristan where a political party loyal to the Taliban was established and Shariah Law declared. This was followed by the murder of tribal leaders supporting Pakistani forces and suspected informants. By summer the Pakistani Army was suffering heavy losses in Northern Waziristan as well and would eventually surrender the region to Taliban control and enter peace agreements in September of 2006.
While these recent strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban might seem to indicate a renewed effort to eradicate the terrorist groups in these strongholds, negotiations are once again underway beginning with the exchange of kidnapped troops for captured combatants. It is more likely the situation will remain the same. The region where terrorist attacks and plots against India, Britain, Spain, Afghanistan, and Pakistan itself have originated will remain a terrorist sanctuary from which additional attacks will spring. [ro_15]
December 31st, 2007 at 4:39 pm
[...] Benazir has been Chairman of the PPP in exile. She had been busy with the international diplomatic community, including the U.S. State department spreading her vision of secular democracy in Pakistan that includes shared goals with U.S. efforts in the war on terror. But, what could be expected in reality is the same as before with the anti-terror effort being little more than Musharraf’s war on the Taliban. [...]